Pajama Party (1964)

During the Keaton Renaissance, Buster bizarrely took part in a handful of teen beach-party movies, frothy, kooky comedies packed with musical numbers and teen romance.  It’s weird enough that Buster became such a recurring face in these films, but the movies themselves are even weirder.  While I was expecting the corny jokes, the goofy romances, and the copious girls in swimsuits, I wasn’t at all prepared for the whacked-out plots these movies contain.  The first of these, Pajama Party, nicely illustrates my point.

Connie (Annette Funicello) is growing impatient with her boyfriend, the aptly-named Big Lunk.  While she’s interested in a little quality time with her sweetheart, he only has eyes for volleyball practice.  In an effort to make him jealous, Connie sets her sights on another boy, but she gets more than she bargained for when that boy turns out to be Go-Go (Tommy Kirk,) a Martian agent sent to Earth to gather intelligence as a precursor to an invasion.  Amidst the hijinks of teen love, two-bit con men, and an impending Martian invasion, Connie and Go-Go start to discover something real in their feelings for one another.

See what I mean?  It’s like if Clueless included some incidental alien spaceships!  The first time I saw one of these movies, I had no idea they were like this, but they’re pretty much all completely off-the-wall.  Anyway, I’m under no delusions that this is a good movie.  However, the sheer audacity of the Martian angle does earn it a few extra points, simply for being so unexpected. 

Buster is involved in a sideplot with the aforementioned two-bit con men.  A pair of no-good grifters have designed on the millions Big Lunk’s aunt is rumored to have stashed in her house, and Buster is a lackey in their employ.  Naturally, he’s almost as hapless as his two bosses, and all manner of farcical misunderstandings get in the way of the scheme.

That side of it is perfectly fine, if not particularly interesting and definitely below Buster’s talents.  The trouble here (pictured above) is that Buster’s character, Chief Rotten Eagle, is meant to be a Native American.  I’m not sure how a film Buster was in in the ‘60s manages to be more racist than anything he made in the ‘20s (including The Paleface,) but it does.  Chief Rotten Eagle speaks in a tired caricature of “Indian speak,” and Buster wears redface to go along with the black braids of his wig.  Just unfortunate all around, and Buster’s more amusing moments in the film, such as a shot of him hiding inside a grandfather clock, can’t counteract the unpleasantness on display here.

Warnings

Racially-insensive humor and lots of suggestiveness.