American Film Comedy

Stranger than Paradise

2008-07-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Stranger than Paradise
Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film, Stranger than Paradise, is most definitely my favorite film viewed in this class. The film has been regarded as unconventional or belonging to a personal taste which I can easily see. Not much happens in the plot, in the camera movement, nor in the score. There is no exciting car chase, no sex, no twists.
Yet, the film has the minimalist cinematography, intriguing characters, and ‘main man’ Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The cinematography works like postcards. Each scene is separated by black titles making the movie feel like a collection of postcards sent from a friend. Nothing much happens, but they feel honest. I wouldn’t believe that Willy or Eddie would have lived an exciting life and they certainly don’t.
The characters are searching for something just like the crews from Kerouac’s On the Road. Each place they arrive, they don’t find the paradise they were looking for. Instead they find dull, ugly, looking places with bad weather. Still, Willy does not stop and makes the bold decision to keep searching. Whatever that is.
Willy. Eddie. Eva. These three characters help us do the search in subtlety. Stranger than Paradise came out at a time when people were fascinated with effects and blockbuster films. Today, mainstream films continue to do so in a much bigger scale. Perhaps movies do not have to overload our brains constantly to bring a reaction. These three characters brought a reaction from me, and their lives were sorta boring.

The Apartment

2008-07-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt. The Apartment isn't just my favorite movie we watched in class, it's one of my absolute favorite films ever made, hands down. It's the definitive statement on the nice guy winning over the girl who usually goes for all the jerks, and C.C. Baxter is the ultimate nice guy. I watched it again for the first time in years recently, and once again I was just absorbed. Certainly it's because I've been in Baxter's place before (not so much with the letting the guys use my house for various trysts, but the nice guy stuff), and I'm a romantic at heart, as unpopular or unrealistic as that may be.

What makes the film for me are the weird little things, like how Baxter relentlessly finds ways to distract Miss Kubelik from her troubles with a game of cards or dinner, and somehow makes it a selfless act. Or how the doctor gives Baxter advice on an area of his life that is only an illusion, but ends up being the key to his growth as a person. In screenwriting class, we learned that a character in every film has to grow, and so on and so forth. While I don't agree with that statement (there are lots of great films made over the years in which the character doesn't grow at all), I've never seen it done as effortlessly as in The Apartment.

And Miss Kubelik...Roger Ebert and Kim Morgan have written two of the finest dissertations of her character.

Roger first...

What is particularly good about [Shirley MacLaine's] Miss Kubelik is the way she doesn't make her a ditzy dame who falls for a smooth talker, but suggests a young woman who has been lied to before, who has a good heart but finite patience, who is prepared to make the necessary compromises to be the next Mrs. Sheldrake.

Then Kim Morgan...

What's intriguing about this depiction is how darkly but ultimately non-judgmentally Fran's character is drawn. She makes some bad choices (as do many ladies working for him), but clearly it's tough for the lower-rung working girl, especially if she actually finds herself in love.

Ultimately, MacLaine's performance often comes off a tad flat, but she is supposed to play defeated quite a bit, and there is a noticeable light in her eyes around Baxter that we never see around Sheldrake, the married man she runs around with - just a quiet resignation that she's stuck in love with him. Brilliant undertones for a film to have.

Waters

2008-07-03T00:28:00.000-07:00

Sex, sex, sex.

2008-07-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

I like Woody Allen just as much as the next person. I love Sleeper, I love Zelig, and Annie Hall and Manhattan are brilliant. As for his later work, I feel as though he fails in attempts to be too serious. (Match Point was unwatchable, in my opinion. Lots of bad acting. His casting choices often make no sense to me at all.) Woody suffers from having become somewhat of a cliché, and since he makes a movie almost every year, we know more or less what to expect from a Woody Allen flick, and it’s rare that he surprises us anymore. This is how I’ve felt about him for a little while now, until I saw Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex…

Woody is a comedian. He’s a brilliant comedic writer, and we forget this about him when he attempts to be a “serious filmmaker,” but satire is what he is good at, and in my opinion, he should stick to it, because he doesn’t get much funnier than in this film. He takes a subject everyone is familiar with, a subject that he loves – sex – and looks at it from a variety of extremely absurd angles, whether it be the life of a sperm, a love affair with a sheep, or a giant tit bouncing through a field. His point? We all may be different, but we can all relate to the awkwardness of sex. Sex is funny and bizarre, and we forget that sometimes. (At least that's what I took from it.) Woody also craftfully displays his familiarity with many different genres and styles of film and television, from Italian art cinema to the TV game show.

This was without a doubt one of the films that helped establish Allen as one of the definitive filmmakers of the '70s - he adapted it loosely from a popular book at the time and cast a large number of popular actors of the time (several of them unexpected - Burt Reynolds and Lynn Redgrave, for example - not to mention Regis Philbin). The public ate it up - with a $2 million budget, the film grossed over $18 million on the U.S. alone. There is no doubt it did so well likely because it was released at the height of the sexual revolution. I think I enjoyed this film so much because it seems to be so definitive of an era in film I wish I could have experienced at the time - absurdity was more widely accepted as comedy, and people (like myself) weren't sick of Woody Allen yet - they were anxious to see what else he could do. After all, this was the last film he made before he standardized the opening credits for all of his subsequent films.

And of course, Gene Wilder, a man who can do no wrong in my opinion.

Some Like it Hot

2008-07-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

After finishing up the semester in American Film Comedy, I am honestly embaressed to say I hadn't seen this film prior to the course.

Even though for its time it was cutting edge, and breaking a lot of boundaries, I really just look at it in a much simpler way and I think it is just a really funny movie. Jack Lemmon is probably the funniest human being in the world, and does not change at all through his later films. I watched Grumpy Old Men soon after I saw this just because his comedic facial expressions and physical comedy are so strikingly similar in both films.
The absurd scenarios in this film are really genuis and proved that just because a movie is "silly" does not mean that it can't be a great film. Tony Curtis and Lemmon's banter is so witty and well done, I thought they worked amazing together.
And of course, Marilyn Monroe is... Marilyn Monroe as... Marilyn Monroe. She doesn't even need to say anything, just to be on screen for it to help the film. Although she is pretty funny, I think unintentionally at times, but nevertheless good for some laughs. Overall a great feel good movie and I really enjoyed it and will certainly own a copy of the DVD soon.

"An excercise in poor taste"

2008-07-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

I’m shocked people didn’t post several times on this movie because everyone’s reaction was the same—grossed out, horrified, shocked, nauseated, and a hundred other synonyms for the word barf-o-rama. Although I consider this one of the worst films we’ve watched in class, I’m not here to talk about how much I hated it (though I’m not sure if I’ll hold back entirely) but to figure out why it’s considered to be the cult classic. So it’s time to play devil’s advocate.

According to IMDB and Wikipedia it is considered a crime comedy, but I’m not too positive how comedy comes into this except maybe because of its repulsiveness—that is to say it’s so repulsive that its hilarious. At first glance I’m sure many would dismiss this as filthy garbage, and although it might be, isn’t that the point? John Waters, a very interesting person with a wild imagination to say the least, knew exactly what he was doing and how people would react but who really knows what his intentions were. Luckily I found out. When the 25th Anniversary re-release came out, John Waters was asked about the creation of the film and he said, “I just wanted to make a movie that would make me and my friends laugh I certainly never thought that I would be talking about it 25 years later. But I'm very proud and I think it holds up. I've seen it with all kinds of audiences, and three generations later it still has the power to make people nervous. It's a little terrorist bomb, which is how I always wanted this movie to be.” What a funny inside joke this turned out to be.

The movie is beyond explanation and criticism and obviously isn’t your conventional film, but it’s a film only John Waters could do. No matter how much you can hate this movie, you have to give the man credit for being able to create something like this. Especially when this movie was made over 30 years ago and still has the same nauseating effect now as it did decades ago, is a feat in and of it self. It’s a movie where you can remember exactly where you were and when you first saw it. Unfortunately, certain scenes, or most scenes, are not easily forgettable. But beyond what is seen on the surface, a piece of shock cinema, it can be considered a satire of society’s obsession with fame and the lengths one goes to achieve it. If you watch reality TV shows (watch from 3:15), the things people do for money or just their 5 minutes of fame is incredible, so how is this any different?

From the same interview from before Waters says, "I was trying to make a movie for my audience at the time - the midnight movie audience, which I knew would be fairly eccentric. I wanted to prove to them there was something left that could still surprise them and make them laugh, because they all thought they had seen everything." Boy, did they think wrong.

One reviewer describes the movie as either wonderfully atrocious, or atrociously wonderful, depending on how you look at it. So before you crap on this movie (for Divine to eat up) read some of the comments people wrote about this film and appreciate it on a different level not based solely on aesthetics alone because you’ll probably get dizzy and queasy. It also came in 29 on the list of 50 Films to See Before You Die on some show that aired in the UK.

"The only word for this is transplendent... it's transplendent!"

2008-07-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

In part because it is a tremendous film and in part because I have an atrocious memory and can’t remember what most of the other movies we watched in class were, I am choosing “Annie Hall” as my favorite flick viewed in class.

Woody Allen has a unique way of capturing personalities and personality traits that are so familiar but just emphasized enough so that we have to laugh at them. He is truly a master of mannerisms in the way he depicts each character, embracing the most fundamental and obscure quirks alike that are so universally understood. Essentially, what Allen strives to illuminate through films like “Annie Hall” is the humor of the human.

All this aside, I do have one bone to pick with Woody Allen, and that is that he always plays the same character. As perfect as that character might be, and despite the fact that it really never gets old, I feel like Woody Allen has a very limited scope of what he can successfully execute in terms of comedy. Therefore, Woody Allen is like Chipotle: both offer exactly one item, and that one item is absolutely perfect, but you always know when you go to see one of his films that you are going to get the exact same burrito every time.

I like to sing in the rain too!

2008-07-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite films of the semester has to be Singing in the Rain. It was between this film and Some Like It Hot, but seeing as there are two other posts already about the latter, I chose to embrace my love to sing (and dance, of course) in the rain.

Singing In The Rain is considered by many to be a true classic of American cinema. In fact, Time Magazine listed it as one of the top 100 films of all time. The Freed Unit at MGM created many great films, however I believe that this film is their most remarkable. It combined all the important elements of a successful film musical: incredible songs, amazing choreography, and a hilarious story line. Before I had seen the film, I always wondered how silent film stars were able to acclimate to talking pictures. Silent acting is entirely different, based of exaggerated facial expressions and body movements. On the contrary, acting in talking pictures involves much more true to life character representation in both physical form and dialogue. As we see in Singing in the Rain, actors and actresses may not have ideal voices for talking pictures. In this sense, the film is a funny commentary on the industry's adaptation of talking picture technology.

Along with great song and dance, the cast is phenomenal. Gene Kelly, in particular, was a truly remarkable performer. I was shocked to read on Filmreference.com that he was not originally chosen for the part. The role of Don Lockwood was intended for Howard Keel. As the script continued to develop, Don Lockwood's character became less Western, and more Vaudeville, so Howard Keel was replaced with Gene Kelly. It is odd to think of Keel playing the role of Don Lockwood; it certainly would not have had the same style.

Debbie Reynolds had no prior dance experience before starring in the film. She did, however, have a background as a gymnast which I am sure gave her a bit of an advantage. It is hard to think of the seemingly charming Gene Kelly as being a bully, but apparently he insulted Debbie for her lack of experience and made her cry.

Donald O'Connor is an integral component of the triumphant trio. He is sort of the comic relief in the film, and he is very effective in this role. The routine of "Make 'Em Laugh" is particularly memorable and contains a lot of elements of slapstick humor.

All the elements of the film - the elaborate sets, the witty dialogue, the costumes, Lina Lamont's voice, the songs, the dances - work together to form one of the greatest American film musicals.

Believe it or not, but I am not the only one who feels this way. In 1998, the American Film Institute rated Singing in the Rain as the number 10 top film of all time in their production "100 Years, 100 Movies." Check out the whole list here. It was also added to the Library of Congress film archive in 1989 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Test your knowledge of the film by taking this quiz.

And now, for your enjoyment, the infamous scene!

this was an easy decision...

2008-07-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

So If my presentation on The Great Dictator didn't show it off enough, I get a little starry-eyed when it comes to Chaplin. I just love him and I think his movies are both hilarious and moving. Oddly enough I had never seen THE KID before we watched it in class.
The verdict- I thought it was completely incredible, I was totally blown away.
I was in Newbury Comics like two days later with my buddy and the dvd was on sale. I took it the discount to mean that it was fate that I should own the film. I've since watched it about twelve times. I also made my roomate watch it with me and he loved it (which is incredible in itself because he used to fall asleep if we watched anything made before 1973)

Anyway, THE KID was Chaplin's first feature length film and it allowed him to showcase what some critics called "Chaplin's pathos". But there are tons of articles that talk about Chaplin's skilled and innovative mesh of comedy and pathos. This one discusses that and also has an interesting mention of what THE KID does to show off the richness of the tramp character and Chaplin's acting. It's actually pretty interesting.

I think one of the reasons I liked THE KID so much is in the relationship between the kid and the tramp. There are other movies where we see the tramp make sacrifices to take care of others (the blind woman in CITY LIGHTS comes to mind) but the tramp's unwavering devotion to the kid in this film is so much more powerful because these two people mean everything to each other. The father/son dynamic here is totally unusual because of the way that both characters care for each other and depend on each other. There's that moment where they are separated by the city officials - the tramp is heartbroken and the kid is wailing in the back of the orphanage truck - the level of emotion displayed is stunning to watch.

Many of the films that we watched this semester are already on my dvd shelf and some of them are already what I would call my favorites, but THE KID basically just blew me out of the water. I totally fell in love with this movie and I think it's knocked a couple things down the list to become not only my favorite Chaplin movie, but one of my new all-time favorites.

Even this guy who doesn't really like Chaplin liked the film. That's gotta help my cause, right?

Also, here is what I feel to be a necessary side note; while I was looking around and reading up on this movie I realized that Jackie Coogan the kid who played... well, the kid, grew up and became Jack Coogan- the guy who played fester on the Addams Family show. How totally weird is that? I used to watch that show all the time growing up and it took me about five minutes to get my head wrapped around that.
(this is a similar reaction to one i experienced several years ago when I realized that uncle phil from fresh prince did the voice of shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- I know you're probably shocked, but next time your watching fresh prince listen to uncle phil and picture him saying "turtle soup" you'll freak out like i did.)

Duck Suck or Suck Soup?

2008-07-01T17:04:00.001-07:00

With a flawed 21st century viewpoint in mind, dulled by sitcoms, improv comedies, and retroscripting, I find it hard to be objective about the films of the past. I consider myself more of a borrowed Emerson student than a real one---I don't know everything about everything about everything. There are comedies that I've seen that I've liked, jokes and gags that I've laughed at, and cinematic precedents that I took to be original, even if that wasn't historically the case. With that in mind, I'm gonna say that I hated The Marx Brothers 'Duck Soup'.

I understand that the use of one-lines, and comic gags was influential on many contemporaries, including Woody Allen, but I have to say...they did it much better. Mostly, I think it's a problem of flow. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton invigorated their silent medium with sight gags and one-liners, all the while keeping up a narrative strong enough to hold us stimulated in 'comic suspense.' Woody Allen produces his movies, especially the pseudo-documentaries like 'Zelig' or 'Take the Money and Run', in a consistent rule-of-three format---joke, gag, one-liner, all in a way that complements and propels the narrative. (In his case, the protagonist serves as both the proponent and the ass of the jokes, and therefore us self-deprecating audiences give him a pass.)

It's with Groucho Marx and 'Duck Soup' that styles don't either blend or break. Groucho will continually step out of the narrative to whisper his 'cutting wit' to us and then magically jump back in. And this while, the other characters in the scene freeze and act none the wiser. At least when Woody does it, his compatriots either laugh or deride him. Groucho derides his entire cast, scott-free from revenge, retribution, or any form of structure, logical or otherwise. No big problem, but cutting the fourth wall in this way kills all potential for comic suspense. There's nothing to look forward to. You don't really know if the narrative matters, and it's not straight on character-driven comedy either. Instead you have a comedian telling us how great he is instead of showing us.

But maybe I'm way off base here. Rottentomatoes.com gives 'Duck Soup' a 94% and we all know how it's rated as one of the best comedies of all time. I stumbled around for a little while, and short of all the uncredible whiny 8th grade ranters, this NY Times Review was really the only bad one I could find:

Those mad clowns, the Marx brothers, are now holding forth on the Rivoli screen in their latest concoction, "Duck Soup," a production in which the bludgeon is employed more often than the gimlet. The result is that this production is, for the most part, extremely noisy without being nearly as mirthful as their other films. There are, however, one or two ideas in this sea of puns that are welcome, and Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo reveal their customary zeal in striving to get as much as possible out of these incidents.

And it's not even that bad. So while The Marx Brothers may be inscrutable for their innovations and contributions towards future comedy---such as the verisimilitude presented by all their puns and literally through the mime and mirror scene---I'm still unconvinced. After all, in the 30s, there were better ways to put a film together---give me 'All Quiet on the Western Front', 'City Lights', or 'The Wizard of Oz' any day. And let's not forget 'Bringing Up Baby'.

Funny Ladies

2008-07-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

(I looked and saw that my 3rd post wasn't on here - I guess it didn't work when I tried to post it. Anyway, here it is.)

I thought I’d take a look at a few more prominent comediennes and comedic actresses of the 1970s, because there are quite a few, and they are all unbelievably talented. The 1970s were a time that saw lots more comedic roles for women – however, there was still progress to be made concerning women in comedy. Like Katharine Hepburn in “Bringing Up Baby” and Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like it Hot,” Diane Keaton is funny in “Sleeper” because she’s ditzy, a little bit crazy, and not very bright. The brilliant Madeline Kahn also played stereotypical female roles in the comedies of Mel Brooks, and although she had more screen time than any other women in these films, she was only onscreen for less than a handful of scenes. Also, not too surprisingly to me, a Google search of "women in comedy 1970s" proved to be far less than fruitful. However, these talented women paved the way for more three-dimensional, complex female comedic roles in the decades to come.

The 1960s TV variety show “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” introduced who would become two of the most talented female comics of the ‘70s: Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn. When Hawn won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the 1969 farce “Cactus Flower,” Time Magazine called her “a natural reactress; her timing is so canny that even her tears run amusingly.” Hawn later made a memorable appearance alongside Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in the 1975 Hal Ashby satire “Shampoo.” Tomlin had memorable roles in the farce "Nine to Five" (1980), "All of Me" with Steve Martin (1984), and two more recent David O. Russell films - "Flirting With Disaster" and "I Heart Huckabees." Watch Russell and Tomlin at each other's throats on set here.

Some other notable 1970s comediennes who came from television were Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner. Lucille Ball was Carol Burnett’s mentor. “The Carol Burnett Show,” a variety program featuring Burnett in countless hilarious and memorable roles, ran from 1967-78 and was a huge hit. Burnett later appeared as the mean Miss Hannigan in the film version of the musical "Annie" (1982). Gilda Radner, one of the original female cast members of “Saturday Night Live,” gave us Roseanna Roseannadanna and Baba Wawa. She met husband Gene Wilder on the set of the 1982 romantic comedy “Hanky Panky,” directed by Sidney Poitier. Another of the many talented female comedic actresses who worked with Gene Wilder was Teri Garr, who appeared in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” (1974), “Oh, God!” (1977), and “Tootsie” (1982), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Luckily, we are once again experiencing a period ripe with successful women in comedy – Tina Fey (if you don’t watch “30 Rock,” you should – it’s one of the funniest, smartest shows on television right now), Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Kristen Wigg, Amy Sedaris, and Leslie Mann, to name a few - in both television and film. These women have been hailed for being not just funny, but smart and sexy as well. In Vanity Fair magazine in January 2007, Christopher Hitchens wrote an article called "Why Women Aren't Funny." Obviously, the article caused quite a backlash, and Vanity Fair published a response article by Alessandra Stanley entitled "Who Says Women Aren't Funny?" The cover featured Silverman, Fey, and Poehler copping a feel. However, I agree that the argument of the second article was weak, basically saying "There are a lot of funny women! But in order to be accepted as funny, they have to be hot too." Male comedians don't have to be sexy, but women do, otherwise they are classified by people like Christopher Hitchens as butch, dykes, and Jews. Here is Hitchens' rebuttal to the response to his article: Why Women Still Aren't Funny.

Unfortunately, despite all of these female talents, sexism is still ripe in the comedy genre. Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up" (2007) was hailed for giving comedic actresses, like the very funny Leslie Mann, a chance to shine in larger roles in comedies that weren't considered "chick flicks," but there was still a large response - including that from the star, Katherine Heigl - saying that these roles were sexist. Women in comedy have come a long way since the '50s with the help of many talents, especially those in the '70s, but how long will it be before women can be widely accepted as funny people, not just as funny women?

Hell with Mel

2008-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

As a child, I was not allowed to say words like “fart,” “booger, ” and my personal favorite, “butt”. So the forbidden magical fruit was all the sweeter when I did hear it on tv or in movies. However, Blazing Saddles just doesn’t do it for me. I had never seen any Mel Brooks movies until this class but I had heard good things. So my expectations were probably too high.

Maybe Mel Brooks is innovative for bringing the fart onto the silver screen, but in my opinion, he took advantage of a simple, easy laugh and misused it. He opened up the floodgates for everyone else to go above and beyond with the fart jokes. And I’m not sure if I’m thankful for that. This movie is just too much. Every character has contrived witless dialogue and each line is dumber than the last. And I know that’s the point but the film drags because of it. It’s bogged down in silliness. It can be funny when you beat a joke to death and when you go over the top with gags. But if done too little or too much it kills the joke. You have to give the audience time to breathe between jokes. Mel Brooks tries to suffocate you with them.

The film relies heavily on shock value and pushing the comedic envelope. But not having seen this movie until after every other movie made until right now, I’m sick of things being edgy. It was poor timing on my part. I can see why people think its funny and I laughed at some of it, but it was definitely my least favorite movie so far in the class. Gene Wilder was funny in it, though. I'll give it that.

The film does anything for a laugh. Similarly, a whore will do anything for a few bucks. While that dedication can be respectable, for me, the dirty jokes in Blazing Saddles are just too easy.

Some Like It Mildly Warm

2008-07-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to repeat post, Some Like It Hot is probably the one film we watched that is deserving (at least more then Pink Flamingos...). The film is consistently rated as one of the top films every made (not just comedy) and uniquely benefits from repeat viewings. Even mired in all the Marilyn Monroe controversy, Billy Wilder and the rest of the cast and crew pulled off a great film.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the film and Billy Wilder's entire body of work is that English was not his first language. He usually wrote with a writing partner, in this case with I.A.L Diamond, but he still managed to write English language dialog that is so quick and witty American audiences have a hard time keeping up. Diamond and Wilder working together was a structure and style match made in heaven. Wilder always praised Diamond because he "knew how the pipes [fit] together". The film is funny but never loses its heart and that can be directly contributed to Wilder and Diamond's script.

Some of the funniest moments in American film comedy occurs between Osgood and Daphne. Much of the comedy comes from Wilder playing with social acceptability and really pushing what he could get away with. He made the audience uncomfortable and roll with laughter at the same time, and that is the genius of Billy Wilder... that and making Marilyn Monroe do this...

Where's that Baby!

2008-06-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Before I kick it and head off to the great screening room in the sky, I have to figure out how a movie like Raising Arizona is made. There are comedy films that induce laughter, and there are fine movies; well acted, well written, good structure... so on and so forth. Raising Arizona is the complete package. To take such a strange story line, so many zany characters and to bottle them within rich dialogue and beautiful imagery... how is it done?

Film comedies are by and large fairly awful. There are bad dramas and bad romance, but we let those slide by and the majority of these films have some redeeming qualities. But, for whatever reason, many comedic films are not simply bad within there genre, they are poorly made movies (I direct you to the makers of Epic Movie, or say the John Leguizamo vehicle The Pest.) The Coen brothers are not simply great directors of comedy. They are wonderful filmmakers.

So many little things I love about this film. Here are just a few: 1) Leonard S

malls (the bounty hunter to end all bounty hunters) has the same tattoo as H.I. implying that the two are some how related, perhaps H.I. was Smalls' long lost son! 2) Gale and Evelle are literally born in the film as they appear from the earth when they break out of prison. 3) After H.I. awakens from his dream of the biker of the apocalypse he looks out the window and says, "It's a hard world for little things." a reference to the Robert Mitchum movie "Night of the Hunter." Too much symbolism and weird stuff going on to account for it all.

This film is so much richer and stranger and more inventive than 95% of the standard hollywood fare. It's a wonderful comedy that can be watched over and over. So many interesting things going on. And of course the yodeling.

F*#k Soup

2008-06-29T15:04:00.001-07:00

The movie we viewed in this class that I disliked the most would have to be Duck Soup. I had never really seen a Marx Brothers film before this class. Although, I feel I was well aware of the persona of Groucho Marx because of his influence on Woody Allen and his role as a pop culture icon. I expected to like Duck Soup because it is so respected in the lexicon of American Film comedy and influenced so many comedic artists upon its release.

Surprisingly, I found the film to be one of the most annoying things I had ever seen. Not only did it bore me more than any other film we watched this semester, but it seemed endlessly tedious and irritating. Some of the mayhem made me chuckle, but generally I just thought it was one of the stupidest things I have ever seen.

I enjoy comedians that deliver one liners, but I suppose I am more of a fan of the Rodney Dangerfield's self deprecating style as opposed to the obnoxious behavior of Groucho.

Why in the hell was the movie called Duck Soup in the first place, I guess that is the whole point. The movie makes little to no sense so why would the title be of any importance. I am glad that Woody Allen and others influenced by the Marx Brothers have improved upon the slapstick comedy they displayed in Duck Soup.

3rd Blog Post- Rodney Dangerfield

2008-06-29T12:10:00.001-07:00

The 1970's are often considered the birth of the new age of stand up comedians. A time where young edgy comics were more abundant than ever experimenting with new and unorthodox styles of stand up. But, in 1970...Rodney Dangerfield was already 49 and had made a significant impact on the world of comedy. So why mention him as an influential figure of 1970's comedy?

In 1969 Rodney bought a Manhattan nightclub which would become Dangerfields, a landmark of standup comedy. HBO would go on to make a series of stand up specials at the venue. As seen to the left it was the spotlight that exposed some of comedies most legendary figures like Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Leno, Robert Townsend, and the list goes on... some really interesting stuff can be found on Dangerfields official site (by the way it also claims to be the longest running comedy club in the world!)... they've got some great clips of Rodney. Also watch Bill Murray and other famous comics talk about Rodney's eye for talent here

It's difficult to understand Rodney's impact throughout the 70's when Dangerfields was new and fresh... but I found a great video in the comedy central archives about the opening night!! Check it out!

Rodney wouldn't get involved in American Film comedy until the 1980's where he landed several breakout roles in films such as Back to School and CaddyShack... He was recognized by the Smithsonian and won the American Comedy Award for lifetime acheivement. He was unquestionably a large role in the development of American comedy. And for my final website I think it's best to leave you with the first page of the Google Images search of 'Rodney Dangerfield'... His classic face...almost never out of character

Thumbs Down on 'Ridgemont'....

2008-06-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

At the risk of alienating the masses of people that absolutely adore this movie, I have chosen to embrace my initial instinct and pick Fast Times at Ridgemont High as one of my least favorite films. Before I start listing the numerous reasons why I've never liked this movie, I'd like to first begin by saying that I appreciate it. I have seen the film many times. I think it is the ultimate teensploitation/ sexploitation comedy. If I recall correctly, 'Fast Times' audiences are previewed to 90 minutes of teenagers engaging in some of the most crude, nasty and unattractive behaviors known to mankind. The movie features two relatively explicit sex scenes, an abortion, a male masturbation scene, high school girls practicing fellatio on innocent carrots, drug use and an infamous slow motion sequence in which a young woman removes her bathing suit top. All of these aspects help define 'Fast Times' as a teensploitation/ sexploitation. The movie is all about showing teenagers having sex and doing drugs (cornerstones of both genres).

I appreciated this film for having helped define the "teen comedy" "teenspoitation" archetype. I also think that, nowadays, the film works as a celluloid time capsule. The movie features countless images, sounds and memories from the 1980's. Folks that actually lived through those years probably find 'Fast Times' to be pleasantly nostalgic.

However, I have always found the heart of this movie to be extremely cynical, pandering and fake. I have always thought the characters were extremely one dimensional and stereotypical. We had Spicoli the stoner, Stacy the virgin, Rat the likable nice guy, Demone the jerk, Brad the disgruntled older brother etc. All of the characters seemed like they were coming straight out of a cheesy sitcom. The content of the film isn't very uplifting either. None of the characters go through a significant change. Stacy's ultimate revelation, after having affairs, becoming pregnant and then having an abortion, is that she wants a "relationship" instead of sex. To me, this acknowledgement from her always seemed a little over simplified and borderline insipid. Furthermore, in the context of the rest of the film, Stacy's abortion subplot seems oddly out of place for a comedy. The whole movie, in my opinion, felt like it was made by adults trying to guess what it would be like to be in high school. And considering 'Fast Times' was based on a book written about the experiences of a grown man posing as a high school student, my assessment doesn't appear to be excessively outrageous. The whole film lacks a lot of innocence and exuberance. When you strip away the cool outfits, music, stars and laughs, you're ultimately left with a really cynical, depressing interpretation of youth.

I understand that "exploitation" films are supposed to be "cheesy" and campy. However, I think it's also possible to make an exploitation film that features original characters who have genuinely inspired experiences and authentic, meaningful revelations. I appreciate the iconography of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but not the characters, the story or the writing.

2008-06-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

I like funny movies! I mean who doesn’t. Out of all the films we have view in class I have to say that Some Like it Hot was my favorite. Now this might be based on some prejudice because I believe I have seen most off the films we screened prior to taking the class. Even with the added value of enjoying the film for the first time there are a lot of key elements imbedded in the film that make it a worthy candidate for the best film of American Film Comedy Class.

This film is one of the raciest pieces viewed in class (short of the John Waters screenings). Its sexually open in a way that other films of the time were afraid to be. The primary conflict of this film is the seduction of Marylin Manroe. Although I do not openly condone the concept of the picture I revere its direct and sincere approach to sex. It was even marketed under the statement that “you’ve never laughed more about sex” 1:02 in this trailer.

This film also enraptures a social mentality. These two struggling musicians work hard to survive and throw caution to the wind. For there efforts they are rewarded in many different ways. It’s a zany lifestyle but it’s filled with none stop excitement that kept me on the edge of my seat. It is defiantly a false reality as the hard ships these two endure are looked on with playful innocence. However, it is also a trademark of media from that time period. I find the film most successful because of its creation of an environment. I accept that the 1950’s were a time filled with big band jazz music and constant playful conflict. Although this is far from truthful I find myself lost in the beauty of scenes such as this.

Whether it is the sex, the social environment, or sear magnificence of Jack Lemons work Some Like it Hot is the best film viewed in class.

Fourth and final blog post assignment

2008-06-28T11:03:00.001-07:00

Okay we're coming down to the wire.

Here is the assignment: Choose your favorite OR least favorite film we have viewed (in whole or in part) in class this semester and discuss why you like or dislike it.

Extra points for addressing some of the definitions and issues that have been raised in lectures or presentations.

This is due on Tuesday July 1st.

I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it.

2008-06-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

“I don’t get no respect…” A single catch phrase that sums up the career and self deprecating humor of a man from Long Island named Jack Roy, better known to us as the fat funny man Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney began his career in comedy at the age of 19 by writing jokes for other stand up comics. This gig did not provide enough scratch for the future comedian and he turned to the lucrative business of vinyl siding; where he stayed for nine years. (It should be noted that in the interim he was a singing waiter, certainly he “got no respect” in that job).
Dangerfield got his first big break on the Ed Sullivan show when they needed a last minute replacement for their stand up act that went MIA. Rodney was a hit and that performance on the Ed Sullivan show marked one of many including countless other late night T.V. appearances and 70 appearances on The Tonight Show.
Rodney’s biggest influence may have come not from his act but from a night club that he bought in Manhattan in 1970 that he dubbed “Dangerfield’s.” Dangerfield’s became the site of an HBO show that kick started the careers of Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, Roseanne Brarr, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Kinison, Rita Rudner, Andrew “Dice” Clay, and Bob Saget. His career peaked during the early 1980s, when he became a movie star. His appearance in Caddyshack led to starring roles in Easy Money and Back To School. Later his stand up album “No Respect” won a grammy award.
Rodney’s autobiography was supposed to be titled “My Love Affair With Marijuana” but unfortunately the publishers saw fit to give it another title, eventually agreeing on It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. The reasoning behind the original title was that Rodney had habitually smoked cannabis for about 60 years while raising a family, running a night club and doing his own comedy.
His headstone reads; Rodney Dangerfield- There goes the neighborhood. And on a less pessimistic note Joan Child held an event in which the word "Respect" had been emblazoned in the sky, while each guest was given a live Monarch butterfly for a Native American butterfly-release ceremony led by Farrah Fawcett.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/rodney_dangerfield.html
http://www.rodney.com/rodney/home/home.asp
http://www.joecasaletto.com/jokes/rodney.htm

Hal Ashby

2008-06-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hal Ashby was a versatile director dabbling in different genres but he proved to be a great comedic director with movies like Harold and Maude, The Landlord, The Last Detail, and Being There, which I have to add, is my favorite of his movies and I highly recommend this to anyone.
His directing career started at age 40 so his body of work is relatively small. He is little remembered today despite being one of the most prolific and successful filmmakers of the 1970s. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he did not have official film training; the editing room was his film school, which he stumbled into almost by accident. According to is career in films came about in a combination of fate, luck, and being in the right place at the right time; ironically these elements of chance often occur to the characters in his films.
At the age of 19, he left his hometown of Ogden, UT to find a job in California. He landed a job at Universal in the mailroom but within a few years he became an apprentice of an editor until he became a full-fledged editor himself. Ashby thought of the editing room as “the perfect place to examine everything. [It] is channeled down into that strip of film, from the writing to how it’s staged, to the director and the actors.” In his collaboration with director Norman Jewison, he received recognition as an editor and won a Best Editing Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967). Jewison also recommended him to direct The Landlord, his directorial debut. The film had a modest budget and, despite good critical reviews, went relatively unnoticed on its release in 1970. But The Landlord signaled that a new directorial talent with a flair for black comedy had arrived on the scene.
He proved his flair for black comedy with his second film Harold and Maude, a style that would dominate throughout his films. The film didn’t receive commercial success but it quickly acquired cult status. It’s about a 20 yr-old Harold who learns to love life through his encounter with an eccentric senior citizen whom he eventually falls in love with. One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer said it was “the epitome of a film that you can’t believe you’re laughing at, but you are. A lot. It hurts. In a good way.”
After a series of well-received films, critics didn’t think he had a specific style that was consistent through his filmography, which is to say he was not considered an “auteur”. His final great film, Being There, was a great success but it was a challenge to keep the absurd premise for two hours without allowing it to slip into farce. Unfortunately, after Being There Ashby’s career began a downward spiral from which it never recovered. His abusive use of drugs affected his work. He spent too much time in post-production and was forced from his position to be given to someone else to actually get something done. He died in 1988, according to his obituary, and doesn’t receive the credit as directors like Coppola and Altman get, but he certainly left a legacy.

I will name my firstborn Harvey Korman

2008-06-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if anybody else grew up watching The Carol Burnett Show, but I did and Harvey Korman was always my favorite. Something subtle about him cracks me up. I used to tell my dad that they could broadcast him blinking and I'd still roll off the couch laughing.

personal info:

He was born Harvey Herschel Korman in Chicago, February 15 of 1927.
He was married twice and had four kids.
He died just recently on May 29, 2008 - which totally f*cking sucks because I almost went to see him and Tim Conway at the Wang Center last year and I said "Oh no, I'll catch them the next time" ...I'm an idiot.

professional info:

Harvey had several bit parts and guest roles on television shows in the early 60s- for anyone who used to watch The Flinstones he was the voice of the Great Gazoo. He got his first big break on the Danny Kaye show in 1964. When that was cancelled in 1967 he hopped on board the Carol Burnett show in it's first season and the show was a enormous success. He left the show in 1977 but never found similar success on television again. Korman once said, "It takes a certain type of person to be a television star, I didn't have whatever that is. I came across as kind of snobbish and maybe a little too bright. ...Give me something bizarre to play or put me in a dress and I'm fine."

Apparently Mel Brooks' wife Anne Bancroft singled out Korman on the Burnett show and Brooks "knew he was a natural". Brooks cast him in Blazing Saddles and then History of the World and High Anxiety (which is a Brooks movie that I never hear anyone talk about but it's totally hilarious and Korman and Cloris Leachman almost steal the show)

Later in his career Korman did quite a lot of voicework for cartoons like Hey Arnold! and The Wild Thornberrys. He also worked on several films including Brook's Dracula spoof Dracula: Dead and Loving it! and he was the voice of the dictabird in 1994's live action Flinstones movie. (which on a personal note- I saw in the theater during a thunderstorm, the lights went out and my sister nearly peed her pants)

There's an extended bio here written by someone who seems to share my fanatical adoration of Korman- it's got cool little tidbits and summaries. And because his death is so recent there are about a million obituary-type articles floating around the web.

Harvey Korman truly is hysterically funny, He was a great physical comedian and his comic timing is impeccable. If you've never seen him on the Burnett show, and you like sketch comedy, check some out on youtube.
And because this is a film class blog- most definitely check out something like High Anxiety.

The Dark Comedy of Robert Altman

2008-06-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

Robert Altman who died only two years ago had a long and versatile career for nearly forty years of film. He will always be remembered for his quintessential antiwar film MASH which later became one of the most successful television shows ever. In addition to this American classic he made several other comedies during the 1970s, including one of my favorite films Nashville.

This film is a slice of life following nearly 24 characters lives in Nashville, Tennessee for five days leading up to the bicentennial of the United States in 1976. The film perfectly touches on the dissent in America after Vietnam and Watergate and is loosely tied together by the speech of a third party president who is never seen at the films climax.

The film is both sad and funny as it shows the sometimes-tragic sometimes-comic struggles of various classes of people living in America. There is a focus on the American phenomenon of an obsession with fame as various leading ladies vie to become the next country music star.

This film is a precursor to later Altman works, like Shortcuts, which has unquestionably had an affect on modern filmmakers such as P.T. Anderson, whose film Magnolia is structurally similar to the film Nashville.

This film should be required viewing for anyone who wants to get a feel for what life was like in America in the 1970s after the turbulent years of the 1960s. This film along with MASH makes Robert Altman a master of dark comedy.

Here is the trailer!

2008-06-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

During the Korean war, three young military surgeons constantly fool around the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital they work at. Allergic to any kind of authority, against military operations, and loving alcohol and women before all the rest, they become really rebellious.
M*A*S*H belongs to political cinema and shocked a whole new generation. Extremely dark but also very humourous, the American Film Institute chose to make it the 56th best movie.
Starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, David Arkin, Tom Skerritt, and Sally Kellerman, it has been awarded with the Oscar for best scenario adaptation and with the Palm d’Or of the Cannes Festival in 1970.
It is probably seen today as a very interesting movie because it was very different from what Holywood was producing at the time. Indeed, the movie was going against the main stream. It has been shot on a very low budget in order not to attract the producers on set and realize what was about to go out on a nationwide scale.
Surprinsingly, one element that brought so much succes to this movie is the sound. Indeed, the way sound is designed is revolutionary in the movie. The mess tent (http://www.main-vision.com/richard/mash.shtml) in the beginning of the film is a good example of the multi functions of sound in M*A*S*H. The two doctors talk in the same time and this tells a lot about the upcoming story. Indeed, it tells the audience that the doctors are probably not military educated to the extent that they don’t even wait their turn to talk but it has for purpose to save time in the expostion and tell different stories at the same time: this is an innovative way to overlap sound. Also, the opening song “suicide in painless” introducing two doctors is very controversial and unexpected but gives an idea to the viewer of the genre of the movie: satire.
One other original conflict that the movie created happened at the time of its release. It was the authorship controversy (http://www.geocities.com/~cheshyre/mashline.htm). Robert Altman, the director, was used to sing his work with overlapping dialogue. In M*A*S*H, the effect turns out to be brilliant and very succesful. The dialogue sounds very witty and full of repartee. Altman is responsible for the pacing of the movie as he is responsible for the editing. However, most the words did not come from Altman but from the writer, Lardner. This turned out to become a very intense conflict between the two latter, fighting for credit. Altman mentioned that in his opinion, his “main contribution to M*A*S*H was the concept, the philosophy, the style, the casting, and then making all those things work. Plus the jokes, of course.”
In my opinion, M*A*S*H remains one of the most significant satire of the history of cinema. A satire is supposed to make fun of the negative aspects of our societies and all ideas that the author does not support and want to subtly criticize.
Robert Altman does a great job at turning the movie into a satire. Indeed, he takes a sad topic and turns it into a laughter, by joking around blook, terror, death and atrocities of the war.

Bill: Emerging Film Hero of the Late 70's

2008-06-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bill Murray, seen in the still above as the epic Carl Spackler in Caddyshack, was not exactly a powerhouse in the film comedy world in the 70's, but he was getting there. Murray wrote for and acted in SNL in the 70's, and his iconic importance in Caddyshack (which also stars Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase) is evidenced by a Caddyshack fansite: CarlSpackler.com, a hilarious (if low-tech by today's standards) homage to the film.

Interestingly, Murray's role, back in 1980, might not have been entirely far-fetched. A "Production Information" document from the same fansite reveals that Murray's brother (Brian Doyle-Murray) wrote the screenplay, and was inspired by his own work as a caddy at a golf course as a teen, where Bill Murray also worked as a groundskeeper. Well I'll be damned if that's not an eerie possibility, that his character may have been close to psychological truth.

A good, biased synopsis of his career, found here, states that Caddyshack probably was his best film, and still is, but what about Ghostbusters? His more serious roles are still frequently comedic, and his increasing ability as a more mature actor to combine psychological depth and comedy sets him apart from a lot of other SNL alumni.

GREASE

2008-06-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

The movie Grease was released the 16 of June 1978, it was directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The genre of the movie is comedy, musical, and romance. The movie Grease was very popular in the 70’s, it is said that it was an unexpected hit. Grease is a story about a summer love that started in a beach, then the love was lost in the middle of the teenage social an peer prejudices of the last year of high school and than it was found again.

The most important actors in the movie are:
John Travolta as Danny Zuko, Olivia Newton as Sandy Olsson, Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo, Jeff Conaway as Kenickie, Barry Pearl as Doody, Michael Tucci as Sonny Kelly Ward as Putzie, Didi Conn as Frenchy, Jamie Donnelly as Jan, Dinah Manoff as Marty Maraschino, Eve Arden as Principal McGee, Frankie Avalon as The Teen Angel, Joan Blondell as Vi, Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine, and Sid Caesar as Coach Calhoun. For more http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077631/

The movie was shot in California. Paramount Pictures released it. It has a great soundtrack including songs like Grease, We go together, Freddy my love, Summer nights and You’re the one that I want. A dance mix of songs form the movie Grease was released in 1997 and the movie was re-released in 1998. The movie was also re=released due to the 20th anniversary of the original one. Grease had a lot of critiques about the acting and the singing but despite that it was still a big hit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(film)

In this link there is a scene where they are singing You’re the one that I like. I think it gives a good overview of the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHdRdfhGKJs

MASH

2008-06-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

MASH
MASH, standing for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, established Robert Altman as a film director, yet he almost never directed it. The studios never chose him as their first choice; in fact he was number eighteen on the list. The studios wanted a director that could attract huge crowds to the box office and had a list of directors that included Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols and Stanley Kubrick.

When Robert Altman took the job, he constantly struggled with the studio to make it the film he wanted. As a studio, interested solely in making money, Altman’s determination could only come off as annoying and bizarre.
The major annoyance for the studio was Altman refused to have major stars. Altman wanted an ensemble cast with no particular actor or actress standing out. He said he wanted normal looking people instead of the usual Hollywood people. Indeed, due to the large number of unknown actors, the opening credits begin with “Introducing”. Altman then had most of the actors live twenty miles from the from the Fox studio in tents. This created a sense of community among the actors whom were then encouraged to improvise and rewrite their lines.

Today, we view this as a signature of Altman’s film. He used 40 actors in Nashville, 48 in A Wedding, another 40 in Short Cuts, and over 60 in both Prêt-à-Porter and The Player. His ensemble cast allows Altman to deliver multiple narratives that go on in the same space. These narratives can be viewed as discourse or diverging from the main narration.

While, people have accepted Altman’s unique form of telling a story, many people were concerned on the set of MASH at the time. Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, two principal characters of the movie, complained to the studio of Altman’s direction and asked him to be removed. Screenwriter Ring Lardner proclaimed “You have ruined my picture!” after seeing the outcome of Altman’s encouragement of improvisation for actors. And the producers saw the film as unreleasable due to its weak narrative and failure to mention Korea. Altman had purposely wanted the anti war message to be linked to the war in Vietnam, which the studio opposed.

MASH, eventually, does get released under an X rating. It was the third highest grossing film of the year and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Film, and won the Best Screenplay award.

Steve Martin

2008-06-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

For me, I'm saying for me now...Steve Martin is the funniest man who ever lived. His comedy appears effortless, and cannot easily be described (I mean, one of his bits involved playing the banjo while wearing one of those fake arrow headbands, and it was hilarious).

In this interview at NPR, he talks about trying to find something different, original, and new in stand-up comedy, and he realized that most comedians rely on jokes and punch lines. "What if I could get real laughter," he asked himself, "like the kind you have at home or with your friends, where your sides are aching."

It seems simple, but a lot of the stuff that makes us laugh in everyday life are really simple gags, not constructed jokes. Martin's stand up routine feels more like performance art - comic performance art, of course - than, well...a stand up routine. He doesn't make witty remarks that offer insight into our culture, but he crafted a specific comic persona that doesn't resemble his real life mannerism, but also isn't a stretch - a little smug, falsely humble, yet at the same time rushing to please the crowd, begging for a laugh. His determined mantra would occasionally be: "This is funny, you just haven't gotten it yet."

In a Newsweek interview in 1978, he noted the vast difference in his onstage persona and the real guy - "The main thing is I don't want this information to distort my onstage character to the point that people don't believe it any more."

One of the things I like best about his routine is that, as the Newsweek reporter put it, he's unthreatening. He was never out to get shock laughs; his act is just silly. "What makes you laugh so hard is the sight of this reasonable man so shamelessly shedding his inhibitions, this boy who should know better gleefully acting naughty - and getting away with it."

In that article, a comedian of the time, David Steinberg, noted, "We are burned out on relevance and anger. He offers a special form of escape and there is no hostility in his act." And he's right. It's just friendly laughs. Even when he injects a bit of sex and drugs talk, it's still silly. Consider the following clip, in which he creates venereal disease with balloons.

It's comedy of the absurd if ever an example was available. But Martin has an oddly philosophical bend to it: "It [art] was the only thing that had real meaning because it had no meaning. In art, truth comes and goes according to fashion. It can't be measured. You don't have to explain why, or justify anything. If it works, it works. As a performer, non sequiturs make sense, nonsense is real."

Cloris Leachman

2008-06-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

This woman just won’t stop. She’s done it all: comedy, drama, tv, film, beauty pageants, and Adam Sandler movies. Versatile. After being a finalist in the 1946 Miss America competition, she took the scholarship money she won and moved to New York to join the Actors studio. Then she went to Hollywood and the hits started rolling out. She’s appeared in many classic shows and movies such as Lassie, The Twilight Zone, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Scary Movie 4.

What’s relevant to this blog post is her work with Mel Brooks. And the fact that she’s funny. After all she did have her own hit show, “Phyllis”. Back to business. Cloris appeared in several of Brooks’ hit movies including History of the World Part I, High Anxiety and Young Frankenstein. She created very memorable and hilarious characters in all the movies.

Despite being born in 1926, Cloris is still kicking…and punching. According to Steve on Broadway’s Blog, Cloris Leachman challenged Mel Brooks to three rounds in the ring in 2007. When Young Frankenstein was being brought to the stage, Cloris expressed interest in reviving her character of Frau Blucher. Mel turned her down, saying that he didn’t want the 81-year-old actress to die on stage. That was a pretty rude thing to say to an award winning actress. But it's kind of funny. Just like Mel Brooks' movies.

Who?

2008-06-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

1970s? Let's see---that's somewhere between the psychedelic sixties and the electro-wave eighties. So what happened then in the big wide world of American film and American film comedy and anywhere else really.

We jump first to George Lucas and his 1973 comic achievement "American Graffiti". And how with its success, it puts a pair of big-boy pants on the infantile Lucasfilm Ltd. The next jump is to good old glam-rock and roll and our friend David Bowie. (1970 releases like Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust... brought the young saxophonist from Brixton into British and International acclaim.) We mention Britain, because at the time, a new comedy was being developed there, after having been rejected by American studios.

"With the 1970’s came change in film comedies. The popularity of such shows as Saturday Night Live and Second City Television led to films that were more manic and crazy. Stars such as Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Cheech and Chong, Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Bill Murray became world famous for their movies." - Associated Content

Saturday Night Live is worthy of notice because, after a successful inauguration of the 1969 startup "Sesame Street", public comedy became prevalently more and more cluttered by fuzzy adorable characters. The first season of SNL itself featured 11 sketches and four additional appearances between 1975 and 1976.

Which brings us to our man of the house---Jim Henson---who, as I said, moved to Britain in 1976 to produce his series "The Muppet Show", after being rejected by American networks. By 1978, the show was being watched by 235 million people worldwide, receiving acclamations like 'genius' and 'almost certainly the most popular television entertainment now being produced on earth.'

In 1979, the work of the 43-year-old Henson culminates in his initial cinematic attempt, "The Muppet Movie", directed by James Frawley, written by Jack Burns and Jerry Juhl, featuring the indelible vocal talents of stars and character actors such as Frank Oz, Mel Brooks, Dom Deluise, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Bob Hope, and oh yeah---Orson Welles. Released to an eventual $76 million. Elliott Gould, Michael Earl, John Landis.

The film's success transformed the occasional fuzzy TV-appearances, into cinematic sensations, moving on into the production of future cinematic glory and ending the television series by 1981.

In 1979, Henson was also asked by rising star George Lucas, to aid in the creation of "The Empire Strikes Back"'s Jedi Master Yoda. Frank Oz followed along with him.

Finally, the 1980s brought about The Jim Henson Foundation, "The Dark Crystal", and "The Muppets Take Manhattan", rated as one of the top 40 films of the year. Our story concludes in 1986, when the stars Lucasfilm LTD, David Bowie, and Jim Henson all teamed together to create "Labryinth"---the final directorial feature before Henson's death.

The man responsible for Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and Kermit the Frog, and Bear in the Big Blue House, and Big Bird, and Cookie Monster, and Yoda, is succeeded by The Jim Henson Company and Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

But most of all, we can all thank him for the simple sweet moments like this.

John Belushi

2008-06-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

The 1970s were sort of a revival in film. The initial popularity of the Television was starting to die down, and the masses began to flock to the cinemas once again. Many great comedians emerged during this decade, including the legendary John Belushi.

John Belushi grew up outside of Chicago. He was first recognized while performing shows in The Second City, a Chicago based comedy troupe. According to The Second City's official website, Belushi debuted in the show No, No, Wilmette in June of 1971. His incredible talent led him to be cast in the play "National Lampoon's Lemmings" in 1972, and National Lampoon's Radio Hour from 1973 to 1975. This half-hour radio show also starred comedy legends such as Bill Murray and Chevy Chase.

In 1975, NBC introduced the show Saturday Night Live (SNL). The show's creator was told to hire Belushi as a cast member, but according to Belushi.com, Lorne felt that Belushi was "too loud, too hard, and too self centered." Belushi auditioned for the show by playing the role of a mute samurai. The test audience loved him, and the rest is history. Belushi's samurai character became one of the most beloved impressions performed in the show. He also became known for his stunning impression of the singer Joe Cocker. He over-exaggerated Joe Cocker's jerky stage presence, which audiences found hilarious.

In 1978 Belushi entered the film business when he starred in National Lampoon's Animal House. He played the role of Bluto, a brother of the Delta fraternity who leads fraternity members in a war against another fraternity and the college administration. I will not reveal much the story in case you have not seen it - so go see it, it is a classic. Belushi proves that being obnoxious, and rather disgusting can be hilarious. The film was a huge success and generated one of the highest box office revenues of any comedy it it's time period (Belushi.com). It has become a true cult classic, and it even has its own Facebook fan page. It was accepted into the Library of Congress' film registry in 2001, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 comedies. A great explanation of the film can be found here. Many people regard Animal House as the classic stereotype of college life... though I must say that my experiences at Emerson College are not on par.

Belushi's film career was rather short due to his untimely dead in March of 1982. After starring in Animal House, he went on to play roles in 7 other films while still remaining on the cast of Saturday Night Live until 1979. Although his career was short, he made a huge impact on the comedy genre and his hilarious characters are not forgotton.

Here are some great clips from Animal House. Enjoy!

Diane Keaton Rocks

2008-06-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

For folks born after 1980, Diane Keaton is known as an "older" actress. Younger audiences easily recognize her as the lovable mother in the Father of the Bride movies. They would also recognize her from movies like Something's Gotta Give, The First Wives Club and Hanging Up, all in which she plays an older woman. However, most middle aged people (35-45) remember the days when Diane Keaton was the Katie Holmes or Jessica Alba of the movies. Older audiences have watched Keaton change and grow as an actress. They have watched her go from a cute, innocent "it" girl to a matured, respected leading lady.

Diane Keaton was born in Los Angeles in 1946. She first appeared in a production of Hair in the late 1960's. In 1970, Woody Allen cast her in his Broadway play, Play it Again Sam and again in the film version. She went on to make several movies with Allen including Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975) and most notably, Annie Hall (1977). Keaton and Allen were romantically tied to each other throughout the 1970's. The relationship did not last. However, the pair remain good friends and continued to work together after they had broken up. Their creative partnership has lasted longer than their romantic one. In 1993, Keaton and Allen teamed up again to make Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Diane Keaton has also gained some notoriety within the fashion world. Lately, she has been known to for her unique, quirky outfits and accessories. She also got some unwanted media attention when she accidentally slipped up and dropped the F-Bomb on national television.

Diane Keaton has played so many roles in so many iconic films, that she has become a large part of American film heritage. Her comedic abilities have ensured her career, which has spanned almost 40 years. Her ability to star alongside comedic geniuses like Steve Martin and Woody Allen is commendable. And it is likely that audiences will be enjoying her for years to come.

Richard Pryor: Live in Concert

2008-06-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

A blend of profanity, pure Watt Stax blackness, and keen observation, Rich Pryor is a demi-god of American comedy. Leaving him out of any discussion of 70's comedy is criminal. While his films have not always been criterion worthy (feel free to remove The Toy, from your Netflix queue) his standup concert films are held in high regard by critics and fans alike.

Live in Concert is his first, and many would agree, his finest. Pryor was at the top of his game, his drug addiction not yet crippling his energy and agility as a performer. Indeed, this was the period in which his addictions were fueling some of his greatest work.

The issue of race was always on Pryor's lips and he is remembered for his racial charged routines as well as his use of profanity and gritty street slang. But Pryor transcends color boundaries for a number of reasons. I watched this concert film when I was around 16 or so and while I could not relate to issues of 70's blackness, I was amazed at Pryor's ability to jump in and out of characters. He was as talented physically as he was verbally and his agility as a performer shines in this film... and he happens to be hilarious.

Pryor wasn't simply a comedian who broke boundaries of taste. He was a highly skilled actor with unlimited range. He had empathy, an earthy quality. Lily Tomlin describes Pryors skills in this New Yorker article, from the early 70's. While he is remembered for his personal antics (antics is a nice way of saying, "lighting yourself on fire) he should be remembered from this concert film. Playing monkees, heart attacks, cars, God and any manner of person or thing Pryor is amazing. It's one of the greatest comedy films of the 70's, and certainly the greatest standup concert film of all-time. Now there's something to put in your Netflix queue.

Jack Nicholson’s Eyebrows Are Mightier Than Chuck Norris.

2008-06-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is not just the story of a man who has come out of retirement 18,734 times in the past five years. Nor is this a story about his decades of acting in virtually every film genre currently in existence. It’s not even a story about a comedic figure from the 1970s, as our assignment dictated. No, this is a story about two little pointy tufts of hair.

Jack Nicholson's eyebrows have had an astoundingly broad acting career, especially considering Nicholson has continuously been pigeonholed into the same slickly-maniacal roles over and over again. Back in the ‘70s, however, he was less of an icon (which can half be attributed to his familiar facial feature, THE EYEBROWS!!!!), and really shined on the silver screen as a passionate, versatile actor. Whether in comedies, dramas, horror flicks, or otherwise, Nicholson has consistently been given rather comic parts, uniquely filling roles that could be described as character actors with starring roles. Beyond his sly wit and fanatical mannerisms, it is really the way he uses his face, and primarily those ridiculous eyebrows like pyramids jutting up to the heavens, that sells him as the ideal Crazy Leading Man. No vaudeville luminary could pull off such a twisted mug as this guy.

Nicholson’s eyebrows furrowed and squiggled their way to success in such humorous and borderline demonic roles in the 1970s including Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, Tommy, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. His eyebrows had been in many films and television spots since the late 50s, but starting with Easy Rider in 1969, the hirsute twins on Nicholson’s face got critical acclaim and were soon off on their way to stardom! By the time The Shining was released in 1980, the eyebrows were already renowned in the cinematic world, and it wouldn’t be long before they began to dominate Nicholson’s movie characters entirely.

His eyebrows have won 3 Oscars, as well as 63 other awards. They continue to work in cinema, recently raising themselves exceptionally high in The Departed; unfortunately, as they are beginning to turn grey, they now mostly appear in old-people movies like The Bucket List. Really a shame that these fuzzy masters are being dragged down with their host Jack Nicholson as he begins to exchange most of his oomph for wrinkles. This analyst thinks it’s about time for the eyebrows to leave Nicholson behind and go solo: RISE AND SHINE, YE SPIKY CATERPILLARS!

Gene Wilder & The Chocolate Factory

2008-06-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Gene Wilder the actor who was loved by all kids, women who loved chocolate (including me) for owning a chocolate factory in his movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He is also know for his role in a Woddy Allen movie being the doctor who falls in love with a sheep; Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex. If you type " Gene Wilder" on Google you will find a lot of information about his life and about the movies he stared in. However, I decided to focus on three topics that attracted my attention.

His Life:
The first website that I came across was a tribute to his life; It talks about his biography, the films he was in, the famous quotes, and the awards he won. it pretty much focuses on his career not about his personal life. But was interesting about the information I adapted about his life from the website is that he loved his 3rd wife a lot. Previous influential actors, had a trend of marrying 5 and never have I read about there love towards their partner. Also, I didn't know he was the voice of the Owl in "Over the Hedge" Also, it talks about his partnerships with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor.

His Love Life:
The Second is an article from Acadamic Search Premier, Called "Gene Wilder: Twice Blessed," by Janet Cawley. The article talks about how after his third wife, Gilda Rander, died of ovarian cancer he was devistated but yet he knew he had to move on. It talks about how he made Gilda's Club in her memory. He also started to become actilvly involved with giving donations to overian cancer foundations. Moreover, it talks about how happy he was with her. It states that after she was diagnoses he stopped working and stayed by her side and help her get through it. "In her final interview, just months before her death, Radner praised her husband as a man 'who loves and cares about what's inside me...who I am rather than if I have hair.'"(Cawley) When she died he was devistated for a while but then afer 2 years he remarried Karen Webb, a speech pathologist.

Willy Wonka:
Since I grew up watching and reading Willy Wonka I decided to research about the movie and what he thought about the remake of it staring Jonny Depp. Therefore this 3rd website is a one paragraph article from the New York Post that talks about what Gene Wilder thinks about Johnny Depp taking his place as Willy Wonka. It's interesting because I always thought that the actors wouldn't like it if they made a remake, and guess what I was right. However, even though he thinks that the remake is such a bad idea but he thinks that Johnny Depp is a good actor; he implies it. One of his quotes about the remake:"I haven't seen it. I like Depp, but when I heard they were doing a remake, I heard: mistake."

*By clicking on the subtitles it will take you to the website.

Jack Lemmon and his contributions to comedy in the 1970's

2008-06-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

Jack Lemmon is an actor who has influenced film comedy and drama. In my research of the actor I found many sources offering biographical information on the actor as well as academic discussions on the impact of his work.

At http://www.seeing-stars.com/starindexes/JackLemmon.shtml the content of the page is focused around popular Jack Lemmon hang outs in Hollywood. I find this is a unique and interesting site. Not only does it mark important award ceremonies he attended but it outlines memorials, restaurants, and hotels he visited, stayed in, or was spotted at. Although this is nothing more than a glorified star map for one actor, it is easy to see how the site could be used to track his career by looking at how and where Lemmon spent his life in Hollywood.

In this article found on Academic Search Premier, "The art and insight of Jack Lemmon" by Roderick Nordell, an editorial look at the contributions of Lemmon's work after his death illustrates the emotional impact on American audiences. Nordell portrays Lemmon as a comedian that was also capable of strong dramatic roles, "Lemmon was applauded for the conviction he brought to a character's bitter confession of destroying a career by sacrificing artistic attainment for popular acclaim" (1). This information is essential to understanding the complexity and skill of Lemmon's acting ability that is often over looked when viewing his comedic roles only.

The New York Times reports Lemmon's success as he accepts the Film Institute Life Achievement Award. This is a very significant resource in understanding exactly how important Lemmon was to cinema. He received the award at 63 long before he was was finished acting and was the youngest recipient of the award besides Orson Wells. The Institute was successful in acknowledging Lemmon's comedic work as innovative and relatable for all audiences while also capturing Lemmon in his dramatic roles.

Aside from these three sites there is a lot of information on the web about Lemmon. I have selected these resources as they are alternative to the standard filmography and biography found at wikipedia, imdb, and so on. Hopefully these resources will provide lesser know information about this popular actor.

"A wed wose, how womantic!"

2008-06-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Madeline Kahn was without question one of the most talented comedy actresses of her time. Mel Brooks even said, ''She is one of the most talented people that ever lived". The interesting thing, however was confused by her reputation. She never relished the spotlight which lent itself greatly to her Award Winning attitude (People's choice award and a Day Time Emmy). Her constant collaboration with Mel Brooks allowed her to poke fun at her Jewish heritage but she walked her line beautifully and never exploited it for cheap laughs. She was very intelligent and was effortlessly funny. Even in death Ms. Kahn is remembered. The fact that she is still acquiring new fans nearly ten years after her death is an astonishing testament to her talent. Several film blog sites (from Ain't It Cool News, you can ignore the first paragraph...) put up touching obituaries after hearing of her death. She left an indelible mark on the entertainment business as a whole, not just film. Her body of work is far more extensive then one would think including stints on Broadway and television. She was an extraordinary woman with extraordinary talent and will always be remembered for the parts she played.

New Blog topic assignment!

2008-06-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Students: for your third required blog post, please do the following:

Find at least three websites (or web-linked articles) devoted to ONE important figure in American Film Comedy from the 1970s. Discuss how these sources help describe your subject's career, special talents, or a specific role or film. Here is the challenge: do NOT use Woody Allen or Mel Brooks! You may choose a film director, film writer or film actor, including someone involved with these two, just not them specifically. See if you can find web sources that are different from each other, and as specific as possible.

Don't just rely on imdb.com or Wikipedia or YouTube: get creative and do some unique searching. For example, instead of just typing "Tony Randall comedy" into a search engine, try "tony randall sex comedy fish" and see what you find...

This is due by TUESDAY, June 24th.

2008-06-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Since the development of sliced bread, three innovations have been regarded as the greatest inventions of our era: Expo markers, Febreze, and mockumentaries.

Mockumentaries are satirical “mock documentaries” that play off stylistic elements of documentaries in a fictional context. Sources credit a short April Fool’s piece called “Swiss Spaghetti Harvest” as the first mockumentary. Woody Allen was a pioneer as well, exploring the form with such features as “Take the Money and Run” and “Sweet and Lowdown.” Of course, Christopher Guest is renowned as the master of mockumentaries. Interestingly enough, the mockumentary is one of the types of cinema that has been perfected and defined by both American and British filmmakers.

One popular route filmmakers have taken is combining rockumentaries with mockumentaries. This subgenre began with such films as “The Rutles” and “This Is Spinal Tap.” Much of the dialogue is improvised, a key reason for the characteristically quick and natural charm of these movies; yet the dialogue in musical mockumentaries only functions to build up to the climactic point and most anticipated parts of the movies, which are the songs. Musical mockumentaries typically have a repertoire of whole or partial parody songs that mimic (usually in a deadpan or otherwise serious manner) typical conventions of the musical genre they are spoofing. In Christopher Guest’s “A Mighty Wind,” three groups of folk singers pull from all the classic ingredients of folk music to create over a dozen fake folk songs. What makes these songs humorous is not usually the lyrics but the mannerisms of the performers and the perfection with which they have written carbon copies of so many familiar old folk songs. The more little tics the song has that echo the real songs of the genre the better. The lyrics are funny in how over-the-top they are, but they are not so outrageous as to take away from the deadpan feel of the film, so audiences are in a certain respect able to take them seriously as legit pieces of music.

This is not the case with all rock mockumentaries though. In films such as “CB4” and semi-mockumentary “Walk Hard,” the lyrics have an equally important function as the style of the songs. The result is that the humor is more obvious (though there is still much subtlety in form as well), making the film more laugh-out-loud funny. These films rely a little more on jokes than satire, though satire still drives each film as a whole.

YouTube it-Gene Kelly

2008-06-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Wow... struggling to find a blogworthy topic I decided to hop onto youtube and just throw some of my favorite topics we've covered so far into the mix. Gene Kelly being at the top of my list for his stellar dance moves was searched first. I was surprised that the singing in the rain dance sequence did not come up first, but actually third, with Gene Kelly actually only being featured in 4 of the top 20 videos with the tag "gene kelly". Weird, i thought at first, but than i realized how idolized and influential Kelly's Dance moves had become. Just a few videos I thought everyone would enjoy.

American Idol? Close, but Britain's Got Talent star doubled Kelly's singin in the Rain views with his on stage performance, that I wasn't expecting much from....until i watched it. This young British boy (after being turned away last year of course) does a dance remix to Singin' in the Rain, in which during one part he actually has fake rain pouring on him on the stage!!! So crazy, check it out here: George Sampson

A bit further down, is the song that this kid George Sampson danced to, which is actually called Singin' in the Rain, it is a remix by Mint Royale. There really is not much to say about it, other than it's kind of a mockery of the Gene Kelly original, the dance moves are weak and really don't fit the classic Gene Kelly style, and he is also battling dancing robots...enough said about that. Poor re-make of the classic, but seems to be quite popular overseas. Check it out here: Mint Royale

The next most viewed, is an Usher interview and dance remake of the classic. Usher who is pretty well regarded in today's music world, re-does both the voice and dance moves of Kelly. I was a bit skeptical at first, but Usher seems to get more comfortable as it goes on and it actually turns out to be not too bad. But in reality, it's just not the same, watch it below and let me know what you guys think!

Usher

Ace in the Hole

2008-06-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

Having seen the Billy Wilder classic Some Like it Hot, I thought I’d direct your attention to another of his great comedies: Ace in the Hole. Though not as acclaimed or well known as other classic Wilder comedies like Some Like it Hot or The Apartment, Ace in the Hole is nevertheless a brilliant, entertaining comedy, and for those who like satire, you won’t find it more biting that this.

The plot concerns a reporter, Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas), who is stuck in the dead town of Albequerque when he happens upon a fantastic story – a man trapped in a cave. Knowing he can exploit this for his own personal gain, Tatum arranges the rescue to prolong the amount of time the man is trapped, and all the while he’s the only man he allows into the cave to talk to the man, allowing for over a week of exclusives from inside the cave, while the story starts to draw more and more attention.

As with Network, which was still twenty-five years away, Ace in the Hole anticipates much of what we’ve come to accept as common practice in American media journalism, and it’s a frightening insight, but thanks to Wilder’s deft touch, it never ceases to be hilarious.

Ace in the Hole is available in a lovely Criterion Collection disc.

wait, who are you talking about?

2008-06-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

So I was looking around for something to blog about concerning musicals and I came across this guy Harry Warren and the link looked totally boring so I almost didn't click it. But it turns out that this guy is one of the most prolific and celebrated composers ever- but no one seems to know who he is...

TCM estimates that he wrote 500 songs for more than 100 movies. And the official Harry Warren site says that at this point his songs are in over 270 films, but imdb's got something like 889 credits under his name.

He had 42 songs place in the top ten on the radio program Your Hit Parade. Which I thought was funny because I've got a crapload of Your Hit Parade songs on my ipod and I think half of them are actually his.
He was nominated for 11 oscars, he won three.
He worked with tons of famous songwriters like Ira Gershwin, Billy Rose, Al Dublin and my personal favorite Johnny Mercer.
TANGENT:
if you're not familiar with Johnny Mercer, he's got a great voice, his songs are classic and he's totally cool- I'm sure you guys all know the accentuate the positive song- that was him. anyway, mercer rocks.
BACK ON TOPIC:
Warren's real name is actually Salvatore Guaragna- he's italian (yeah, i didn't see that coming either) On italianpride.com they list Harry Warren's accomplishments as reason number 76 of 101 to be proud of being italian. And I don't even have to tell you guys that italianpride.com is the foremost authority on exactly why italians are the sh*t.

This website has a giant listing of movies and TV shows that feature one or more songs by Warren, and it was totally overwhelming choosing any to list here. Just as an example 42nd street is on this list and I'm sure all of you have seen the 1976 TV special on Olivia Newton-John- that's on the list too.

I also found this really cool quote from Warren...
"I've always written music the way I felt it. I write for the public because I feel like the public, the way they would write if they could. You don't have to know anything about music to understand what I write. Mine are simple melodies. In music there are certain chords that are tender and poignant – it's the universal language." HARRY WARREN (December 24, 1893 - September 22, 1981)
pretty sweet, right?

When life gives you lemons... watch Jack Lemmon

2008-06-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

I think we can all agree on one point: Ving Rhames knows everything. He knows how to wear hats... He knows how to make a cool imposing side kick in every single movie he's in... He knows to give props to Jack Lemmon.

Though mercifully teased as a child due to his name, Jack U. Lemmon became an icon of cinema through collaborations with Billy Wilder and Walter Matthau. As an impetuous youth my Father was constantly telling me about the great films that Lemmon was a part of. Being young, and uninterested in anything that wasn't shiny and moving, I didn't give Lemmon much credit. Even watching him in class it makes me wonder if a seemingly simple guy like Lemmon could be a star today.

He's not great looking, his voice is strangely distinct. Wilder says that Lemmon was a ham. Jack Warner of the Warner Brothers wanted him to change his name. Lemmon kept his name and went on to star in numerous succesful comedies as well as dramas, picking up awards and accolades along the way.

He also inspired one of the greatest Simpson's characters of all time: the constantly struggling, sweating, tie-pulling Gil Gunderson. It seems that Lemmon was blessed. The comedy gods smiled upon him, bestowing Wilder and Matthau upon him. He had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins named after him... and after all there's only 31 flavors.

So how did he do it? What was the Jack Lemmon secret? In my humble estimation it has something to do not only with wit and comic timing, but the gentle ease that Lemmon brings to his performances. There is something uninhibited and effortless about Lemmon's comedy. I read, while completing my paper on Harold Lloyd, that Lloyd and Lemmon had been friends. Lemmon asked Lloyd for the secret of film comedy, and Lloyd replied, "Whatever you think you have to do... do less." It seems like Lemmon took that note to heart. His performances, while riveting, are easy going. He doesn't force it, he lets it come to him and he keeps it simple. There is a link between Lloyd and Lemmon. They are both very normal. But they both spin their seeming normalcy into hilarity.

Jack Lemmon has since left us, but like the man who directed him in so many films (Wilder) he managed to leave us with one final joke... on his tombstone.

Oklahoma! The movie not the play

2008-06-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Before Cinderella The musical, Roger and Hammerstine created a revolutionary musical play in 1943 called Oklahoma! It was known for its integration of song and storyline and its simplicitty in its set design. Also, It was the first Broadway musical in which every song had a direct relation to the plot. In 1955, the play was then made into a movie directed by Fred Zinnemann. The songs and the storyline stayed the same however the simplicity is sacrificed by the use of Technicolor, Todd-AO, and Stereophonic Sound. The movie was "the first Todd-AO production and the first be shot twice. Once to produce the normal version 24 fsp. The other one in 30 fps to be able to have a roadshow version. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048445/trivia)

The movie, like all romantic comdeys, talks about a a young girl, who is actually a farm girl who has to decide which suiters she want to be her escort to an event. The is Laury Willams played by Shirley Jones, and the men fighting for her are Curly Mclain, who she likes, played by Gordan MacRea, and Jud Fry, played by Rod Steiger. The story is set against the backdrop of the land rush days in Oklahoma, and begins with a song Oh, What a Beautiful Morning. Whats makes this movie a classic and yet amazing is the music and the da9nce sequences. It was one of the notable movies that has amazing chirography and songwriting. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/36109/Oklahoma-/overview

Here are some interesting facts I found on IMDB that I thought were interesting:

This was Fred Zinnemann's first musical and yet it was an outstanding success.

The musical that this film is based on was originally entitled "Away We Go!" The title was changed to "Oklahoma!" after the popularity of that song with the plays initial audience.

I found this point to be very interesting. It had been said that Frank Sinatra was offered the role but when he found out that every scene of the movie was to be shot twice he declined; he is known to film his scenes in a any motion picture only once.

James Mitchell and Bambi Linn were dubs for the dancing parts of Curly and Laury in the Dream Baller. However, Rod Steiger did his own dancing, because they couldn't find him a double that looked like him from the back.

If you guys want to see the opening scene of Oklahoma here it is: OH What a a wonderful Morning.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RwiFqjyBJ2o&feature=related

2008-06-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

Fourty years after it was produced, it is still obvious that Some Like It Hot depicts the theme of ambiguous sexuality, but this is not all. The original title already sounds ambiguous because of the undefined “It” eventhough it can be related to Shell Jr. telling Sugar when she says she plays “hot” Jazz that “some like it - the music - hot, but I prefer classical music.” Still, anyone can see through the sexual connotation of “hot”. Let’s not forget about the etymology of “Jazz” that reminds of sexual exitation, and that, as the movie tells itself, sexuality (sometimes prostitution) and alcohol are linked in the image.

All this leads to an urge to hide: costumes, transvestites and dissumulation become the theme of the film. Only the first scene of the movie tells the audience a lot about the rest: the funeral car is followed by the police; we already can see the lie appearing, which also reaveals after the firing the liquid pouring out of the coffin, and then the alcohol. Shortly after, the funeral house which the police officer enters turns out to be a cabaret which is the exact opposite as far as the sound is concerned (silence/music) as well as the image (loneliness/crowd, calm/movement, etc.). The dissimulation somehow reveal a certain chain: death (the coffin, ...) hides the alcohol, which leads to death again (the firing sequences) and so on for the rest of the film.

This is the reason why when dissimulation takes place, a conflict happens: the fake pallbearers disguise themselves to hide from the police, the policemen act as clients against the gangsters... But this fight also takes place under the shape of seduction: the second significant costume, Joe being Shell Jr. enables him to seduct Sugar. Everyone gets the truth of the dissimulation: becoming a tranvestite is breaking a code to achieve something more easily. Joe disguised as a millionaire acts as Spats Colombo who covers up his cabaret as if it was a funeral house: he only shows the socially acceptable facade. Trafficing and seducting are only two different faces of changing the course of implicit social codes, which assumes a knowledges of these codes: this is Joe’s case as he gathered Sugar secrets.

For a long time, moral censorship forbid every kind of homosexuality references in movies during American classical cinema. Transvestites are never really serious yet and this is comfirmed in Some Like It Hot. However, it does not prevent B. Wilder from creating very special and troubling effects introducing men acting as women: for instance, Laurel and Hardy remind us of the same situation, and according to B. Wilder, Joséphine and Daphnée are only perpetuating this example. The effect the create does not lie on a parody, but on an ambiguous sexuality. Indeed, these characters are starting love relationships with the characters of the same sex.

Let's play dress up

2008-06-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

As demonstrated so well by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot, men in drag will always be a great source of comedy in American film. The tradition of men dressing as woman goes back to the plays of Shakespeare being used as a comic device as early as the 16th century. The sexual confusion that comes from the characters in these films has been revisited several times in other American comedies with varying levels of success.

Here are two of my personal favorites.

Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by the recently departed Sydney Pollack, came out in 1982 and became a massive critical and financial success. The multilayered love triangles that are explored in this film are very reminiscent to the plot of Some Like It Hot. In the film Hoffman plays an out of work actor who can only get work if he auditions for a female role on a hit soap opera. This plot device is very similar to the situation of Curtis and Lemmon in Some Like It Hot minus the gangster violence.

Another great example of cross-dressing explored in comedy is The Bird Cage. A remake of an earlier French film called La Cage Aux Folles. Here Robin Williams and Nathan Lane a committed gay couple who own a drag bar must play it straight when their sons fiancés family comes to meet their new in-laws. Obviously the fiancés father is an extremely conservative politician running for reelection. The snappy dialogue and situational comedy is hilarious every time I see it.

If you haven’t seen these movies you should because they stand the test of time as classics just like Some Like It Hot.

Here is a list of Cross Dressing on Film

Clang Clang Clang Went The Trolley!

2008-06-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Meet Me In St. Louis is one of Judy Garland's most memorable musicals. It is the story of the Smiths, a suburban family living in the midwest around the turn of the century. It has a variety of genres threaded through it including romance, drama, and especially comedy. Judy Garland plays Esther, who falls in love with the boy next-door. The film follows the family through different seasons of the year and shows how much they are attached to their town and community. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but for a great summary of the plot visit this site.

The film is based on a collection of short stories by Sally Benson known as the "Kensington Stories." In the film, the Smiths live on Kensington Ave, which is named after these stories. MGM purchased the rights for the stories from Sally Benson in 1942 for $25,000, which was a large amount of money for the time period. A variety of screenwriters attempted to develop the story, however the final screenplay was written by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe. In the end, MGM spent over $86,000 to have the script finished.

After the screenplay was complete, producer Arthur Freed hired Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane to compose original songs for the film. Of their original compositions, the songs "The Trolley Song," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "The Boy Next-door" have become classics. Arthur Freed then hired Vincent Minnelli to direct the film, and many felt uncomfortable about this decision because the film was such a high budget project that they wanted someone more experienced. However, Freed loved Minnelli's artistic style and trusted his intuition.

With all the elements in place, some studio executives doubted the film's success. Some even called it "Freed's Flop" (thejudyroom.com) The film's budget was about $1.5 Million, $156,000 of which was to construct the St. Louis street (a main set of the film). During the production of the film, Judy Garland was frequently ill which delayed filming. It took a total of 58 days to complete production, and the film was released in New York City on November 28, 1944. Additional production information, and a complete timeline of the film can be found at The Judy Room.

The film was very successful and received great critical acclaim. It was nominated for 4 Oscars and is considered to be Arthur Freed's best film. Read an analysis of the film here.

When the movie was made, Judy Garland was only 21 years old, though she appears to be even younger. After working with Minnelli, the two developed a strong relationship and were married in 1945, only a year after the film's release.

Meet Me In St. Louis is truly a classic. If you have yet to watch the film, I encourage you to go see it! It is filled with amazing musical numbers, romanticism, hilarious moments, and lots of Judy Garland's wonderful charm.

Watch the incredible "Trolley Song" Here:

Elvis: The King of Kings of Rock and Roll

2008-06-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Although Elvis has been toted as the king of rock and roll for many years he recorded a plethora of tracks that were in no manner rock and roll. His gospel records, for example, were certainly not rockish, and also his blues songs and pop ballads could not be categorized as rock, even by a deaf mute. For this breadth in musical genre Elvis has been inducted into 4 music halls of fame.

Elvis also made 31 movies, most of the chock full of musical numbers and very few of which were appreciated by the critics. His first film was "Love Me Tender" which he made in 1956 for Twentieth Century Fox. It was a western set immediately after the civil war. The producer of "love Me Tender" went on to produce three other Elvis films; "Flaming Star", "Follow That Dream" and "Kid Gallahad". This was the only film that Elvis was to receive second billing for.

His last film was made for Universal and was called "Change of Habit".

As you can probably tell throughout the length of the sixties Elvis became, whats a good word for this... fucked up. And I think comparing the two films is a pretty good means by which to gauge that... fucked-up-ed-ness.

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/biography/elvis_presley_movies.shtml

http://www.ibiblio.org/elvis/elvishom.html

http://www.elvispresley.com.au/elvis/presley/love_me_tender.shtml

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas (in June)

2008-06-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I’m well aware that it’s June, but one of my favorite musical comedy films is “White Christmas” (1954), so too bad – I’m going to talk about it. (And no, the title is not supposed to be racist.) It’s a “jukebox musical,” just like “Singin’ in the Rain,” using songs from the Irving Berlin catalog - like the title song, duh - that had already been popular prior to the movie’s conception.

The main cast is outstanding, headlined by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (who were known for their pipes). Danny Kaye, a comic actor and a great dancer, was cast opposite Crosby’s lead after Fred Astaire declined and Donald O’Connor of “Singin’ in the Rain” passed due to illness. (Still exhausted from “Make ‘em Laugh”…?)

Vera Ellen, who was cast as Rosemary Clooney’s sister, was probably the best dancer of this era, having appeared as “Miss Turnstiles,” Ivy Smith, in “On The Town” with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Although she was a phenomenal dancer, she couldn’t sing, and so in the duet she sings with Clooney (“Sisters”), Clooney actually recorded both parts.

The story is of two WWII army buddies (Crosby & Kaye) who come home after the war and start a musical act, eventually becoming Broadway producers. They agree to audition another musical act, the Haynes sisters, to join their company. They are smitten with the two blondes at first sight and convince them to put on a show up in Vermont over the holidays. But they get there and THERE’S NO SNOW. They’re afraid no one’s going to come, and so they have to cook something up to save the hotel from closing down (and of course, they fall in love). The plot is complicated and convoluted, with schemes, mix-ups, and twists, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s all a backdrop for the wonderful songs of Irving Berlin and fabulous dance numbers choreographed (though uncredited) by Bob Fosse.

The pairings of the producers and the sisters are clever – Crosby & Clooney are better at singing, and thus this forms the basis of their characters’ relationship. Kaye and Vera Ellen are both better at dancing and funnier, so this forms the basis of their relationship. Crosby & Clooney get the pretty songs, while Kaye and Vera Ellen get the flashy dance numbers.

But Crosby and Kaye do make a great team, especially in this scene, where they are covering for the sisters as they run for the cops and perform their number in drag, a la “Some Like it Hot":

There is a number entitled “Choreography” in which Danny Kaye’s character laments over what the spectacle of the Hollywood musical has done to the art of dance:

The theater, the theater, what happened to the theater?

Especially where dancing is concerned –

Chaps who did taps aren’t tapping anymore, they’re doing choreography

Chicks who did kicks aren’t kicking anymore, they’re doing choreography

Bottom line, it's a great musical with a great cast, great music, and great dance numbers. I enjoy it any time of the year, but if you want to check it out, it's always on cable in December.

There was a stage revival of this musical in Boston last year at the Wang.

Tony Curtis

2008-06-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Tony's real name is Bernard Schwartz. He was born in New York in the Bronx on June 3, 1925. He started his career as a theater actor and later in 1949 he joined the movie industry. The names that he used previous to Tony Curtis were James Curtis and later he used the name Anthony Curtis.
Tony is the son of Jewish Hungarian immigrant parents. In the early years his family lived in the back of his father's store. Tony Curtis has two brothers named Julius and Robert. His father was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which also affected his brother Robert. When Tony was 8 years old he had to live in an orphanage with his brother Julius for about a month because their parents couldn’t afford to feed them. When Tony was 12 years old his brother Julius was hit by a car and died in the accident. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000348/)

Between 1942 and 1945 Tony was part of the United States Navy aboard the submarine tender, the USS Proteus. After Tony served the army he decided to study acting in New York. His talent was discovered by talent agent, and casting director Joyce Selznick. It is said that Tony liked to work in different genres to avoid being typecast.
Tony acted in more than a 100 movies, he also acted in television. Some of his famous movies are: Goodbye Charlie in 1964, The Vikings in 1958, Some Like it Hot in 1959 and The Boston Strangler in 1968.

Tony Curtis has been married six times, his first wife was Janet Leigh from 1951-1962 with whom he had 2 children, than he married Christine Kaufmann in 1963-1967 and they had two children, than he married Leslie Allen from 1968-1982 and they also had two children, than he married Lisa Deutsch from 1993-1994 and finally he married Jill Vandenberg from November 1998 until know. Tony Curtis currently works but mostly he paints. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis)

One of the quotes that defines Tony Curtis personality is:

“What's the secret to a long and happy life? Young women's saliva!”

Here is an interview of Tony Curtis, he talks about his life, his education, and career.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMYz-snQrWI&feature=related

In this video we can look at Tony Curtis personality while he waits for his interview to start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28jGfk-HK_M

Filmmakers Love Singin' in The Rain

2008-06-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Singin' in the Rain is obviously one of the most memorable and recognizable movies of all time. The song and dance numbers featured in the film have become iconic and a large part of simple film vernacular. Even those who have not seen the film know enough about it to recognize Gene Kelly's famous dance sequence through that drenched city street. In that scene, Kelly creates an iconic movie moment that has been steadily featured and referenced in other movies. Many films have characters that sing and dance and create their own versions of the numbers made famous by Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O' Conner.

Released in 1994, Luc Besson's film The Professional has several references to Singin in the Rain. Within the first few major scenes of the movie, the audience becomes emotionally introduced to the main character, Leon, when he goes to a theater and watches Singin in the Rain. Leon, who lives alone and has a rather dark existence, watches Gene Kelly with a huge smile on his face. For the first time in the movie, he laughs and grins. In this case, Singin in the Rain is used to signify a capacity for happiness in Leon. Later in the film, after Leon becomes acquainted with a young girl, the pair play a game involving dressing up and acting out movies. The young girl dresses up as Gene Kelly and acts out the famous sequence in the street (http://youtube.com/watch?v=-YoNzlS0hIw).

Singin' in the Rain has also been used in several other movies. There is an infamous scene in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in which the main character, Alex, sexually assaults a woman while dancing around as a crude, sarcastic version of Gene Kelly. The use of such a happy and light-hearted reference is seemingly supposed to add a level of irony and depth to Alex's brutal actions. He belts out the title song from Singin in the Rain while kicking and bashing people with a stick. This gimmick used by Kubrick would probably not have been as nearly as effective if Singin' in the Rain wasn't so unanimously associated with brightness, life and happiness. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/soundtrack). The title song was also used in the 1991 movie What About Bob? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103241/soundtrack).

It's a grand achievement to create something so perfect and beautiful that it becomes synonymous with happiness. Directors Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen achieved just that and, in doing so, gave new filmmakers a whole new series of references to draw upon in their owns works.

Other Links:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980618/REVIEWS/806180301/1023
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19720211/REVIEWS/202110301/1023

Elvis Presely in Love Me Tender

2008-06-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

In 1956, Elvis Presley made his film debut with a western musical: Love Me Tender.
The story revolves around the Reno Brothers, a gang of criminals that actually operated after the civil war. According to the library of Congress, the Reno Brothers committed the first train robbery in October 6, 1886 wearing masks and toting guns. Elvis plays one of the brothers that stayed home during the civil war. The drama begins when Elvis ends up marrying his brother’s girlfriend after being mistakenly told his brother had died during the war.

Originally titled The Reno Brothers, the studio ended up changing the title and the script to cash in on Elvis’s immense popularity. One can even notice this in the poster above; Elvis is third on the billing yet he takes up most of the poster. Indeed, the studio must have been delighted as the film grossed over a million dollars opening weekend, and made it into the top ten box office films of that year.

Perhaps this is where it went wrong. Hollywood studios knew that Elvis would guarantee an audience no matter what. This led to a majority of Elvis’s film being done with 2nd rate directors, lousy scripts, and little attention given to the music as well. In the end, Elvis acted in 31 films.

His films may have ruined his career. Nonetheless, his films can almost be considered a musical genre of its own. As a B movie musical genre Elvis lives on in the film history.

Fred Astaire VS. Gene Kelly

2008-06-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

So who’s the better singer, dancer, actor, choreographer, comedian? —It seems that these two can do just about everything yet they are constantly being compared to one another. In an interview with Gene Kelly, he said, “Fred and I, disliked the fact that we were often thought of as dancing similarly. We danced completely differently. His style is intimate, mine is broad. When we worked together we always had to accommodate each other. No, our styles aren’t alike at all” (Baer). I suppose if you were not an expert on these sorts of things it would be hard to tell the difference.
Gene Kelly’s dance style was the mixture of athletic ability and pure charisma. Unlike Fred Astaire’s fluid movements, he was all pizzazz and many of his characterizations have their roots in vaudeville and Commedia dell’Arte, a form of improvisational theatre (PBS). He also developed both ballet, which he tried to incorporate in many of his films, and the ‘flash’ further Astaire. Song and dance were Astaire’s means of entering a lady’s heart, whereas for Kelly they were the expression of companionship. This in turn allowed room for comic sidekicks like Donald O’Connor.
Fred Astaire grew up dancing in vaudeville but his style leaned towards the ballroom dancing, and ‘class act’ side of classical tap. Astaire was the epitome ‘classy’ because of his grace and elegance, not to mention he always dressed up; he was known for wearing top hat and tails in many performances. Kelly on the other hand preferred to wear street clothes; he thought it brought out his personality more and that people couldn’t always take him seriously in top hats and tails. Astaire set the standards against which later musical films would be judged. Much like Kelly, his perfectionism was legendary, and his relentless insistence on rehearsals and retakes was a burden to some (Wiki). But there is no doubt that these two were the heart of musical films.
I suppose you can’t choose who’s better because they’re so different and both equally incredible and there are so few that can equal this talent. Fortunately for you, you can learn to dance like Fred Astaire in 6 comprehensive and obviously very easy steps thanks to eHow.com.

Here's a great little clip:

-------
Links:
http://www.freewebs.com/geneius/readyforyourshow.htm
http://www.movietreasures.com/Astair___Rogers/astair___rogers.html
http://themave.com/Astaire/FredBio.htm
http://www.movietreasures.com/Gene_Kelly/gene_kelly.html
Sources:
Kelly, Gene. Interview with William Baer. Classic American Films : Conversations with the Screenwriters 27 Sept. 1978.

Seth Macfarlane loves Gene Kelly

2008-06-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

In a show all about pop culture references it should be little surprise Singin' In The Rain would be referenced and parodied as often as it is on Family Guy. In the episode "Peterotica" Quagmire continually makes terrible sex puns while all of the guys shop in an "adult" store. After his line "Of course in this place every exit is also an enterence", he launches into a step for step repeat of Make 'em Laugh, including running up the walls and backflipping.

In a new episode from season six, the handicapped character of Joe gets the ability to walk again. Believe It Or Not Joe's Walkin' On Air parodies the dance and song Good Morning but also takes a slight jab at Gene Kelly's percieved off screen persona. Joe is a very demanding leader of the group even reducing Quagmire to tears when he fails to sing with enough feeling.

Gene Kelly himself appears in a season five episode from the show. In Road to Rupert Stewie dances along side a live-action Gene Kelly in a reference to when Kelly appeared dancing with a cartoon mouse. These are the most obvious references to Gene Kelly but peppered throughout past and more then likely future episodes the audience and count on more Gene Kelly and Singin' In The Rain references.

Oklahoma!

2008-06-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma! is renown as one of the top musicals that came out of the Golden Age. However, the musical was not expected to be such a hit before its release. Everyone involved in the production thought it would be a disaster considering that it did not have the usual elements: stars, gags, and scantily clad chorus girls. Not only that but the story ends in the death of a main character and it relied heavily on American folk ballet, which could have also been killer. As a result, it was very difficult to get financial backing for the production. However, it soon became a hit when it premiered in 1943 but it wasn’t until 1955 that the film version was created.

What’s interesting about the film version is that it was shot with two cameras. It was shot with the more commonly used Cinemascope 35mm widescreen process but also a new 70mm widescreen process known as Todd-AO. Todd-AO is an extremely high definition format that has only been used in about 16 feature films. Another fun fact, Paul Newman and James Dean were up for roles in the film but ultimately did not get chosen. Maybe they should have. Apparently, Gordon MacRae who played Curly had very straight hair making the character’s nickname confusing. Unhappy with the work of hairdressers, Oscar Hammerstein tried to get Gordon to get a perm. They compromised by having his wife finger-curl his hair every morning.

The film adaptation of Oklahoma! won several awards including Best Music, Scoring for a Musical Picture and Best Sound, Recording. It was nominated for Best Cinematography, Color and Best Film Editing. The quality of the songs, dance and unique story of Oklahoma! make it a classic movie musical.

The Progression of the Sex Comedy

2008-06-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today almost all comedies make direct or indirect reference to sex in a humorous way. Even dramatic works accentually borrow sexual humor as relief from the seriousness of the films other content. Sexuality, like race, is an inherent part of being human so it is only natural that all people would be able to relate and find humor in this instinct that has been labeled as taboo by contemporary society. But where did sex comedies come from?

Although sexual humor can be found as a part of early Grecian society, sex in cinema began, for the most part, in the 1950's. It became prevalent in the film work of British and American media. Initially outright references to sex were deemed inappropriate and not suitable for audiences. To side step the limitations of censorship guidelines created for the major motion picture studios, films hinted at sex by using metaphors, body language and physical demonstrations of dance (among other activities) to portray this taboo act.

In 1960's censorship began to deteriorate and audiences were interested in seeing content previously deemed inappropriate. In the midst of the Vietnam war and the emergence of counter culture values, censorship became less of a national focus. Around the same time studios had become almost entirely independent from the studios. Because theaters were privately owned, it was up to the theater owner to decide what was appropriate to project. Ticket sales remained high for racy films and the public began to demand more mature content.

Today box offices are littered with questionable films. Many new releases contain content some may deem offensive. Movie goers seem to be infatuated with films that contain great shock value like Jackass and countless others. Although these films are not always comedies or even based on sexual themes, the 1950's sex comedy paved the way for their emergence. As long as box office ticket sales for these films are profitable these pictures will remain apart of the cinema market.

Some Like it Hot - Online

2008-06-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone - I wanted to let you know that the film "Some Like it Hot" is available to watch online via Hulu, you can watch it at this site. Enjoy!

The Book is Here!

2008-06-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

Bookstore... in the back. The one with the terrifying cover.

Blog Post 2: Electric Boogaloo!

2008-06-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

No one intends to make a bad film, but invariably, some just don’t turn out as remarkable as intended. Sometimes, a movie is so abysmal that they end up having terrific comedic value. This might sometimes be anticipated, and then milked for its campiness (I mean, there’s no way the creators of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” could have taken themselves completely seriously). Usually, however, the true abominations arise entirely by accident, and from there, the power of the non-target audience galvanizes. In fact, there is a solid fanbase for Japanese action/horror films like “Wild Zero” and “Battle Royale” with poor production values and atrocious dialogue -- or translations; these are praised for their unintentional hilarity.

The genre of “so bad they’re funny” films commonly functions as a result of changing times and the humor in dated customs – though there’s no need to wait for flops like “Gigli.” Typically, films that last as duds get the most viewership quite a while after their release, and are famous through cult popularity. Some examples of these include the anti-Communist propaganda short “Red Nightmare,” the formulaic funfest “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” Ronald Reagan’s B-movies, and absolutely anything directed by Ed Wood.

Teenage audiences especially have found mind-numbing delight in laughing at the worst dated films, probably unaware that many of the popular films of their time will in turn be ridiculed by future generations. The show Mystery Science Theater 3000 jumped on this hidden underground market, perfecting the art of making fun of laughable old material. The Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, jump on the worst-of-the-worst every year.

Buster Keaton, His Famous Career

2008-06-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

"I have found-especially on the stage- that when I finish a stunt, I can get a laugh by just standing still and looking at the audience as if I was surprised and Slightly hurt to think they would laugh at me. It always brings a bigger laugh.” Keaton

Reading Famous peoples biographies is really important for us because we can get an idea of where the artists came from, and what it took them to be where they are.

Joseph Frank (Buster) Keaton was born in 1895 and died in 1966. Keaton as well as Chaplin came from a family of artists, both of Keatons parents were dancers and his mother also played the saxophone. Keaton is the oldest of 3 siblings, he had a brother named Harry and a sister Louis, both appeared in some of his films.

Keaton’s film career started in 1917, he was about to start rehearsing for the Schubert Brothers' "The Passing Show Of 1917, but he received an offer of doing a scene with him from Arbuckle that had just started a production with Joseph Scheneck at the Norma Talmadge studio on The Butcher Boy. Keaton took the opportunity and left The Passing Show, from that decision he started his very successful career.

Keaton kept on working with Arbuckle until 1919, and then he started making his own movies. In 1920 Schenck bought the old Chaplin studio and renamed it the Keaton studio, Buster had complete artistic and technical control over his productions. He had a contract, doing 8 movies per year. He worked with the same technical crew and writers until 1928. After that MGM took over the Keaton studio, that caused a lot of great ideas in the early films produced. Keatons first independent feature was in 1923 and is called The Three Ages. In 1928 he lost control to MGM. Among the 9 movies he made are The General, Our Hospitality, Steamboat, Bill, Jr, Go West, and The Cameraman.

Here is a Montage of Buster Keatons movies. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlkdtS8OFlA
http://www.geocities.com/~oldbrit/obpage3.htm
In this page there is a lot of information of Keaton and also links to some articles.

http://www.takkinen.se/Articles/buster.html

Double Feature at the Brattle

2008-06-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

Woody Allen's Zeling and Monty Python's It's the Meaning of Life are playing in a double feature this sunday. Two great comedy classics all day long, for anyone who wants to do a little "work" outside of class.

http://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/movie_detail/080608.html

First Essay!

2008-06-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here are the guidelines for the first essay, which is due Thursday June 12th in class.

Word count: 1200-1500 words (4-5 pages)

Format: double spaced or 1.5 spaced.

Use standard academic referencing and citations, as well as standard bibliography format. You may have a "Works Cited" page for the bibliography, but must include authors and page numbers within your essay text. All web sources must have complete URLs.

You are to use at least three outside sources. You can find many articles online in the JSTOR archive via the library website. The library also has many print journals on film which may be useful, as well as books in the stacks. Film texts may be used as sources, but your three minimum sources must include articles or other print materials. Interviews and biographical information can be found at the Senses of Cinema website. Try to use source material beyond basic ones such as imdb.com or Wikipedia: you are expected to utilize academic and scholarly sources.

Topics: for this first essay, your topic must include films made prior to 1960. It is preferable you choose a film we have viewed or discussed in class, or a director, producer, author or performer that also falls into this category. This would so far include the films or shorts by Chaplin, Keaton. Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott & Costello, The Marx Brothers, Howard Hawks that we've viewed in class, and any actors, writers or producers associated with them. Try to choose as focused and specific a topic as you can. For example, instead of a general essay about Chaplin, what about Chaplin's portrayal of romance, or his well-known perfectionism, or focus on a specific film. A close analysis of one film or a scene/scenes therein is also fine. Genres or styles of comedy within these films may provide a starting point: Harold Lloyd's comic relationship with clothing, for example, or the use of slapstick by Abbott & Costello, or the portrayal of war and the military in films referencing WW2. You might choose a general topic of critical theory to explore (a reading of gender or queer theory might lead you to explore the comedy of cross-dressing in one of these films, for example; looking at Marxist or Brechtian theory might make you want to explore the portrayal of socioeconomic inequity). If you're unsure about a topic, feel free to email and discuss it with me.

We'll be continuing our discussion of comedy genres next week, when we begin looking at 1950s sex comedies and musical comedies.

Woody and Groucho

2008-06-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

The influence of Groucho Marx upon Woody Allen became even clearer to me after watching Duck Soup. I had never seen a full length Marx brother’s film prior to the screening in class. The signature Groucho one liners clearly had a huge impact on the characters Allen plays in most of his comedy films, especially his early farces.

As Woody Allen developed as a filmmaker, and began to make more realistic films of both comedy and drama, he gained the creative freedom to make several homages to Groucho Marx.

In Manhattan Woody Allen’s character of Isaac reflects upon the things in his life that make him happy in a monologue near the end the film. He states that Groucho Marx is one reason that life is worth living.

With more of an aesthetic homage to the Marx brother’s films and Groucho himself, Allen’s musical comedy Everybody Says I Love You probably could not exist with out Duck Soup. At the end of the film all of the major characters don Groucho masks and smoke cigars as they take part in an elaborate musical number in an elegant and elaborate European hall. In fact the tittle Everybody Says I Love You gets its name from a song from the Marx brother's film Horse Feathers.

Considering my love of Woody Allen I found it surprising that I did not really like Duck Soup, but there is no way to deny that there would be no Woody Allen without Groucho Marx.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zgnVaolzxmM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4176563196925368543&q=everybody+says+i+love+you&ei=_HxISPifJoyArgKU2pGxDA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9mIfUf4wU0Y&feature=related

His Girl Friday Rocks.

2008-06-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

HIS GIRL FRIDAY is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time.
everyone should see that movie at least ten times, why? because i said so.
Why is it my favorite? because i've been in love with Cary Grant since i was 10 ( who isn't?) and Rosalind Russell is just about as bad ass as a chick can get.

But i'm not just gonna blog about why i love this movie, i figured i'd share some interesting facts about the movie that you may not have known.

It's a remake of the 1931 film "The Front Page" which is in itself a film adaptation of an original play.
It's a premake (i just made that word up) of the 1974 film "The Front Page" which, as much as I like Billy Wilder is just kind of "meh." Now both of these other versions are about two men in the newspaper business. This is the only version where Hildy is a chick. (A/N-Apparently the 1988 film SWITCHING CHANNELS was also male/female, TCM.com rocks and knows more than me.)
Anyway, the legend goes that during auditions, Howard Hawks' secretary read Hildy's lines and Hawks liked the way they sounded so much that he had the character rewritten as a woman and as Walter's wife...make that ex-wife.

Rosalind Russell was also not the first female up for the lead. She was something like seventh down the line, but like I said before, she's bad ass, so even though she was miffed she wasn't first choice she recognized it was a stellar role and kicked ass in the part.
In the documentary CARY GRANT: A CLASS APART, which i cant link, cause it's a movie- someone (who, i can't remember) tells us that the script for this film rounded off at something like 190 pages. That's over three hours. the film clocks in at about 92 minutes. Hawks had the actors talk fast and overlap the dialogue and the result is completely riveting. (actually, come to think of it, that was my biggest problem with Wilder's version of the film. They didn't talk as fast. The film just dragged on and I was yelling the lines out before the actors could speak them. I always say if you can't make something better don't remake it.)

When Cary Grant tells Evangeline to "occupy" Bruce, she asks him what he looks like and Grant says "He looks like uh... that fella in the movies, you know uh, Ralph Bellamy." According to Bellamy this line was improvised by Grant.
Grant's line "The last man that said that to me was Archie Leach, just a week before he cut his throat." is another improvised line, for Cary Grant fans this is especially funny as Archibald Leach is Grant's birth name.
According to this note - the average rate of human speech is 100-150 words per minute- The dialogue in HGF has been timed at 240 words per minute.
There is no music in the film except over the beginning credits and over the last couple of minutes.
Howard Hawks once screened his version of the film side by side with the 1931 version to prove that his was faster.

Aside from the fun facts, this movie is just a perfect example to throw in someone's face when they tell you that old movies are boring because they're slow.

"Sleeper": Allen pays homage to greats of silent film

2008-06-05T09:13:00.001-07:00

I was delighted to see that the image for our blog is from one of my favorite Woody Allen films, “Sleeper”. Allen is more or less known for his talkier films, which are characterized by intellecual, witty dialogue and satire on modern American culture. However, in “Sleeper,” one of his earlier films, Allen displays a strength for slapstick and physical comedy and pays homage to the silent films of Chaplin, Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. The writing is brilliant, the pacing is fantastic, and the physical comedy is whimsical and spot-on. Allen proves that he has just as much of a gift for physical comedy as he does for verbal comedy (especially in his portrayal of a robot), and he makes very good use of props and sight gags.

Allen has always displayed a love for the Golden Age of Cinema throughout his long career. The opening titles and scores for most of his films serve as homages to silent film. Many of the hilarious, wacky chase sequences in “Sleeper” are underlined by ragtime music. Here's a snippet of an article from Film West, Ireland's Film Quarterly, about the music of Woody Allen's films.

Allen puts a twist on his tribute to silent films like Chaplin's "Modern Times" by setting "Sleeper" 300 years in the future. Although his vision of the future is slightly over-the-top for the sake of comedy, this vision also serves as commentary on the direction he thinks American society is headed. The film was originally about how people in the future are forbidden to talk, which would have provided a perfect premise for a modern silent film. However, Allen has such a talent for witty dialogue that he found writing it hard to resist. Thus, the story turned into that of a man who was cryogenically frozen in 1973 and is awoken two hundred years later. (Sound familiar? "Austin Powers" ripped off of this movie completely.)

In 2173, America is under the control of a fascist regime, people get high by rubbing a metal orb, and sex doesn’t exist anymore but couples have a machine called the “orgazmatron.” Allen even had a meeting with Isaac Asimov to confirm scienfitic feasibility of some of his screenplay ideas, and the influence of the original concept is still present in the physical comedy of the film. "Sleeper" falls into the sci-fi comedy subgenre, of which other examples include "Spaceballs" and "Men In Black" (Here's a list of the highest grossing sci-fi comedies).

2008-06-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Before I begin...

Was anybody else thinking about this the whole time? I know I was. I was waiting for a joke, or a magic trick, or Hardy to yell out ‘Bullshit!’, or I don’t know, something actually funny to happen. And I was really disappointed when Teller talked.

In fact, I was so distracted by the arrangement that I think I missed most of the story. What I caught was riddled with sight-gags, over-run run-on jokes, and physical slapstick---that missed---the believability---the versatility---and the comedy factor. (I wanted to like it though.)

What resonates for me, and arguably, more contemporary audiences, is dark humor; incisive, speculative, and highly satirical. I find trace evidence flipping channels through heartily adopted cynics like South Park, Conan O’Brien, and Stephen Colbert.

Which brings me to a man from New Jersey, whose films I almost always enjoy. In that creepy, unforgettable way. Todd Solondz.

Particularly his 1998 FIPRESCI-winning film Happiness. (To those who don’t want the spoilers: You’ve got a pedophilic Dylan Baker, an English-teaching Jane Adams, a Phillip Seymour Hoffman that sticks cum-stained postcards on his wall, a suicidal Jon Lovitz, and on top you’ve got Lara Flynn Boyle. Oh yeah, and some sex, drugs, and rape.)

Solondz, the 48-year-old writer-director, is also responsible for bringing us Welcome to the Dollhouse, Storytelling, and Palindromes. He graduated with an English degree from Yale, and later dropped out from NYU’s MFA film and television program.

His early experiences as a delivery boy for the Writer’s Guild of America, as well as teaching English to Russian immigrants served as a strong anecdotal foundation for his later work. (In fact, he assigns a character in Happiness the same pleasant-now-unpleasant job.)

Overall, Solondz’s style is famous for its rich satire, penetrating insights into the suburban family, and unremittingly, uncomfortable, seizure-inducing comedy. (You laugh when you don’t want to, and it hurts even more. It becomes a sort of defense against the absurdity.)

His next project, Life During Wartime, is slated for production sometime this year, and will feature stars such as Emma Thompson, Demi Moore, Paul Reubens, Paul Dano, Faye Dunaway, and Hope Davis.

Woody Allen

2008-06-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

At the age of sixteen, Woody Allen starts his career in comedy. He writes and sends funy stories to different newspaper publishers. After writing short funny stories for TV and several chronics for magazines such as Playboy, he decides in 1961 to explore sets and cabarets.
He is notices by producer Charles Feldman, who proposes to him to rewrite the script of What’s New Pussycat in 1965. Allen keeps working on the same path and coments and alter the japenese spy movie What’s up, Tiger Lily. This is his first feature movie, followed by Take the Money and Run, and by his leading role in Herbert Ross new movie Play it again, Sam: this is one of the rare time he will be directed. (http://www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/philm/woody/index3.html)

As a director, Allen is very burlesque and has a penchant for satire at first. The audience sees in him a clumsy small man with glasses. However, he manages to impose himself thanks to more personal works of art such as Annie Hall for which he is awarded with the Oscars of best director and best scriot in 1978. These new movies are tainted with melancoly but still full of autoderision. Manhattan (1979) illustrates his first muse, Diane Keaton. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961111.html?categoryid=13&cs=1)

The 80s are highlighted by his encounter with his new fling Mia Farrow who will now appear all his all features from A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) to Husbands and Wives (1992). Loved by European filmmakers, the New York director is very influenced by their culture and finds a lot of his inspiration in Tchekhov, Distoievski or even Kafka.
His break up with Mia Farrow makes a lot of noise as he is now sharing his life with his adoptive daughter; however, this does not affect his productivity. Although succesfully works again with Diane Keaton in 1993 (Manhattan Murder Mystery), he now likes to experiment with new generation actors such as Miara Sorvino, Edward Norton of Leonardo Di caprio. The dimension of his movies is pure comedy, but they remain rich artistic creative reflexion.

In the middle of the 2000s, the Allen system seems to shift: indeed, Woody Allen abandons New York to shoot three consecutive movies in London. Scarlett Johansson becomes his new tendency and new themes come to his mind, like working around the brotherhood relationship in Cassandra's Dream. Today, he follows his european journey as he shoots his new movie, Midnight in Barcelona, on location in Spain. (http://www.happynews.com/news/5212008/home-away-home-europe-welcomes-woody-allen.htm)

Charlie Chaplin's Signature Look, for sale?

2008-06-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

Charlie Chaplin's look, for apparent reasons is arguably the first thing a person mentally pictures when his name is mentioned. Even if the person has never heard of him, they'll probably know who your talking about when you say, "you know the little guy with the baggy pants, bowler hat, mustache, and the cane". Well some of those signature items end were apparently sold by Bonhams for $150,000. (Check out Bonham's if you want to buy Sir Elton John's Piano)

So what about the rest of Chaplin's gear, well you can go to eHow and figure out how to make ur own version of Charlie's get up, or simply google charlie chaplin costume and you will find 100's of tutorials and websites that either teach you how to, or will sell you a Charlie Chaplin Costume.

I havent been able to find any info to back this up but

IMDB states the origin of his outfit as: 'with the help of 'Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's pants. Arbuckle's father-in-law's derby, Chester Conklin's cutaway, Ford Sterling's size 14-shoes, and some crepe paper belonging to Mack Swain (which became the tramp's mustache). The only item that actually belonged to Chaplin was the wangee cane.'

Regardless, whether it's Chaplin's actual costume selling, or the millions of imitations that get shipped out every year a few weeks prior to October, it's clear that there was definitely something special in what Chaplin wore. But of course what he wore would not nearly be as special if he didn't do what he did.

Groucho Marx: Stand Up Comedy Icon

2008-06-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

After watching a film starring the Marx Brothers, it might be hard to believe that the actors were actually, literally brothers. It seems more feasible that these men were simply involved in a comedy troupe and wanted to use matching last names as a way to more easily market themselves and convey a sense of comradely or togetherness. Concerns about the possibility of one family being responsible for so many great comedic talents, might also fuel the assumption that they were probably not related. Also, this practice of changing names or going by a uniform alias it not completely far fetched. For instance, the none of the Ramone's are actually related. However, "Marx" is not a fabricated stage name and these men were actually, biologically brothers.

The Marx brothers were born to European Immigrants. Their mother, who came to the United States from Germany was named Miene Schonberg. Their father, Simon Marx, was French. Miene and Simon met in New York City, were married and soon after began a family. Chico was the eldest, followed by Harpo, then Groucho and finally Zeppo (www.marx-brothers.org/biography/marxes.htm).

It's also somewhat difficult to believe that although the films produced by the Marx Brothers were obviously group efforts, only Groucho's persona seems to endure. His image, the man with the thick mustache, glasses and cigar, adorns many stand up comedy club backdrops and logos. This iconic image also seen on stand up comedy club websites (www.punchline.com). There is also a group of clubs in Florida named Groucho's Comedy Club (www.grouchocomedy.com).

Why is Groucho more closely associated with stand up comedy than his equally humorous brothers? It could be that stand up comedy is, to some extent, about words and Groucho is known for his snappy one liners and witty comments. Groucho's comedy is more verbal in nature. Either way, one would think that all the Marx Brothers, related in blood and comedic ability, would all equally be as synonymous with Stand Up Comedy and comedy in general.

Absurdity Lives On

2008-06-05T07:53:00.001-07:00

Watching Duck Soup, it resonated more with me as an experiment of sorts than as a compelling or entertaining motion picture. The experiment seemed to ask the question, "Can we [this is the Marx Brothers now] make an entire film of jokes?" The plot is incidental to the film, and there's really very little going on, but it provides a basic framework on which they can hang, really, whatever jokes they want to use. Consider the following example:

Now, this is part of a larger scene that runs something like five minutes, and the only information gained from it is that these two guys - Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) - were hired to spy on Firefly (Groucho), and they failed. But on this simple premise, Chico and Harpo let fly a series of jokes and gags.

And oddly enough, the entire time I was watching it, I realized that's exactly what Family Guy does.

Now, debate if you must the comedic or cultural value of the show, but Family Guy, especially as the show goes on, is a fantastic example of the sort of stream-of-conscious narrative comedy that The Marx Brothers developed. Neither seemed to employ any editing - they each read very much like a first draft. Nor does either piece contain any real characters; they have distinct comedic personalities (and Family Guy's Meg more fully develops the comedy of a boring, useless character than the Marx Brothers' Zeppo), but no real genuine character. And while that form can often be sloppy, it provides fascinating insight into the creative mind.

Gummo: The Long-Lost Marx Brother

2008-06-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

When one thinks of the Marx Brothers the first thing that comes to mind are Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and sometimes Zeppo but what is often overlooked is that there was another brother who was part of the troupe. Milton Marx or better known as Gummo as it was his chosen stage name. He was born in New York City on October 23rd 1892 as the fourth sibling. The story behind his nickname can be debated as I have found several different stories online. One link says he given his name from a monologist by the name of Art Fisher who noted his preference to rubber shoes. Wikipedia says that being the sickliest of the brothers, Gummo often wore rubber overshoes (gumshoes) to protect himself from taking sick in inclement weather. A bit bizarre but IMDB says he got his nickname from a habit he had of sneaking up on people backstage, like a “gumshoe” detective. But we all know IDMB does not lie. He used to perform alongside his brothers (as the straight role) where they were on the vaudeville circuit but he stopped before they became huge Broadway stars. When he left acting, he was replaced by his younger brother Zeppo and soon forgotten. Although he was the first to go he was also the first of the brothers to take to the stage and started out performing with his Uncle Julius in a ventriloquist act.
In 1911, Gummo, Groucho, and Harpo, the original performers of the family, appeared as a singing act called “The Three Nightingales.” In 1917, Gummo left his brothers to join the US Army, and in stepped Zeppo; Gummo was the only brother who served in the military. His service to the military was short and when he came back, he went into business selling dresses and cloths for many years before he went back into show business. During his dressmaking business he patented a laundry box (as shown on the right). He said, "I invented a [laundry] box that has only four sides instead of eight. In the normal laundry box you'd put the laundry in one-half and cover it with the other. This one saved a lot of paper and the laundry would slide into it." He also tells of the product failing because of rising cardboard prices (source). I suppose he didn't have the flair for inventing like his brother Zeppo, who held three patents.
When his dress making business went bankrupt he became his brothers agent and even joined Zeppo in operating a management company, but it did not last. He also represented other actors and writers aside from his brothers, and became very well respected in his field.
Gummo also married a widowed Helen von Tilzer in 1929 and adopted her daughter Kay from her previous married. They had a son together in 1930 named Robert. On April 21, 1977 Milton Marx died, only four months before his older brother Julius (Groucho).

Other links:
http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/gummo.htm
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=678

Fatty Arbuckle: Raped By Negative Hollywood Press

2008-06-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd are often credited as the three big comic stars of early cinema, yet another famous slapstick comedian was also prominent during that time: Fatty Arbuckle. Were it not for a widely publicized rape and murder scandal that cast him out of show business, this mentor to both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton (and in fact, the person who granted Keaton his first role in a film) may have been recognized more prominently in that group of comics as found here. Alas, the court later declared Arbuckle not guilty, but the enormous outpouring of negative press had already obliterated his film career by that point, and the board of censorship had banned him from all U.S. film sets indefinitely. Ironically, the victim of the case was named Virginia Rappe.

Born Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle (YOW!!!), “Fatty” was not only an actor but a screenwriter and director as well – as a matter of fact, “Arbuckle was the first of the silent comedians to direct his own films, starting with "Barnyard Flirtations” (http://www.filmsite.org/20sintro2.html). He was particularly known for his slick and acrobatic physical capabilities, remarkable vocal talent, obesity (obviously), and prominent use of pie-in-the-face gags. During his popularity, Arbuckle got a $1,000,000 a year contract from Paramount, the first multimillion dollar deal in Hollywood history according to Wikipedia.

Like O.J. Simpson, Fatty never truly recovered his career after his fiasco with The Law. A dozen miserable flops and a case of dreadful alcoholism are all that resulted from his attempt at returning to filmmaking, his soiled reputation acting as the primary cause of failure. To stay afloat in the movie world, he sometimes directed short comedies under the name William Goodrich (after his father), though nothing truly noteworthy came out of this time, as seen here. Silent film actress Louise Brooks offered this gem on Fatty as a director:

He made no attempt to direct this picture. He sat in his chair like a man dead. He had been very nice and sweetly dead ever since the scandal that ruined his career. But it was such an amazing thing for me to come in to make this broken-down picture, and to find my director was the great Roscoe Arbuckle. Oh, I thought he was magnificent in films. He was a wonderful dancer—a wonderful ballroom dancer, in his heyday. It was like floating in the arms of a huge doughnut—really delightful. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_Arbuckle)

The Huge Doughnut died only recently in 1933, succumbing to heart failure the night Warner Brothers officially received him back into the film community, signing him for a feature-length motion picture. His legacy survives in such places as college film classes, great-grandparents, and one obscure “Family Guy” reference that the majority of the show's target audience probably didn’t get. He is also #2 on Wikipedia’s “List of Obese Actors.”

[Pictured here: Fatty Arbuckle in one of his numerous drag masterpieces!]

The Truth About Zeppo

2008-06-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Zeppo may not have been the funniest of the Marx brothers but last time I checked Edison wasn’t too great with the jokes either. Confused? Let me explain. As it turns out, Zeppo Marx was an inventor. In 1941, Zeppo created Marman Products Company Inc. They primarily made clamping devices and straps which can be found in every modern moving vehicle. Where else can you find the Marman clamp? You guessed it. They were used to support the atomic bombs on the Enola Gay. They can also be found in outer space on the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer on the Cassini orbiter. Zeppo also patented several other inventions: a vapor delivery pad and a cardia pulse-rate monitor.

If inventing clamps doesn’t do it for you, Zeppo also created the Marman Twin, a two cylinder low-powered motorcycle. It’s pretty much just a bike with a motor attached, but that’s more than I’ve invented.

Between building stuff and telling jokes, you would think Zeppo wouldn’t have time to do anything else impressive. But you would be wrong. Zeppo married in 1959 to Las Vegas showgirl, Barbara Blakely. Eventually they divorced and she married none other than Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.

So when you’re watching the Marx Brothers, cut Zeppo some slack. He was so busy doing all these great things, he probably just didn’t have time to be funny.

Is humor evolving?

2008-06-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

If one takes a look at the timeline of comedy, can he/she find humor evolving? I do not yet have a grasp on the history of comedy to make an answer. I merely suspect that humor has been evolving or at least transforming in similar steps that art or music has been through.

Western Art in the modern age has gone through a transformation over the years. At first, in the 17th century, it was realistic paintings that gained the most praise. Then artist began experimenting with new ideas and ways of seeing that led art towards abstraction. The same thing happens with jazz. If one follows its development from swing to bop to free), one can see it aiming towards more freedom and abstraction. Both art and music reached a point where a blank canvas and total improvisation became accepted. Will humor reach a sudden stage too?

History of humor can date back before language. The tickling and social play of nonhuman primates may have formed the origins of laughter. (origins) The first type of non-verbal humor. We can even find these kind of humor in the way monkeys play. Silent films rely on this form of humor. Buster Keaton and Chaplin use exaggerated motions and physical expressions to deliver their humor. Humor today contains a wider variety. Humor can include sarcasm, wit, slapstick, dry humor, irony or absurdity. Let us think about the recent rise in absurd comedies like Aqua Teen Hunger Force or Tim and Eric show. When I watch this sort of comedy I laugh but I am confused. I am not sure why I laughed or even if I am suppose to. Perhaps when people first saw Picasso’s abstract art or heard Miles Davis play free jazz they reacted in a similar way. A sort of nervous appreciation and acceptance of what is going on.

Who's On First?

2008-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are among the most famous comedy duos of all time due largely to the success of the bit "Who's On First?" The sketch finds Abbott the new manager of a baseball team and Costello is attempting to find out the names of the players. What starts as a simple premise quickly spirals into a rapid fire back and forth that gets more confusing by the second.

As it turns out "who" is the name of the fella who plays first base. Abbott plays the straight man in this instance and this allows for the very talented Costello to demonstrate his neurotic schtick. He knocks his hat off, becomes more and more frustrated and in the end, gives up entirely, never realizing he did in fact find out the names of all the players.

The success of the act gave Abbott and Costello the distinction of being the only two people not directly associated with the game of baseball to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Many believe they were actually inducted, but this is just an urban legend. The Hall even has an entire exhibit dedicated to the routine showing the bit in it's entirety along side some of baseball's funniest bloopers.

The Greatest Team Ever Assembled

2008-06-04T10:34:00.001-07:00

This is Sid.

For more about him, skim this article.

Some of you might have seen this guy in an early media arts class, or perhaps you have a grandparent who interrupted a Real World Road Rules Marathon to regale you with remembrances of the glory days of television. Either way, watch Sid in this sketch. It's a masterful display of timing and physicality. It's eight minutes long, but it's worth it, even for modern folk.

I realize that this is a film comedy blog, that Sid is somewhat out of place here. He has appeared in films, but he never found the success on the silver screen that he did on the golden box. So why bring him up?

Sid Caesar managed to assemble some of the greatest comedic minds of the last fifty years all into one room. He wasn't the head of the Friars Club. They were all in his writers room. At one point or another, during the run of his two variety shows (Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour) Caesar had Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Carl Reiner all pouring their brain juices into his comedy sketches. I can't even fathom. Take a look at our syllabus and think about the cosmic coincidence of the whole thing. In this little summer class slice of comedic film we've got Allen, Brooks and Simon. If we continued of into the Seventies and the Eighties we'd no doubt his Reiner (The Jerk) and Gelbart (Tootsie.) Start here

and do some surfing. See how many of these guys were involved in your favorite comedies. It boggles my mind.

Can you imagine that writer's room? It's like taking Bird and Magic and putting them on the Bulls in the nineties with Jordan... that's a terrible metaphor for an Emerson College blog, but hopefully the point comes across. It's just so unlikely. It's raining out, youtube some more Sid. My personal favorites: The Clock, The 3 Haircuts, and From Here To Obscurity.

REAL American Comedy

2008-06-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

Chan VS Keaton

2008-06-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

Chan vs. Keaton

Buster Keaton is revered for his style of comedy performed in the early 1900’s. His slapstick comedy work became popular with the rise of silent film. He is often compared to his colleague Charlie Chaplin who is equally affiliated with the rise of silent era comedy. However, Chaplin and Keaton have different and distinct styles. Chaplin is often portrayed as clumsy lower class fool who was subject to the hardships of the world but always managed an escape from his current predicament only to land himself in another. Keaton was better known for his acrobatics and physical abilities while on camera. Because they are also many similarities between these two they are often compared. However, how often is a 20th century action hero compared to the great Buster Keaton? Believe it or not Jackie Chan, known for his martial arts and lighthearted action adventures, reveres Keaton as a fundamental influence in his work.

As shown in the video above, Chan recreates Keaton scenes as a tribute to the actor. Chan also pays homage to other early comedic actors such as Harold Loyd and Chaplin but remains most heavily impacted by Keaton. Chan is now described as “the Buster Keaton of kung-fu” (spill.com) because of his obedience to Keaton’s style of filmmaking. Often ending in whacky over the top conclusions much like Keaton’s films, Chan’s work has become a way for younger audiences to appreciate and learn film history, whether they are aware of it or not. This approach also makes Chan’s work more appealing to older audiences ensuring that his films have mass appeal and even respect for his predecessors.

There are also personal similarities between these two actors. In this day and age Chan is capable of almost anything in his films. Chan is well known for his control and direction while on set. Chan is much more than an actor; in fact he is also a director, writer, producer, and stuntman (IMDB). It is rare to see this level of control in Hollywood yet Chan often fulfills many rolls on a single production much in the same way as Chaplin and Keaton. Chan’s appreciation for his predecessors has allowed him to create a successful form of action comedy that is appreciated by audiences everywhere.

Tiny Tim

2008-06-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Tiny Tim, born Herbert Khaury, was born in Manhattan in 1932. Tiny's desire to become a singer started at a young age and he subsequently learned to play the guitar and the ukulele. He eventually dropped out of high school and started to perform. His first performance was at a lesbian cabaret in Greenwhich village during the early fifties. He was not yet known as tiny Tim though, at that time he was performing under the stage name of Larry Love .

By the onset of the sixties Tiny had built a cult following in the Greenwhich village music scene and began incorporating strange renditions of old standards into his repertoire. He finally settled on the name Tiny Tim after the character in Dickens' A Christmas Carol (according to some accounts, it was suggested by a manager accustomed to working with midgets).

Tiny's more marked rise to fame began after an appearance in the film You Are What You Eat.

Other film appearances include "Blood Harvest" the 1987 horror flick, "Masters of the Gridiron"(1985) a viking movie with a cast of NFL players, "Normal Love" (1963) the sequel to Jack Smith's "Flaming Creatures" , and "The Yellow Sequence".

After his movie debut Tiny booked a spot on the comedy tour Rowan and Martin's laugh-in, then TV with appearances on Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and Jackie Gleason.

In 1968 Tiny Tim signed a record deal with Reprise and his single of "Tip-toe through the Tulips" sold 200,000 copies. He also recorded a Children's album that year called For All My Little Friends.

He was later married to 17 year old Victoria Buddinger (or Miss Vicki) on the Johnny Carson show. They had a daughter named Tulip a few years later but the marriage eventually failed and they divorced after eight years of marriage. He remarried in 1984 to Ms. Jan and that marriage lasted until 1994, they lived in seperate households for the majority of the marriage. He then married again in 1995, this time to a Ms. Sue.

After his divorce from Ms. Jan he joined a circus where he performed for about 7 months. He also recorded throughout the 80's for a number of different small labels.

In September of 1996 Tiny had a heart a heart attack while performing at a ukulele festival in Massachusetts. He recovered from that attack but later died after having another heart attack on stage, this time in Minneapolis while playing Tip-Toe Through the Tulips.

Harpo and Lucille

2008-06-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

Lucille Ball the famous television comedian of the 50's, with her husband, launched a 30 minute sitcom that attracted the American audience for 6 years called "I Love Lucy." During the fourth season they had Harpo Marx as a guest star in episode 27: Lucy and Harpo Marx

Lucille Desiree Ball born on August 6, 1911. Her father died before she was four and her mother was working all the time, therefor she was responsible for taking care of her younger brothers. This lead made want to vent out therefore she enrolled herself into a drama school. She started playing small roles in the 1930. Patients paid off and at the end of the 30's she was starring in B-pictures and the A-Pictures. While filming Two Many Girls in 1940 she met her husband Desi Arnaz, who was six years younger. Together the came up with the hit show "I Love Lucy" starring themselves as the main role. Lucy was the first woman to own her own film studio ,Desilu. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000840/bio )

The famous comedian group the Marx Brothers had a very uniqur character called Harpo. Harpo Marx was born in 1888 as Adolph Marx.Since he is Jewish,he changed his name to Aurthr Marx during WWI because it was too German; resembled Hitlers name. (http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/harpo.htm) Like his brothers he started on Vaudeville with a speaking role. But then he was given bad reviews and his uncle suggested that he can attract more attention silent. He got his stage name Harpo from a dealer during a card game at the Orpheus Theater in Illinois. He gave him the name because he played the Harp. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpo_Marx) He didn't say a singe word but he was loved and remembered till this day. (http://www.benjisamit.com/harpo/1.htm)

In the episode 27: Lucy and Harpo Marx here is what happens: While living in Hollywood, Ricky and Fred invite Harpo Max to the apartment. When he shows up, Lucy is disguised as him; seeing the real Harpo, she hides. Harpo is shocked when he sees what he assumes is his reflection, which forces Lucy to mimic his every move. This was a tribute to Harpo and Groucho's famous mirror scene in Duck Soup. (Wikipedia)

To Watch the Clip here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHRzyOttJS0

Buster Keaton and Stunts

2008-06-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Joseph "Buster" Keaton was given his nickname at the age of 6 months by Harry Houdini because he was clumsy (IMDB). His ability to be so clumsy became a talent and led him to become such a skilled stuntman. Check out Keaton's full Bio here at IMDB. While watching Buster Keaton’s films in class, I was taken aback by the amount of realistic stunt work that was performed. From falling off of moving trains, to hanging from a branch over the edge of a waterfall, Keaton appears to be a master stuntman. Although I was impressed with the realism of the stunts performed, I thought that they must have been somehow faked. However, after conducting research on the subject, I found that Keaton actually performed all of his own stunts, and in some cases he even acted as a stunt double for other actors in his films who refused to take such serious risks.

In the silent film era, many stunts were performed by the actual actors and not by doubles. I was very surprised by this, since stunts in today’s films are most often performed by doubles. Read more about stunts in the silent film era here. Although camera trickery was heavily used in the silent film era, Keaton's risky stunts, such as the waterfall scene in Our Hospitality, were not faked. One reviewer of his films commented that sometimes the camera man couldn’t even bear to watch what was being recorded. I think the stunts are truly incredible, given the limited safety technology and knowledge that was available during that time period. This site has an excellent review of the film Our Hospitality.

Most actors in today's films do not put themselves in such genuinely dangerous situations. Current stunts are often simulated by digital technology and/or performed in highly controlled environments. Keaton's stunts, and the fact that we find humor in them, make him unique in the silent film comedy genre. It is also interesting to note that he was not always left unharmed after these acts. When visiting a doctor to have x-rays, the doctor found that his neck had broken and healed itself. Take a look at this site for more information about Keaton's career and his unique stunt work ethic.

He is often remembered for his physical comedy. He set the stage for comedy stunt work, and this likely influenced the genre as a whole. For a great summary of Keaton's life an impact on the film industry, read this blog post: Great Filmmakers: Buster Keaton.

Hello and Welcome!

2008-05-31T17:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the American Film Comedy Blog. I hope this will be a place for lively discussions, quirky discoveries and eyebrow-raising observations. A good place to share sources and news. For a sample of how earlier class blogs were put together, feel free to take a look at Supernatural Television and Occult Cinema.

You should all have received invitations to the blog at your Emerson email addresses. So you can start blogging anytime! I will do a brief tutorial on using images and hyperlinks in class; but if anyone needs assistance with this in the future, email me. All assigned/required posts (a total of four) should contain at least three links and one image. But you can post as often as you like; as long as your post is related to American Film Comedy.