The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

I have had a funny history with Caddyshack. Most of the jokes and funny bits in it are iconic, and are often quoted - so much so that before I ever really watched it I felt like I knew about 70% of everything in it. That would be the best 70%, meaning that finally watching it only gave me what I'd already seen plus the rest and it just didn't hit me as hard as it should have. I wish I could erase it from my brain and then sit down and watch it fresh, but no can do, and as such I just have to get by without loving the movie like so many other people do.

The Jerk though, is #18 from my list - a lot of Steve Martin's very early comedies (and I think this is his first) I thought would have lost a lot of their luster over the years, but I watched this again for this countdown and it was pretty damned funny. I decided to include it because back in the early days I thought it was one of the funniest films around, and it made me laugh like hell. It's all great stuff, and Martin's comedic style seemed so fresh and his own. The Jerk is where he is at his most Steve Martin, and his whole body tells a joke or does a bit. Added to that is a great screenplay from Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias - with added stuff (probably the best) from Martin himself and a sense of what's funny from director Carl Reiner. It was a comedy revolution in one film.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Films I've seen : 62˝
Films that have been on my radar : 13˝
Films I've never even heard of : 2

Films from my list : 7

#24 - My #18 - The Jerk - (1979)
#30 - My #10 - What We Do in the Shadows - (2014)
#34 - My #9 - Back to the Future - (1985)
#62 - My #13 - The In-Laws - (1979)
#65 - My #21 - Black Dynamite - (2009)
#82 - My #8 - The Producers - (1967)
One pointer - Brewster McCloud (1970)

__________________

That seals it, I need to watch The Jerk again. I recently listened to a podcast during which a couple of younger folks randomly reviewed The Jerk. Knowing that nature of the podcast and the people who run it, I fully expected them to trash the film, but they both gave it a good rating. It's been years since I have seen it, so I need to dig it up and watch it again soon.

Neither film made my list.

__________________

I know have lost all hope on my #5 making it. There's no way that film makes it this far.

__________________

Never seen either Caddyshack or The Jerk.

Seen: 40/78

Caddyshack I haven’t seen in years, but it just never appealed to me like it did other guys my age. Want to love it, feels like I should, I just don’t at this point.

The Jerk was my #1. I certainly was hoping for it to be higher, but top 25 is pretty good. Steve Martin is one of my favorite comedians and this movie is probably why. I throw it on about every five years and it makes me laugh out loud every time. This is probably also the movie that made me want to make my list broad. There are very few comedy movies that go for jokes every single scene that work this well for me. It is totally preposterous and nothing but jokes, but I love every minute of it.

__________________
Letterboxd

I love Steve Martin but The Jerk is towards the bottom of his filmography for me, that said it has been a very long time since I watched it

Haven't seen Caddyshack

__________________

I love golf and I find Caddyshack equally funny and annoying at the same time. Great funny men but mostly not used to their best advantage. They should have killed off that gopher early on.

I watched The Jerk a few times at the theatre when it came out and a few times in recent years too. I still like it. Sure, it's probably not as funny as I originally thought, but it aeems even weirder now. There are scenes I dearly love. "He hates these cans!" "Good Lord - I've heard about this - cat juggling! Could there be a God that would let this happen?" Glad to see that enough people still have a sense of humor. Still never considered them for the list.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

At least your #5 makes it when you post what's on your list after the countdown just like I know my #1 movie won't make it

__________________
Moviefan1988's Favorite Movies
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...?t=67103<br />

Welcome to the Dance: My Favorite 20 High School Movies
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...02#post2413502

Another from my ballot, The Jerk was my number 23. That's 11 from my list that made the countdown so far.

*1 It Happened One Night (1934)
2...might make it
3...sad it won't make it
4...
*5 One, Two, Three (1961)
*6 His Girl Friday (1940)
7...what no woody?
*8 Ed Wood (1994)
9...not a chance
10...could make it
11...maybe
*12 To Be or Not To Be (1942)
13...a dark horse 60s comedy that won't make it
14...not making it
*15 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
*16 Best in Show (2000)
*17 Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
18...I bet GBG voted for this one
19...better make it!
*20 What's Up, Doc? (1972)
21...could be
22...could be
*23 The Jerk (1979)
*24 Dumb & Dumber (1994)
25 Boeing Boeing (1965) one pointer

I've long been a fan of The Jerk but it hasn't become a big favorite yet.

Obviously I voted for Caddyshack so I got that going for me, which is nice.

My list-

1. Animal House (#31)
3. Trading Places (#33)
4. Caddyshack (#25)
5. Stripes (#90)
6. The Hangover (#70)
8. Vacation (#54)
9. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (#60)

The Jerk was another of my many HoF nominations..the VHS comedy era comedy Hall of fame III (1977-1989) to be exact. I wrote this about it:




Is Bernadette Peters a peach or what? I love the applique jewelry, I mean that's actually pretty cool and stylish if you think about it. To bad she didn't wear that ensemble to a nicer restaurant, one that didn't have snails on the plate!

Caddyshack is very funny, mostly due to Murray, Dangerfield and Knight. If you’re looking for a cohesive film this isn’t it.

“If you buy a hat like that you should get a free bowl of soup! Oh it looks good on you thought.”


The Jerk has its moments but I never really connected with it.

So from what I understand about the making of Caddyshack, because it was Harold Ramis’s first time directing, the cast, especially the more famous ones, had no respect for him and walked all over him and basically just did whatever they want. That’s why this movie is a mess narratively and why Danny feels more like set dressing than a main character.

From today's reveals, I didn't care for The Jerk and I don't know if I've ever seen all of Caddyshack. From yesterday, I know I've seen The Graduate, but I don't really remember it and I have not seen His Girl Friday.

__________________

I think it's interesting looking at Caddyshack -> Caddyshack 2, Ghostbusters -> Ghostbusters cartoon -> Ghostbusters 2, and arguably Terminator -> Terminator 2 in terms of thinking about how movies change as they become more family friendly.


It's been too long since I've since Revenge of the Nerd and Nerds 2 to really assess of they dramatically changed between entries.

I didn't quite love Caddyshack. There are some funny bits, but it's all so ramshackle and aimless it's hard to stay with it.

The Jerk is a bit better for me, but not quite enough to make my list. I do like Steve Martin, but he'll have to settle for my Planes, Trains ... vote. (He does have a cameo in a movie that might, but probably won't, make the list).

Oh, I've seen them both, but I haven't seen The Jerk since I was so young I can't even begin to guess if I'd think it's funny now (true for all Steve Martin movies). I probably saw it enough times that I'd probably remember a surprising number of the jokes as they're about to unfold.


Somehow, I think it was Caddyshack 2 that imprinted upon my brain as a youngster in terms of what the movies were like. I saw the first one as a teenager and it was different than I was expecting, to the point I don't know how many of the jokes I'd actually remember. However, in my 20s I do remember playing a, guess the movie from a still, but with the people photoshopped out of the scene. The movie everyone was certain was Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory with the scene from Mike TV (certain to the point where the site telling us we were wrong, people were certain the site had to be wrong), I eventually had a moment of, "Bill Murray in the pool, cleaning out the chocolate bar.". That's my Caddyshack anecdote.

Oh, trust me. I'm gonna shower praise all over that one

With the top 25 I feel like we're due for a decade breakdown. What do you think @Thief? Saving it for the top 20?

__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Caddyshack was No.3 from my list.
One of the funniest and most quotable movies I've ever seen with tons of fantastic gags, the best use of Rodney Dangerfield ever (I prefer him when he does get respect) and Ted Knight's all-time great comedic performance. Not to mention the proper deployment of Chevy Chase in his pre-Vacation-sequels, much funnier, smooth mode, not just being the clown. And of course, Murray's Cinderella story... honestly, there's just not one moment of this movie I don't find funny.
To be honest, once we get to 25 comedies (and I mean actual comedies) it was almost splitting hairs for me to actually rank them, but I knew Caddyshack would have to be very high and it ended up at No.3.

The Jerk is a film I really do like and find very funny and I think it would have easily made my Top-75 and could have eked into my Top-50 perhaps, but really when I was at 40, it was no longer in contention so somewhere between 41-75. A really funny, enjoyable film.

A funny thing is that, and I swear to whatever is most convincing to you that this happened just this past Friday night, I went to a restaurant called Lilette and I ended up getting the escargots as my appetizer and they were delicious and I cleaned the plate, so when the bartender (I like to sit at the bar) came back and asked me how my appetizer was I said, "You would think, in a fancy restaurant like this, at these prices, you could keep the snails off the food."
And, sadly, the waiter, probably 20 years my junior just looked blank for a second and then tried to roll with and said, "Yeah, they get everywhere I guess."
I was so disappointed.


And yes, I fell in love with (read: discovered lust because of) Bernadette Peters when I was young.