I'll Take Sweden (1965) watch online HD

As far as comedies that deal with young people's attitudes towards sex go; "I'll Take Sweden", dumb as it may be, has loads more charm than the largely gross comedies that are dished up to audiences today.

Bob Hope, (with badly died dark hair) ever the professional, copes well with the sometimes unfunny lines given to him. There's super elegant Dina Merrill; Frankie Avalon brimming with youthful ebullience and Tuesday Weld, simultaneously demure and sexy, as always.

Despite the often ridiculous depiction of the social mores of the time, somehow the movie remains immensely watchable largely because of the cast, who all had careers of some interest. From this fun but undoubted mediocrity, Hope's movies went downhill steadily and embarrassingly. Merrill went into television with unspectacular results. Avalon didn't quite survive the beach movies which made him so popular at the time. Weld had the good sense to break the mold into which the system had cast her, moving on to many fine performances, if not quite becoming the star that at the time would have seemed she was destined to become.

For those interested in the actors involved, there's something to enjoy in this innocuous yet not obnoxious 95 minutes.

In rattling off one lame joke after another, persevering like a stevedore in the face of his time slipping away, cocky crooked grin intact, Hope approaches depths of surrealism that should've impressed Bunuel. When he tells Dina Merrill that he's never met an interior decorator with her exterior, and she reacts with a dewy smile, it's like cutting the eyeball in Un Chien Andalou. Meanwhile Frankie Avalon struts around like he's the Tom Cruise of his generation. Check out Frankie's astonishing, hip-gyrating 'I'll Take Sweden Ya Ya Ya' number and you'll swear someone slipped mescaline into your coffee. This is one of the all time great camp classics, awaiting its proper appreciation.

This film is in the style of Doris Day films that feature compromising sexual situations and innuendo while on the surface everything remains innocent fun. That may have been titillating in 1965 when you couldn't say the word "pregnant" on TV and Rob and Laura Petrie had separate beds, but now it's just boring and adolescent. I get tired of this innuendo quickly, but it's always fun explaining each joke to my wife, because the entire thing goes way over her head.

This film features blatant sexual material centering around the question of Bob Hope's daughter: will she or won't she?

The film presents Sweden as a sexually free place, while America stands for a higher morality. On the surface the movie preaches this higher morality while actually presenting and capitalizing on the intriguing images and ideas of a free-lovin' society.

One problem with this type of film is that the writers think that the innuendo will carry the film. They think that just the fact that they are covertly, or in this case, overtly, talking about sex will keep us nervously giggling and entertained, gasping in shock or winking at each other. It's like a comedian whose act relies on dirty language. Ok, they may get nervous laughs, but after some time it gets boring or even distasteful. In this film, because the writers are overconfident, they don't bother with good characters, a good plot, clever dialog, motivations, or any thing else that makes for good drama or comedy, they just let the subject of sex carry it. That just doesn't cut it, especially not in modern times when any shock value it might have had is completely gone.

In an effort to keep daughter Tuesday Weld away from bad boy Frankie Avalon, Bob Hope takes a job in Sweden. This is just another of the egregiously unfunny movies Hope was making in the 1960s. The film has one distinguishing feature: it manages to cast Weld and make her completely unappealing! Surprisingly cast to begin with, Weld has little to do but roll her eyes or wince at Hope's unfunny wisecracks. Perhaps Annette Funicello or Deborah Walley would have been a better choice for Weld's role. She's far too intelligent to have us believe she'd be smitten with the empty headed Avalon. The presence of classy Dina Merrill, as Hope's love interest, is a plus even if her Swedish accent is a bit half-hearted. Directed, in the style of the average 60s sitcom, by the undistinguished Fred DeCordova.

Everyone should watch this film, not because it is funny (it isn't), but as a guide to show you what lengths studios & stars will go to cover up a stars physical flaw.

Whenever Bob Hope is on screen not wearing a hat, there is an annoying shadow on top of his head. At first I thought this was just a case of a bad director shooting the shadow of a boom mike, but as this is present throughout the whole film, and the shadow is only on Hope's head, I figured out that is was their way of hiding the fact that Bob Hope was balding. I was fascinated by this, so much in fact, that I eventually tuned out the movie (a pretty easy feat), and just starting watching the shadow on Bob Hope's head.

JOJO(Weld): Daddy, I think I found Mister right! BOB HOLCOLM (HOPE): OH, I KNOW A BILL WRIGHT!

And so begins the first salvo fired in this joyously painful assault on a genre that was stale long before this was dumped on hundreds of deserted theaters-the generation gap comedy. Acres of atrocious puns and one-liners battle the parameters of entertainment decency---yet who can resist? Take an aging Frankie Avalon, a budding star in Weld appearing in her last thankless role until "Cincinnati Kid"saved her, aryan legend Jeremy Slate and producer Edward Small's cardboard studio backdrops substituting for Scandinavia, mix with Johnny Carson's longtime producer/director and you have the beginning of Hope's career slide that didn't hit rock bottom until "Cancel my Reservation" was unleashed 7 years hence. It's been 30 years since his last starring role and the scary thing is, the entire cast of all of his yearly cinematic holocausts from 65-72 are still alive and could reunite for Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number 2 (the late, great Cesare Danova not withstanding). Suffice to say Hope was always only as good as his writers. The impossibly guileless challenge of his obnoxiously un-hip, sexist attitude and the wardrobe straight from Squaresville will amuse only the few Hope cultists who find the sheer bombastic gall and idiocy riotous (guilty!)--- and the ultimate irony--- touching. Younger audiences catching this on the tube without warning are bound to be indifferent-the coup de gras for longevity (the ancient comic trying to prove his lasting power to the few loyal surviving fans) and unlike the timeless masters- e.g. Buster Keaton, Fields, etc. there will undoubtedly not be a re-discovery of Hope's excellent early work as the residue of the crap of the last 40 years is too thick to peel away. I'll Take Sweden" is his best film since 1965. For those who thought this a temporary mis-step in Hope's career----a helmet-headed Marjorie Lord waited anxiously in the wings.........

After weeks ago taping this and the one that preceded it-Kings Go Forth-on DVR off the THIS movie channel, I finally decided to watch Bob Hope's I'll Take Sweden. Unfortunately, while the previous picture's enjoyment was marred a little bit by having the scenes freeze and then fade out constantly while the audio was still running during the ending scenes, so it was with this one during the beginning ones. Still, once that was fixed, I did find this one quite amusing if not completely hilarious despite, or maybe because of, the silly contrivances that permeated the whole screenplay written by Nat Perrin, Robert Fisher, and Arthur Marx, the latter of which happens to be the son of the one and only Groucho. I mean, Mr. Hope still has a way with a punchline and Frankie Avalon provides some energy with his slacker role with enjoyable, if a little forgettable, music interludes. Dina Merril is appealing enough as Bob's paramour and Tuesday Weld provides her own charms as his stunning daughter. Then there's Jeremy Slate as the Swedish rival with Avalon for Ms. Weld's attentions. While he and Ms. Merril are close to overdoing the Scandinavian accent, his is almost close to irritating. Good thing it all turns out the way it does. But all in all, with competent direction from Frederick De Cordova, I rather enjoyed I'll Take Sweden.

You have to love Bob Hope's singular ability to be behind the times in terms of getting young teen idols to give his films a little youthful appeal. Two years after the British invasion where the music scene would irrevocably be changed, Hope casts Frankie Avalon and Tuesday Weld in I'll Take Sweden considerably after their time as teen idols had come and gone.

In fact the film never got closer to Sweden than Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead the two California locations chosen to represent the pretty parts of Scandinavia. Which is a real pity because Stockholm is known as the Paris of the north and has reputation as a beautiful city. I wonder why producer Edward Small and Hope played on the cheap and didn't bother to go to Sweden to film this picture.

Hope's in a role James Stewart played better in Take Her She's Mine as the harassed father of a shapely teenage girl. In case you're wondering, Tuesday Weld is the shapely teenage girl. Hope disapproves of boyfriend Frankie Avalon whom he thinks of as a beach bum dead head, living in a trailer at the beach and no prospects for a job. He decides on impulse to take a job in Sweden with his company and relocate.

It starts to work out real well and Weld's found herself a nice Swedish boy in Jeremy Slate. Widower Hope's not doing too bad either with Dina Merrill. But when Hope finds out about the Scandinavian sexual attitudes, this red state American is saying 'not with my daughter, you Viking Casanova'.

I'd have rated this film higher had we actually seen a bit of Sweden here. But for all this it just turns into a typical bedroom comedy as Hope and Merrill find out that Slate and Weld have registered in the same hotel for the same reason and Hope goes tearing around the place looking to save Weld from a fate worse than death. Oh, and he's brought Frankie Avalon over from California to help finding new virtues in him he hadn't seen before.

You know what the dumbest thing in the film was. The fact that a no tell hotel in Sweden people register there as Mr.&Mrs. John Smith for anonymity. You'd think they'd register with the Swedish equivalent of same in Sweden.

Wise-cracking widower Bob Hope (as Robert "Bob" Holcomb) arrives home to discover his pretty blonde daughter Tuesday Weld (as JoJo Holcomb) is engaged to pseudo-rock 'n' roll singer Frankie Avalon (as Kenny Klinger). Mr. Avalon has dropped put of college, rides a motorcycle, lives in a small trailer, and takes Ms. Weld out to strip clubs. Hope is horrified. In order to get Weld away from Avalon, he accepts a job transfer to Stockholm. There, Hope discovers a Swedish custom regarding pre-marital sex...

We are told, in order to determine how well they are "suited for each other," Swedes have sex before getting married. This insures a low divorce rate. Hope romances attractive Dina Merrill (as Karin Granstedt Martoni) and Weld prepares to lose her virginity during a two week vacation with playboy Jeremy Slate (as Erik Carlson). Hope declares, "Nobody's gonna chalk up any mileage on JoJo without getting a driver's license first!" To make Weld change her mind, Hope contacts Avalon in America...

Avalon returns to the storyline and gives the film a final burst of energy. The highlight is his performance of "I'll Take Sweden, Ya Ya Ya!" In brief blue swim trunks, Avalon gyrates around a boatyard, attracting Rosemarie Frankland in a white bikini. The beauty queen with obvious assets moved from Hope (one of the comedian's many alleged companions) to Grass Roots singer Warren Entner. Avalon was no longer selling rock 'n' roll records, but he is funnier and more appealing than all others, herein.

****** I'll Take Sweden (6/2/65) Frederick de Cordova ~ Bob Hope, Frankie Avalon, Tuesday Weld, Dina Merrill

Good Screwball comedy movie that is a definite B-Quality production but still is good enough to tickle the funny bones of those who like the genre and Bob Hope. The performance of Tuesday Weld was very memorable as she proves she has comedy skills as well. Very good Color.......

This is pretty terrible, but there are a few good moments. For example, Bob Hope is talking to his boss and says. "I didn't sleep last night." His boss replies, "You should talk to my doctor, he can't sleep either." That was the highlight for me.

Tuesday Weld plays Bob Hope's virginal teenage daughter, but she looks a little seasoned for the part. She's seriously hung up on high school dropout Frankie Avalon, so Hope takes advantage of an open position within his company to move to Sweden, where Weld temporarily forgets Avalon after meeting cultured Jeremy Slate, who is really a Swedish playboy. Flatly-directed comedy with a few funny lines finally buried under a desperate final reel which has Hope busting into various hotel rooms, trying to stop his daughter from doing the deed. Sex comedy without sex, but with a lot of dancing around the subject. Glossy and silly (and clearly filmed entirely in California), the picture would actually be somewhat forgivable if only screenwriter Nat Perrin had provided Hope with some witty repartee. Instead, Perrin and director Frederick De Cordova concentrate on situational farce--burlesque routines--while the supporting cast goes down with the ship. ** from ****

From the tone of this review, you may be surprised to learn that I recognize Bob Hope as one of the all-time greatest comedy stars. In terms of film, however, I put 1963 as the end of the impressive part of Hope's career. It was about that time that Hope changed his film persona into trying to be a sort of hip almost-swinger. And movie scripts began looking more like television scripts. And this film is certainly in that category. If you're going to watch this, get ready for a constant stream of one-liners, rather than a well-written script. But is that any surprise since the director was Fred DeCordova...Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" producer.? The premise here had possibilities -- Hope's young daughter (Tuesday Weld) is in love with a...what shall I call him...too clean cut to be a hippy, but (Frankie Avalon). So he has his company transfer to Sweden, where of course she falls in love with a...what shall I call him...a progressive thinker in terms of sexuality (Jeremy Slate). So Hope calls in reinforcements...back to Frankie Avalon.

As stated, Hope is all too full of one liners here. There's not good script for him to follow. You could get the same patter on his television shows. But films are supposed to be more than television. Dina Merrill, whom I always thought was underrated, has a nothing part here. Sort of a place filler as Hope's love interest. Quite disappointing. Tuesday Weld's role is fine, just nothing special. And Frankie Avalon is trying to be a sort of outcast...who isn't.

And then there are the shooting locales which are so not-Sweeden-ish.

You can take Sweeden, ya ya ya, but if I were you, I'd pass it up saying no, no, no. You might find more laughs in a 1960s sitcom. My "6" here is a tad bit generous.

"Bob Holcomb" (Bob Hope) is an oil company executive who comes home and finds out that his teenage daughter "JoJo" (Tuesday Weld) is throwing a party with all of her friends and essentially wrecking the house in the process. If that wasn't bad enough she tells him that she has fallen in love and introduces him to a young man by the name of "Kenny Klinger" (Frankie Avalon) who she wants to marry. Bob realizes at once that Kenny is a bit too wild and immature for his daughter so in order to create some distance between the two of them he decides to accept an assignment to Sweden and take her with him. But things don't work out exactly as he plans because once there she finds a Swedish boyfriend named "Erik Carlson" (Jeremy Slate) who is much more sexually sophisticated and aggressive than Kenny ever was. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film shares a similarity to the "beach movies" produced in the early 60's which typically evolved around young men and women dancing to rock-and-roll music and getting romantically acquainted while having to overcome a host of weird obstacles along the way. This film is no exception and carries with it the same light humor and dated quality. True to form, Bob Hope throws some good one-liners here and there which certainly helps a comedy of this type. Likewise, the presence of an attractive actress like Tuesday Weld doesn't hurt this film in anyway either. Even so, neither of them could offset the uneven production quality or the rather predictable plot and because of that I have rated this movie accordingly. Average.

How to sum up this turkey? Pastel capri pants, the twist, bouffant hair, chewing gum pop music with lyrics like "I'll take Sweden -- ya, ya, ya." California: real locations. Sweden: back projections. Well, maybe that gets the general idea across but we're still left with the plot.

It's best described as a clash between cultures. Two, in fact. One is generational. Bob Hope is a morally upright well-to-do executive (or something) whose daughter, the toothsome and toothy Tuesday Weld, is anxious for marriage or at least a taste of the thrills that go with it. Hope sweeps her up with him and they fly to Sweden to escape the plans of Frankie Avalon, a broke biker who wants to settle down with her. Rather than marriage to a kid who sings song like that, her quaint honour should turn to dust, and into ashes all his lust.

The other conflict is cultural in the anthropological sense. At the time, pre-marital intercourse was accepted as normal in Sweden, while America was still in the grip of the virginity mystique. Jeremy Slate is the handsome young host of Hope and his daughter in Sweden. Slate wants Weld to give it up before marriage. She's torn -- between two choices, that is. I won't give away the ending and deprive you your gasp of surprise.

I -- I'm stumped in an attempt to rationalize the movie's popularity. It isn't that movie like this can't be done as effective comedies. "Take Her, She's Mine," had Jimmy Stewart and Sandra Dee in a similar embarrassment and it was slyly funny. It's that the jokes here, on which the entire enterprise depends, are so unfunny.

One example, then I quit. Slate picks up Hope and Weld when they arrive in Sweden but there isn't room enough for all of them plus their luggage in the Volkswagon beetle, so Hope has to stand up with his torso sticking out of the sun roof. A school bus pulls alongside and a little boy squirts Hope with a water pistol. Hope rolls his eyes and remarks, "Don't they have rest stops on that bus?" The end.

I haven't been able to watch more than a couple of minutes of this gem, but I will for one reason and one reason alone. Mr. Joel Coen (or was it Ethan), from such hits as Crimewave (writer, 1985) and The Evil Dead (assistant editor, 1983), said he (they) liked it. That's all it takes for me to look at a film with a new perspective and appreciation. I would highly recommend you do the same. Also, I heard Mr. Jiminy Glick reference the film when Conan was his guest. I like that. That suits me just fine. I wouldn't watch a film only because Jiminy drops the name, but it certainly doesn't hurt the cause. And one last note, do yourself a favor and watch Mr. Preston Sturges' tale of a wanderer, harried for days on end, entitled "Sullivan's Travels" (1941). You shall find both everlasting salvation and unending ecstasy.

Apart from the 'Road' movies, I never realized how many bad films Bob Hope appeared in. I can't imagine what might have possessed him to take on projects like "Call Me Bwana" (1963) or "How to Commit Marriage" (1969), yet here's another one from the Sixties that just tries one's patience and attention span. Hope's one-liners fall short of the humor mark, and there's some real groan inducing dialog written for some of the other principals. How about this one coming from Frankie Avalon's character Kenny Klinger to Swedish date Marti (Rosemarie Frankland), commenting on his fractured romance with JoJo (Tuesday Weld) - "She's a pint, you're a full quart". Good grief.

In an apparent attempt to bridge the generational divide and prevent his daughter from 'taking a stab at holy deadlock' (another nifty Avalon line), Bob Holcomb (Hope) offers to represent his company in Sweden and takes JoJo along for the assignment. The plan backfires when Erik Carlson (Jeremy Slate) shows up as Bob's European assistant and part time travel guide. A committed single on the prowl, Erik spends most of his time trying to entice JoJo into pre-marital bliss. The story then relies on some contrived situations and coincidences designed to help JoJo see the error of her ways and back into the arms of her former boyfriend.

Had Dina Merrill not been cast here as Bob Holcomb's love interest to add some class to the story I hazard to think what might have come of the whole thing. I'd be interested for example, in what Frankie Avalon makes of his performance here with the hindsight of half a century. Most of his scenes struck me as rather embarrassing, especially the ones where he shimmies and shakes to his own vocals. As if that weren't enough, check out his arrival in Sweden wearing a yellow shirt and pink jacket - sheer 'L-7' all the way.

This may not be one of Bob Hope's better movies but I thought it was pretty good. Hope is a little more subdued, comically, which just showed me he had grown as an actor and did not feel he must be out front in every movie role he played. Ahhh Tuesday Weld, I had a crush on her from the very first time I saw her on the screen. Here she plays Hope's daughter and the basic theme of the entire movie is Bob chasing her around trying to prevent her sleeping with anyone. Showing that the double standard was still alive and well Bob does his running with his paramour at his side. Frankie Avalon takes a break from the beach to show up as Weld's American love interest. In spite of the 5 average I think it is better than that.