Subject: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Little Hawk Date: 06 May 06 - 09:10 PM Watching funny movies is good for your health. Here are some of my absolute favorites over the years... Groundhog Day Love at First Bite A Fish Called Wanda Ruthless People Annie Hall Play It Again, Sam Roxanne The original Pink Panther films with Peter Sellers Any of Charlie Chaplin's great movies Got any to add to the list? |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 06 May 06 - 09:31 PM The entire series of the 'Carry On' movies are now being released on DVD. Be afraid! Be VERY afraid! |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST,allan s. Date: 06 May 06 - 09:34 PM All the Marx brothers films |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 06 May 06 - 09:50 PM Oh Brother Where Art Thou Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines Carry On Up The Khyber Life Of Brian Monty Pythons Holy Grail Caddyshack Airplane Blazing Saddles |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Pseudolus Date: 06 May 06 - 10:00 PM Groundhog Day Galaxy Quest |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: number 6 Date: 06 May 06 - 10:51 PM Ones not mentioned that come to mind .. What's New Pussy Cat The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou The Mouse that Roared Dr. Strangelove Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Cluin Date: 06 May 06 - 10:53 PM The Legend of Boggy Creek |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: bobad Date: 06 May 06 - 10:57 PM The Party with Peter Sellers Movies with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau John Candy in Trains, Planes and Automobiles and Uncle Buck |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: LadyJean Date: 06 May 06 - 11:06 PM Like my father before me, I'm a Marxist. I mean of course a follower of Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. (That guy Carl wasn't as funny.) My favorites are Night at the Opera, Day at the Races, and the glorious Duck Soup! Bringing Up Baby is another favorite. Then there's My Favorite Wife. More recent films include: What's Up Dock, Any of Peter Sellers Pink Panther Movies, Peter Sellers The Party, Peter Sellers The World of Henry Orient. The Full Monty was wonderful. I don't think I've seen a good comedy since then. Though Broken Flowers had it's moments. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 06 May 06 - 11:08 PM Dr Strangelove Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid This Is Spinal Tap Best in Show Waiting for Guffman Muppets Take Manhattan Princess Bride Life of Brian & aforementioned Python Ditto Marx Bros, especially Duck Soup Philadelphia Story Bringing Up Baby Some Like it Hot Ghostbusters (but only the original) A Christmas Story Catch 22 Harold and Maude Tootsie Love and Death Annie Hall Animal House Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein Fargo Raising Arizona Blues Brothers Pee Wees Big Adventure Cradle Will Rock Airplane The Big Bus Stripes Kentucky Fried Movie Earth Girls Are Easy MASH Being There Great Dictator Moonstruck Harold & Maude My Little Chickadee The Ritz Manhattan Cat Ballou Beverly Hills Cop Dinner at Eight Beetlejuice & every damn thing Burton ever made The Jerk The Birdcage Actually, I could on and on...the above are just my fave (mostly) American comedy film list...then there is Waking Ned Devine The Snapper Brazil Local Hero Full Monty The Commitments Little Voice Bend it Like Beckham Billy Elliot Love Actually War of the Buttons Agnes Brown Amelie Il Postino Everybody's Famous Like I said, I could on... |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Severn Date: 06 May 06 - 11:31 PM Some oldies: Buster Keaton in "The General" or most anything silent before he went to MGM. Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last" W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat An Honest Man" or "It's A Gift" "Arsenic And Old Lace" "Harvey" Laurel & Hardy-"Sons Of The Desert" "The Music Box" (a short) Our Gang/Little Rascals-"Freewheeling", "The Kid From Borneo", "High Neighbor" (shorts) Abbott & Costello-"Hold That Ghost" |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 06 May 06 - 11:34 PM Yes, yes! The Bank Dick too! And my fave Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein! |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 06 May 06 - 11:35 PM Eat Drink Man Woman Like Water for Chocolate |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Rapparee Date: 06 May 06 - 11:42 PM Cat Ballou McClintock The Python movies The Pink Panther series MASH No Time For Sergeants Mr. Roberts ...actually, 'most all that have been listed above. Why is it that the best comedies have within them the seeds of high tragedy? Or did Aristotle answer that in The Poetics? |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 06 May 06 - 11:52 PM Oh! and Bob Roberts too. Crooklyn Bamboozled Rocky Horror - how could I forget that one? The Sting High Fidelity Wayne's World |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Elmer Fudd Date: 07 May 06 - 12:01 AM The Frisco Kid Garbo Talks I'll Do Anything |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 07 May 06 - 12:02 AM Cecil B Demented Pecker Network Flesh Gordon and all those other trash genre flicks Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Surf Nazis Must Die Reefer Madness etc etc |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Bert Date: 07 May 06 - 01:15 AM A load of stuff from England in the Fifties. Happiest Days of our lives (Parts of which were filmed at the school I went to and one year Margaret Rutherford came and opened our sports day) The Lavender Hill Mob The Lady Killers (much funnier than the recent Tom Hanks Remake) Happy Ever After The Belles of St. Trinians The Runaway Bus with Frankie Howerd and Petula Clark Then there were those Danny Kaye Films. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Alan Day Date: 07 May 06 - 03:22 AM I agree with you on one Bert The Ladykillers (with Mrs Lopsided) Night Owls Laurel and Hardy (The Pianola switch on) Al |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: mrdux Date: 07 May 06 - 03:30 AM a few more: My Man Godfrey (the one with carole lombard) Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House His Girl Friday Kind Hearts and Coronets |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Alba Date: 07 May 06 - 06:35 AM Modern Times Good Morning Vietnam Local Hero Sons of the Desert The Lady Killers (original not remake) Fargo A day at the Races/A night at the Opera Withnail and I The Philadelphia Story Whisky Galore The Big Lebowski I married an Axe Murderer Impossible to list all the Films that make me laugh. No doubt they will be and are on someone else's list J |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: alanabit Date: 07 May 06 - 07:39 AM School for Scoundrels Support Your Local Sheriff Spinal Tap Too many others to recount... |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Ernest Date: 07 May 06 - 12:59 PM Billy Wilders "one two three" "Dead Men don`t wear plaid" others have been mentioned before |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: heric Date: 07 May 06 - 01:35 PM Waking Ned Devine The Full Monty Fargo New to the List: Raising Arizona My Cousin Vinny (best law film ever) Evolution (kids) Bad Santa (sorry) Bandits (the critics hated it) Eddie Murphy Raw |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: heric Date: 07 May 06 - 01:44 PM oh, and Lost in America ("Nice dam.") |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: autolycus Date: 07 May 06 - 02:04 PM A few not mentioned so far. Hellzapoppin' with Olsen and Johnson, wsondefully zany Monsieur Hulot's Holiday(Jacques Tati) Mr.Mum (aka Mr.Mom)(John Hughes film with Michael Keaton. Little Murders, with Alan Arkin - brilliant black comedy a short made by Pierre Etaix bout a man trying to write a letter, can't recall the title. Hilarious. Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (W.C.Fiels) Top Secret ! (underrated follow-up to the one that made me laugh most - Airplane!, by the same team) Slacker (Richard Linklater) Otherwise, more votes here for the Marx Brothers, The Pink Panther,Blazing Saddles, Laurel and Hardy's Music Box, Fish Called Wanda, Dr.Strangelove ("You can't fight in here, this is the War Room"), Catch-22. Nearly forgot The Great Race, funny the first time, so-so the second, funny the third. Also What's Up,Doc? (Streisand's finest comic hour.) Ivor |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: autolycus Date: 07 May 06 - 02:08 PM Knew I'd forget at least one - The Producers - no, the original whith Wilder and Mostel. Ivor |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Little Hawk Date: 07 May 06 - 02:37 PM I forgot to mention Howard The Duck. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: curmudgeon Date: 07 May 06 - 02:39 PM All of John Waters' films. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST,wordy Date: 07 May 06 - 04:02 PM All jaques Tati films but particularly Mr Hulot's Holiday, and all laurel and hardy. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 May 06 - 06:38 PM Apparently that was the plural form of "favorite." And there are a lot of seriously non-funny films in some of those lists. I have a few films that are the favorites to pop in the player on a rainy day when I'm working around the house and treating it more like radio. Many have been listed, none are particularly new. One that I laugh at all the way through is You Can't Take it With You (George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart). The Barrymore version is very good, but there as a tv version on A&E years ago with Jason Robards that was also top notch. SRS |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST Date: 07 May 06 - 06:39 PM Groove Tube |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: RangerSteve Date: 07 May 06 - 08:01 PM The TV version of "You Can't Take it With You" (the Jason Robards version mentioned above) is superior to the movie. THe movie dropped some characters and added a few serious scenes not in the original. Also by the same authors is "The Man Who Came to Dinner", the movie is great but there's also a TV version on DVD with Nathan Lane that beats the movie version by a mile. My all-time favorite comedy, if I had to choose one, would be "Harvey" with James Stewart. It's probably the gentlest, most satisfying movie I've ever seen. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 07 May 06 - 10:42 PM The Palm Beach Story - for me the exemplar of screwball comedy. I nearly wet my pants every time I see the scene in the private railroad car. Claudette Colbert is deliciously manipulative in a naive sort of way. The ending is a little lame, but it only keeps the movie from being perfect. His Girl Friday The Court Jester Sitting Pretty (the original Mr. Belvedere film) Teahouse of the August Moon and a bunch other folks have already mentioned |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: catspaw49 Date: 07 May 06 - 11:02 PM Not a bad choice in the bunch. Guest mentioned the Groove Tube.....now often forgotten but hilarious and an early work for Richard Belzer and Chevy Chase. The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd. You have to love Harold Lloyd, a true genius..........Cary Grant was a wonderful comedic performer and I think the first "leading man" type who realized his comic potential ala Leslie Nielson and others later. Danny Kaye, completely underrated...... The guys who came out of Sid Caesar's staff are some of my favorites.....Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen........Add in later days the beautiful stuff done by Guest and Levy and their gang of improv pros.................... Like I said, I haven't seen a bad choice here and yeah Hawk....I like Howard the Duck myself! Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Ron Davies Date: 07 May 06 - 11:14 PM In addition to lots of the above It Happened One Night Clueless and some others, often about music--especially with audition sequences, as in The Commitments The Fabulous Baker Boys |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: chazkratz Date: 07 May 06 - 11:24 PM I'll admit I skimmed the list quickly, but I'm still amazed not to have seen "Young Frankenstein" here. Another I think nobody mentioned (perhaps nobody saw) was "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob." Danny Kaye, of course: "The Inspector General," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," jeez, what were all the rest? I'm glad someone mentioned "My Cousin Vinnie," and recognized it as a great legal thriller as well as a fantastic comedy. Joe Peschi is absolutely outrageous as the night-school lawyer, and Marissa Tomei wonderful as his fiancee. I wish Peschi would do more comedy and fewer Mafia flicks--and the world can do well without any more "Lethal Weapon" schlock. I liked someone's choice of "Love, Actually." Did anyone say "Sean of the Dead"? --seed |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Little Hawk Date: 07 May 06 - 11:33 PM In the 60's Sean Connery did an obscure one called "A Fine Madness". It's quite funny, but was not appreciated by a public who thought of him only as James Bond at the time, and did not relate to the idea of him doing a comedy at all. I was delighted to be reminded of "Raising Arizona"...one of the greatest comedies ever, and it had slipped my mind entirely. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Bobert Date: 07 May 06 - 11:43 PM Alll but one of the greats have been snapped up... Hey, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" has to rank up there with the best... |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Elmer Fudd Date: 08 May 06 - 01:44 AM mrdux, thanks for listing "Kind Hearts and Coronets." There's one that shouldn't be forgotten. Too brilliant! Did anyone mention Danny Kaye's "The Inspector General?" If so, sorry. My eyes are filming over with the cavalcade of misty-moisty memories from the plethora of posts. If not: Danny Kaye's "The Inspector General." Elmer |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: chazkratz Date: 08 May 06 - 02:12 AM Oh, here's another, although it may qualify more as a tragicomedy: "King of Hearts," another of the great antiwar films. And one more I just thought of--painfully funny: "Where's Poppa?" Charles |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: alanabit Date: 08 May 06 - 02:24 AM I'm with Ranger Steve on "Harvey". I forget the name of the wonderful actress, who played the sister, but she was brilliant too. It may well have been James Stewart's best film. My children played the DVD over and over again, proving that it is timeless. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Little Robyn Date: 08 May 06 - 03:02 AM There are several Peter Sellers movies mentioned above. My alltime favourite is there already - The Party. I still roll on the floor when he starts on the 'birdy num nums'. Robyn |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Essex Girl Date: 08 May 06 - 08:36 AM Apart from my favourites - Harvey, Bringing up Baby & The Party -, there are two more great Ealing comedies, The Titfield Thunderbolt and Passport to Pimlico. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: clueless don Date: 08 May 06 - 11:41 AM Has anyone mentioned "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" yet? Was 1 a good year? And Danny Kaye in "The Court Jester", if only for the scene involving the vessel with the pestle, the chalise from the palace, and the flagon with the dragon (which one has the brew that is true?). Don |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Little Hawk Date: 08 May 06 - 12:28 PM The one I don't find all that funny is "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Too noisy, frantic, and relentless for my taste, but it does have a few inspired moments here and there. "The Gods Must Be Crazy" is a good one. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Rapparee Date: 08 May 06 - 01:08 PM I also kind of like "Crocodile Dundee" (the first one). I find it interesting that such "classics" as the "Francis the Talking Mule" and "Ma and Pa Kettle" series aren't mentioned, and I don't think anything by Martin & Lewis has been either. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: GUEST, heric Date: 08 May 06 - 01:19 PM Oh my we have neglected to mention The Castle - Australia's own Braveheart - a man of principal who will stand up to government oppression at all costs. Too damned funny. |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: catspaw49 Date: 08 May 06 - 01:21 PM HEY ALANABIT..........Alan, the actress in question who played Veta Louise was Josephine Hull and I agree on her brilliance. Like many others who have enjoyed acting on the amateur college and community theater level where "Harvey" is a staple, I too have done the play and the performances of almost all the actors in the movie are almost always attempted to be mirrored by us amateurs. BTW, the only actor I ever saw do a great job on the Elwood P. Dowd character besides Jimmy Stewart was Art Carney and his was a different and equally compelling performance. It was a wonderful and wonderfully funny play and movie which gives us a great piece of hard earned life philosophy:"In this world you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. For years I was smart......I recommend pleasant." Perhaps you have also seen Ms. Hull in the movie of "Arsenic and Old Lace" where she palys one of the two Brewster sisters who poison the poor and lonely men who apply to rent a room with their spiked Elderberry wine and bury them in the basement. I mentioned Cary Grant as a fine comedic actor and he shows it in "A&OL." Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Comedy Films From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 May 06 - 01:21 PM RangerSteve, I had the same thought in rapid succession after listing You Can't Take it With You" (and I agree--the Robards version is better, but anything with Jean Arthur is always good!). I love The Man Who Came to Dinner. They weren't confident enough that Monty Woolley could pull it off by himself so they had Bette Davis join the cast, but he was magnificent in the role. I'll have to look for the Nathan Lane version. And I watched Harvey many times as a child, but haven't seen it in a long time. I'll have to pick it up at the library. My son is a fan of the James Garner western farces Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter. A lot of subtle stuff buried in the slapstick, particularly in the first one. SRS |