Second Banana Oil

Eight on the Lam offers Bob Hope the ultimate insult: it assumes that he needs comic relief. As a meekling bank teller, Bob finds himself unjustly accused of rifling the tills and takes to the hills with his seven momless moppets and their inevitable mongrel. A fair enough premise for a one-man vehicle, but Hope is almost lost in a cast of characters that includes a slopstick baby sitter (Phyllis Diller) and her detective boy friend (Jonathan Winters), mouthing a script that contains relentless japes about little boys' bladders and big girls' figures.

Hope does his best to get something risible visible, but halfway through he drowns in second banana oil. Winters' country-cozen dialect is familiar, and Phyllis Diller attacks her customary fright-wig role with the comic appeal of a black-widow spider putting away a fly. The kids are selfconscious, lending the film the aura of a mass-produced TV situation comedy. All that is missing is the commercials--and the energetic plugs for name-brand cereals and soaps more than compensate.

Before another Lam is led to slaughter, it might be wise for Bob Hope to try another production firm. This--the 52nd film he has starred in--was churned out by Hope Enterprises, a family affair. For comedians, it's sometimes better to do business with strangers.

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