“Cowboy oonderwear”
Mischa Lowzoff (Michael Terr) is a Russian agent charged with a secret mission. Marshall Malout (Arch Hall Sr.) is his contact on the Russian submarine. Mischa’s mission is to take a rabbit that is carrying a deadly virus and release it in the area of the continental divide. When the virus is released it will kill Americans on both sides of the divide.
Mischa has reservations at the Killdeer Ranch owned by a man named Gavin (Hal Bokar) and his daughter Jackie (Sharon Ryker). The Ranch is not far from the divide.
There are a bevy of other spies spying on Lowzoff and trying to kill him and get their hands on the pernicious bacteria bunny. They are: a Naziesque Heinrich Krueger (Hal Bizzy) from West Germany, Cecelia Solomon (Liz Renay), a Russian style Natasha who ends up being from Britain, Maxwell Stoppie (Jack Little), a midget from Isreal, Pancho Gonzales (Ray Vegas) from Mexico and Colonel Kobayashi (John Akana) a Japanese who can’t sit in a tree for more than five minutes.
Into this stew of mush comes Agent Y (really why?) AKA Britt Hunter (Arch Hall Jr.) Britt is an FBI agent who is under cover as a rock and roll star.
Mischa’s mission ends up in jeopardy when he loses the rabbit.
“The Nasty Rabbit” AKA “Spies A-Go-Go” was released in 1964 and was directed by James Landis. (No relation as far as I know.) It is advertised as a comedy/spy movie. It’s very slapstick and over the top with racial stereotypes. It seems to be Arch Hill’s attempt at a comedy spy thriller.
Some people think that there are some obscure films that should probably stay obscure. “The Nasty Rabbit” is probably one of those that they would point to as exhibit A. Any movie that features Arch Hall Sr. and Arch Hall Jr. is going to be suspect from the start. Sometimes I think Arch Hall movies are made as an opportunity for Arch Hall Jr. to sing and play guitar along with this group The Archers.
Richard Kiel has a very small part. The best actors in the film are Kiel and the dog. The rabbit comes in third.
I’m a little sketchy on how the bacteria are supposed to kill everyone. I think the vial the rabbit wears around its neck is on a time thing and when the time is up the bacteria releases and uses the rabbit as a host. The rabbit then mates with other rabbits and the bacteria are then spread from rabbit to rabbit and then infect people. Or something like that. It’s as good an explanation of the plot as anything else.
The movie is basically bad. I would only recommend it for Arch Hall Jr. fans (yes, there are some out there) and those that like racist humor.