RAT PFINK A BOO BOO (1966)
aka Rat Pfink and Boo Boo
Article 3035 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-29-2009
Posting Date: 12-5-2009
Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler
Featuring Carolyn Brandt, Ron Haydock, Titus Moede
Country: USA

A pop singer’s girlfriend is kidnapped by sadistic thugs intent on netting a large ransom. However, what the thugs don’t know is that the singer is actually the noted crimefighter, Rat Pfink.

The first half of this movie is a really bad crime thriller that gives little hint of what is to follow; it’s similar in some ways to Steckler’s own THE THRILL KILLERS. The second half is a really bad comic riff that does to TV’s “Batman” what Steckler’s THE LEMON GROVE KIDS did to the Bowery Boys. So which half do I prefer? I’d have to say the second; whereas the first half is far weaker than THE THRILL KILLERS, I think the second half is better and less annoying than THE LEMON GROVE KIDS. Granted, it’s in the running for the cheapest movie ever made; most of it seems to have been shot silent, and the dialogue has obviously been pasted on after the fact. The two halfs don’t mesh well, though; the first half is a little too nasty to make it appropriate for kids, whereas the second half seems primarily aimed at them. The title supposedly came about as a result of mistake on the part of the title designer, but Steckler apparently denies this in an audio commentary; does this mean that he wanted this title? At any rate, my favorite line is “He always carries his guitar with him in case he is called on to sing!” That’s Bob Burns as Kogar the gorilla.