To be honest, I’m not much of a Bob Hope fan, but this movie convinced me that I should be more open to his work. “Bachelor in Paradise” is a another great recommendation from that “California Tiki” book that I finished last month, I think it’s the last on the list of movies I was interested in checking out. There’s not much actual Pop Tiki stuff going on here, save for one scene where our two main stars go to a tiki bar to settle their differences.
The primary focus for tiki interested people actually isn’t the bar, but the titular “Paradise” that Bob Hope’s Bachelor finds himself in, ostensibly to write a book about the lives of Americans. It turns out to be so much more and there are some fantastic hijinx in the third act. Want to see what kind of lives vets were living with their families after World War 2 or the Korean War? This is a good one to watch to see the pop up residential projects, how modern technology was used to pull them in, how that tech ultimately was mostly just trash, and how completely unfulfilling and empty everyone’s lives ended up being while in the rat race.
Gray Flannel Suits, indeed.
Best line of the movie:
“I don’t care if he loses his head, even if he does have a spare”
