Although the title is Hanky Panky we get very little of that during the course of this movie. Kind of like Cary Grant in North By Northwest Gene Wilder gets caught up accidentally in a web of espionage and treason.
Watching Hanky Panky I couldn't help think of the Alfred Hitchcock classic and how the unflappable and witty Cary Grant is chased from New York City to Rapid City, South Dakota with that climax on Mount Rushmore. What worked well for Grant and Hitchcock did not work well for the hysterical Gene Wilder who does that best on screen as he has since The Producers. Of course Gilda Radner is no Eva Marie Saint, in fact Gilda is surprisingly subdued in Hanky Panky.
Gene is an innocent schnook who is subletting an apartment from a man who gets killed. Wilder is from Chicago and by being there gets himself involved with the poisoning of National Security chief Robert Prosky and the shooting of Kathleen Quinlan and has the cops and everyone else chasing him.
The Hitchcockian McGuffin is a computer tape with all kinds of secret codes that can't be copied except it has. Richard Widmark who has reverted here to one of those villainous types from his early days in film is working for a high level traitor who we only learn the identity of in the last minutes of the film.
Wilder's hysterical style was a bit over the top. Works much better with Cary Grant's charm and unflappability.
Watching Hanky Panky I couldn't help think of the Alfred Hitchcock classic and how the unflappable and witty Cary Grant is chased from New York City to Rapid City, South Dakota with that climax on Mount Rushmore. What worked well for Grant and Hitchcock did not work well for the hysterical Gene Wilder who does that best on screen as he has since The Producers. Of course Gilda Radner is no Eva Marie Saint, in fact Gilda is surprisingly subdued in Hanky Panky.
Gene is an innocent schnook who is subletting an apartment from a man who gets killed. Wilder is from Chicago and by being there gets himself involved with the poisoning of National Security chief Robert Prosky and the shooting of Kathleen Quinlan and has the cops and everyone else chasing him.
The Hitchcockian McGuffin is a computer tape with all kinds of secret codes that can't be copied except it has. Richard Widmark who has reverted here to one of those villainous types from his early days in film is working for a high level traitor who we only learn the identity of in the last minutes of the film.
Wilder's hysterical style was a bit over the top. Works much better with Cary Grant's charm and unflappability.