They went that-a-way & that-a-way

by Ted Sparks

Vintage paperback

107 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Bart Gilbertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This evening, I got to be a kid again! When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I remember watching the 1978 movie, "They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way", starring Tim Conway and Chuck McCann. My memories of that movie have always been good, so I went out and found a copy of it. Also, not long after the movie was released came the Scholastic novelization of the film written by Ted Sparks based off of the story by Tim Conway. At that same age, I had checked it out of my local library and read it, and loved it. Since I now had a copy of the movie, I decided to complete the circle and find the book too ... which I did for a decent price on ebay. My Friday evening was set. I watched the movie, and then read the book - reliving my childhood.

As both the movie and book were taken in back-to-back, I guess this review is really for the both of them, even though Goodreads is primarily for books. I've always loved movies with Tim Conway, and he was up to his usual self in this film as well. The story is about two bumbling small town police officers who have nothing better to do than sit behind the same large billboard everyday and hope to snag a speedster who is daring enough to exceed the 25 MPH speed limit. When one finally zings by them, they take up pursuit, only to have the gas pedal get stuck inside their car, resulting in mayhem and a near town disaster. Anxious to get rid of them, the police chief sends them to the Governor for an undercover assignment on a prison farm to try and find out the location of stolen government funds that one of the prisoners there knows about. Only the two of them and the Governor know that they are inside. But, when the Governor dies, the two find themselves in a hopeless situation with the possibility of actually having to serve their entire 10 year sentence without the chance of getting out.

This was a very funny movie and equally entertaining book. Tim Conway as Dewey, and his partner Chuck McCann as Wallace, play off of each other very well...reminiscent of the old Laurel & Hardy comedy team. Even though it was not a Disney release, it felt like it in many ways. Richard Kiel (of James Bond fame as the villiain Jaws) plays the main baddie role with two sidekicks, and Dub Taylor plays the Boss Hog-like Warden at the prison. It is old school, tongue-in-cheek, slapstick humour that is good for all ages. Even though the book version of the story holds strong to the core of the movie, it has enough differences in it to make it worth reading with slight variations in situations and dialogue.

Both the movie and book were much more enjoyable to me as a kid, but it was fun dedicating my entire evening to revisiting them once again all these years later. I would have rated them both higher at 10 years old than I have today, but I would recommend them both to any lover of good, clean, fun humour. I have rated the movie over on IMDb with 6 stars out of 10, and the book here in Goodreads at 3 stars out of 5. I had a lot of fun being a kid again tonight. It was time well spent, and I'm going to sleep with a contented smile on my face.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two characters named Dewey and Wallace, they become undercover agents in a prison. They descise a bunch of different characters just to catch some people that have stolen valuables from a governor. They would always attempt to try to find them but always ran into the wrong person. As they try to find these thief's, Wallace's partner, Dewey keeps messing up there plans to try to catch this person, making rediculous mistakes.

One thing I liked about this book is that it had a lot of humor in it and way enjoyable to read.

One thing I disliked was how short it was.