One of the golden rules in comedy is that men dressed in women’s clothing are universally funny. I don’t know why this is but it is the premise of the humour in Some Like It Hot. Unlike most other films that feature men dressed in drag, this is not just a one joke comedy, and is one of the funniest films ever made. After Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon witness a gangland shooting, they disguise themselves as female musicians to get away from the gangsters.
Whilst they are pursued by ‘Spats’ (played by George Raft) and his gang they meet up with Sugar Kane, played by Marilyn Monroe. The fun begins when Joe/Josephine, played by Curtis, falls for Sugar.
Jack Lemmon is hilarious in this movie as Gerald/Daphne, and the closing line by his/her fiancé when it is revealed that Daphne is a bloke, is one of the funniest in movie history.
One of the things that I found interesting was the casting of Raft as Spats. In real life Raft was a low-level hoodlum before he became an actor in the late 20s, and rose to prominence in the original Scarface. One of the in-jokes that I found funny was when Spats chides a rival gangster who is constantly tossing a coin, something that Raft’s character did in Scarface. In another scene he picks up a grapefruit and looks as though he is going to squish it into someone’s face ala Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy.
I know that this film is not high-brow entertainment, that it is stupid and gross, like a lot of comedies from the late 90s/early 2000s were, but I still found it to be quite funny and that is all that matters to me. Sometimes you really need a stupid movie that doesn’t take itself or the art of movie making too seriously. At least before watching a Rob Schneider film you know what you are going to get.
Borat is lewd and crude but it is also very funny. Some of the scenes in the picture had me laughing hysterically whilst others had me scratching my head.
I laughed at how Borat could make some really offensive remarks about all sorts of issues and the unsuspecting Americans that he met just agreed and expanded on those views. This was especially when he was at the rodeo, the gun shop and the bus with the frat-boys.
Also funny is the naked wrestling/fight scene between Borat and Azimat which really has to be seen to be believed.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a good way to spend an hour and a bit. It is typical Disney fare from the 50s/60s period. It is not a masterpiece but just an enjoyable film. Cruella De Ville is an enjoyable villain but I feel that she could have been given a bit more screen-time, while her theme song is great. (Especially the Dr. John version that is not featured in the film but the 1996 live-action version of 101 Dalmatians!)
One thing that I was not too happy about was the amount of rotoscoping in this picture. For those who aren’t up to date on rotoscoping, it is basically when animators trace over live action film, frame by frame. Usually they do this to make a characters movement look more believable, although it does take away a lot of the cartoony-ness from animated films and to my eyes looks a bit out-of-place. This is just my opinion, but I feel that the rotoscope was used a little too much on One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Directed by John Landis Produced by Bernie Brillstein, George Folsey Jr, David Sosna & Robert K. Weiss Written by Dan Aykroyd & John Landis Starring John Belushi
Dan Aykroyd
Carrie Fisher
John Candy
Henry Gibson
Additional Cast
Cab Calloway as Curtis
Carrie Fisher as Mystery Woman Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy Ray Charles as Pawn Shop Owner/Himself
James Brown as Reverend Cleophus James
John Candy as Burton Mercer
Kathleen Freeman as Sister Mary Stigmata, “The Penguin”
Henry Gibson as Head Nazi
Steve Lawrence as Maury Sline
Twiggy as Chic Lady
Frank Oz as Corrections Officer
Jeff Morris as Bob
Charles Napier as Tucker McElroy
Steven Williams as Trooper Mount
Armand Cerami as Trooper Daniel
Chaka Khan as Choir soloist John Lee Hooker as musician on Maxwell Street
John Landis as State trooper
Stephen Bishop as police officer with broken watch
Paul Reubens as Chez Paul waiter
Steven Spielberg as Cook County Assessor’s Office Clerk
The Blues Brothers Band
John Belushi as “Joliet” Jake Blues, lead vocals
Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues, harmonica and lead vocals
Steve Cropper as Steve “the Colonel” Cropper, lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals Donald “Duck” Dunn as Donald “Duck” Dunn, bass guitar
Murphy Dunne as Murphy “Murph” Dunne, keyboards
Willie Hall as Willie “Too Big” Hall, drums and percussion
Tom Malone as Tom “Bones” Malone, trombone, tenor saxophone and vocals
Lou Marini as “Blue Lou” Marini, alto saxophone and tenor saxophone and vocals
Matt Murphy as Matt “Guitar” Murphy, lead guitar
Alan Rubin as Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin, trumpet, percussion and vocals
Music by Elmer Bernstein Cinematography Stephen M. Katz Editing by George Folsey Jr Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date June 20, 1980 Running time 133 minutes Country United States Language English
Fox Classics had a Blues Brothers marathon on New Year’s Day, screening the movie several times throughout the day. Even though I have seen this movie millions of times I just had to watch it again.
While the film is quite hilarious at times I don’t think that it is the funniest film of all time like a lot of people under the age of 40 have said. It’s probably the funniest film of the 80s though. I like the way that Belushi and Ackroyd play everything very straight regardless of whatever madness is occurring around them. There are a lot of good, funny, lines that have all gone down into movie folklore.
We’re on a mission from God!
I think the thing that I like most about this picture is the great music featured. Firstly there is the Blues Brothers‘ Band featuring Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi as well as the members of Stax records house band Booker T and the MGs. Then there are the cameos by John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway and James Brown playing and singing some of their most famous hits from the past. The scene featuring Ray Charles singing Shake A Tailfeather is very funny.
Overall the film is very funny with lots of great music.
The Road To Morocco is perhaps the most famous of the road movies that was made featuring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. I think that younger people would perhaps recognise the famous theme song which in recent times has been parodied by Family Guy, although the song is funny enough even now. The film itself is quite amusing and silly with Bob and Bing getting in a few clever one liners, especially when they break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. The plot is quite nonsensical but it is a lot of fun.
This is another fine Laurel & Hardyshort film from the early 1930s. It features lots of funny slapstick and is perhaps one of their funniest movies. A lot of the film plays out like a silent film, despite being made in 1933, with Stan in particular showing off his pantomime skills. The film gave me a few good chuckles and doesn’t seem to have dated too badly.
Directed by David Miller Produced by Mary Pickford
David Miller Written by Mac Benoff
Frank Tashlin
Harpo Marx (story) Starring Harpo Marx
Chico Marx
Groucho Marx
Ilona Massey
Vera-Ellen
Marion Hutton
Marilyn Monroe
Release date: October 12, 1949 (San Francisco Premiere)
March 3, 1950
This film is notable for two things, 1) it is the worst of all the Marx Bros. films and 2) it features the screen debut of Marilyn Monroe.
Groucho never appears on-screen with his other two brothers, while Chico looks very old (he was 62) and tired. There are some OK jokes with Groucho and Harpo has a few good gags too, courtesy of Frank Tashlin who co-wrote the film. although Harpo’s schtick does wear thin after 30 minutes. The best scene is the 2 minutes when Marilyn is on-screen with Groucho getting in a couple of good lines, but overall it is a terrible and terribly boring film.
Directed by Charles Lamont Produced by Howard Christie Written by Frederic I. Rinaldo
John Grant
Robert Lees
Hugh Wedlock Jr
Howard Snyder StarringBud Abbott
Lou Costello
Nancy Guild
Arthur Franz Music by Erich Zeisl Cinematography George Robinson Editing by Virgil Vogel Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date March 19, 1951 Running time 82 min. Country United States Language English
Abbott & Costello Meet The Invisible Man is a hard film to categorize. You’d think that with Abbott & Costello in the film it would be a comedy but it isn’t particularly funny. It is amusing in parts but in others the jokes seem very tired. Perhaps this is because I have watched a few A&C films these past few months and can see how they reused gags over and over and over again.Thankfully Lou is so likable and amusing, and he even gets the upper hand on Abbott in a few scenes.
The movie does work sort of as a mystery/suspense type of film or as sci-fi and to be truthful it’s entertaining enough. It’s still a lot better than the later film where the boys met The Mummy, but it is a huge fall from their classic films of the mid-1940s. The film does also contain lots of references to the earlier Invisible Man films.
Distributed byParamount Pictures Release date December 23, 1958 Running time 99 minutes Language English
The Geisha Boy is another of those Jerry Lewis films that I would have watched several times as a kid. It is currently available on DVD for $5 from Big W. It is mildly entertaining, despite a few politically incorrect gags from Jerry. There are a few good gags with Jerry and his rabbit, although these do wear a little thin after the first half an hour of the movie. Thankfully after this point the rabbit jokes are used quite sparingly. The relationship between Jerry and the little Japanese kid is a bit schmalzty and the scene at Tokyo airport paints Jerry as being a huge jerk, but otherwise this is an amusing film that is quite enjoyable.
I can also see that Jim Carrey stole much of his schtick from Jerry Lewis by watching this film.
