Day: September 15, 2017

Some Like It Hot[/caption]My problem with of most rosters such as the “greatest movie comedies” is that there’s a good chance I’ve seen substantial portions of them. But they don’t count unless I’ve seen them in their entirety.

So I’ve seen chunks of:

87. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
80. Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999)
65. Caddyshack (Harold Ramis, 1980)
54. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)
33. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)

28. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
27. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
25. The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
21. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)

17. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
16. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)
15. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975)
14. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
13. To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
12. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
11. The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998) This was playing at the local cinema recently, and I didn’t make it

10. The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1926)
5. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
2. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
1. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) – I’ve probably watched every scene, but never from beginning to end

Odd thing about 100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982) is that I have the soundtrack on LP but I never saw the film

I have seen, almost always in a cinema:

99. The Jerk (Carl Reiner, 1979) – on TV
95. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
85. Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973) – probably at college
84. Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996)

78. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987) – saw this, again, recently, in the cinema with the family
74. Trading Places (John Landis, 1983)
73. The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, 1963) – as a kid, at the movies
72. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (David Zucker, 1988)
71. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001) – didn’t particularly like it

69. Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975) – I’ve seen virtually all of Woody’s films in the 20th century
58. Zelig (Woody Allen, 1983)
57. Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004)
56. Broadcast News (James L Brooks, 1987)- when I saw it in the cinema, I loved it at the time
55. Best in Show (Christopher Guest, 2000)
53. The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980)

47. Animal House (John Landis, 1978) – I can always listen to the “Germans bomb Pearl Harbor” speech
46. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) – ah, this was a comedy. OK, I guess
44. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)
43. M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970) – when Albany got an independent TV station in the early 1980, now its FOX affiliate, it showed this movie at 8 a.m. on the first Sunday it was on the air

40. The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967) – my second favorite Brooks movie
38. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) – on TV
36. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton and John Cleese, 1988)
35. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952) – saw it on DVD with the family
34. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
32. Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1987) – possibly THE best movie before the opening credits that I’ve ever seen. Six people the movie theater.
31. Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)

29. When Harry Met Sally… (Rob Reiner, 1989) – made a star out of Carl Reiner’s wife Estelle
22. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974) – literally fell out of my seat laughing, in the movie theater
20. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)

9. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
7. Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980) – I’ll Roger that
6. Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979) – I never really understood he controversy; Brian CLEARLY wasn’t Jesus. One of my favorite segments is about what the Romans have done for us
4. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) – one of the first movies I bought on VHS
3. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) – my touchstone movie, and also one of the first I got on VHS