Rat Pfink a Boo Boo
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Rat Pfink a Boo Boo is a 1966 film directed by Ray Dennis Steckler and starring Carolyn Brandt.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the film -- beyond the low production values -- is a sudden switch in tone and plot that comes roughly forty minutes into the movie. As originally planned, the film was a straight-faced crime drama titled The Depraved, inspired by a series of obscene phone calls by which Steckler's ex-wife Carolyn was being harassed. During shooting, Steckler suddenly got the inspiration to make a parody of the campy Batman television series instead. As a result, in the middle of straight crime drama action, the star of the movie steps into the closet with a previously minor character and they emerge costumed as "Rat Pfink" and "Boo Boo", parodies of Batman and Robin.
Why the title is Rat Pfink a Boo Boo and not the more logical Rat Pfink and Boo Boo is the subject of speculation. According to legend, Rat Pfink and Boo Boo was indeed the intended title, but when the artist creating the titles made an error and rendered the "and" as "a", Steckler's budget would not stretch to the $50 needed to fix the mistake. According to Steckler, however, the choice of title was deliberate: "The real story is that my little girl, when we were shooting this one fight scene, kept chanting, 'Rat pfink a boo boo, rat pfink a boo boo ....' And that sounded great! But when I tell people the real story, they don't wanna hear it, so you better print the legend."
