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starring: Tom Smothers, John Astin, Katharine Ross, Orson Welles, Susanne Zenordirected by: Brian De Palma
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302772739
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6302772737
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: April 21, 1994
Running Time: 91 minutes
Sales Rank: 41523
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1972-06
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Unavailable in any home-video format for years, Get to Know Your Rabbit is ripe for rediscovery as one of Brian De Palma's earliest and most entertaining films. Filmed in 1970 after De Palma's previous indie-films Greetings (1968) and Hi Mom! (1970), then held in limbo and only barely released in 1972, this countercultural comedy is fueled by the same irreverent, anti-establishment attitude that made Easy Rider so phenomenally popular. It's as freshly relevant as ever, with the same quality of whimsical absurdity that you'll find in similar comedies of the time like Norman Lear's Cold Turkey (1971), another memorable gem that's due for rediscovery. Before finding his niche in Hitchcockian thrillers, De Palma was aiming for something more comedically subversive (as a result, this film suffered from studio tinkering to make it more commercially appealing), but he still managed to capture just the right combination of satire and slapstick in telling the tale of Donald Beeman (a perfect role for Tommy Smothers), a corporate drone who quits his well-paying job and reinvents himself as a tap-dancing magician with the help of an aging illusionist played (in a sloshed parody of himself) by Orson Welles. As ridiculous as it seems, Beeman's new life suits him just fine while his former boss (hilariously played by TV's Addams Family star John Astin) recovers from a precipitous downfall and turns tap-dancing magic acts into a self-help cottage industry! With a bevy of familiar costars including character actor Allen Garfield and a young, cheerful Katharine Ross (then on the verge of stardom, and appropriately billed as 'A Really Terrific Looking Girl'), Get to Know Your Rabbit meanders amiably on its merry way, scoring as many comedic misses as hits as Beeman finds the life he's looking for, but it's got a timeless charm that anyone can relate to... even De Palma's latter-day fans. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - BRIAN DE PALMA and magic
I was a kid magician, then a teen magician (utterly deadly in the late sixties--doug henning had not yet liberated magic nor had geekiness turned chic) and I was a total fan of the Smothers Brothers (it was the hippest show on television, and is still too politically subversive to be shown in it's entirety) and I was a huge fan of Orson Welles (who was also a kid magician, he once went by the stage name "The Great Delassandro" which is, quite intentionally, his name in this movie.
I ... Read More
Rating: - The beginnings of a great filmmaker
Even if it's not the first Brian De Palma's film (The Wedding Party, Hi, Mom! and Dyonnisos 69 were made before), is the first one for a major. And it shows the influences both of the Nouvelle Vague school (De Palma always was a hugue fan of Jean-Luc Godard's work) and the best american filmmakers (Hitchcock, of course, but Welles, Hawks and the animation geniuses on the Warner's Golden Era). Get To Know Your Rabbit is a witty, well made, political and social comedy, with a lot of fun and a precise ... Read More
Rating:  - Very funny movie
I really liked this movie, but I do have to admit it's not for everyone's tastes. I was a huge Smothers Brothers fan growing up, and I was able to rent this movie from the video store. The film was actually made in 1969 but put on the shelf for three years before it was finally released. I think this is also Brian De Palma's directorial debut. And I do have to agree, the John Astin part is hilarious!
Rating: - I'm not alone
I got 3/4 of this movie late one night and never forgot it. The scene with John Astin in the hotel setting up his exec doodahs is priceless!
Rating: - Orson Wells and Tommy Smothers -- you simply should see it.
This decades old movie centers around the currently fashionable '99 trend towards voluntary simplicity in lifestyle. It made a huge impression on me when I first saw it at the Orson Wells Cinema in Cambridge, MA, back in the '70's. I told people it was the best movie I'd ever seen, and I tried to find it again. Finally, two decades later, I saw it was playing in Venice CA! --- it seemed somewhat dated, not "the best movie I'd ever seen" but it is unique, a classic, and simply should be experienced.
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