tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post5387700711134857570..comments2024-03-05T21:05:36.848-05:00Comments on CommentaramaFilms: Film Friday: Silver Streak (1976)AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-89912444761544332772013-01-06T23:19:26.650-05:002013-01-06T23:19:26.650-05:00Snape, I highly recommend this one. This fits rig...Snape, I highly recommend this one. This fits right in with those kinds of films -- just very enjoyable.<br /><br />I think that if you can make a movie (or tv show) where the audience starts to see the characters as friends they hang out with, then you have achieved something that will have long term success. It is the rare movie that lasts year after year where people don't talk about just liking to "be" with the characters... as if they were friends.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-59375435696818796662013-01-06T22:59:36.802-05:002013-01-06T22:59:36.802-05:00I must see this movie, ASAP!
Regarding your last ...I must see this movie, ASAP!<br /><br />Regarding your last paragraph. I really feel the exact same way, each time I watch Rio Bravo, Planes-Trains-and-Automobiles, Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller, Rocky, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Goodfellas or The Thin Man movies. For some reason it feels like I'm not watching a movie, but I'm actually "hanging-out" with the characters. Weird. lolMr_Severus_Snapehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09114381805017025426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-88777317576933827182013-01-05T16:05:13.256-05:002013-01-05T16:05:13.256-05:00Scott, Caddyshack is a strange film. I enjoy it a ...Scott, <i>Caddyshack</i> is a strange film. I enjoy it a lot, but apart from the funny scenes, it's really a pretty awful film. If you took out the scenes with Murray and Chase, I think the film would have been forgotten as a really poor movie. Yet, their scenes wouldn't have worked without the rest of the movie.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-26858536694387959102013-01-05T15:52:18.225-05:002013-01-05T15:52:18.225-05:00I'm back.
I saw this movie once like five yea...I'm back.<br /><br />I saw this movie once like five years ago but I barely remember it and I think my frame of mind at the time wasn't conducive to movie-watching. So I need to see it again.<br /><br />I like Wilder a lot and <i>Willy Wonka</i> is a personal favorite. He could crank it up to 11 in two seconds.<br /><br />And I agree with you re: comedies and being seriousness. It must be quite difficult to write a comedy script without giving in to the temptation to simply throw every conceivable gag into it, whether it belongs or not.<br /><br /><i>Animal House</i> might be borderline and even <i>Caddyshack</i> kinda succumbs to this problem, with funny set pieces (featuring Murray, Chase, et al) punctuated by "plot" scenes with Noonan and the other caddies. It's a bit uneven but the funny stuff saves it.<br /><br />And it's a testament to Bill Murray that he helps make the film even though you could take out 95% of his scenes and the overall movie would not be affected.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-58256119968290008072013-01-05T12:22:53.481-05:002013-01-05T12:22:53.481-05:00Dave, There is definitely a lot of North by Northw...Dave, There is definitely a lot of <i>North by Northwest</i> in <i>Silver Streak</i>, but it's also very subtle, which I think is another sign of excellent writing.<br /><br />I agree that in real life, the feds would never hand him a gun and tell him to come with them, but I don't mind the film doing this because this is a comedy so some license is allowed, plus the film sets up the importance of Hilly to him and the feds are minor characters so it works for me. You're right though, it would have closed a hole if he'd just gone without the fed's help.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-60034950405478161632013-01-05T12:15:49.261-05:002013-01-05T12:15:49.261-05:00Shawn, I absolutely recommend this one. It's ...Shawn, I absolutely recommend this one. It's more of a Wilder film featuring Pryor, but their scenes are still excellent together.<br /><br />I agree about the BBC version of <i>Hitchhiker's Guide</i>. It's better. I still don't think either version works very well, but it is much better than the film.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-36817552835345605422013-01-05T10:04:53.267-05:002013-01-05T10:04:53.267-05:00Just saw Silver Streak on one of the cable channel...Just saw Silver Streak on one of the cable channels a few weeks ago. I had seen it several times on cable in my youth, and I liked it then. Watching it as a more seasoned ((shudder for my lost youth)) viewer, it holds up amazingly well as a film, as a comedy, and as a time capsule of its era. It's a subtle twist on the premise of "North by Northwest", in that our protagonist is thrown into a situation of international intrigue that he has nothing to do with.<br /><br />What doesn't work, and is an astoundingly bad piece of screenwriting (even for the 1970s), is the feds giving George a gun and bringing him back to the train. They had to do this to get to the third act, but still. Why not have the feds tell George "Stay here, we'll handle this." Then George convinces Grover to steal another car to get them to the shootout scene, and back on the train. <br /><br />Dave Olsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-46482959596615866132013-01-05T03:23:12.045-05:002013-01-05T03:23:12.045-05:00I found the 1980's BBC production of The Hitch...I found the 1980's BBC production of <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i> to be superior to that of the movie, even though it's production values were sorely lacking.<br /><br />Haven't seen <i>Silver Streak</i>, but I did see <i>Stir Crazy</i> many times in the theater. Pryor and Wilder made a good team.shawnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-61992386551309936492013-01-04T20:48:26.056-05:002013-01-04T20:48:26.056-05:00Anthony, It's actually a good book IF it's...Anthony, It's actually a good book <i>IF</i> it's your kind of sense of humor. It's the sort of book that will go three sentences into a scene before it mentions something like "The Vogon Construction Fleet" and then it will do two paragraphs on what that is before it jumps back to the story.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-5408521769712102602013-01-04T20:44:46.561-05:002013-01-04T20:44:46.561-05:00Routinely cutting away to irrelevancy sounds an aw...Routinely cutting away to irrelevancy sounds an awful lot like McFarlane's animated shows (which I'm not a fan of).Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124128949343301445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-18867944811527222912013-01-04T20:36:22.555-05:002013-01-04T20:36:22.555-05:00tryanmax, I agree. I think it also involves too m...tryanmax, I agree. I think it also involves too much unrelated exposition. It's constantly switching subjects to completely irrelevant points, often mid-sentence. That makes it more like a fever dream than a story, and that would be really hard to film. I guess you could do it in the style of something like <i>Scott Pilgrim</i>, but I'm not sure.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-39432929109234689822013-01-04T20:23:35.549-05:002013-01-04T20:23:35.549-05:00Andrew, I think the major reason why the Hitchhike...Andrew, I think the major reason why the <i>Hitchhiker's</i> books don't translate to film is that much of the comedy is in the exposition. When you limit the stories to just the action that takes place in them, then all you have are some goofballs in space. In print, the Guide is an excellent expository device, but moving that to the screen is impossible because film just doesn't tolerate that amount of exposition. tryanmaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09881154741574720094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-89923858671990395212013-01-04T18:00:51.068-05:002013-01-04T18:00:51.068-05:00Patriot, That's true. It's strange in a w...Patriot, That's true. It's strange in a way because he's probably got as many top comedies as anyone, yet his name never comes up when people talk about favorite comedian. I wonder if his lack of a well-known standup routine hurt him? Because even from the era, people don't usually credit him as much as they do Pryor or Cosby or Carlin.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-43886776188705455232013-01-04T17:55:09.157-05:002013-01-04T17:55:09.157-05:00Gene Wilder is one of those actor/comedians that n...Gene Wilder is one of those actor/comedians that never really got the credit he deserved yet has been in some of the most mimicked films out there......Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.Patriothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01533169053860540075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-58398983806868644382013-01-04T16:53:03.192-05:002013-01-04T16:53:03.192-05:00TJ, I love Willie Wonka, Wilder is perfect in that...TJ, I love <i>Willie Wonka</i>, Wilder is perfect in that! :)<br /><br />I prefer <i>Silver Streak</i> to <i>Stir Crazy</i>, but not by much -- I think they're both excellent films. And I too wish they would have done more films together.<br /><br /><br />(As an aside, I still have no idea why you have this spam problem. You wouldn't believe how much obvious spam the filter is letting through these days, yet it keeps catching your comments. I just don't get it?)AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-15086127186032399702013-01-04T16:49:32.334-05:002013-01-04T16:49:32.334-05:00I remember Stir Crazy much better than Silver Stre...I remember Stir Crazy much better than Silver Streak and I agree, Wilder and Pryor were great together and should have done more movies.<br /><br />I think "Gentle Comedian" is a good way to describe Wilder. I really liked him in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.TJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10190795207362563696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-49216152607390036682013-01-04T16:40:50.660-05:002013-01-04T16:40:50.660-05:00P.S. I can't stand the Hitchhiker's Guide ...P.S. I can't stand the <i>Hitchhiker's Guide</i> film, but I love the books. And I've spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to adapt those books in a way that would work. I've actually concluded that it can't be done because the books rely on too much innuendo to work visually.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-80443185939825292952013-01-04T16:39:03.721-05:002013-01-04T16:39:03.721-05:00Indi, One of the problems with things like the gro...Indi, One of the problems with things like the gross out humor (which I don't like either) is that it leads to people trying to up the stakes in each film to get the same rise out of the audience. At some point, you hit a wall where there is simply nothing more you can do that is both funny and believable. That means once someone goes nuclear, the genre is over because there is nothing higher they can do and it all suddenly feels stale.<br /><br />Moreover, once they go nuclear, each of the prior films suddenly feels in adequate and dated. So when you make one of those kinds of films, you are guaranteed a short shelf-life.<br />AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-37375284317725463302013-01-04T16:28:19.430-05:002013-01-04T16:28:19.430-05:00Some ridiculous films that work: Monty Python
The...Some ridiculous films that work: Monty Python<br />The Holy Grail<br />The Life of Brian<br /><br />although it can be said that the comedy masks a serious metaphor or society.<br /><br />Another funny ridiculous movie would be The Hitchhiker's Guide Trilogy but honestly the books werre much funnier than the movies.<br /><br />As to greeat serious comedies I really liked Brewster's Millions and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.<br /><br /><br />Part of the problem I have with the ridiculous sketch comedy of today is that it is not so much comedy as it is just very gross bathroom humor, naked women and people doing drugs. This was good when it was Cheech and Chong but now it just seems boring to me. There is no more shock left in shock jock humor. We've all been there and are looking for a place to discard the T shirt cause its got gross stuff on it.Individualisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11005025873042230314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-71481156518144845772013-01-04T14:39:46.733-05:002013-01-04T14:39:46.733-05:00rlaWTX, That's great. :)
Here's the link:...rlaWTX, That's great. :)<br /><br />Here's the link: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-day-william-shatner-tweeted-at-an-astronaut-and-the-astronaut-replied/266824/" rel="nofollow">LINK</a>AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-15158863207480007892013-01-04T14:31:03.984-05:002013-01-04T14:31:03.984-05:00Totally off topic, but I thought of Commentarama w...Totally off topic, but I thought of Commentarama when I saw this:<br />http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-day-william-shatner-tweeted-at-an-astronaut-and-the-astronaut-replied/266824/rlaWTXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09319344164726195144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-410402571661811922013-01-04T14:03:07.111-05:002013-01-04T14:03:07.111-05:00That could be Jed. I also remember when Hear No E...That could be Jed. I also remember when <i>Hear No Evil, See No Evil</i> came out in the 1980s, there was this big marketing push about them being back together again and it made it sound like they had been this team that just hadn't worked together in a couple years.<br /><br />Either way, they were excellent together and they should have made more movie together.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-73926488111850014992013-01-04T13:52:14.959-05:002013-01-04T13:52:14.959-05:00I think a lot of people got that impression, Andre...I think a lot of people got that impression, Andrew. It probably goes to the fact these films were among each actor's best known and best liked works.Tennessee Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604275115906776992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-90010720194245358592013-01-04T13:31:09.597-05:002013-01-04T13:31:09.597-05:00Jed, You know what's funny? When I was young,...Jed, You know what's funny? When I was young, this movie and <i>Stir Crazy</i> came out and I used to think of Wilder and Pryor as a team. It wasn't until later that I realized they weren't. And it wasn't until much later that I realized they only worked together in three movies total. They just had amazing natural chemistry together on film.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-30201675873582356252013-01-04T13:28:24.655-05:002013-01-04T13:28:24.655-05:00good story, good actors, and good jokes; a combina...good story, good actors, and good jokes; a combination hard to beat. Wilder and Pryor are among the very best of my era. Also used to love Wilder's collaborations with the great Maedine Kahn.Tennessee Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604275115906776992noreply@blogger.com