The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

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Haven't seen Hot Fuzz. Need to get to it someday.

City Lights was #2 on my ballot. Here's what I wrote on it some time ago:

While I liked Chaplin's films just fine in the past, I struggled to see why so many of his films ended up on GOAT lists as I often found them to be nothing more than well-crafted gags and sentiment (which isn't a bad thing mind you; I just felt like I was missing something more). However, I think this film helped me to understand him much better as a director. The eccentric millionaire is Chaplin's most interesting character yet. In this city where the poor struggle to make the necessary money to get by while the greedy rich don't care about their struggles, the tramp is only able to befriend one of the wealthy people in the city when the man is drunk, exposing his friendly and tender side and, with his suicide attempts, the knowledge that, deep down, his money hasn't gotten him happiness after all and he's even more vulnerable then the poor characters in the film. Brilliant. It isn't just his character that reinforces this though. Most of the gags reinforce both the Tramp's inability to get by in the city and his difficulty in living amongst the rich, like the terrific opening scene, his various mishaps when the millionaire takes him to a restaurant and invites him to a party at his mansion, his attempts at earning money by getting a job as a street sweeper or fighting in a boxing match (excellent scene by the way), or the conflict with the two burglars at the millionaire's house which suggests that some poor people had to resort to thievery to make money out of desperation. Regarding Chaplin, I've also watched A Dog's Life, The Kid, and The Gold Rush. Since I have a pretty good handle on this film, I'll eventually revisit those three films to see if I warm up to them some more.
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1. It Happened One Night (#35)
2. City Lights (#11)
3. The Graduate (#27)
4. To Be or Not To Be (#86)
5.
6. Harold and Maude (#45)
7.
8.
9.
10. Being John Malkovich (#44)
11.
12.Sherlock, Jr. (#56)
13.
14. Shaun of the Dead (#15)
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22. The Apartment (#29)
23.
24.
25. The Great Dictator (#50)



Two great films that have a lot in common but most people aren't aware of these connections and similarities. And I won't say anymore! Neither made my list.

I think Raul's top 10 guesses are right:

Dr. Strangelove
Young Frankenstein
Airplane
Ghostbusters
The Big Lebowski
Groundhog Day
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Duck Soup
Some Like it Hot
Blazing Saddles

But who knows with the crazy, zany, comedy list. Eagerly waiting for 101-120.
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Here are the odds which the remaining films on my ballot have of making this list:

1. It Happened One Night (#35)
2. City Lights (#11)
3. The Graduate (#27)
4. To Be or Not To Be (#86)

5. Not going to make it. I blame ueno for this.
6. Harold and Maude (#45)
7. Not going to make it. I blame Thief for this.
8. Not going to make it. Don't recall anyone ever bringing this up, so I won't blame anyone for it.
9. Definitely going to make it.
10. Being John Malkovich (#44)
11. Definitely going to make it.
12.Sherlock, Jr. (#56)
13. Not going to make it. I blame raul for this.
14. Shaun of the Dead (#15)
15. Not going to make it. I blame crumbsroom for this.
16. Definitely going to make it.
17. It might make it.
18. Not going to make it. I blame Captain Terror for this.
19. Definitely going to make it.
20. Not going to make it. I blame Citizen Rules for this.
21. Not going to make it. I blame Diehl40 for this.
22. The Apartment (#29)
23. Probably going to make it.
24. Not going to make it. I blame Mr Minio for this.
25. The Great Dictator (#50)



*Dr Strangelove
*Young Frankenstein
*Airplane
Ghostbusters
*The Big Lebowski
*Groundhog Day
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Duck Soup
Some like it Hot
Blazing Saddles

This is what I got. I took out Tenenbaums, Breakfast Club, and The General.
It wouldn't blow my mind of if Saddles misses
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*Dr Strangelove
*Young Frankenstein
*Airplane
Ghostbusters
*The Big Lebowski
*Groundhog Day
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Duck Soup
Some like it Hot
Blazing Saddles

This is what I got. I took out Tenenbaums, Breakfast Club, and The General.

Ah, Some Like it Hot, that's the one I forgot. The Philadelphia Story felt weird on my top 12 guesses, so I'd swap those out.



My top ten prediction:

  1. Something nobody apparently saw coming despite 17 of them voting for it

*no MoFos were intentionally hurt in the making of this post

Come on Unnamed Ballot Entry #2!


Though tbh, I'm expecting it to show up in the 101-120 list. And if it isn't there, I don't know which seems more improbable - that I was basically the only person who voted for it or it made the top 10.



I've only seen Hot Fuzz once, but I really enjoyed it. Been meaning to rewatch it, but haven't gotten around to it. That's why I didn't include it, but I knew it would probably get in. I'm just surprised that it got in higher than Shaun of the Dead. I assumed that the latter was more popular.

Like I said before, I haven't seen City Lights. It's the only one of Chaplin's "bigger" efforts that I haven't seen.


Seen: 67/90

My ballot:  
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But Hot Fuzz is funnier than Shaun of the Dead.
Again, I need to rewatch Hot Fuzz, but my general impression was that Shaun was more popular, would get more votes, lists, etc. Nothing against Hot Fuzz. Just surprised that it got higher than.



#15: Shaun of the Dead - 224, 16 lists
#12: Hot Fuzz - 240, 15 lists


People are talking surprise as if there's a 30 position gap between them. They look pretty close to me (my earlier prediction that we'd start to get larger gaps between positions seem to be baring out. Granted, I think I made that prediction when the mean between positions was less than one.)



Here comes the fuzz! Hot Fuzz was on my list, but not as high as Shaun of the Dead. I admire that Nicholas Angel, the hero cop of the movie, doesn’t kill anyone. He shoots to wound and drags everyone in alive, which of course results in a mountain of paperwork.

“You murdered her!”
“She murdered Bill Shakespeare!”


City Lights is excellent, it’s been a while though.



A system of cells interlinked
Adding another to the "Surprised it didn't make it list."

The Incredibles
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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Hot Fuzz is really funny but I eliminated it pretty quickly.


City Lights is my #20. Although it seems like a silent film, there are sound effects and a strong musical score. Chaplin was one of the last filmmakers to abandon the concept of silent movies as being more purely cinematic than talkies. Anyone who has seen this film knows all the classic scenes; the opening at the unveiling of the statue is wonderful. This is probably Chaplin's most romantic film, even with the hauntingly-enigmatic final scene. But, for all this film's greatness, I just laugh like a little kid at this boxing scene, maybe because it reminds me of Dick Lane and "Wrestling at the Olympic Auditorium" when I was growing up. "Whoa, Nellie!"

As I was growing up, this classic always rated comfortably as my fave Chaplin film. There never seemed to be any reason to deny how funny and romantic the whole thing was. I still believe that, but both Modern Times and The Kid hold personal reasons for me to consider them at least as good. Also, certain anarchists hate sentimentalism. Well, Chaplin is easily the greatest sentimental filmmaker ever, and I believe all film buffs should watch EVERY film made by Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin. When all the votes for fave "silent' film are counted, I'd be surprised if City Lights didn't win. Why do I love City Lights? It's probably one of the most romantic films ever made, the boxing scene is one of the funniest ever recorded, and the climax is one of the greatest in film history. Even so, check it out for yourself. If you haven't already, do yourself and your family a BIG favor. LOVE is worthwhile, all you pessimists!

My List

5. Back to the Future
6. The Graduate
11. Harold and Maude
13. One, Two, Three
16. It's Such A Beautiful Day
17. A Fish Called Wanda
20. City Lights
25. Ruthless People
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Adding another to the "Surprised it didn't make it list."

The Incredibles
Only two animated films made the Top 100: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (#99) and It's Such a Beautiful Day (#62). Before the reveals began so many MoFos were saying they had multiple animated films on their ballot. I believe @Allaby said they had six. Personally I am surprised any of them made it, but I am glad a PIXAR or Shrek didn't pop up as they just about all have comedic elements but I don't think of any of them as being particularly and widely considered great cinematic comedies, especially when compared to the entire breadth and width that encompasses. And of course the pool was diluted even further with the "Hey, whatever you want to call a comedy...knock yourself out" lack of vetting.

It was no secret that consensus was going to be especially difficult with this list. The MoFo Top 100 Comedies List didn't hit 200 points for a title until The Blues Brothers and Monty Python's Life of Brian at #21 and #20 with 201 each. And here we are on the eve of the Top Ten and City Lights at #11 only has 40 more points than those two. By comparison to the MoFo Top 100 Westerns List, the 200-point threshold was broken at #31 by High Plains Drifter, which was on fifteen ballots. City Lights was on only fourteen ballots. The Westerns hit 300 points with The Ox-Bow Incident at #19 on eighteen ballots, jumped to 400 with The Outlaw Josey Wales at #13 on 28 ballots, then in the Top Ten High Noon passed 500 points at #6 on thirty-three ballots, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was #1 with 948 points on fifty of the sixty-seven total ballots submitted.

But the Westerns list only generated 275 different titles, total (on sixty-seven ballots). The MoFo Top 100 of the 1970s List had 427 different titles voted for on ninety-nine ballots. This Comedy collection had 757 different titles get at least one vote on eighty-nine ballots. An average of 8.5 unique titles per ballot, versus 4 unique titles per ballot for the Westerns and 1970s. Of course so many of these comedies were never, ever going to make it.

I don't think even when we get to the top few of this list there's gonna be an overwhelming consensus. With our #11 only being on fourteen ballots, if the top choices double that and got to the high twenties, that would have to be deemed spectacular. That same total number of ballots would be lucky to get you to the teens on the lists that have any kind of parameters or consensus. Countdowns have been won by films garnering 700 or 800 or over 1,000 points using this same 25-point down to 1-point balloting. This list....will it even get to 400?

Proving rather conclusively that comedy is, indeed, incredibly subjective.
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Okay, so with us approaching the top 10, I can't wait for 8-10 to go by without commenting . Here's my take on 15-11.

I've seen them all. I love them all. Great choices. However, only one, This is Spinal Tap (1984), made my list at #9. Obviously, it's an all-time classic comedy and I struggled with even putting it as low as #9 for that reason. Brilliant.

City Lights (1931) I referenced earlier in this thread when another Chaplin film came up. It's my favorite Chaplin, and I strongly considered it, but I don't think it made me laugh once, so I just couldn't. Every film on my list, even the ones that are not pure comedies, made me laugh at least a few times. Ironically, this is probably the best film on the whole list so far!

Shaun and Hot Fuzz are both great, funny films, but I cannot possibly see how they belong this high on the list. Tastes differ, I guess, but they weren't even on my long list.

I love Galaxy Quest (1999) - which I only recently saw for the first time! I admit, I did not remember it when I was considering my list. If I had, it very well might have made it.

Now comes the top 10, and I am really curious which of my remaining list items made it. My projections on chances below.

Films seen: 88/90

My list so far (updated with 101 and 102):

1. The In-Laws (1979) (#63)
2. Step Brothers (2008) (#81)
3. (100% chance).
4. The Jerk (1979) (#24)
5. (Less than 10%! Not surprising, but ironically, I found this one because of Spinal Tap - or rather, their stars, the three of which introduced it at Sketchfest a few years ago.)
6. (80%? I hope so. The folks behind this have to be represented. They just have to.)
7. (95%. Can't imagine this won't make it).
8. Office Space (1999) (#18)
9. This Is Spinal Tap (1984) (#13)
10. (100%. May even be #1).
11. (50/50, sadly. A complete farce if it's not on this list.)
12. Best in Show (2000) (#75)
13. (75%? I'd be pretty shocked if it were omitted.)
14. (75%? Same as #13, would be a shocker if it didn't make it.)
15. Superbad (2007) (#39)
16. (50/50 - recency bias may help this one.)
17. Raising Arizona (1987) (#23)
18. His Girl Friday (1940) (#26)
19. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) (#28)
20. The Lady Eve (1941) (#101)
21. The Apartment (1960) (#30)
22. Annie Hall (1977) (#19)
23. (95%. Can't imagine this won't make it.)
24. My Man Godfrey (1936) (#102)
25. It Happened One Night (1934) (#36)