Don't Drink the Water (1969 film)
Encyclopedia
Don't Drink the Water is a 1969 comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 starring Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...

 and directed by Howard Morris
Howard Morris
Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...

. It was based upon a 1966 play of the same name
Don't Drink the Water (play)
Don't Drink the Water is a play written by Woody Allen that premiered on Broadway on November 17, 1966 and played for 598 performances at three different Broadway theaters. The farce takes place inside an American Embassy behind the Iron Curtain...

 by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

, who hated this version. In 1994 he remade
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...

 Water for television, with himself in the Gleason role. The supporting cast includes Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...

 and Ted Bessell
Ted Bessell
Ted Bessell was an American television actor and director.-Early career:Born in Flushing, New York, Bessell grew up in Manhasset on Long Island, New York. He was originally gearing up for a career as a classical musician...

.

Plot

Walter Hollander, a caterer, is on vacation with his wife Marion and daughter Susan. Upon arriving in the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

 country of Vulgaria, they go for an unauthorized stroll so Walter can indulge in his hobby, photography. This leads to his being suspected as a spy by Krojack, the chief of Vulgaria's secret police.

The Hollanders take refuge in the U.S. Embassy nearby. The ambassador is away, leaving only his inept son Axel Magee to grant the Hollanders political asylum. Picketers protest outside the embassy as everyone tries to figure a way out. Walter and Marion even don a sultan's robes and attempt to sneak out with his party, but complicating matters further is that Susan has fallen in love with Axel.

Cast

Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...

... Walter Hollander

Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...

... Marion Hollander

Ted Bessell
Ted Bessell
Ted Bessell was an American television actor and director.-Early career:Born in Flushing, New York, Bessell grew up in Manhasset on Long Island, New York. He was originally gearing up for a career as a classical musician...

... Axel Magee

Joan Delaney ... Susan Hollander

Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine is a Greek American actor.He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos , in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially...

... Commissar Krojack

Howard St. John
Howard St. John
Howard St. John was a Chicago-born character actor who specialized in unsympathetic roles. His work spanned Broadway, film and television...

... Ambassador Magee

Danny Meehan ... Kilroy

Richard Libertini
Richard Libertini
Richard Libertini is an American stage, film and television actor known for playing numerous character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents....

... Father Drobney

Pierre Olaf ... Chef

Avery Schreiber
Avery Schreiber
Avery Lawrence Schreiber was an American comedian and actor. He was a veteran of stage, TV, and film.-Biography:...

... Sultan

Mark Gordon ... Mirik

Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds was a Jewish-American Hollywood character actor. Leeds' bulging eyes, rubbery face and wizened features made him a distinctive presence.-Biography:...

... Sam Blackwell


The film was produced by Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins
Jack Rollins
Jack Rollins may refer to:* Jack Rollins , long-time producer of Woody Allen's films* Walter E. Rollins , American songwriter, nicknamed "Jack"...

 for Avco Embassy Pictures.

External links

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