''Whiffs'' is a 1975

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Ted Post Theodore Ian Post (March 31, 1918 – August 20, 2013) was an American director of film and television. Highly prolific, Post directed numerous episodes of well-known television series including '' Rawhide'', ''Gunsmoke'', and ''The Twilight Zo ...

and starring

Elliott Gould Elliott Gould (; né Goldstein; born August 29, 1938) is an American actor. Gould's breakthrough role was in the film ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The ...

Eddie Albert Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Albert made his actin ...

Harry Guardino Harold Vincent Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American actor whose career ran from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Biography Guardino was born on December 23, 1925 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised ...

Godfrey Cambridge Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 – November 29, 1976) was an American stand-up comic and actor. Alongside Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, and Nipsey Russell, he was acclaimed by ''Time'' in 1965 as "one of the country's foremost cel ...

, and

Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress. Born in Brazil, and moving to the United States as an infant, she first came to prominence as a teenaged model (person), model, and for he ...

. It was produced by

Brut Productions Brut Productions was a film production company that was an offshoot of Fabergé cosmetics under George Barrie. History Barrie began considering becoming involved in film production when producer Mike Frankovich asked Fabergé to create a mock ad ...

and released theatrically in the U.S. by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

. The film was released in the UK as ''C.A.S.H.''

Plot

A group of gullible military private volunteers to be the subject of numerous military biological and chemical weaponry experiments, and later robs banks as a result.

Cast

as Dudley Frapper *

as Colonel Lockyer *

as Chops Mulligan *

as Dusty *

as Lt. Scottie Hallam *

Don "Red" Barry Don Barry ( Milton Poimboeuf; January 11, 1910 – July 17, 1980), also known as Red Barry, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film '' Adv ...

as Sgt. Post *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

as State Trooper *

Richard Masur Richard Masur (born November 20, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on '' One ...

as Lockyer's Aide *

Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...

as Dr. Gopian * Jack Colley performing the stunt piloting maneuvers

Production

Development

The film was made by

, a short lived film production company that was an off-shoot of Faberge Cosmetics under George Barrie. Their early films included '' Night Watch'', '' Welcome to Arrow Beach'', '' A Touch of Class'' and '' Count Your Bullets''. In June 1974 Barrie announced he would turn producer with ''Whiffs'' based on an original story and script by Malcolm Mamorstein, with Ted Post to direct. "It's a comedy-satire about a young man, an expert on testing gases, who winds up using all that knowledge for other purposes," said Barrie.

Casting

Marmorstein later recalled, "George Barrie knew that I had done ''

S*P*Y*S ''S*P*Y*S'' is a 1974 American spy comedy film directed by Irvin Kershner, and starring Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Zouzou. It was screened at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, but it was not entered into the main competition. The fi ...

'' and was looking for someone with a comedic touch, so he suggested Elliott Gould." Elliott Gould insisted his then-girlfriend Jennifer O'Neill play the female lead. “We really didn't want to hire her,” said Marmorstein, “because we thought, what if their romance breaks up in the middle of the film?... We had good choices or her part Everybody wanted to play it, but Gould wanted her.”” "I thought I was gonna marry Jennifer,” Gould said later. “Since I couldn’t, I thought that she’d be perfect to be my nurse n “Whiffs.”

Teri Garr Terry Ann Garr (December 11, 1944 – October 29, 2024), known as Teri Garr, was an American actress. Known for her comedic roles in film and television in the 1970s and 1980s, she often played women struggling to cope with the life-changing ex ...

was up for the part. I needed a funny girl. But I wanted to be loyal to the beautiful, amazing person that Jennifer is...” She signed in August 1974.

Filming

Parts of the film were shot in Dugway, Stockton and Tooele, Utah. Gould and O'Neill broke up during filming. “I physically got in between them, stuff like that,” said Marmorstein. Jennifer O’Neill was not much of an actress at the time, and it was tough." Marmorstein said "

was a very amiable guy. Except he had no idea how to shoot comedy. Also, he was too in love with zoom lenses, which is fine for TV. I conspired with the director of photography to switch to a prime lens each time Ted was ready for a new setup. For his first shot, he chose a huge, complex, all-encompassing shot that put us days behind schedule.” The film was going to be made for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

but ended up being released by 20th Century Fox. However, film ownership eventually went to Warner Bros. through Turner Entertainment Co.

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

released the film on 2013 through the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

Reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' wrote, in reference to the story line of Elliott Gould's character behaving like a chimpanzee because he breathed in an experimental chemical, "The scriptwriter must have taken a good whiff of the gas himself each time he sat down at his typewriter." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "as funny as a fire at an old folk's home." "That picture didn't work," said Gould. "They went with the obvious comedy." In 1976 he said the film featured his least favourite performance.'I just wanted people to listen to me ...': Positive talkathon Different directors By David Sterritt. The Christian Science Monitor 24 June 1976: 30.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Ted Post 1975 films 1970s crime comedy films 1970s heist films 1970s satirical films 20th Century Fox films American crime comedy films American heist films American satirical films Films about bank robbery Films directed by Ted Post Films scored by John Cameron (musician) Films shot in Utah Films with screenplays by Malcolm Marmorstein Military comedy films 1975 comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language crime comedy films