The title of this Bob Hope vehicle Cancel My Reservation is a multiple pun, referring to elements in the story. The ever-youthful Hope plays Dan Bartlett, a late-night TV talk show host. Frazzled, he takes a much-needed vacation in Arizona. There, he stumbles upon a murder and a conspiracy by local rancher, John Ed (Ralph Bellamy) to defraud a local Native American group of part of its reservation. Dan is a suspect in the murder, and must investigate in order to clear his name. Though the story is rather light, celebrities of all sorts have either small parts or cameos in this film, and much of the film's entertainment value comes from spotting them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Review
Anyone unfortunate enough to have Cancel My Reservation as his/her first exposure to Bob Hope would likely never believe that the comedian was once actually funny. Hope's last starring film, Reservation is a disaster that is insistently and unrelentingly dull, dull, dull. What laughs there are -- and many would argue that there are none -- really qualify only as chuckles. Most of the intended laughs are stillborn. Clearly, the largest amount of blame rests with the screenplay, a morass of nonsense that tries to capture some of the magic of Hope's older "Bob in a pickle" set-ups but update it with some "relevant" tie-ins to the plight of the Native American. It doesn't work, and rarely has a screenplay seemed as tired as this one. Paul Bogart's direction is sluggish and totally uninspired. Star Hope also seems tired, as well as ridiculously old to be playing a character that is allegedly 42 years of age. Had Hope accepted that he had become a man of a certain age, he might have found some new comedy to mine, a new variation on his character that might have made it richer. By refusing to grow old, he cut himself off at the knees. Hope at least gets very good support from Eva Marie Saint, who brings much more to her part than it deserves, and Anne Archer looks quite fetching. But there's really no reason to bother with Reservation. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Rolland M. Brooks - Art Director, R. Robert Rosenbaum - First Assistant Director, Paul Bogart - Director, Michael A. Hoey - Editor, Bob Hope - Executive Producer, Dominic Frontiere - Composer (Music Score), Russell Metty - Cinematographer, Gordon Oliver - Producer, Anthony Mondello - Set Designer, Charles Grenzbach - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Fisher - Screenwriter, Arthur Marx - Screenwriter, Bob Fisher - Screenwriter, Louis L'Amour - Book Author
