Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
Gene Wilder is at the peak of his charm in this genial, understated character comedy that won the heart of many a counterculture viewer in the early '70s, but still remains largely unknown. As Quackser Fortune, the Irish eccentric who clings to an anachronistic existence scooping up horse manure and selling it to Dublin garden owners for pocket change, Wilder climbs so deeply into character that all traces of the actor (and memories of his hyper-neurotic presence in other roles) disappear; this is his most mature and finely felt screen work to date. Director Waris Hussein seldom reaches for laugh-out-loud humor; instead, he pulls little flyspecks of sympathetic amusement from Quackser's behavior and speech patterns. More broadly, Hussein also strives, with triumphant success, for a lingering, satisfying glow -- capped by the film's uplifting individualist spirit and its unexpectedly joyous denouement. On the negative end: as shot by
Gilbert Taylor, the film suffers from a hideous aesthetic. Dublin may not be Aruba, but it still never looked so ghastly; mud and soot hang thick in the air throughout the film, and the palette consists mostly of grays, browns, and washed-out colors. Moreover, the film's poorly lit, slightly blurry exteriors and interiors suggest a shoddy production and a miniscule budget. (This may, in part, be attributable to the execrable VHS and DVD transfers of the film.) Luckily, these weaknesses cannot suppress the film's contagious inner vitality and its thoroughly winning central character. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide