Salt and Pepper (1968)

Shot during 1967's 'Summer of Love' and released the following year, Salt and Pepper (1968) is one of those star vehicle, 'swinging London', comedy thrillers that seemed to be so popular in the late sixties.  Headlined by Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford, it proved very popular upon its release. (popular enough to spawn a sequel, One More Time (1970)), yet seems to have been quickly forgotten - it certainly doesn't seem to get the airplay accorded some of its contemporaries, never seeming to turn up on nostalgia TV channels, for instance.  But, having recently seen the film, it is hard to see why.  All the ingredients are there: bantering superstar leads, sixties Soho setting, several decently staged action scenes, an intriguing plot premise and a supporting cast packed full of well-known British character actors.  On top of that, it clearly had a decent budget, reflected in the excellent production values, an occasionally witty and always clever script from Michael Pertwee and some assured and efficient direction from Richard Donner (taking charge of only his second feature film).  One of the film's most interesting features is that, rather than the usual focus on hippies, 'happenings', psychedelia and other 'swinging London' cliches, the film focuses on the Soho club scene for its background, with the eponymous club, run by Davis' Charles Salt and Lawford's Chris Pepper, seemingly catering to a far more middle class clientele.  Which was one of the nowadays often forgotten aspects of the real 'swinging sixties' - that it was largely a middle class phenomena, enjoyed primarily by those who could afford its trappings of drugs, dropping out and free love.

Indeed, Salt and Pepper themselves, played by Davis and Lawford as slight variations on their usual screen personas, pretty much embody the true face of 'swinging London': a pair of middle aged chancers who have seized upon the 'permissive society' as an opportunity to set up their nightclub, packed full of exotic dancers, groovy decor and 'modern' music and make some money.  The portrayal of Soho is also interesting.  Rather than the fantasy version packed full of hippies, mini-skirts, guys dressed like Sgt Pepper and colourful boutiques, Donner chooses instead to give us something closer to the actual Soho of 1967 - somewhat rundown, decidedly grimy and full of shops and stalls selling over priced sixties tat.  Which isn't to say that Salt and Pepper doesn't offer the viewers plenty of 'swinging sixties' trappings.  The central car chase, for instance, features Davis' yellow, customised, Mini-Moke being chased through Soho by the bad guys in a Mark Two Jaguar - various Ford Zephyrs and Vauxhalls get forced off the road or bashed into in the course of the chase.  It doesn't come much more sixties than that.  What the film catches best about the era is the way in which the modernity of the 'swinging sixties' co-existed, side-by-side, with more traditional British institutions: public schools, gentleman's clubs and the like all carry on as if nothing outside of them has changed.  Government ministers and senior policemen are all middle class and middle aged establishment figures, uniformly dressed in sober, conventional, suits.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, as they say.

Obviously, the central focus of the film - not to mention its raison d'etre - is the interplay between the two stars.  While this is, indeed, entertaining, to director Donner's credit, he never allows the wise cracking to overwhelm the plot, allowing a fairly complicated plot to unfold at the same time.  That said, the nature of the plot and the sometimes surprisingly hard-edged action scenes do frequently jar with the jokiness of the stars and the various comedic antics of their police nemesis, Inspector Crabbe.  In places the film is surprisingly violent, with a very high body count.  The plot itself, which sees the two club owners unwittingly stumbling into an attempt to overthrow the British government in an armed coup, involving nuclear blackmail, also touches on surprisingly serious subject matter for this sort of film.  (Their involvement is instigated by the dying words of a stabbed girl found in Davis' apartment - an apparent reference to The Thirty Nine Steps).  Which is perhaps the film's main flaw - it can never quite settle down to be one thing or another, seemingly undecided as to whether it wants to parody the whole spy genre, (Davis' Mini-Moke, with all its 007-style gadgets, none of which quite works as it should, suggests parody), or to present a serious thriller with comedic elements, (as the various murders and violent fights suggest).  There are times when the elements feel like an uneasy fit.  Nevertheless, Donner drives it all along at a good pace, which helps distract from its absurdities, moving smoothly from one set-piece to the next.  He also handles the script's various pieces of misdirection, designed to keep the audience guessing as to what's really going on, with aplomb - for a fair amount of the running time, like the main characters, the viewer can't be entirely clear as to who is working for who and exactly who the good guys are - is the government behind whatever is going on, or is it a third party?

The film is very much of its time.  Sexism and misogyny abound and there are, inevitably in view of Davis' presence, a fair number of 'race' gags.  Although, with regard to the latter, it has to be said that Sammy Davis generally comes out on top in these.  There's also a fair amount of humour derived from Davis' misunderstanding of various English colloquialisms, in particular the use of the term 'Fag' when he and Lawford visit the latter's old school.  In a refreshing break from the usual portrayals of the police in British films of this era, the cops on display here are not just incompetent, but bent as well, (some things never change, it seems).  By his own admission, Detective Inspector Crabbe is prepared to fabricate evidence and lie in the witness box in order to secure a conviction - he even has a whole network of unauthorised bugs set up across Soho, which are eventually used by Davis to feed him misinformation.  With regard to the coup plot, it is interesting to note that at the time the film was made, Harold Wilson's Labour government was in power, yet the government of the film are portrayed as the usual sort of establishment figures.  Nonetheless, one is left wondering whether Pertwee's script was in any way inspired by the various rumours of plots to stage military coups against Wilson, supposedly organised by dissident military leaders and right-wing businessmen, which swirled around his various ministries well into the seventies.   

The film looks good, from its not so glamourous Soho locations to Pepper's old school and a an impressive-looking military college where the coup is based and the film climaxes.  (The school sequences were actually filmed quite close to where I now live at Elvetham Hall, which I'm quite familiar with and is now a hotel).  The cast is first rate, even down to the minor roles, which, as noted, are all played by recognisable British character actors.  Crabbe is played with malevolent relish by Michael Bates, while Graham Stark portrays his hapless assistant.  John Le Mesurier is very effective as a black eye patch sporting villain, while Ernest Clarke turns up as a British intelligence chief who might, or might not, be trusted by our heroes.  Ivor Dean (Inspector Teale in The Saint TV series), is the Metropolitan Police Commissioner while Oliver MacGreevey, (one of British film's most notable 'heavies' in this era, with notable appearances in The Ipcress File (1965) and When Eight Bells Toll (1971)), portrays an assaasin, (with more dialogue than he usually got).  Robertson Hare also turns up as Pepper's former headmaster.  The whole film, though, rests on the performances of the leads, who deliver exactly the sorts of performances expected of them: Sammy Davis is all singing, all dancing, wise cracking and full of manic energy, while Lawford, as befits his image as an upper class smoothy,  spends his time womanising and looking louche.  But they do it all well and are enormously charismatic, their characters complementing each other perfectly.  

Ultimately, your enjoyment of Salt and Pepper will be very dependent upon whether you like Sammy Davis and Peter Lawford, (personally, I'm a big fan of Davis and have always felt Lawford somewhat underrated - he might have been something of a cut price David Niven, but he was a good cut price Niven).  It will also help if, like me, you are fascinated by Britain in the sixties, particularly the so called 'swinging sixties', as the picture serves up a magnificent slice of the era.  But it also of some interest to the film historian, representing Richard Donner's first attempt at the comedy-action-thriller formula he was eventually to perfect with the Lethal Weapon films.  Most of all, Salt and Pepper is a hugely likeable film, despite its unevenness of tone, it delivers as both comedy and thriller, carried along both by well staged action scenes and enjoyable performances from both stars and supporting cast.  Besides, how can anyone possibly dislike a film that casts dear old Robinson Hare as a right wing coup plotter?