Daddy-O

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Phil Sanderberg, a high-panted, smooth-crooning, truck-driving hepcat who his friends know as "Daddy-O", meets a blond bombshell when she tries to run his truck off the road. Guy meets girl again at a nightclub. They have a drag race. Meanwhile, the hepcat's best friend is run off the road by drug-dealing bad guys and dies in the crash. Though our hero is briefly accused of causing the accident that killed his best friend, he is quickly exonerated -- but with his driver's license suspended. Daddy-O turns detective and goes undercover at the bad guys' nightclub to find out who really caused his best friend's death. He poses as a singer at the nightclub, singing Rock Rock Candy Baby! and moonlights driving the drug smugglers' car. The blond girl wants to help him investigate, so she gets hired on as a cigarette girl, against our hero's wishes. Somehow or other, though they bicker constantly, the good guys manage to fall in love and solve the crime.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode see here


Tropes used in Daddy-O include:
  • Affably Evil: Sidney Chillis, who manages to stay level-headed no matter the situation... until his own considerable neck is on the line, that is.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension
  • Big Bad: Chillis
  • The Dragon: Bruce Green, the obnoxious gym manager with the extra-thick glasses he can't see without (though he can barely see with them). Becomes The Starscream when he tires of Chillis putting him down and decides to attempt a doublecross.
  • Evil vs. Evil: The competing drug dealers with whom Sonny got involved, resulting in his death; though they never actually cross paths with Chillis during the movie, they make their presence known to Phil.
  • The Fifties
  • Jerkass: Peg. A less likable love interest you'll be hard-put to find.
  • Notable Original Music: The music composed by John Williams. Yes, that John Williams! Rock Rock Candy Baby!
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In the opening scene, 'Daddy-O' is in his truck getting harrassed on the road by the blond bombshell 'heroine' (and future love interest). With him is a cute little pooch. However, after this scene, the dog's never seen, mentioned or heard from again.
    • The dog probably belonged to the person who Phil worked for. Phil himself didn't own the truck he was driving and of course gets fired after he loses his driver's license.