Rentadick

Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: April 30, 2013.
Director: Jim Clark
Cast: James Booth, Julie Ege, Richard Brier, Donald Sinden
Year: 1972
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The Movie:

Jim Clark's 1972 picture Rentadick, which isn't nearly as dirty as it sounds, has the distinguished pedigree of having been written by Monty Python's John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Unfortunately for the film's reputation, so unimpressed where the pair with the final product that both men had their names removed from the writing credits of the final film. Honestly though, as goofy and dopey as it all is, it's hard not to laugh at it. Artistic intent is thrown out the window in favor of lowest common denominator hijinks, but funny is funny and Rentadick is actually kind of funny.

Not surprisingly the movie is set in England where we witness a beautiful woman named Utta Armitage (Julie Ege) giving a press conference in which she explains why she and husband Jeffrey (Donald Sinden) have been drawing so much attention to themselves as of late. From here, we learn what all of the fuss is about as Jeffrey starts to wonder if his foxy better half might be dipping her toes in other ponds. Complicating matters further are some business issues - see, Jeffrey's chemical plant has developed a gas that will temporarily paralyze anyone who breaths it in. The military want it and so too does Madam Greenfly (Tsai Chin) and her small army of Japanese spies. Some Saudi Arabians would also like to get their mitts on it as well.

Jeffrey is over his head, so he gets in touch with Major Upton (Ronald Fraser) at the titular security agency who assigns an agent named Hobbs (Richard Beckinsale) to keep tabs on Utta while agents Simon Hamilton (James Booth) and Miles Gannet (Richard Briers) are to keep Greenfly away from the gas. It gets zanier and increasingly sillier from there.

While there are some jokes that push things into mildly sexual territory, mostly innuendo and puns, Rentadick plays things fairly clean and relies more on absurd situations and goofy characters doing odd things to get laughs. There are some racial stereotypes played for yucks, Japanese and Middle Eastern characters who are involved with female sex slaves, but it would seem to kinda-sorta be all in good fun. Some amusing prop comedy is easy to laugh at and the movie is reasonably well paced.

The cast make a good go of things though. Beckinsale is quite funny as Hobbs, the inspector hired to watch super sexy Uta who is fairly terrified of women, while the double play that happens with Booth and Briers on the part of their employer and their target can also get quite amusing. Sinden is fairly wooden here but Ege is gorgeous to look at and fine in her role. Look for brief but recognizable appearances from a young but instantly recognizable Patricia Quinn before she became famous as The Rocky Horror Picture Show's lovely Magenta and a quick pop up from Spike Milligan too. It's all very cartoonish and over exaggerated but not without some very funny bits to it.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Rentadick arrives on DVD in a strong 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. The colors have faded a bit in some scenes but the image is otherwise pretty strong. Only mild print damage appears in the form of the odd speck here and there and there are no problems with mpeg compression artifacts or noticeable edge enhancement. Some mild shimmering pops up here and there but aside from that there's little to complain about here in terms of authoring or source material problems, the movie looks pretty strong on this disc even if it shows some softness now and then.

The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix on this disc is pretty good even if it does, at times, show its age. Action has some punch to it and the score is clear enough even if it won't blow your speakers. Dialogue is generally clean, clear and easy to follow and while a few scenes sound maybe just a little bit flat, there aren't any problems with hiss or distortion to complain about.

As this is part of the Katarina's Kat Skratch Cinema line, we get an optional intro and outro with hostess Katarina Leigh Waters. Done tongue in cheek style like the other entries in the line, we get an amusing enough skit before Waters runs off some trivia and information about the picture. Additionally we get a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Scorpion Releasing titles, menus and chapter stops.

The Final Word:

Fans of bizarre British comedy ought to get a few good laughs out of this one. The plot just keeps piling on one insane situation after the next and it's paced well, never dull. Some fun cast members and a sharp script help as does some solid camerawork - lots of fun to be had here. Scorpion's DVD isn't loaded with extras but it looks and sounds good. A good release overall.