Changing the blog formatting because the edge of the sweet videos I'd been posting was being cut off. This new format will also be a breath of fresh air for 2009, sort of my own version of "change."
Here's the finale in the four-part series on my favorite scenes. Although if I find that I have too much time during the holidays there may be an "honorable mention" posting. But there's already more than a few comedies here.
We conclude with comedies. I love movies, but seldom go to serious ones. As I've told many of you, if I want serious, I'll stay at work and save the money. Life is serious enough-I need to laugh. And not the pathetic mocking laughter I have for most of the lawyers and regulators I have to deal with every day, but the joyful laughter that doctors say improves your health. The funny thing (no pun intended) is that although I see myself as an intelligent, sophisticated, man about town, this posting proves that basically I like stupid stuff. Not exactly Farrelly Brothers stupid though. I mean, come on. I can read, after all.
So, silliness notwithstanding, I hope you enjoy. And, special thanks to my cousin Tom for helping me avoid copyright laws, err, upload sweet videos to YouTube.
One, Two, Three. We start with something obscure. This is one of Billy Wilder's best movies, and no one's ever seen it. It stars James Cagney as a Coca-Cola executive in 1961 Berlin, anxious to climb the corporate ladder hoping to impress his Atlanta-based boss by taking extra good care of the boss' visiting teenage daughter. Who just happens to get married to an East Berlin communist. Hilarity ensues when a frantic Cagney tries to fix all this before the boss arrives to visit. This is the "everything goes crazy" scene (at least, the first five minutes or so is). Jack Lemmon said in an interview that he was on the set the day this scene was filmed, and Cagney had all kinds of trouble with the speech at the very beginning. Hard to believe there was anything Cagney had trouble doing.
Stripes. Lighten up Francis. I dropped this exact line on a girlfriend once during a fight. It didn't work so well, but I was highly amused, so in the end that was worth it.
Anchorman. Sex Panther. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.
Napoleon Dynamite. People either love this movie (if they have good taste) or hate it (if they don't). Either way, there's nothing better than taking sweet jumps on a Sledgehammer.
A Night at the Opera. The second most famous Marx Brothers routine, but the funniest. And three hard boiled eggs.
Superbad. Gangstas, what's up? Chicka, chicka, yeah!
The Producers. Springtime for Hitler. The first time I saw this was at the Paramount Theatre, and its probably the hardest I've ever laughed. "Don't be stupid be a smarty, come and join the Nazi Party!"
Blazing Saddles. Not that scene, but the other one. "To tell a family secret, my grandmother was Dutch."
Blazing Saddles. This is the funniest line in any movie that no one ever laughs at, probably because they don't get it by the time the next line comes along. "They said you was hung!"
High Fidelity. You tell me right now what's wrong with the Righteous Brothers! Sadly, its getting harder to remember that Jack Black can actually be funny.
Young Frankenstein. Do NOT open this door!
Airplane. "Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
Airplane (again). "Col' got to be!...Chump don' want no help, chump don' get no help!"
Bananas. Especially for you young folk, this is exactly how Howard Cosell was; hard to believe a guy like this was at one time the pre-eminent American sports reporter, and could actually transcend the events he called. But its completely true. I also dig the opening title music. The whole thing reminds me of my trip to Buenos Aires.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure. "Did anybody tell you that this is the private club of the Satan's Helpers?" Another former girlfriend told me she assumed I was gay because I still own the talking Pee Wee Herman doll my brother Steve gave me for Christmas one year when I was in college. I've never taken it out of its original box, and that thing is probably worth at least $200 today.
Rushmore. The very definition of "wistful." "These are OR scrubs." "Oh, are they?"
Caddyshack. "Former greenskeeper, about to become, Masters Champion" According to the director Harold Ramis, Murray improvised this entire scene and it was shot in one take.
Caddyshack. At Carl's place. This has two lines I use constantly and you should too: "People don't say that about you as far as you know" and "We have a pool and a pond...a pond would be good for you"
Animal House. "The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me!" The main reason this movie is so funny is that the bad guys aren't cariacatures, but seem to believe they aren't really bad guys.
And, finally, we end this overly long post with one of the greatest comedy scenes ever. From Animal House. "Her name was Fawn Leibowitz, and she was from Fort Wayne, Indiana." The funniest line in this movie is in this scene, and it always goes practically unnoticed. "She was going to make a pot for me!"
Next up-the "faux hawk" and other fashion criticism to help you dress for success during the holidays.
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