1. CAMPGROUND MADNESS
Bud
and Lou buy a run down campground and begin to run the
business,
but weird things start happening. Machinery repairs itself, food
disappears,
campers hear strange noises.
Finally Lou discovers that the campground's plastic ornaments are
alive,
and turn out to be aliens from a crashed space ship, who have taken on
the characters they were molded into.
A zany search ensues for the scattered parts of the spaceship with
government agents in hot pursuit. In one zany scene Lou leads them a
merry
chase up and down a winding mountain road, leaving wrecked government
vehicles
littering the landscape.
Finally, all the pieces of the ship are reunited, the aliens take on
their true forms, and leave Earth, just as the frustrated federal
agents
arrive. The last scene of the movie shows Bud and Lou standing in a
field
with a flying saucer lifting skyward.
2. CARTOON CAPERS
A delightful combination of cartoon characters with an animated Bud & Lou, who win an around-the-world trip on a cruise ship.
1972
1. THE PUMPKIN, PUMPKIN BOOKSTORE
This
film was Lou's first solo effort after the reincarnation
of his
first Spirit partner, and is considered by its fans as one of his
greatest
films surpassed only by his second.
Lou plays the mysterious Mr. Pumpkin, who leads four children through
the magic archway in his bookstore where they learn to deal with life,
death, love and hate.
Though the film does have some serious aspects, the delightful
Pumpkin's
joyous way of teaching them brings a smile to the heart of anyone who
sees
it. Though not favored by the critics it is still popular to the fans.
2. MR. PIP'S ROCKETSHIP
The
second of Lou's solo films and considered by many to be
one of the
best he ever made in Spirit.
Lou's portrayal of the classic science fiction character was applauded
by the critics, who said "Costello has brought the space-happy
accountant
who embezzles funds from his company, steals parts, and builds his own
spaceship, to life. By sticking to the book's original dialogue and
giving
Pip his own original style, Costello has proven beyond a doubt, that he
can act by himself. All that was needed was a role to fit his
character,
and this role was superb! No one could have ever played it better!"
1973
1. I AM CHIPNA
In
this first of Abbott & Costello's movies with Louis
DeParee as
Bud, Lou plays a down and out insurance salesman who is hired by the
neurotic
scientist, Bud, to be a guinea pig for the implant of a computer chip
into
his brain that will increase his intelligence tenfold. However, the
night
before the operation, a space ship crashes near the Professor's
laboratory
and before it vaporizes, a dying android escapes and makes its way to
the
laboratory where it finds the computer chip, and with its last energy
transfers
its programming to the chip. Then it turns to dust and is blown away by
the ventilating system.
The next day when Lou recovers from the operation, he opens his eyes
and announces "I am CHIPNA," and explains that the Gludes are about to
attack Earth and he must build a weapon to defeat them.
With incredible speed he builds a ridiculous-looking weapon and space
ship, and none too soon. The Gludes appear in hundreds of space ships,
and Chipna and his reluctant companion rise to do battle; and what a
battle
it is!
The last Glude ship is chased to Mars, disabled, and its six crewmen
enter the spaceship of their captors. As they remove their helmets and
spacesuits, it is revealed that they are gorgeous, full-breasted women!
Their leader puts her hands behind her back and coyly looks at her
captors.
"We are your prisoners, gentlemen," she announces. "What do you intend
to do with us?"
Bud & Lou look at each other with a mischievous grin. "We'll
think
of something!" Lou answers.
2. THE RETURN OF THE ANDREA DORIANS
Sick
of being stuck between two of the galaxy's worst enemies
The Andrea
Dorians build four huge space ships and evacuate their world,
terrifying
several planets as they come roaring through their solar systems.
That well known starship is sent to investigate, and after a series
of misadventures manage to settle the wayward space travelers far from
their enemies and the galaxy's sensitive races.
1974
BUD ABBOTT DIED APRIL 24th.
1. ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE BEACH BUMS
Another
of Spirit's favorite comedy teams is Matthew Kaob and
David
Martin who often play a pair of misbegotten beach bums who own a
swap-shop
junkyard. And when these four get together, be ready to split your
sides.
In this knock down slapstick comedy The Beach Bums buy what they think
is a mess of junk from an old estate, not knowing that amidst that junk
are five precious heirlooms. After they have sold everything, the
English
Lord, played by Bud, and his faithful but bumbling servant played by
Lou,
show up seeking their treasures, and an incredible search for the
heirlooms
ensues. All are recovered but not without some hilarious difficulties.
2. SPOOKED!
The
two boys buy a run-down hotel in the 1950s west, planning
to modernize
it. They do not know, however, the hotel is haunted. This is one of the
favorite movies where the actors play multiple roles, Lou playing Lou
Markered
and the ghosts Colorado Grump, the old sourdough that struck it rich,
originally
built the hotel, and was murdered by his partner, The Milwaukee Kid, a
chubby young gunslinger who reluctantly admits he didn't know it was
Irvil
Earp when he drew. And, Ching Ching, the happy-go-lucky Chinese laundry
boy that got caught with one of the owner's wives.
Louis DeParee plays Bud Higgins, Lou's partner, Cincinnati Sharp,
Grump's
partner, who was hung six months after Grump's death for trying to get
rid of another associate, and Black Jack, a gunfighter-card shark, who
was killed by a falling chandelier in the ballroom after firing a shot
to get everyone's attention.
After three terrified contractors and petrified customers the boys
finally strike a deal with their permanent spectral guests. They'll
modernize
the hotel, but not change it and make the very fact that it's haunted
part
of their advertising as long as the ghosts didn't get too carried away,
or, hurt anybody. The hotel becomes a packed tourist attraction and the
ghosts become legendary characters.
3. LOONEY TUNES
Bud & Lou play a couple of down and out song writers who fall asleep in an empty theater and in a whacky dream adventure are given the idea for dozens of songs from a vast collection of cartoon characters. This is the last work in which Louis DeParee played Bud before Bud & Lou's reunion.
1975
1. SPLIT PEA AND HAM
This
pure Abbott & Costello classic is notable for two
reasons-
the introduction of "Who's The Linebacker?" and for the fact that it is
the only film Marilyn Monroe ever starred in in The Spirit Realm, as
she
played Lou's not so bright but adorable wife.
In the plot Bud & Lou own a restaurant where Bud is the manager
& Lou is the cook. It is famous for it's split pea and ham
soup. Some
local gangsters try to take over the restaurant and steal the soup
recipie
so they can can it, but their efforts are foiled by the boys' hilarious
antics. In the end the crooks finally give up and decide to start doing
business honestly.
2. GUNSMOKED
In
this hilarious spoof using look alike actors for the
characters in
the popular t.v. series, Bud & Lou play two traveling salesmen
who
come to Dodge City where Lou is mistaken for a notorious leader of an
outlaw
gang.
The Marshall never had it so bad, as the gang mistakenly breaks Lou
out of jail and an hilarious chase ensues.
Lou finally captures the real gang leader, and proves his innocence,
but not before driving everyone in Dodge City nearly mad.
This was the first in a popular series of parody movies the boys did.