Get to Know Your Rabbit

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Get to Know Your Rabbit is a 1972 American comedy film.

Corporate executive Donald Beeman, fed up with the rat race, impulsively quits his job and takes to the road as a traveling tap dancing magician under the tutelage of Mr. Delasandro. His former boss Mr. Turnbull, determined to convince him to return to his nine-to-five existence, chases after him as he performs his routine in seedy nightclubs and honky tonks, but instead the two create Tap Dancing Magicians, a course for pressured businessmen. When their little venture becomes one of the most successful corporations in the world, Donald ironically finds himself feeling the same way he did when he originally quit his job.

Get to Know Your Rabbit is a major departure from film director Brian De Palma's usual ouevre of suspense and obsession. Much of the comedy has its roots in the traditional British absurdist sense of humor associated with the likes of Monty Python and The Goon Show. Jordan Crittenden's screenplay is filled with oddball characters and bizarre situations, such as a bomber who is put on hold when he calls to announce his device will explode in six minutes, or a beautiful young woman who confesses to Donald her crush on the paper boy prompted her to prostitute herself so she could afford a newspaper subscription.

The cast includes Tom Smothers as Donald, John Astin as Turnbull, Orson Welles as Mr. Delasandro, and Katharine Ross as the nameless girl with a penchant for newsboys. Charles Lane, Allen Garfield, and Bob Einstein appear in small supporting roles.

De Palma completed the film in 1970 but it wasn't released by Warner Bros. until two years later. Uncertain how to market it, the studio did little to promote it and the movie quickly disappeared from theaters.

[edit] Reference

The De Palma Cut: The Films of America's Most Controversial Director by Laurent Bouzereau, published by Dembner Books, October 1988 (ISBN 0-94263704-6)