BUD AND LOU: THE 'BUCK PRIVATES' FILES

By Raymond De Felitta -


More Abbott and Costello f-ups, these from their first film "Buck Privates". As opposed to the previous posts bloops (see below), these are interesting in a different way. Lou is not yet a movie star and lacks the prerogative of instructing the script girl to save the blown takes that he finds amusing. He does, however, already use the 'slicing' gesture when he knows a take has gone down the drain. Yet a lot of the time his screw-ups don't really seem all the bad. I wonder if the directors he worked with (Arthur Lubin in this case) ever told him to just keep going and not to self-cut. We learn from this reel that "Oh, Jesus Christ" was Bud's go-to phrase for his frustration with his own meltdowns. I like hearing the director (Lubin) give them his version of a little pep-talk before certain takes: "Okay boys, a lot of tempo!" We do what we can...

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