Golden Age Comedy Hall of Fame (1952-1976)

Charade (1963)

I've seen Charade at least a dozen times over the years, but I never thought of it as a comedy. I've always thought it was a great thriller, with the feel of a Hitchcock movie.

I was a bit surprised when it was nominated in this Comedy HoF, but today I watched it with "new eyes", and it turns out that it's a great romantic comedy too. It was almost like watching it for the first time again. Even with the age difference between them, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn have wonderful chemistry together. I love the way they play back and forth. It adds a nice light atmosphere to a thriller with twists and turns around every corner.

Charade has always been one of my favorite movies, but I think after this viewing, it went up a little higher on my list.

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Hobson's Choice
Meticulous direction by the legendary David Lean and some superb performances make 1954's Hobson's Choice appointment movie viewing, a warm and engaging comedy-drama centered on family values and the real power of the woman behind the man.

Oscar winner Charles Laughton plays Henry Hobson, the owner of a boot-making business and the father of three daughters. Eldest daughter Maggie (Brenda de Banzie) really runs the business and Willie Massop (Oscar winner John Mills) is the gifted shoemaker who actually makes the boots. Henry plans on marrying off his younger daughters, Alice and Vicky, until he learns that he is expected to provide dowries (referred to here as "settlements") for them. In Henry's mind, Maggie is a spinster who will never marry and will run the business for him until the day she dies. Maggie, on the other hand, has other ideas and spinsterhood is the last thing on her mind.

Oscar winner Lean is known for mounting spectacular epics like Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, but has also shown an affinity for intimate human drams like Brief Encounter and Pygmalion and it is his quieter work that I have always preferred, including this engaging family comedy served by an extraordinary cast who who are fully committed to the vision of director and co-screenwriter Lean.

The most engaging and entertaining aspect of this cinematic journey is, of course, the magical relationship between Maggie and Willie, completely manipulated by Maggie from the start...a strong, determined woman who has decided that she will be married no matter what her father thinks. It's a little unsettling watching Maggie's initial manipulation of Willie, but we learn that being manipulated is exactly what Willie the doormat needed and watching the kind of man that Maggie molds Willie into is just a joy to watch. Willie is even involved with another woman at the beginning and the scene where Maggie puts an end to it had me on the floor. It's hard to believe the Willie and the beginning of the movie and the one at the end are the same character.

And what can be said about the extraordinary performance Lean pulls from Charles Laughton? This actor was never known for subtlety in his acting but this performance entertains and rivets from opening to closing scene and was there ever any actor who nailed a drunk scene the way Laughton did? That scene in the dark jumping in the mud puddles was really funny. Brenda de Banzie is extraordinary as Maggie, commanding the screen in a perfect melange of strength and warmth and John Mills is a revelation as the seemingly hapless Willie. A richly entertaining comedy-drama that works because of the talent behind the camera as well as the talent in front.

OH, how I've missed reading your reviews, @Gideon58!!!

btw, I may have missed it already mentioned, but, if you care to share, what was the film you initially nominated and was already taken?

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I would have nominated What's Up, Doc?. I also would have nominated Young Frankenstein, but I knew by the time I joined, it had to have already been nominated.

very happy to hear it's a favorite of yours as well! VERY nice!

Hobson's Choice

This film was pretty delightful. I liked most of the characters and of course David Lean's directing is superb... but I saw it a couple of days ago and most of it has already faded from my memory. Yes, the acting was pretty good and I enjoyed the overall storyline, but I think they needed to cut out some of the plot and length to make it feel more concise. By the end, I felt it was a lot more like a jumbled assortment of funny moments than a progressive plot with developing characters. So it was a great "in-the-moment" watch, just overall a fun comedy with great lines. But I can't really see it being a film I return to that often. That's fine of course, but it does dock some points in the end.

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Young Frankenstein (1974)

This was one of the movies that I've seen a few times already, but I've always just kind of been lukewarm towards it. This is a tough movie for me because I really want to like it, but it just doesn't make me laugh the way it should.

I think Mel Brooks is a comic genius, I love Gene Wilder, I think Gene Hackman is one of the best actors of his generation, and I think this movie has a phenomenal cast, but I just don't seem to "get" this movie. There are a few funny scenes, but there are some dumb scenes too.

On the good side, I thought the decision to film this movie in black and white was brilliant. It gives it the feel of watching the old Universal Horror movies. I like Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein, and I think Marty Feldman as Igor steals every scene that he's in.

On the other hand, while I thought Peter Boyle was great as the Monster, I thought the scene with him and Gene Hackman was boring and predictable, and the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene was fun, but kind of dumb.

The bottom line is that I don't dislike this movie. I think it's a good movie, but I just don't think it's as funny as it's reputation.

Wow...if I were to make a list of my 500 favorite movies, Young Frankenstein would come in at #2.

I'm not surprised to read that. I knew that my opinion of Young Frankenstein wouldn't be popular.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

This is another movie that I've seen a few times, but it never really makes me laugh as much as it should, but it seems to get a little bit better each time I watch it.

Cleavon Little is by far the highlight of this movie, and Gene Wilder is a lot of fun too. I love when they break the fourth wall, and spill into reality, especially at the end when it goes from making the movie, to the studio, to the movie being in the theater, and back to the characters being in their real world again. Dom DeLuise is always fun to watch, and even though he only has a small role, he shines here too.

On the down side, I don't care for raunchy humor, so there were several scenes that I just didn't care for at all. I didn't like any of the scenes with Alex Karras as Mongo, and some of the scenes with Harvey Korman were a bit over the top for me.

On the plus side, I've always been a fan of Frankie Laine, and I loved the title song. I also loved all the references to real-life actors and events throughout the movie.

While this movie still isn't a favorite for me, it's a fun movie with some very funny moments.

Pillow Talk (1959)

I love this movie. Rock Hudson and Doris Day have great chemistry together. As much as I think the way Brad (Rock Hudson) tries to manipulate Jan (Doris Day) is despicable, it's so much fun to watch. Even when the two of them are fighting, they're still a lot of fun to watch. I love when they go to the bar, and the singer realizes what he's doing, and she looks at him and sings "You Lied".

Tony Randall's character Jonathan is a bit annoying, but it works for his character. (I find most of the roles he plays annoying, so I guess I'm kind of used to that by now.)

Thelma Ritter steals every scene she's in as Alma, Jan's housekeeper. She has some of the funniest lines in the movie. I also love the subplot with Brad and the nurse and the obstetrician.

And of course I also love the title song sung by Doris Day.

Charade
Stanley Donen ventures into Hitchcock territory with 1963's Charade, a sophisticated and undeniably stylish melange of mystery, romance, and suspense that consistently entertains thanks to skillful direction and a superb cast.

The irrepressible Audrey Hepburn is at her most beguiling playing Regina Lampert, as a woman who finds herself pursued by a group of men who are after a large amount of money that Mrs. Lampert's recently murdered husband stole. Mrs. Lampert finds herself drawn to one of the men, who calls himself Peter Joshua (Cary Grant), but she's not even sure she can trust him.

Peter Stone, who won an Oscar for writing another Cary Grant classic (Father Goose), also wrote this overly complex mystery that unfolds slowly and actually gives the viewer a little time to figure out what's going on instead of moving at a breakneck speed that doesn't allow the viewer time to think. I will admit that I figured out what was going on here about thirty minutes in, but that's where the story starts taking a back seat to the direction.

Donen's eye with the camera is imaginative and inventive here, not only utilizing stunning European location photography, but some terrific set pieces and planting just enough red herrings for the viewer that we're never 100% sure about what's going to happen, except for the fact that the slightly dim Mrs. Lampert is underestimating the danger she's in and might be just a little too trusting of this Peter Joshua and that her heart might be taking over for her common sense.

Certain scenes were definite standouts for me that effortlessly combined suspense and grins. Loved Mr. Lampert's funeral where we see three guys show up and, in their own way, want to make absolutely sure that Lambert is dead. Loved the fight with Grant and George Kennedy on that very tall rooftop and that scene of James Coburn trapping Hepburn in the phone booth and dropping lit matches in her lap is a real nail-biter.

It should go without saying that the best thing about this film is the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn, which is off the charts. Once again, the magical Hepburn is able to create viable onscreen chemistry with an actor much older than she was. Walter Matthau and James Coburn offer solid support, and Henry Mancini's music was memorable, but it's the stars and the director that really put the sparkle in this one. As much as I enjoyed this film, I am perplexed by its nomination for this hall of fame, it's not really a comedy.

No movie studio made better musicals than MGM during the 1940's and 1950's but the golden crown in their musical stable was definitely 1952's Singin in the Rain, an instant classic that was an affectionate look at a difficult time of transition in Hollywood...the advent of talkies taking over for silent films.

Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a silent film star who has made several films with the glamorous Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), both of whom are thrown for a loop when "The Jazz Singer" is released and is a smash hit. The studio then decides to turn their latest silent feature, "The Dueling Cavalier" into a musical but there is one huge problem: Lina has a speaking and singing voice like nails on a chalkboard. Enter Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), a young chorus girl with lofty theatrical ambitions who agrees to dub Lina's vocals for the film and falls for Don in the process, much to the chagrin of Lina, who believes the fan magazine stories that Don is in love with her.

This simple yet clever story provides the backdrop for MGM's greatest triumph which became an instant classic upon release. Kelly is charming and charismatic as Lockwood and works well with Donald O'Connor, who plays his best friend Cosmo Brown.

Debbie Reynolds, 18 years old at the time, is completely winning as Kathy and Jean Hagen earned the film's only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her brilliant comic turn as Lina Lamont, the glamorous, vein glamour queen whose ego far outweighs her talent.

Musical highlights include two dance numbers with Kelly and O'Connor, "Fit as a Fiddle" and "Moses" which allow the viewer to compare and contrast the different but equally dazzling dance styles of these two artists; O'Connor's hysterical solo, "Make Em Laugh", Kelly and Reynolds' lovely pas de deux, "You were Meant for Me", and of course, Kelly's title tune, which is practically Hollywood folklore now.

And notice must also be taken of "Broadway Ballet" a 20-minute fantasy/production number which features a special appearance by the divinely long-legged Cyd Charisse. No true lover of movie musicals should miss this one...it's simply, sensational.

By 1958, Doris Day's career was on the downslide and something drastic needed to be done to revive her career. 1959'S Pillow Talk redefined Doris' image and created an entirely new genre of the "will she or won't she" sex comedy as well as introducing one of the greatest romantic screen couplings in history...Doris Day and Rock Hudson.

Day plays Jan Morrow, an interior decorator who shares her phone line with Brad Allen (Hudson) a song-writing playboy who ties up Doris' phone by singing love songs (actually the same song) over the phone to the parade of women in his life. Day's attempts to get a private phone line fail and she and Hudson begrudgingly come up with a system to share the phone which Hudson doesn't stick to.

Tony Randall plays Jonathan Forbes, a rich playboy who is a client of Doris' and Rock's best friend, who is crazy about Doris but she doesn't feel the same way. One night, Brad discovers Jan at a nightclub and knowing she already hates him, pretends to be a wealthy Texan in order to romance her and this is where the fun begins.

Yes, the story is dated because party lines are a thing of the past but it is the linchpin upon which this story delightfully plays out. Director Michael Gordon cleverly uses split-screen images to put Doris and Rock together on screen in seemingly compromising positions, very adult for 1959 and watching Brad pretending to be cowboy Rex Stetson, trying to romance Jan while Brad tries to advise Jan over the phone about what a cad Rex is, is a lot of fun.

Day lights up the screen here, in a luminous performance that earned her her first and only Oscar nomination. Hudson, previously only seen in dramatic films up to this point, turns out to be gifted a farceur and interviews in his later years, always credited Doris for teaching him how to do comedy. Randall is comic perfection as Jonathan as is Thelma Ritter, who was also nominated for an Oscar for her work as Jan's housekeeper. The film's extremely clever screenplay did earn an Oscar.

A delight from start to finish that introduced a new movie couple that would give Fred and Ginger and Spencer and Kate a run for their money. The film was brilliantly re-imagined some thirty years later as Down with Love.

It's not dated...It's a 1959 movie and movies aren't like pastries with a limited shelf life. Movies remain relevant because people understand that technology, fashions and cultural norms, do change overtime. We might as well say today's movies are already dated to people who will be living in the future. Art is never dated, but doughnuts are

Filled with non-stop laughs from start to finish, Blazing Saddles is Mel Brooks' comic masterpiece about a bumbling govenor who wants control of a tiny western hamlet called Rock Ridge where all the citizens have the last name of Johnson. He hopes to scare them out of their town by sending a black man (Cleavon Little) to be the new sheriff and that's where the fun begins.

Like most of Mel Brooks work, this movie has something to offend everyone and makes no apologies about it. The movie could be considered racially offensive by some ultra sensitive but it's done with such humor and such in the spirit of the silly and entertaining story that is being presented that being offended seems silly. Not to mention the fact there is constant breaking of the 4th wall, another Brooks staple, that reminds us constantly that we are watching a movie and nothing here is to be taken seriously and we certainly don't.

This movie is a true classic with one of the most quotable screenplays ever (Richard Pryor was one of the screenwriters) and features a perfect cast. Writer-director Brooks has a dual role as the dim-witted governor and a yiddish speaking Indian chief; Harvey Korman is brilliant as the governor's stooge Hedley Lamarr; Gene Wilder became a star playing the drunken ex-gunfighter who saves the day at the last minute; and Madeline Kahn's turn as chanteuse/spy Lilli Von Schtupp is nothing short of brilliant and earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Dom DeLuise is also very funny as a prominent figure in the film's off-the-wall finale. Highlights include Kahn's musical number, "I'm Tired", the campfire scene (enough said), the slaves rendition of a Negro spiritual, the governor's staff meeting and the one-of-a-kind finale. An instant classic and make sure you see an unedited print...a director's cut would be a dream.

The Odd Couple (1968)

This movie had the potential to be very funny IF I hadn't been such a big fan of the TV show when I was younger. I grew up watching "The Odd Couple" TV show with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, so most of the jokes in this movie were jokes that I had already heard many times before. They were almost word for word the same jokes that were in the TV series, so this movie felt like it was a remake, even though it came first.

In addition, I thought that Tony Randall and Jack Klugman had much better chemistry together as Felix and Oscar than Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau had in the movie. When Felix and Oscar fought in the TV show, it felt like it was just an argument, and you could easily tell that they were still friends, even under all the yelling. But when Felix and Oscar fought in the movie, it felt like it was the end of their friendship. It made it hard to care as much for the characters to really like them.

Even their poker buddies were kind of bland compared to the TV show. Maybe it's just because they were seen more in the TV show, so we got a better feel for them, but in the movie, they just all seemed kind of dull.

The best part of the movie was easily the Pigeon Sisters, but that could also be because they were the only actors from the movie who reprised their roles in the TV series. They were fun and exciting, and they brought some upbeat life into a movie that felt a bit downbeat from all the fighting between the two main characters.

I hate the idea of comparing the movie to the TV series, but it's so similar that it's almost impossible to avoid the comparison. While I enjoy watching the movie, it always feels like I'm watching a tired remake of a classic comedy. I wish I had the chance to see this movie before I ever saw the TV show because I think it could have been one of my favorites.

Some Like it Hot (1959)

I've seen this movie several times, and while I like the movie, I've always found it more entertaining than funny. It has some very funny scenes and some very funny lines, but for some reason, I just don't seem to laugh as much as I should. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie a lot, but I just don't think it's as funny as its reputation makes it seem.

Tony Curtis (as Joe and Josephine) and Jack Lemmon (as Jerry and Daphne), are great in both their male and female roles, and Marilyn Monroe (as Sugar) is good too. The movie starts off kind of slow, but it picks up quickly after Joe and Jerry witness the murders. Once they dress up as women and go on the run, the movie goes pretty much non-stop until the end.

I love watching Tony Curtis try to imitate Cary Grant to try to win over Marilyn Monroe. Some of the funniest scenes are when Joe E. Brown (as millionaire Osgood) tries to woo Daphne, and we see Daphne actually starting to consider marrying him.

There are gangster scenes at the beginning and the end of the movie that are mostly predictable, but they're important to the flow of the movie.

The final exchange between Daphne and Osgood is a great ending to a great movie.

Nice review. I really like this line in particular.

I'd definitely browse a "Something to offend everyone" category on Netflix haha.

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