Available now on Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment
A dung seller in Ireland meets and falls for an American. Soon, his luck changes and he must adapt to his new situation.
Written by Gabriel Walsh and directed by Waris Hussein, this film is one that will be of limited appeal to those who didn’t grow up attached to it, those who are uber fans of the folks involved, this is one that is very much of limited interest. Is the film bad? Absolutely not. But is it entertaining? Not really. A lot of folks will likely want to yell at this that it’s wrong, it’s incorrect, it’s just an opinion, but watching the film for the first time, it was difficult to keep attention on the film and its story. The cast does help, but the writing and direction, while decent and capable, are not particularly interesting and are dated much like the story.
In the lead, playing the titular character, is Gene Wilder, a man most people enjoy in at least one movie (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein here) and his character here feels like it’s very much his, like he molded him after his own self, mannerisms included. This is a Gene Wilder part, and it is played as such. He’s good here, but the material is just a bit too bland for him. Joining him as his love interest and the American tourist is Margot Kidder who is charming and lovely as usual, but who also doesn’t get that much to work with character-wise. She good but doesn’t manage to fully grab the attention either. The supporting cast is basically completely forgotten 10 minutes after the film ends, so their performances are clearly not memorable which is too bad, a good scene heist would have been fantastic here.
In terms of look, the film feels like a 1970s television film, one that looks about right for its director who also directed early episodes of Doctor Who. The film here has decent cinematography Gilbert Taylor with good editing by Bill Blunden and decent scoring by Michael Dress. Just about everything here is decent, so nothing much to write home about, but nothing grating or off. The film’s looks also has what some will remember as the “brown” decor and costumes of the era which are fitting here.
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx is a film that has its audience, but is not a general audience films at this time point in time. It’s aged, not all in the best of ways, and has limited interest in terms of story. The cast, besides the leads, is serviceable at best but completely forgettable. It’s a film that is now seeing a release likely due to its star and its director. Of course, some folks will gladly tell you that this whole review in wrong.
In terms of the new re-release of Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx on Blu-ray, the new transfer looks good and sounds decent but may not sound as good on a fancier sound system than the one available for this review. The extras on the disc are limited with a theatrical trailer and a commentary track by Robert Kelly who is credited as an artist, reviewer, and film buff extraordinaire. While his work is decent, this is not the preferred type of commentary in this house (commentaries with people involved in the production usually win here).