Go Bananas with the wackiest What Changed Charley Farthing? (also known as The Bananas Boat), is a 1974 British comedy film, directed by Sidney Hayers. It was filmed on location in Aguilas, Spain, which filled in for Havana. During filming on a ship in the bay, Lionel Jeffries dove into the water and went for a swim. He had swum several hundred feet from the ship when those on board noticed a motor boat approaching at high speed. As those on deck waved frantically at the boat, trying to warn of Jeffries’ presence in the water, those on the speeding boat thought they were just being friendly and waved back, oblivious to the actor bobbing in the water. They missed running him over by a mere few feet.

What Changed Charley Farthing stars Doug McClure as a wayfaring sailor stopping over in Havana. In the tradition of The African Queen, the sailor becomes a reluctant hero when he is hired to give safe passage out of Cuba to a young woman (Hayley Mills) and her father (Lionel Jeffries). This involves stealing a boat, ducking the authorities, and avoiding bullets. David Pursall and Jack Seddon adapted the screenplay from a novel by Mark Hebdon. What Changed Charley Farthing has been run repeatedly on American television under its alternate title The Bananas Boat.


Release Date: January 1976

Distrib: Stirling Gold