Viva Max Today

Stream it for Ustinov’s performance. Stay for the strange, uncomfortable feeling that the joke is still on us. Note on availability: Viva Max! is currently available on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection and occasionally surfaces on streaming services like Amazon Prime or Tubi.

The answer, according to the film’s box office receipts: audiences would rather watch Neil Armstrong take one small step than watch Peter Ustinov take one very silly one. Viva Max

Director Jerry Paris, best known for directing The Dick Van Dyke Show , treats the material like a protracted sitcom. The film never quite decides if it wants to be a slapstick comedy, a satire of American jingoism, or a buddy movie between Max and his American captors. It’s that tonal wobble that likely killed it in 1969. Viva Max! was released on July 23, 1969 — four days after the moon landing. But the bigger problem was the cultural mood. The Tet Offensive was a recent memory. The nation was polarized over Vietnam. The last thing a war-weary, flag-pin public wanted to watch was a comedy that suggested the Alamo—a sacred site of Texan martyrdom—was actually a silly piece of real estate worth surrendering for a pair of boots. Stream it for Ustinov’s performance