Leonard Part 6 (1987) If Bill Cosby hadn't been revealed to the world as a predatory serial rapist, I suppose this movie would've stood as the worst atrocity he ever inflicted on the the public.
The film arrived in the midst of the toxic chaos surrounding its studio Columbia and its reviled chief David Puttnam,,,,,,,,
British producer Puttnam, thoroughly disliked and resented by the Hollywood community, somehow ended up running Columbia after riding the wave of success generated his producing films like 'The Killing Fields' and 'Chariots Of Fire'. To his great credit though, he tried to pull the plug on 'Leonard' while the film was still in production. Bill Cosby would've owed him a huge favor.
Whenever I attempt reviewing a certifiable disaster, I at least try to imagine what kind of film its creators might've had in mind. Did it sound like a great idea on paper? Did it fall down in execution? Or was it always a rotten idea to begin with;........
In this case that last one applies......I possess what I consider a fairly good imagination, but I cannot comprehend this film ever at a stage where it didn't appear abysmally stupid and unfunny.
But such was the clout of all powerful superstar Cosby (dubbed 'America's Dad' from his hit TV show), that he could get this misbegotten, atrocious film, for which he wrote the story, into production,
Intrigued, I finally managed to view it only 24 hours before Tubi was due to kick it out of its inventory.......(and I'm guessing that's the last you'll see of it on any streaming service.....)
I watched astounded. And utterly confused as to who exactly 'Leonard Part 6', a frantic, silly secret agent spoof, was designed to entertain.
Families? Small children? Possibly, since it flaunts an atmosphere of Saturday-morning-cartoon-show idiocy with abandon. But then again, it features armies of cute and furry animals used to assassinate people as a kind of an ongoing sick joke......complete with crime scene photos of of murdered victims....
For Cosby fans maybe? Not much here for them to enjoy. He mostly wanders through the film impassive and distracted, as if he wants to be anywhere else than in the movie. And who can blame him? The only desperate attempt at humor comes from his deadpan reaction to his estranged ex-wife (Pat Colbert) throwing food on him. That comes after he's labored, but not very hard, to earn a few chuckles from his appalled reaction to his twenty something daughter (Victoria Rowell) engaged to a 65 year old Italian filmmaker (casting Moses Gunn in this role serves as the film's one and only off the wall funny idea....)
Or maybe the goal was ti appeal to people who still remembered the ridiculous avalanche of brainless, infantile spy spoofs that flourished throughout the 1960's.These feckless farces arrived in the wake of the James Bond frenzy that gripped the world after the release of 'Goldfinger'. A few other 1980's films took a crack at the genre with teen heartthrob stars ("Never Too Young To Die", "If Looks Could Kill") but none of them landed with audiences.....
Nobody enjoyed any real success with Bond spoofs until Mike Meyers' blissfully dopey "Austin Powers" trilogy which benefited from really funny scripts and from Meyers performance being fully invested in its silliness....a far cry from Cosby, who trudges through 'Leonard' like he spent the entirety of the film counting down the hours until quitting time.
As a show of mercy, I'll spare our beloved BQ visitors any scene by scene details. Just imagine a series of bizarre, calamitous events meant to come across of amusing, but mostly idiotic. And all of it slapped together with choppy editing, ludicrous special effects, and that 'get-me-out-of-here Cosby non-acting.
Upon its opening, film immediately became a legendary monumental catastrophe. Cosby wasted not a minute disowning it and publicly reveled in its sweep of the Razzie awards for worst movies of the year. This even prompted the Fox network to make him solid gold replicas of his Razzies. Years later, the film's director, Paul Weiland, recalled the nightmare of making "Leonard' and seeking careful, diplomatic ways to tell Cosby his scenes deadened the pace and and weren't funny at all.
Cosby, of course, went about his business of making millions until.........well, the rest is sordid, ugly history......
.......that makes rating both 'Leonard Part 6' and Bill Cosby himself a 2 for 1 deal. Both of them more than earn BQ's most dreaded rating ....both an ABF....each an ABOMINATION FROM HELL......and both deserve forgetting forever..
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