Money Talks
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Allen Funt
Allen Funt
Muhammad Ali
Henny Youngman
Ira Coslow
Juliet Funt
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
As in his Candid Camera television show, Allen Funt uses a hidden camera to record the reaction of people placed in bizarre situations, all of which, in this case, relate to money. In New York, Kansas City, Boston, Miami and Switzerland, bystanders are placed in unusual circumstances to determine how they will react. Various exploits include: A public pay-for-use bathroom is outfitted with a sign announcing that penalties will be charged for those staying longer than five minutes; a bowl of dollars with a sign stating "Take One" is placed on a busy city street, with most bystanders obeying the admonition; a man at a lunch counter salts his dollar bills and then eats them; a woman walks down a street, dropping money, and various people either steal or return the cash; a black young man declares that George Washington was black and should be represented as such on the dollar bill; a furrier is asked to fit a Great Dane for a mink coat; and an older woman, hired to answer phones at an expensive apartment building, finds herself fielding calls and quoting rates for Mafia hitmen. In other sequences, Funt interviews people directly, asking them such questions as why they are willing to live off their parents' money and why they panhandle. Boxer Muhammad Ali offers an unsuspecting delivery man boxing lessons in lieu of payment, while comedian Henny Youngman trades one-liner jokes in exchange for goods. Finally, when Allen asks his five-year-old daughter Juliet about the importance of money, she responds that "the most important thing in the whole wide world is heart."
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although copyright renewal records list If You Don't Like Your Father's Money, Why Do You Spend It? as an alternate title, no other source mentions this title. Allen Funt was the creator and longtime host of the radio, then television program Candid Camera, which began in the late 1940s and featured a hidden camera photographing real people responding to unusual or often bizarre situations.
In 1970, Funt had produced an X-rated feature film version of the show concentrating on sexual hijinks entitled What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? (see below). In response to that picture's box-office success, as noted in contemporary sources and press notes, Funt traveled to New York, Kansas City, Boston, Miami and Switzerland to cull footage for Money Talks. Press notes state that he spent about eighteen months filming the myriad scenarios.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1972
Released in United States 1972
