Who Wants to Kill Jessie?

Like that of Oldřich Lipský’s comparably “different” Happy End, the initial premise of Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is amazing. However, its elaboration in the form of a feature-length film is lame. The lengthy exposition provides sufficient space to think about what this nonsense with a machine for materialising dreams is actually about. The rest of the story comprises a somewhat chaotic hunt for and then somewhat drastic elimination of the dreams. It’s not very stimulating, even at eighty minutes. The funnier side of the matter consists in the acting and the probable source of inspiration for Macourek, Vorlíček and Saudek – American comic books were unavailable to them, but Joe Shuster, creator of Superman, liked to use the motif of (S&M) whipping in his “side project” for adults. Could the film’s creators have chosen a better, and better looking, actress for the role of Jessie than Dana Medřická, the embodiment  of the dullness of communist ideology? And a more diabolical comic-book villain could have been found. (Judging by appearance, Jiří Sovák with anti-gravity gloves and a mad-scientist haircut comes to mind, but by his nature, he is a generally likable character who just wants to escape from the stultifying socialist routine.) Deliverance from the greyness of everyday life fittingly (and provocatively) comes in the form of materialisation of the American Dream. ___ The adjective “unique” belongs to the film’s technical level at the place and time of its creation. It was filmed in CinemaScope format and in black-and-white to make the effects feasible, which doesn’t hurt anything; on the contrary, black-and-white distinguishes Who Wants to Kill Jessie? from the colourful comic-book movies from overseas (where a remake was even supposed to be made, but then came the events of 1968). There could have been more jokes based on the enrichment of the two-dimensional world with a third dimension, but I still had the impression that I was watching a film that was destined to be made a few decades later. In short, Vorlíček was ahead of his time, so he can be forgiven for this film’s weak storytelling. 80% (07/18/2012)

The motto of this film is Kája Saudek, beautiful Olga Schoberová, and of course humor. I'm not even talking about the connection with comics because it is really excellent, just like the wacky sci-fi plot with the incredible Dana Medřická and the perfectly dull Sovák, who has a nice character development. Menšík is excellently playing a small role as usual. It's a great Czech film that is no longer made. (11/21/2014)

The way it throws you into the plot and the preparatory manoeuvres it uses to unpack, even considering the high ambitions of the original story, are considerably lacking, but as a whole Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is an incredibly successful whirlwind of now iconic scenes and crazy twists, whose strong anti-communist subtext is better not talk about at all and just enjoy the heap of creatively filmed and ethereally acted entertainment. The actors are another gem, and apart from the imaginative direction and script, they are the best part of the film. Although the role of Jessie was played by the beautiful and sensibly dressed Olga Schoberová, the main attention is drawn to the golden duo of Sovák-Menšík, in whose performance even the most mediocre jokes sound absolutely unforgettable, not to mention the above-average ones, of which there are many. One of the highlights of Czech comedy, the level of which could not be reached in a different time and especially with a different crew. 85% (05/30/2014)

This has aged terribly... if it indeed actually ever worked. Today, only the incompatible pseudo-reality of the Czechoslovak year 1966 and naive comics remains. What's more, there is no color and that fact is not saved by the exits to Chuchle or even Olinka's breasts peeking out... much less the Slovak Superman. What could have improved its reputation would have been a great book from Kája Saudek's materials, but that also failed. Poor Jessie. (03/04/2009)