The burly, gravel-voiced Reed enjoys a key role in this Damon Runyon-flavored comedy. He plays Big Dan Hennessy, a big-time gangster in 1920s Chicago who is targeted for assassination by underworld enemies who want to take over his network of illegal speakeasies and gambling halls. It is Big Dan who has the "last laugh" and who continues to influence the plot even after his presence passes from the film.
He Laughed Last was the second outing by Edwards as writer-director. Its star is singer Frankie Laine, who had originally purchased the screen rights to the original story by Edwards and Richard Quine. Laine, cast as a tough-but-lovable nightclub manager, relates the story in flashback. It seems that Big Dan, who delights in being a prankster, has left his entire estate to a pretty chorus girl (Lucy Marlow). He survives being gunned down on the street but, in his hospital room, is so delighted by having outwitted his foes that he literally laughs himself to death.
The rest of the film deals with Marlow's on-again, off-again romance with a policeman (Richard Long), and the efforts of Big Dan's rivals to regain control of his empire. And, if Big Dan is truly dead, who is the mysterious figure who steps in at the last moment to save the day?
Reed (1907-1977) was born Teddy Bergman in New York City and was an announcer in the early days of radio. Becoming one of the busiest voices in the blossoming medium, he used his real name for comedy roles on programs such as "The Eddie Cantor Show" and chose the name Alan Reed for more serious work on such dramatic shows as "The Shadow." He gained fame by playing Falstaff Openshaw on "The Fred Allen Show," Pasquale on "Life With Luigi" and Mr. Clyde on "My Friend Irma." In "Duffy's Tavern," he played Clancy the Cop on radio and Finnegan on television, where he enjoyed numerous other roles.
Reed entered the film industry by narrating a silent-film compilation, Chase Me Charlie (1932). He was third-billed in Days of Glory (1944), which marked Gregory Peck's film debut; and played Pancho Villa in Viva Zapata! (1952), starring Marlon Brando. Other well-known titles in his filmography include The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Desperate Hours (1955), Marjorie Morningstar (1958) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).
Reed undoubtedly will be best-remembered for his long run as Fred Flintstone in the prime-time TV series The Flintstones and its various offshoots. For this beloved character he thought up and introduced the now-familiar catchphrase "Yabba dabba doo!"
Producer: Jonie Taps
Director: Blake Edwards
Screenplay: Blake Edwards, from story by Edwards and Richard Quine
Cinematography: Henry Freulich
Art Direction: Walter Holscher
Original Music: Arthur Morton
Editing: Jack Ogilvie
Cast: Frankie Laine (Gino Lupo), Lucy Marlow (Rosemary Lebeau), Anthony Dexter (Dominic), Richard Long (Jimmy Murphy), Alan Reed (Big Dan Hennessy), Jesse White (Max Lassiter).
C-74m.
by Roger Fristoe
