The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
I just wanted to revisit this statement that was made after #41 (Borat) was revealed).

I didn't say anything, because it seemed wrong at the time (5-7 movies immediately jumped to my head as likely locks still), but since then we've had:

Modern Times
It Happened One Night
The Apartment
Arsenic & Old Lace
The Graduate
His Girl Friday

That's 6 already and Strangelove still seems likely. I still think Some Like it Hot stands a good chance (but I'm not Holden, so I don't know how it usually does against The Apartment in these countdown lists).
Definitely wrong on this for sure. I'm glad to see I was wrong though. I am super worried about Some like it Hot making this. I don't hear of too many big fans here. I also will be shocked if Duck Soup is a miss.



Seen both The Graduate and His Girl Friday, voted for neither. For some reason, neither click for me, so no votes from me on these two.

The Graduate - My first viewing experience in my late teens, I didn't realize it was a comedy until partly in (I've met people who made it through the entire thing not realizing that). I remained confused until the end by the Berkeley campus on the film. Someone later informed me those scenes were shot at USC. Good thing for movie watching I'm not intimately familiar with the layout of New York.
Watched it again in the past few years, still doesn't click for me. The ending is really amazing though.
Two days after submitting my ballot, I was kicking myself for forgetting Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe though and I did include a similar Elaine May comedy on my ballot. I'm not hopeful to see Elaine May on this list at this point. I would have guessed she'd have topped out at 30. I owe Catch-22 a rewatch. It's been decades.

His Girl Friday - After watching Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve, I thought, "ah, these are the movies the Coens inherited some of their DNA from and I enjoyed them a lot more than their contemporary screwball rom-coms. I'm an outlier it seems and I really enjoy Hudsucker, I should finally track down His Girl Friday, since it's an influence on that and god knows how many other movies." Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe there were small morality things in the movie that are ultimately just dressing that distracted me. I just found myself not feeling very strongly towards it. I probably owe it another viewing though.

I also didn't think that much of Red River as other people do. I need to rewatch The Thing from Another World (I haven't seen it since I was a tween). I say this because it'd be weird if it turned out I just didn't care for Howard Hawks. Especially since John Carpenter is such a fan.
Well, those are my tangential thoughts on these two.



Definitely wrong on this for sure. I'm glad to see I was wrong though. I am super worried about Some like it Hot making this. I don't hear of too many big fans here. I also will be shocked if Duck Soup is a miss.
Oh yes. Duck Soup, that was one of those near-locks I counted in my head. I didn't predict It Happened One Night or Arsenic & Old Lace as locks in my mental count because I didn't have a sense on their likelihood. Not surprised. Partly on the latter mainly because people kept guessing it. I think The General is also very likely (not guaranteed)

There might be a few more obvious ones I'm forgetting, but those are my guesses for pre-60's that are likely to be remaining.

Bring Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story are less of a lock in my mind, but also classics that may just depend on this form's particular support for them.



Loved the film "The Graduate" My second favorite Hoffman vehicle. Have many doubts that my favorite film of his will be shut out. Still have four pre-70s on my ballot. At least three better make it!

Haven't seen " His Girl Friday".



A system of cells interlinked
I need to post about another flick I was absent for when it first showed up in the countdown... Sorry about all this, but I am straight out busy these days, and have trouble doing the countdown every single day.

Clue was my #5! If someone were to ask me the question of which films, out of all the films I have ever seen, have I seen the most, Clue would be right near the top of the list. I can pretty much recite the entire film, even though I don't get back to it much these days. I wore out my VHS tape of the thing, saw it in theaters when it was released (C ending), own the DVD, own in on VuDu, and even if it's subtle and not-so-subtle political elements annoy me these days, I still absolutely adore this movie.

I wanted to put it in my Top 3, because at one point, it was easily my favorite comedy. Alas, I thought a few other films deserved the points more at this point in my life, so I slid it down to 5th. At one point in time here on MoFo, I almost pushed poor Chyp over the edge with my constant posting of a certain screenshot from this movie, which I will now post again here in incredibly poor taste:



But seriously, this film still cracks me up for its entire runtime. So many great gags and jokes, silly scenes, and laugh out loud bits. Fantastic, old-school cast, Tim Curry at his best, and fun location. Clue rocks!
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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Here's my final prediction, top 24 style. I'll star the 10 that I predict to make the top 10. Will these last 24 be correct? I'm about 50% confident only, but this is the best shot I can give:


*Dr Strangelove
*Hot Fuzz
*Shaun of the Dead
*Young Frankenstein
Annie Hall
*Airplane
Ghostbusters
*The Big Lebowski
*Groundhog Day
The Jerk
*City Lights
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Life of Brian
Breakfast Club
The Royal Tenenbaums
*Princess Bride
This is Spinal Tap
The General
Breakfast Club
Duck Soup
Some like it Hot
Bringing Up Baby
Caddyshack
Blazing Saddles



A system of cells interlinked
I’ve seen both but don’t like either. I just don’t find Chaplin funny and Amelie the character is creepy and unethical.
What in tarnation?

I did a quadruple take on this, because just what in the world are you talking about? Because of the gags she pulls on the building superintendent, I am guessing?

Also, creepy? Wut?

Amelie was my #3, and it pretty much one of the best films ever made, period, IMO. Currently resides in my Top 10 favorites. Visually superb, beautiful score, wonderful energy, and completely unique.




Oh yes. Duck Soup, that was one of those near-locks I counted in my head. I didn't predict It Happened One Night or Arsenic & Old Lace as locks in my mental count because I didn't have a sense on their likelihood. Not surprised. Partly on the latter mainly because people kept guessing it. I think The General is also very likely (not guaranteed)

There might be a few more obvious ones I'm forgetting, but those are my guesses for pre-60's that are likely to be remaining.

Bring Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story are less of a lock in my mind, but also classics that may just depend on this form's particular support for them.
Duck Soup making the countdown is kgaard's Lock of the Week.



Man I just ripped through like 10 pages in this thread. I could have accidentally repped a post that said "Hitler was just misunderstood" and I wouldn't know. Had to catch up though. Just to confirm, I don't think that way.

What a nice surprise to see What We Do in the Shadows make the list and so high too. I had it at #17. Someone said some fighting words about it being the best comedy of the new millennium - close for me but it's the best of the last decade anyway. I liked seeing a lot of people saying they will check it out after it was posted.

The Apartment and After Hours are two that I haven't seen for a while and had planned to rewatch for this countdown but well that didn't happen. The Graduate is a very good film that I used to watch quite often but not every day like Holden. Arsenic and Old Lace and His Girl Friday! Gary Grant is awesome isn't he? Both films are hilarious, smart, and well made, deserving a spot on any best comedy list but I went with another of his.

4. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
5. Being John Malkovich (1999)
7. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
9. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
10. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
11. Superbad (2007)
13. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
14. Playtime (1967)
15. Dazed and Confused (1993)
17. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
19. Trading Places (1983)
23. Animal House (1978)
24. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
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Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
#98.The Lady Eve

Does somebody know what happened with this movie? Where is it now placed in the list?
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Definitely wrong on this for sure. I'm glad to see I was wrong though. I am super worried about Some like it Hot making this. I don't hear of too many big fans here. I also will be shocked if Duck Soup is a miss.
Some Like it Hot was my nom in the Comedy II Golden Age 1952-1976 HoF...so you know at least one person really likes it.



#98.The Lady Eve

Does somebody know what happened with this movie? Where is it now placed in the list?
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...99#post2309399

and...
Good catch. I made a mistake on the second day I posted. I had like a like four way tie incorrectly which added Lady Eve to the list. I have corrected it in the list in the second post, but the numbering in the thread is off by one. Working on a fix.



The next time a Gary Cooper film winds up on a Countdown, just call him Cary Grant to make it even haha.

Or you could double down and keep insisting Cary Grant is actually Gary Cooper in disguise!

I now want to imagine Cary Grant repelling down the side of a major corporate building in downtown LA shouting, "yippee ki-yay, mother****er!"


Preferably with his Clark Kent glasses on.



What in tarnation?

I did a quadruple take on this, because just what in the world are you talking about? Because of the gags she pulls on the building superintendent, I am guessing?

Also, creepy? Wut?
The main thing she did that bothered me was that she hooked up her coworker with her other coworker's stalker ex-boyfriend, making that coworker the new target of his stalking when they also broke up. That's a seriously shitty thing to do to someone.



Seen The Graduate a few times but it wasn't until the last time that it really clicked for me and I found it very funny.

I believe I've seen His Girl Friday twice but I can't remember a damn thing about it.



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
The Graduate - I bought the DVD during some promotion about 16 years ago and this was my first experience with this movie. I was immediately stunned by the magic in this film - scenes, dialogues, music... Everything was superb. Since then it is one of my all time favorites. I've seen it four or five more times through the years. A really classy work.
Never occurred to me including it in this countdown.


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His Girl Friday - don't know this movie.
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my stats

Top 100 seen 30/76.
(seen one pointers • 4/42)
--
My list:
1. The Gold Rush (1925) [#83.]
...
5. The Kid (1921) [#88.]
...
7. One, Two, Three (1961) [#85.]
...
13. Modern Times (1936) [#39.]





Victim of The Night
Well... ok, then.

The Graduate. Huh.

His Girl Friday was the very last film I cut before I put the remaining 25 in order. Wonderful movie that is just slightly sullied for me by the way Rosalind Russell's Hildy, a near perfect character up to that point, kinda slips into "traditional female" tropes for a few minutes near the end. Doesn't hurt the comedy one bit but it does hurt the film for me and so not one, not two, not three, but FOUR other Cary Grant comedies made my list.
Yes, if we had been allowed to submit 26 films instead of 25, then FIVE Cary Grant films would have made my ballot.
I am sad to say that it's pretty clear now that at least one of my remaining three will not make this list, quite possibly two of them, and one of them in my Top Ten Comedies Of All Time.



His Girl Friday is a classic but i don't have a lot of strong feelings about it. No vote.

Love, love , love The Graduate but didn't really think of it as a comedy. No vote

Odd Story: my philosophy professor told the class that The Graduate was about incest. I thought what the heck is he going on about? Then years later I am in one room and the family is in the other room watching TV and I hear this conversation between a young man and a woman. The tenor of this conversation was like that between a mother and a son. Mom laying down the law to some extent. I looked in the other room and they were watching The Graduate. I think it was the scene that occurs just before Mrs. Robinson propositions Benjamin. I thought, damn my prof was right.



I appreciated The Graduate for what it was trying to accomplish, but it's humor wasn't entirely for me. As a movie, 8/10. As a personal choice, more like a 6/10.

Seen 47/76.