Mel Brooks’ SILENT MOVIE (1976) – Not Chaplin, but funny enough

The following is my contribution to The Mel Brooks Blogathon, being hosted by The Cinematic Frontier from June 28-30, 2016. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ critiques of movies directed by the famous funnyman!

Just about the time you roll your eyes at the hopelessness of the gags in Mel Brooks’s Silent Movie, a real gem comes along. As when a poster of Bernadette Peters in bosomy vamp mode is revealed, and some men seated at a table make the table rise without touching it. Or the gigantic prop fly that lands smack in the middle of Henny Youngman’s soup, inspiring the greatest one-liner in the history of silent movies.

Of course, the fact that Mel Brooks co-wrote, directed, and stars in this silent-film spoof is enough to tell you whether you’ll enjoy it or not. Surprisingly, this ramshackle farce has its basis in autobiography. At the time of this movie, Mel Brooks had just come off his Blazing Saddles/Young Frankenstein doubleheader, and 20th Century-Fox would probably have let Brooks film a spoof of the Yellow Pages at that point.

Thus comes the storyline of Mel Funn (Brooks), a washed-up movie director who comes up with the brilliant idea of making a silent movie. The studio director (Sid Caesar, who might have done better in Brooks’s role) agrees to the film as long as Funn can provide the appropriate big-name stars as box-office insurance. It doesn’t help that Funn’s studio is being threatened by the conglomerate of Engulf and Devour, and the studio needs a hit to make it back into the black.

Surprisingly enough, the big-name cameos provide some of the movie’s biggest laughs. Burt Reynolds takes a narcissistic shower and finds himself growing extra hands. Paul Newman pokes fun at his offscreen racing hobby by zooming around in a wheelchair. And famed mime Marcel Marceau finds his voice in the movie’s only line of dialogue.

On the other hand, Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise, who would seem an obvious choice as Mel’s crazy cronies, are a little joke that gets stretched a long way. Yet even when the movie isn’t as hysterical as it thinks it is, it causes you to smile throughout and to wish silent film was still a viable alternative for physical comedians, instead of an occasional novelty put to use by a hit filmmaker who could make any movie he wanted.

Cartoon violence: Are we really better off without it?

If you grew up in my (old, old) era, you remember Cracked magazine mostly as a rip-off of Mad. Well, they’re online now, at Cracked.com, and they’ve really upped their game, with some very incisive satirical writing.

Below is a link to a beautiful Cracked piece about how TV and theatrical cartoons have become uber-politically correct, and how, sadly, our society isn’t a whit better off for it:

http://www.cracked.com/funny-3621-cartoon-violence/

2nd Annual SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon – Da Big Finish

Well, it’s been fantastic, bloggers — but let’s just be friends. I’m here to present

If you happened to miss the first two days of the ‘thon, click below for the respective recap:

Day 1 Recap * Day 2 Recap

Our last few entrants struggled to the finish line of our blogathon of suggestively sexy movies, but they gave it everything they had and made it. (Click on the appropriate blog’s name to read his or her entry.)

The Flapper Dame wonders how Tom Ewell can possibly keep his cool around Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.

Outspoken & Freckled conclusively proves why silent-screen siren Clara Bow is It.

Flickers in Time says God only knows how Robert Mitchum got washed up on the same island as nun Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.

Pop Culture Reverie echoes the sentiments of Patty O’Neill (Maggie McNamara) in The Moon Is Blue: “Don’t you think it’s better to be preoccupied with sex than occupied?”

Another sexy silent film, Ernst Lubitsch’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, is herein examined by Silent Wierdness.

Serendipitous Anachronisms finds surprisng sexiness in Edwardian Britain in A Room with a View.

And last but hardly least, Dell on Movies found his inner soundtrack playing Salt-n-Pepa as he watched the film-noir classic Double Indemnity.

Thanks to all of our wonderful blog guests for their time and contributions, and thanks to the readers who pored over the entries. May everyone have a summer that is sizzling in only the best way! And that wraps things up! (Now, Adrienne, the show’s over. Don’t think you can sneak in on us that way…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not too late for SEX!

In case anyone was wondering, I will provide the final re-cap of my SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon later today. We’ve had a few people who are just now reaching the finish line, so if you have entered the blogathon and haven’t submitted your entry yet, please do so and let me know where to link to it. Thanks!

2nd Annual SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon – Day 2 Recap

Apparently, everyone was drenched in afterglow from the first day of our blogathon, because we received only two entries today. Hopefully, things will pick up tomorrow for the finale. In the meantime, we invite you to come hither and enjoy

If you missed the first day’s entries, click here: Day 1 Recap. And now, here are today’s sex-symbol bloggers. (Click on the blogs’ names to link to their blogathon entries.)

Love Letters to Old Hollywood examines the intricate intimacy between Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief.

And Reelweegiemidget examines what happens when friends become lovers in Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally.

Come back to this blog, because we supposedly still have nine bloggers left to submit their entries for the last day! Raquel, would you please drop your arm to signal the race to the finish? Raquel? No, no, the other arm…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Annual SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon – Day 1 Recap

Summer is starting off with a bang (ahem), as we get our first round of blogs featuring movies that suggest sex rather than overtly depicting it. Tap into our bloggers’ psyches as we present

(If you want to read any of the entries listed below, click on the name of the respective blog to link to their entry.)

Moon in Gemini discusses how sexual chemistry makes Montgomery Clift take a turn for the worst (and for Elizabeth Taylor) in A Place in the Sun.

B Noir Detour details how Edward G. Robinson’s desire for Joan Bennett ends up bringing a dark shade into his life in the film noir Scarlett Street.

Vivien Leigh’s sudden appearance in the lives of Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter adds to their sexual (and other) tensions, as Defiant Success points out in her critique of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Thoughts All Sorts bypasses film criticism and just lovingly states why the passion between Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice gives a “tingly” feeling to moviegoers.

Meredy.com shows us why Jean Harlow believes that, while blondes might have more fun, she’ll get further up the social scale as a Red-Headed Woman.

Even high-society people can’t always get what they want, as Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies points out in his take on Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis’ doomed romance in The Age of Innocence.

And lastly, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are unapologetic in their lust for, respectively, diamonds and muscular men, as your faithful correspondent points out in my genuflection to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

And we still have two more days of fun, sexy movies to go! Keep this blog bookmarked and check back with us, as further entertaining reviews shake up the blog world!

 

 

Happy Father’s Day!

The best gift anyone can ever give me on Father’s Day is Chuck Jones’ delightful 1951 cartoon A Bear for Punishment (embedded below). Jones said that he based the cartoon on his then-young daughter Linda’s well-meaning but inept attempts to honor him on Father’s Day.

The uncredited but superb voice work is provided by Stan Freberg (Junyer Bear), Bea Benederet (Ma Bear), and Billy Bletcher (Pa Bear; he also voiced the Big Bad Wolf in Disney’s Three Little Pigs cartoon). If this cartoon’s finale doesn’t leave you convulsed with laughter, see your doctor.

A Bear For Punishment (1951) with original titles recreation from Mihai Chetreanu on Vimeo.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) – Fun feminism

The following is my entry in this (my) blog’s 2nd Annual SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon, being hosted here from June 19-21, 2016. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ critiques of movies that subtly suggest sexuality rather than graphically depicting it!

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(The following blog entry is dedicated to former USA TODAY film critic Mike Clark — who, one day when he tried to switch the TV channel from a showing of Jane Russell’s The French Line, was chastized by his crying two-year-old son, who told him, “I want to see the big lady!”)

I am married to a newspaper publisher and editor, so I’d be a fool not to believe that women are the equal of, and in many ways far superior to, their male counterparts. What I don’t believe is that women can’t be feminist and sexy at the same time.

Unfortunately, women are so often forced to loudly confirm my first statement (in order to shout over the yahoos who try to drown them out) that the second statement gets lost in the confusion. But I think that director Howard Hawks — whose filmography is filled with bold, assertive women (see His Girl Friday and Ball of Fire) — was trying to make this point, however subtextually, when he directed my all-time favorite movie musical, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The movie stars Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, two American showgirls en route to France. The story makes it abundantly clear that these women want what they want, with no apologies, and each is given her own musical number to spell it out.

Dorothy is attracted to brawny, ripply men, and she lusts over acres of them in the hilarious “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love?” (Naive moviegoer that I am, it took me years of sexual politicism to realize that there might be a reason why this roomful of muscle-bound males never give a second glance to buxom Dorothy.)

Lorelei adores anything with a dollar sign attached to it, particularly diamonds, and she makes this feeling explicit in the iconic “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Luckily, Lorelei happens to be engaged to Gus (Tommy Noonan), a rich, milquetoast man who is only too happy to appease her. Unfortunately, Gus’ father completely distrusts Lorelei and hires Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid), a private detective, to tail Lorelei on her cruise to France. Too bad Ernie has a thing for women who look like Jane Russell.

At this point, I must make a full confession: I am not gaga over Marilyn Monroe as most red-blooded American males are. I can easily see why she became a star and the fantasy figure for so many people, but for me, she just sells “it” a little too hard. However, she does win me over for, at least, the duration of this movie. If you doubt the movie’s support of feminism, listen to Lorelei’s beautiful speech to Gus’ father near movie’s end — where basically, she upends the viewpoint of male chauvinists by saying, If you guys can have it both ways, why can’t we women have it, too?

Nevertheless, my heart — and let’s face it, my hormones — go out to Jane Russell. She is thoroughly winning as Dorothy — strong, brassy, and yet willing to let her heart melt when the right guy comes along. And for a woman who spent a large part of her autobiography apologizing for the skin she displayed in The Outlaw and The French Line, she has zero qualms about showing off her absolutely bitchin’ bod here — particularly in a short reprise of Marilyn’s “Diamonds” number that, for me at least, has it all over the original.

That’s right, Operator, I said “absolutely bitchin’ bod.”

Wouldn’t the world be a whole lot better off if each gender admitted to and embraced its weaknesses and strengths? One wonders how many moviegoers, if any, caught the feminist broadside of this smashing musical when it was first released in 1953. Six decades later, it’s still a message worth taking in, even if you have to root around in the subtext to find it.

 

Make way! The 2nd Annual “SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon” is here!

Ready to usher in summer with some major hotness? Join us at this blog for the next three days, as bloggers chime in about movies that cleverly suggest sexuality rather than graphically depicting it.

If you are one of the blogathon entrants, please post the URL to your blog entry in the “Comments” section below, and I will link to it as soon as possible. Please have your entry posted by the end of the day on Tues., June 21 (and if I may, the sooner the better!).

If you are just stopping by for some great reading, please give this blog bookmarked, as entries will continue coming in for the next three days. Enjoy, and be sure to have a fan directed at you while you’re reading — you might get a little hot under the collar!

Here are the blogathon’s entrants:

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Serendipitous Anachronisms – A Room with a View (1985)

Moon in Gemini – A Place in the Sun (1951)

BNoirDetour – Scarlet Street (1945)

The Flapper Dame – The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Outspoken & Freckled – It (1927)

Love Letters to Old Hollywood – To Catch a Thief (1955)

Defiant Success – A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Thoughts All Sorts – Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Flickers in Time – Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Meredy.com – Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Pop Culture Reverie – The Moon Is Blue (1953)

Realweegiemidget – When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Silent Wierdness – Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925)

Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies – The Age of Innocence (1993)

Dell on Movies – Double Indemnity (1944)

DEEP IMPACT (1998) – Barely makes a dent

The following is my contribution to the Nature’s Fury Blogathon, being hosted by Barry at the blog Cinematic Catharsis from June 18-20, 2016. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ critiques of movies with the theme of Mother Nature striking back!

Deep Impact has anything but. The title refers to a fictional meteor that’s set to destroy the Earth within two years, but for all of its state-of-the-art hocus-pocus, the tinny message of this big-budget movie is that there’s nothing like a global disaster to bring us closer together.

Like that other hanky-soaker Titanic, Deep Impact wants to find out how civilized humans would be affected by imminent destruction. But if movies like this one get destroyed in the process, I say bring on the apocalypse.

The movie’s problems begin with a credibility gap that would have shamed Bush Administrations I and II. Here, the President (Morgan Freeman) goes on TV every so often to update us on the impending disaster and what the American and Russian astronauts are doing to thwart the meteor. And he’s straightforward about the whole mess — no hint of a cover-up, or of any American or Russian leaders trying to save their hides.

The President’s contingency plan is unwittingly uncovered by a nosy reporter (“Madam Secretary’s” Tea Leoni) who mistakes “ELE” (the code for an Extinction Level Event) for a White House bimbo named Ellie. And the President never even thinks to check out this cub reporter and find out just how much or how little she really knows. This fictional President might be more noble than the real item, but he sure needs better undercover men.

As in Titanic, the ostensible disaster is really just an excuse to get together a bunch of one-note characters with whom we’re meant to identify. There’s the reporter, who has long discussions with her mother (Vanessa Redgrave!) that would be played for comedy in any other movie but are meant to be gravely serious here. There’s the seasoned astronaut (Robert Duvall) who goes on the meteor-squashing mission despite objections from his younger cohorts. And there’s the teenaged astronomer (Elijah Wood) who could use his newfound clout to run for shelter but decides he’s just gotta stay with his sweetheart. (To make the Titanic connection complete, the teenager’s name is Leo.)

Everything in the movie is strictly functional. Each little scene is reduced to its simplest component and then shunted aside for the next cliche. Even disaster-movie freaks will be disappointed; the “money shot,” with a killer tidal wave knocking the Statue of Liberty around a bowling pin, doesn’t come until about 20 minutes before the end and is surprisingly abrupt.

This was only the second feature from director Mimi Leder (who did The Peacemaker, also for Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio like this one), but all she proved with this apocalypse wowser was that she could make big-budget movies as crassly as any male director. And as evidenced here, her work with actors rises and falls with the actors’ stock. The movie’s old pros (Freeman, Duvall, Redgrave) rise far above the material, while Tea Leoni doesn’t convince even as a cyber-reporter. Watch how Leoni wrings her hands whenever she’s doing a live broadcast. Then imagine how you’d feel if this woman were reporting an apocalypse to you.