It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

For the Darkness song, see One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is a Canadian comedy film, directed by John Trent and released in 1975.^[1] One of John Candy's earliest films, he plays the minor role of investigating police officer Kopek. However, for marketing/publicity reasons, Candy appears on the cover of the DVD release. Candy and Lawrence Dane's characters Kopek and Broom eventually spun off their own film, Find the Lady.^[2]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
Movie cover
Directed by	John Trent
Screenplay by	David Main John Trent
Story by	Claude Harz John Trent
Produced by	David Perlmutter
Starring	Anthony Newley Stefanie Powers Isaac Hayes Lloyd Bochner Yvonne De Carlo
Cinematography	Harry Makin
Edited by	Tony Lower
Music by	William McCauley
Distributed by	Gemstone Entertainment
Release date	September 11, 1975 (1975-09-11)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

Plot

Sweeney is a playwright on a career decline. He spends much of his time wheedling money and beer out of his artistic friend Moriarty. One of his few highlights is weekly sex with his ex-wife Georgina. She is remarried to rich but vile construction developer Prince, but Sweeney and Georgina are still in love. Sweeney's escapades end with a fake kidnapping scam. This gets the attention of two inept police officers Broom and Kopek. These two end up dressed as garbage men in the chase scene finale and everything winds up with a happy ending.^[3]

Cast

• Anthony Newley as Sweeney
• Stefanie Powers as Georgina
• Isaac Hayes as Moriarty
• Lloyd Bochner as Burton
• Yvonne De Carlo as Julia
• Henry Ramer as Prince
• Lawrence Dane as Broom
• John Candy as Kopek
• Robert A. Silverman as Lawyer