So without further ado I bring to you Part 3.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)- George Cukor; MGM
This is the only film
on today’s list that took home an Oscar at the Academy Awards claiming two, one
for best writing for Donald Ogden Stewart’s screenplay and one for Best actor
in a leading role awarded to the always confused and fantastic James Stewart. Mr.
Stewart plays a tabloid journalist who was invited to the high society wedding
of Tracy Lord, played by Katherine Hepburn, by her ex-husband C.K. played
brilliantly by Cary Grant. Stewart falls for Hepburn, while Grant is still in
love with her. The movie is well acted and well written and is a must watch
film for anyone who loves comedy. And with this cast how can you resist?
The Lady Eve (1941)- Preston Sturges; Paramount Pictures
Nominated for best
original story at the Academy awards Monckton Hoffe’s screenplay takes a look
at some sly hustlers who try and fool a naive heir to a brewery fortune. Barbara
Stanwyck and Henry Fonda both put in memorable performances as they both did throughout
their careers. Fonda plays the handsome heir and gets taken for a ride by the
con-woman Mrs. Stanwyck. They fall in love, then he finds out her real
identity, and then the story gets interesting. As with most of my posts I don’t
like ruining films; it’s just fucking rude. I mean, I’ll ruin it if it is a
shit movie and I am giving out a warning, but when it is a classic film that you
need to watch because I said so I will not do such a thing. So go watch, it may
still be on Netflix.
Blazing Saddles (1974)- Mel Brooks; Crossbow Productions
Q: When is racism funny?
A: When it is done by Mel
Brooks.
Blazing Saddles is not
only brilliant, but it is also my favorite Mel Brooks film and its does battle in my
mind with Airplane! over which is my
favorite comedy of all time. This film usually does win. Whenever Brooks teamed
up with Gene Wilder or Harvey Korman it made for comedy gold, but with both of
them in this film it created comedy platinum (I think that’s more expensive
than gold, but who the fuck knows. I asked Jeeves, but he wasn’t able to tell me
if only there was another way to look up prices of precious metals).
The screenplay is
beyond genius and I find myself quoting this film all the time, which is good
in some settings, but if you quote it in the wrong setting and a person hears
it out of context it may sound like you’re an awful person who runs around
saying the N word with the hard ‘er’, but you’re not. It’s not my fault this
shit is so funny and needs to be repeated at all times in my life, like at work,
or at a ball game. Watch it and join me in welcoming our new Sheriff with a
hearty “up yours n#$@er”, and bake him an apology pie, because you can't say that shit no matter how old and hick you are.
And as always, "where the white woman
at?"
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)- Terry Gilman, Terry Jones; Michael White Productions, National Film Trustee Company, Python Pictures
This film
is not for everyone, I will admit that, but it is a fun humorous take on the Knights
of the Round Table as only Monty Python could do. A lot of the humor in the
film is quite dry as is most of British comedy, and some of it takes a moment
to process, so if you don’t mind the Brits or thinking about a joke this film
is for you. Obviously not all the jokes are thought provoking some of them are
just plain fucking stupid, which is great because it goes well with the film as
a whole. We follow the Knights on their quest for the Holy Grail as they fight
the French, battle against temptation, fight an evil rabbit, encounter the
black knight, and the knights that say “Ni”.
Will they accomplish their quest
to obtain the Holy Grail? Or will they fall short because of some heinous murder?
Only time and you watching the film can find out. Whatever you do avoid Camelot
for it is a silly place.
Airplane! (1980)- Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker; Paramount Pictures
There was
one film that had to be on here and any list of comedies and that film is Airplane! Perhaps one of the funniest
films of all time there isn’t a scene that doesn’t belong or make you laugh. From
the opening dialog of a man and a woman arguing over airport loud speaker about
what zones are for loading and which are parking. That conversation quickly
takes a turn that sets the tone for the humor that makes Airplane! a classic. I don’t know many people who haven’t seen this
film, but if you haven’t go watch it now. And if you don’t find it absolutely hilarious
you are not the type of person I need in my life, and please do me a favor and
don’t talk to me ever again. Or kill yourself, whatever you feel is more convenient.
Ah, Mel
Brooks we meet your genius once again. I debated what other Mel film to put on
here he has way too many classics. I knew Blazing
Saddles was going to be on the first comedy edition because it is my
personal favorite, but I had to figure out what other film to pick. I decided
on his wonderful spoof of Star Wars. Space Balls may not be better than his
other films, but it is still brilliant and it has Rick Moranis, so yeah
automatically awesome. Not to mention the great John Candy. The film is full of
wonderfully witty dialog and pokes fun at that other film that takes place in a
galaxy far, far away in typical Mel fashion and together it brings us
greatness. Go out and watch this magical film and as always “May the Schwartz be
with you!”
You cannot
have a comedy list without at least one Bill Murray movie, really he could have
a list to his own, but I digress. Groundhog
Day follows Mr. Murray as a weather reporter stuck on a boring assignment
in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania waiting for the famous groundhog to come and tell
everyone how much longer winter will be. I don’t get why people care about
this, nor do I understand why it is on my calendar. Shit I’m not even sure why
we have a calendar hanging up. Sorry, let me get back on topic.
Murray goes
through the day and when he wakes up the next day it is still groundhogs day.
And then it happens again, and again, and again. He needs to find a way to stop
the cycle of the repeating day, but he also has a lot of fun with it in
between. The writing is crisp, though as with most Murray’s films it is hard to
tell what is scripted and what he just comes up with, but either way it
displays his comedic genius.
The Big Lebowski (1998)- Joel and Ethan Coen; Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films
I love the
Coen brothers more as writers than directors. I envy their ability to create
memorable characters as they do in this film with The Dude and pretty much all
the characters. A story revolving around bowling, some money, and white Russians:
what isn’t to love? Jeff Bridges plays the Dude and he made the character come
to life and remain a part of popular culture, man. Throw in John Goodman in my favorite
role of his, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore who is one of the most underrated actresses
of our generation, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliot, and let us not forget
John Turturro as The Jesus and what you get is a cult and American comedic
classic that everyone and their mother’s mother should watch. And just remember
“Nobody fucks with the Jesus.”
Like Clueless was for the 90s Mean Girls was for the 2000s; a
wonderfully written high school comedy that you can quote the shit out of all
day every day— which I do. Though it may not be considered a “great” film, I
would be lying to myself and all who read this if I said this wasn’t a film
that I watched every time it was on the old television set and that I didn’t
know the quotes better than 90% of females out in the world, so it gets a
space on the list just for that. The main highlight of this film is clearly
Tina Fey’s screenplay. She made a story that people are able to relate to
(except for the party scene, I couldn’t relate to that . . . you can read about that here), and made one liners so memorable that I’m pretty sure Arnold Schwarzenegger
shed a tear. “You go Glen Coco!”
The second
Coen brother’s film on today’s list Burn
After Reading once again showcases their talent as writers. The story is so complex, yet pointless,
but there writing and dialog keep the audience’s attention.
Brad Pitt's
character, Chad, is so over the top and ridiculous it makes every moment he is
on screen hilarious. The plot is simple: the janitor at Hard Bodies (the gym
where Chad works) finds a compact disc with as Pitt discovers as “the
shit, man . . . the raw intelligence.” Turns out it belongs to a member of the
CIA by the name of Osborne Cox (John Malcovich). Chad thinks that if he and
his coworker Linda Litzke, played by Frances Mcdormand, Cox would be so grateful
for the return of his top secret shit that he would pay them a reward. Mix in a
love triangle involving Cox’s wife and a U.S. Marshal, played by George Clooney,
you end up with a movie so absurd it keeps you laughing from the start to
finish. The film is summed up nicely in the last seen by J.K. Simmons, but I won’t
ruin it for you because I’m not a dick.
P.S. I know I used the "suck it" Anna Kendrick GIF in a post last week, but it is just such a handy one and she is beyond fantastic, so I'm going to keep using it. Anna if you are reading this call me girl.
*As always all production credits were taken from that beautiful website IMDB.com.
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