User Reviews

'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' "Cheap is Cheap" (1959)

Opening thoughts: "Cheap is Cheap" is the second episode directed by Bretainge Windust, who only directed two episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. While far from great, actually had slightly above mixed feelings on it, his first episode "The Avon Emeralds" (also from Season 4) was decent. It was nice to have a non-regular director for a change, which the series did do a number of times with inconsistent success, and while a long way from one of the best directors for the series Windust didn't get enough of a chance.

Of his two episodes, "Cheap is Cheap" is the better one of the two. It is not great and has a few things wrong (similar to "The Avon Emeralds" but not as badly), but had a more interesting day and the tone was more focused. As well as having a more appealing premise that is executed quite well. As far as Season 4 goes, "Cheap is Cheap" is a long way from being one of the worst. It is also a long way from being one of the best, very solid middle with a lot of things done right.

Good things: The good things will be mentioned first. Dennis Day excels against type and carries the episode beautifully with full understanding of what his difficult role required. The rest of the acting is also fine, as is the chemistry between the two leads. Hitchcock's bookending is amusingly droll as usual.

Furthermore, the production values are slick and atmospheric, neither overblown or cheap. The theme music is still a classic. Enough of the story is intriguing and it does entertain. Really liked the tongue in cheek tone that never jarred with the premise, and the story is involving and not predictable, too silly or confusing. Windust's direction is a good deal more confident here too.

Bad things: What "The Avon Emeralds" did a lot better though was a much better ending. In that episode, it was the best thing about the story. Here it is the weak link, it just felt too abrupt and Hitchcock's epilogue for my tastes writing wise over-explains and wasn't necessary.

Pacing also isn't perfect, taking a little too long to get going.

Concluding thoughts: In conclusion, good effort.

7/10.

This is a classic, even if it's not that great. It's one of the shows I remember from my youth. It involves an incredibly cheap man played by Dennis Day (Jack Benny's sidekick and Irish tenor). He has amassed a small fortune for the time by making his wife live hand to mouth with him. The you know what hits the fan when in the process of cleaning, she finds a set of bank books with healthy accounts at several banks. She doesn't miss a beat. She begins to spend the money on the things he's deprived her of. She is also planning on divorcing him, knowing the courts will be sympathetic to her. All he can think about is the money. What to do? Of course, he decides that murder is the only solution. This leads to a series of events where he realizes that it will cost him money to do away with someone. He even tries to obtain some poison, but is too cheap to buy it. The delight is in the process and I won't ruin it for you. Dennis Day does a nice job of creating a sense of reverie. He reminded me of Ralphie in A Christmas Story as he longs for his Red Ryder BB Gun.

In the 1940s-50s, Dennis Day made his name as Jack Bennys' REALLY dopey friend and employee. He also made a name for himself singing on the radio. But the type person he plays in "Cheap is Cheap" is very unusual for him...and seems more like a part for Jack Benny since his shtick was playing a cheapskate.

Alexander (Day) is the biggest tightwad you could imagine. He and his wife have been living as if they are impoverished despite him having a good job. So, imagine her surprise when she discovers he has a small fortune socked away in several banks! The wife's reaction is to start spending lavishly on herself to make up for years of deprivations. What is Alexander to do? Well, kill her naturally! But how does a cheapskate go about handling this??

Although I loved the meeting in the park where the hitman talks about how the wife can be killed by beating her to death with a leg of lamb, I wasn't thrilled with the rest of the episode. Why was this meeting so funny? Because the hitman is talking about a TV show he saw....and the show was "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" where the wife used a frozen leg of lamb to off her hubby! But aside from that, the show was a letdown...mostly because the usual twist just isn't much and it's as if they had a great idea but didn't know what to do with it. Watchable but nothing more.

What makes this Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode special is that we all knew Dennis Day as a regular cast member on Jack Benny's show often complaining about how cheap Mr. Benny is yet in this episode we see Dennis Day portraying an incredibly cheap stingy man far worse than Jack Benny's comic persona.

Our two main characters are Alexander and Jennifer. The two are husband and wife. They got along for the most part but that's about to change when Jennifer's cleaning and comes across bank books that show Alexander's been building up quite a saving's nest. Jennifer's in the dark about these savings accounts and angry doesn't begin to describe her mood on how they'd been living. I'll be fair and say I see things from both points of view. It's nice to have savings built up for a rainy day or for the future. But it's also nice to splurge every now and again. Don't go through all the money, just spend a little for a vacation, buy something special, etc.

So you have problems really popping up now. Jennifer's gonna start living. Alexander is freaked about the idea of spending money. EVERYTHING boils down to money for this man. He considers divorce but decides against that thinking of all Jennifer would come away with if they divorced. Alexander decides death would be cheaper than divorce. But Alexander isn't considering how expensive death can be either...

Alexander puts his plan into motion by going to talk to somebody in prison that can hook him up with a hitman. The prisoner reacts negatively but the message must've gotten passed down anyway. Alexander is horrified once he hears how much it'll cost to hire a hitman. Alexander crosses that off his list.

He stumbles across food poisoning. He takes some bauchalism (sp?) samples from the guy he was talking to about food poisoning with and he slathers it on the food Jennifer's gonna eat. Jennifer ends up getting sick. The doctor is called over the next day and the doctor criticizes Alexander for not getting Jennifer examined faster. Alexander tosses out a crap reason when you know it boiled down to money more than anything. The doctor gives a mixed bag explanation on if he thought Jennifer would recover. Later on that night, Alexander is horrified when Jennifer starts to snore. It sounds like a healthy snore of somebody that's gonna pull through. Alexander can't have that and decides to finish the job on his own. He smothers Jennifer to death.

Alexander was having a brainfsart because he certainly wasn't considering the money Jennifer would be blowing through after she passed away. Just think of the money that will come out for her casket and funeral service! Even the cheap stuff is going to be too much for Alexander to stomach. But Alexander comes out with a way of coming out ahead. He donates Jennifer's body and is even given a little bit of money for her body. Alexander's pleased as can be he did all this without spending a penny!

Very enjoyable episode. I realize AHP leaned towards being a serious show but it's still nice to see episodes like this one and Bull in a China Shop that had some comedic angles to them.

Can't miss this one, especially for the likes of Dennis Day. Written by Albert Lewin and Burt Styler, who both did a ton of classic sitcoms.

This is obviously a dark comedy take-off on comedian Jack Benny, who played Day's cheap boss on radio and tv for years. Now Dennis Day, in an outrageous turn around, is the tightwad and with even more hilarious results.

Day portrays Alexander, who along with his frustrated wife, Jennifer (best played by Alice Backes) live as though they were penniless. Then one day... Jennifer discovers her crafty hubby has neatly tucked away over $33,000 dollars, over 300,000 bucks today!

She decides to do something about, and spend a little on herself. How dare she! Now Alexander is thinking murder --but it proves to be expensive? And what about her funeral? That costs money, too!

Everything comes with a price tag, and Alexander is fit to be tied. Now what?

An excellent tale, and really not that far from the truth, considering many offbeat stories of assorted people who lived a miserly existence only to leave a fortune behind. If you're a series fan, the story is reminscent of the Jo Van Fleet/Oscar Homalka episode where the husband was also a tightwad, though having found money instead.

Look for Gage Clark playing a doctor. Gage was a very popular actor in the 50s and 60s, playing a wide variety of professional roles. Alice Backes is perfect as Day's wife. She played scores of secretaries, librarians and the like, replete with wisecracks. Always fun to watch.

A real treat from start to finish. SEASON 4 EPISODE 26 remastered dvd box set. 5 dvd set. Released 2008.