Amazon.com

Jim Jarmusch's 1991 ensemble comedy turns a gimmick into a revelation. The story begins in Los Angeles one evening at 7:07 p.m. A talent agent (Gena Rowlands) gets into the back of a taxi driven by a sullen, chain-smoking young woman (Winona Ryder), and over the course of their bumpy conversation, Rowlands's character becomes convinced that the cabby would be perfect for a particular part in a movie. Meanwhile, at that very moment, taxi drivers in New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki are all having unique encounters with a variety of fares, breaking through that invisible social barrier between the front and back seats of their cars, often to absurd or touching effect. Among them are cabby Roberto Benigni's ranting confessions to a priest, Armin Mueller-Stahl's relinquishing of the wheel to a stunned Giancarlo Esposito, and Isaach De Bankolé's relentless discussion of sight and sex with an angry, blind woman (Beatrice Dalle). What emerges is a chain of brief intimacies (not always welcomed by the characters), like a number of matches lit simultaneously across the globe, flickering brightly for a few short moments. This popular work by Jarmusch helped confirm his reputation as a fiercely independent filmmaker of rare perception, rigor, and classical sensibility matched with original thinking. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (30)

OFFBEAT, POIGNANT FIVE-STORY COMEDY
Tom Waits' music helps establish the mood of the streets in cities, empty of its day people. Seemingly, the minds of Jim Jarmusch's night people are affected by all of the dreams and nightmares surrounding them. NIGHT ON EARTH creates a lonely, romantic mood similar to Jarmusch's "Mystery Train," a film about wanderers in nighttime Memphis.

NIGHT ON EARTH presents us with slices of life in five cities played out by taxi drivers and their passengers at twilight through dawn. A Los Angeles casting agent (Gena Rowlands) tries convincing a tough young female cabbie (Winona Ryder) that she should have a career in the movies. In New York, a black passenger (Giancarlo Esposito) is convinced his driver (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who had just immigrated from Germany, will never find Brooklyn without help. In Paris, a taxi driver from the Ivory Coast throws out two tipsy African diplomats from his cab, then picks up a self-assured, tough and sexy young blind woman. In Rome, a cabbie (Roberto Benigni) burdens an aging priest by "confessing" his sexual perversions; causing the priest to have a heart attack in the back seat. Problem: what to do with the dead priest? Meanwhile in Helsinki, an icy snow covered winter dawn surrounds three drunken passengers as their driver decides who has the most tragic story to tell.

The film opens somewhere in space, zooming in on LAX airport in Los Angeles at exactly 7:07 PM. Jarmusch is mainly concerned with character; with relationships that form. For example, he throws together in a taxi a tattooed, gum-chewing, chain-smoking young cabdriver played to the hilt by Ryder, and the elegant Hollywood casting executive Rowlands who decides she'll cast her for a movie. But Ryder character announces, "I've got my life all mapped out," hoping to work her way up to mechanic. "There must be lotsa girls who want to be in the movies. Not me," she instructs the presumptuous and bemused talent scout. Nice!

Moving from Los Angeles, Jarmusch creates a global feeling of kinship. As the film progresses eastward around the world, we will hear Spanish, German, French, Italian, Finnish and even a little Latin. The film's literal and figurative vehicle remains the same: the inside of a taxi moving through a the empty streets of a great city in the middle of the night. Maybe the New York segment is the funniest. Mueller-Stahl's German cab driver lets passenger Esposito, who insists on driving himself home to Brooklyn to admireingly do so. On the way, they encounter anmd pick up Esposito's foul-mouthed sister in law, Rosie Perez as the shrill counterpoint voice from the back seat. Each man (the German named Helmut and the cool black guy who is Yo-Yo) argues that the other one has a rediculous name.

In Paris an Ivory Coast, African taxi driver gets up the nerve to ask his blind young woman passenger what sex is like for her: what's it like to make love with someone she can't see? Then he asks her what she thinks about colors. Without a hint of self consciousness, she abruptly responds that she knows more about colors and sex than he ever will! "I can do everything you can do," she assertively answers and announces that her entire being is involved in whatever she does. Retorts the skeptical cab driver, "Can you drive?" She shoots back, "Can you?!"

Jim Jarmouch offers us offbeat comedy and pathos at their best.

A true unsung classic
Night On Earth is often described as a "slice of life", but it is more accurate to call it a slice of time, cinema temporal rather than cinema verite. Unlike the new novel, in which the timeline of a story is chopped up like a piece of film and re-spliced out of order, Jarmusch's little masterpiece pulls apart five simltaneous events which take place in different time zones and presents them sequentially. The new novel technique gives the impression that ordered time is merely a psychic convention, that life is ultimately fragmented...by allowing us to experience five simultaneous taxi rides, from 7 pm in Los Angele to 5 AM in Helsinki, Jarmusch shows us the unity, rather than disconinutity, of life across time. It is a bit like what I imagine the astronauts felt in viewing the Earth from the Moon.

I find Night on Earth to be a tremendously comforting and human film...it is five small vignettes, each describing it's own particular emotional, as well as temporal, moment. Winona Ryder's turn as a gum snapping chain smoking tomboy taxi driver to Gena Rowland's high powered call-phone addicted Hollywood agent is priceless.. Roberto Benigni delivers one of the most hilarious comic performances of a legendary career in his portrayal of a chronically self-narrating lunatic careening through the deserted streets of Rome. Despite the differing feeling-tones of each story, a tender shared sense of the commoness of experience, what Latinos would call "sympatico", prevails. This movie is a masterpiece of the best sort of non-cloying sentiment.

See the film...

fun flick
Watch this one with friends. The Italian part had me laughing so hard I hurt.

Oh. My. God.
If you haven't seen this 1991 classic comedy, see it now.
The premise is that we follow events during one night in taxis in several places around the world: New York, LA, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The best, by far, the one I always think of first when someone mentions this incredibly funny and touching film, is the one set in Rome with Roberto Benigni as the taxi driver. He gives this rambling monologue sort of a confession about lambs and pumpkins and sex that you HAVE to see the movie to appreciate. There's a priest in the back seat getting more and more 'cardiac challenged' by the specific nature of this confession. It's a marvelous set piece, and I always rewind and watch that sequence at least 2-3 more times. It is just as funny on the 3rd viewing as it was on the first.
Top notch.

A Great Night on Earth
I watched this film late at night, when every sane person is supposed to be asleep, out of their cars and in their beds. Life still goes on, however, for the taxi-drivers who move people from one quiet location to another in the wee hours of the night. The locations are quiet, but the people are not, and the dialogue in this movie is humorous, meaningful, and real. A temporary bond is formed between passenger and driver (sometimes the roles are even reversed, as in the New York vignette featuring Helmut Grokenberger and YoYo, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl and Giancarlo Esposito, respectively). Armin Mueller-Stahl, born in 1930, may be relatively unknown to American audiences (as opposed to, say, Rosie Perez), but he did play Vertikoff in the George Clooney flick "The Peacemaker" (1997). Who is the stranger at the wheel who is responsible for bringing one home? What kind of person drives late at night, waiting for the dispatcher's call to a new address? A passenger has to pay him or her at the end of the ride, but there is still a feeling of gratitude, and even affection, towards this gruff conveyor of souls. "You're a good man, Mika," the half-drunk, initially hostile, Finnish workers tell their driver (played by Matti Pellonpää) at the end of their journey. Or a battle of wits takes place, as evidenced by the Paris vignette. Ivorian actor Isaach De Bankolé (who also appears in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes") is great here as a luckless "taxiste" whose prying questions are turned against him by his blind passenger (played by Béatrice Dalle). Roberto Benigni is of course hilarious, and does here what he does best: rapid, hilarious dialogue with a lot of gesticulation and wide grins. He and the actor who plays the priest (not a bishop), Paolo Bonacelli, have been co-stars before: on the Benigni vehicle "Johnny Stecchino."
I am really looking forward to the time when "Night on Earth" is made available on DVD. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Stanley Kramer's sprawling 1963 comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people--all played by well-known entertainers of their day--is the kind of mass comedy that Hollywood hasn't made in many years. (Another example from around the same time is Blake Edwards's The Great Race.) After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs--some bits and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they'd have a place in Airplane! Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis (who had called Kramer and asked him why he hadn't been invited to participate). --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (212)

Comedy For All Eternity
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a comedy for all eternity. This is one of those big box, big budget, long-running-time, cameo-loaded, expensive, broad-canvas farces of the 60's that I love so much. Released in 1962, this was one of Stanley Kramer's greatest and last movies. This award-winning movie is a timeless masterpiece for the whole family.

After a bouncy, splashy Saul Bass animated title sequence, the story begins with a brief car chase in the California desert. Bank robber Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) wrecks his car, and with his dying words reveals a secret about buried treasure to the seven strangers who stopped on the roadside. 'Look for the big W' in Santa Rosita, he says, and then he kicks the bucket.

After a brief attempt at cooperation, the treasure hunt is on and it's every man for himself, in four teams. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett decide to take to the air but their pilot, Jim Backus, gets hammered on Old Fashioneds. Husband-and-wife Sid Caesar and Edie Adams can only find a biplane cropduster. The lone truck driver, Jonathan Winters, can't get gas. And his mother-in-law Ethel Merman fatally hampers Milton Berle, with his wife Dorothy Provine.

So all four teams scamper across the landscape, across the broad canvas of this movie, wound tight by desperate greed and calmly monitored by a Sergeant Culpepper, Spencer Tracy. This is the framing story for an amazing string of billed appearances and unbilled cameos so many that at last your senses are sort of dulled. Oh, it's Carl Reiner in the control tower. Oh, look, it's Stan Freberg, yeah. The best cameo, hands down, is Jerry Lewis, who comes barreling down Long Beach Boulevard in a moment of exuberant stupidity and runs over Spencer Tracy's hat.

Probably my favorite, I have so many, co-star was Terry Thomas who plays a vacationing Englishman in a rattling station wagon, who picks up Milton Berle. He's talkative. He prattles away (accurately) about why it is that the American male is positively preoccupied with booo-sums, and says things like, "I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!" This sequence, within the context of the movie so far, has a single funny moment when this whole vast farce might come alive, find its voice, and this circus might make sense - Terry-Thomas finds the tone for the rest of the movie. I find it compelling that the aesthetic success of all this footage, all these appearances, all this thoroughly American spectacle, suddenly pivots around a few fussy syllables about breasts. But once the moment passes, Terry-Thomas is efficiently neutralized and dismissed by Ethel Merman, and on we go.

The array of challengers eventually reach Santa Rosita, and several unexplainably humorous events occur. These I will not reveal to you and allow you to view the movie on your own time. I must add though, that if you do see this movie, reserve several hours. Like most from its decade its LONG... VERY LONG... But allow me to assure you, you wont be disappointed.

Madness is Genius
Eight traveling vacationers witness the sudden car-crash and slow final death of con-man Smiler Grogan in the hills above Palm Desert, Cal.. Grogan's dying words reveal the secret location of $350,000 hidden in Santa Rosita Park, near San Diego. This sparks a wild, hectic race for the dough. Pure greed,buried treasure, and car crashes. It's all here. "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World" was the most successful movie directed by ace Stanley Kramer. All of the famous television and film comics from 1963 appear in this wild comedy. Only Bob Hope is missing. The cast includes Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, and Spencer Tracy. Ernest Gold composed an original booming, wonderful soundtrack you'll be humming for days. At two hours and 41 minutes, "Mad World" is too long, but an incredible cast and mad-cap action propel the story along. This new MGM DVD is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect. The colors are crisp and vibrant. The "Mad World" DVD includes an excellent 1991 documentary with all the major surviving cast members. There's also 1 hour of "out-takes", faded and damaged, from the original Cinerama 70mm release. And there's two trailers. The year 2001 produced an obvious remake of "Mad World" called "Rat Race", a modest hit. Stanley Kramer and Spencer Tracy made 4 classic films together. The last was the inspiring "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967. In ill health, sadly, Tracy died just days after shooting ended. Stanley Kramer himself died in Feb. 2001. His genius is now gone. His legacy lies before you.

It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad DVD
I would give this DVD 5 stars if all the movie was here, but it isn't, hence 3 stars. There's no excuse for this considering that no major restoration has been attempted here, the storage capabilities of DVDs are huge, and MGM has already released the full-length movie on VHS. The deleted scene feature is a mess. Watching the scenes seperately is tedious and not much fun. The least they could do would be to put the deleted scenes in the order that they appeared in the original film. The third and fourth scenes appear to be exactly the same as do others later on. Sometimes the scene appears the same only zoomed in. Others scenes have no sound. Some of the last scenes go on and on up to 10 minutes and contains everything that is included in the feature except for very minor snippets of dialogue. Sometimes you can't detect anything new, like in the money dividing proposal scene.

I can see why MGM would want to keep their pristine 35mm print whole and transfer that to DVD but perhaps they should have included a 2nd disc and a 2nd version that patched together all the missing scenes, no matter what condition, and reconstructed the film as best as they could to the longest originally released version.

MGM, when you finally "Special Edition" this movie offer a rebate with the proof of purchase from this inferior edition!

Best, Most Memorable Comedy Ever Made !!
I originally saw the movie in '63. I was 8. Dad started my Birthday party with it. After the movie, Dad drove the route of the Santa Monica portion of the car chase(yes, there really was a "Big W").
Just finished watching the movie on Turner TV. The narrator came on after the movie and said that THE ORIGINAL WAS 5 HOURS long(Just too much "good stuff"). The movie studio had it edited to the shortened current version of three hours.
Back in '63 it was a terrific movie-In '04 it is still a terrific movie.

An all star cast of comics, great comedy

Director: Stanley Kramer
Format: Color
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: September 26, 1995

Cast:

Spencer Tracy ... Capt. T.G. Culpeper
Milton Berle ... J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar ... Melville Crump, DDS
Buddy Hackett ... Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman ... Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney ... Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn ... Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers ... Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas ... Lt.Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters ... Lennie Pike
Edie Adams ... Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine ... Emeline Marcus-Finch
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Second cab driver
Jim Backus ... Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue ... Biplane pilot
Joe E. Brown ... Union official
Alan Carney ... Police sergeant
Chick Chandler ... Detective outside Chinese laundromat
Barrie Chase ... Sylvester's girlfriend
Lloyd Corrigan ... The Mayor
William Demarest ... Police Chief Aloysius
Andy Devine ... Sheriff of Crockett County
Selma Diamond ... Ginger Culpeper
Peter Falk ... Third cab driver
Norman Fell ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Paul Ford ... Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg ... Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn ... Billie Sue Culpeper
Leo Gorcey ... First cab driver
Sterling Holloway ... Fire Chief
Edward Everett Horton ... Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan ... Irwin
Buster Keaton ... Jimmy the boatman
Don Knotts ... Nervous man
Charles Lane ... Airport manager
Mike Mazurki ... Miner
Charles McGraw ... Lt. Matthews
Cliff Norton ... Reporter
Zasu Pitts ... Switchboard operator Gertie
Carl Reiner ... Tower controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue ... Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts ... Policeman outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Arnold Stang ... Ray
Nick Stewart ... Migrant truck driver
Joe DeRita ... Fireman
Larry Fine ... Fireman
Moe Howard ... Fireman
Sammee Tong ... Chinese laundryman
Jesse White ... Radio tower operator at Rancho Conejo
Jimmy Durante ... Smiler Grogan
Roy Engel ... Patrolman/Police radio voice unit F-14
Nicholas Georgiade ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Stacy Harris ... Police radio voice unit F-7
Don C. Harvey ... Policeman in helicopter
Allen Jenkins ... Police officer
Tom Kennedy ... Traffic cop
Harry Lauter ... Police dispatcher
Ben Lessy ... George the steward
Jerry Lewis ... Man who runs over hat
Bob Mazurki ... Eddie (miner's son)
Jack Benny ... Man in car in desert
Eddie Ryder ... Air traffic control tower staffer
Paul Birch ... Policeman
Doodles Weaver ... Dinckler's Hardware Store clerk
Stanley Clements ... Detective in squad room
Bobo Lewis ... Pilot's wife
Minta Durfee ... Bit Part

Intended to be the comedy to end all comedies, with a cast including virtually all the name comedians at the time.

Jimmy Durante plays a guy who is in a fatal auto accident, but before he dies, tells 5 bystanders where there is $350,000 hidden under a "W", whuch leads to a chase to find the money.

Meanwhile, Capt. T.G. Culpeper (Spencer Tracy) is aware of the stolen money and he and his policemen observe the chase with interest through the desert, mountains, and along the California coast, with the contestants using aircraft, cars, trucks, a bicycle and every method of transportation in their attempt to be first to reach the money.

Tracy was ill when the film was shot, and so only worked four hours per day. The long shots and physical stuff was performed by stand-ins.

This is a fun movie. If there is a criticism, it is that the comedy is perhaps overdone. With so many top comedians, there is certainly no dearth of funny lines, pratfalls, and laughs--that's for sure.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

... Read more

Reviews (47)

It's the Cheese!
Note: This movie is about Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. And for those of you who already know this, I've read that Thompson was not happy with the outcome of this production. Based on other things I've read, it is my interpretation that he was unhappy with the storyline and not the acting. What you must keep in mind is that this movie was made in 1980. It was meant as a comedy and starred a cast member of SNL. But then again, Blues Brothers was a huge hit. The movie met with crappy reviews and had a short lived theater run-time. I happen to be a huge Hunter Thompson fan and love everything Thompson. I know all of Thompsons books and as much as he doesn't want to admit it, this movie is pretty much the man. This is not for everyone. Many would find it silly. In fact it is silly. I suppose the question would be: Do you Fear you might Loath this film? If that question exists in you, you simply MUST find out for yourself. If you don't understand the question, you're too late. Me? I loved it.

"It never got weird enough for me"
Supposedly Hunter Thompson said he didn't like this movie although he said he thought Bill Murray did a great job of portraying him. Something like that. I loved this movie. I barely knew who Thompson was when I saw it the first time and now I have all of his books. I couldn't believe this was on The Book of Lists 10 worst movies of all times. Screw The Book of Lists! They have the 10 worst movie reviewers of all times. Thompson has had two movies made about him already and he's still going strong. That must be some kind of record. I liked this one better than "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" although Johnny Depp did a great job in that one. And it's really interesting to me how few people even know who Hunter Thompson is. If you're a biker (motorcyle variation) you got to read "The Song of the Sausage Creation" article that he wrote for Cycle World Magazine back around 1995. Bad Craziness! They should make a movie from that article.

the funniest movie i have seen in a long time
I am a hard critic when it comes to comedy movies. This movie was one of the best comedy movies i have seen in 6 months. You will want to c this movie over and over again

I agree. DO NOT Buy the Anchor Bay release of this film!
Anchor Bay bought the rights to this film and for some reason only included a couple of the original songs. And they still advertise on the package that there is music from Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. This music was taken out! Curse their flagrant lies! The music they added is some horrible studio band. The original music is a key part to this film. Why would any respectable video release company change an origianl film, and on top of it boast an advertisement for something that is not there? Find an original version of this film and
BOYCOTT ANCHOR BAY!

Sorry, but this was a baaaaddddd movie...
First of all, I don't like Bill Murray, so the rating will automatically be dropped to three stars because of that factor. And second of all, it was just so boring! I was forced to watch this as a 'family time' event and I'll admit that I felt like poking out my eyes! Poor Hunter S. Thompson ~ I feel so bad for him for being portrayed by Murray. Had I been him, I wouldn't have been happy one bit. While it wasn't the WORST movie I'd ever seen, it was certainly on the bottom of my list. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Manhattan, Woody Allen's follow-up to Oscar-winning Annie Hall, is a film of many distinctions: its glorious all-Gershwin score, its breathtakingly elegant black-and-white, widescreen cinematography by Gordon Willis (best-known for shooting the Godfather movies); its deeply shaded performances; its witty screenplay that marked a new level in Allen's artistic maturity; and its catalog of Things that Make Life Worth Living. But Manhattan is also distinguished in the realm of home video as the first motion picture to be released only in a widescreen version. You wouldn't want to see it any other way. Allen's "Rhapsody in Gray" concerns, as his own character puts it, "people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these real, unnecessary, neurotic problems for themselves, because it keeps them from dealing with more unsolvable, terrifying problems about the universe." It's a romantic comedy about infidelity and betrayal, the rules of love and friendship, young girls (a radiant and sweet Mariel Hemingway) and older men (Allen), innocence, and sophistication. (a favorite phrase is used to describe a piece of sculpture at the Guggenheim: "It has a marvelous kind of negative capability.") The movie's themes can be summed up in two key lines: "I can't believe you met somebody you like better than me," and "It's very important to have some kind of personal integrity." OK, so they may not sound like such sparkling snatches of brilliant dialogue, but Manhattan puts those ideas across with such emotion that you feel an ache in your heart. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (74)

One of Allen's best
While I would have to say that Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is better than this, "Manhattan" is still an amazing movie. Even if the script was terrible (it isn't), the characters flat (they aren't) and the great moral undertone not present (it is) the cinematography and soundtrack alone would make this movie stand out. "Manhattan" was Woody Allen's love letter to New York, filled with sweeping images of the city accompanied by terrific Gershwin music. It's a good thing he wouldn't let anybody release it unletterboxed.
But, of course, there is more to a movie than cinematography. "Manhattan" is funny (it's a Woody Allen movie, for goodness sakes), poignant, uplifting, and wonderfully intelligent. The scene near the end of the film that depicts the confrontation between Allen and his friend Yale (Michael Murphy) is one of the best scenes I've ever had the pleasure to see. The single shot of Allen, putting his face in the same frame with a vaguely Allenesque skeleton's face, is one of those things that you don't notice the first time around but on repeated viewings recognize as one of the best things about the movie.
The only people I have ever seen give bad reviews to this movie are those who point out that Allen's character is committing statuatory rape. This is true, but it's not necessarily glorified - if anything, it fits into the movie's strongest point about morality. In a world where most people who make accepted points about morality say that it's relative and accuse others of trying to be God, it's wonderful to see a film in which somebody answers to that very argument, "I gotta model myself after someone!"

I'll Take Manhattan
Easily of of the best American films of all time, Allen examines relationships and life in this funny/bittersweet story set with NYC as the backdrop. Beautiful CinemaScope photography, Woody's typical neurotic cast of characters, Gershwin score, excellent acting, all come together despite Sandy Morse's non-editing talents. This was the Woody I loved... Mr. Annie Hall, now unfortunately, a man that has literally become a characature of himself. Too bad for us... What happened to you Woody?

Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Meryl Streep, Wally Shawn, and (especially) Mariel Hemmingway seemlessly float around Allen's chatracter flawlessly, as the film surges towards a realistic but sad end as Allen and 17 year old Hemmingway part. Funny how life imitates art (as Woody is now married literally to Rosemary's Baby).

Despite my hostility (as Allen would say), don't miss this film. It's everything that Manhattan is, and more.

PS - if you ever have a chance to see it on a big screen, do so...!

Better Than Annie Hall
This is how a black and white should be filmed. And in the perfect location. I'm not a Woody Allen fan but this is just simply an excellent film. Funny, smart, insightful and emminently watchable.

A timeless christmas gift for New York!
Woody Allen made a pictoric statement ; an artistic gift of countless carats ; an etarnal portrait for the next generations who will watch this picture with the same devotion we have in front a masterpiece in the Metropolitan , Louvre or any other prestigious museum in the world.
The story turns as a leit motive in many films of this clever film maker , about the disturbing relationship between two lovers , the loneliness , the no sense living who seems work out for many people in a city as NY that owns the sublime virtue of being capable of renovating to itself from time to time . This is the clue why we love so much this unique city .
The opening shots shows Allen who is left by his wife (Meryl Streep) for another woman ; this bitter sight is linked with the fact Woody falls in love with a teenager that it might be well his own daughter (Mariel Hemingway) ; notice this relationship is built for the Pygmalion effect. She admires him and eventually falls in love with him when she compares his rich gaze about the world with the routiny of her friends ; flat and deepless.
In the middle of this emotional chaos the rendezvous to NYC emerges from time to time with unforgettable images . Gordon Willis stole the show with this arresting landscapes. He caught the mythical essence of this caleidoscopic city: irreverent , creative , seductive , challenging but fascinating . However Allen knew show the viewer the underestimated wonderful treasures that by one or several reasons some proportion of the people who lives there it doesn't seem to realize . Once more the sight of an artist is to make open the eyes and alterate the usual perspectives of the reality , creating a new one.
And Allen made it . Bravo!

all-white stuttering misanthrope in black and white
Does it bother anyone else that in what the director himself cals an "idealized New York" there are never any people of color? I'm talking about all of Woody Allen's films, not just this smug, prettily photographed, over-rated film. Wait, I've just been told that there is a black extra standing silently in the background of a party scene in Hannah and Her Sisters. I guess I'm wrong.

Why are people so crazy for this nasty, self-absorbed hack? ... Read more

Reviews (212)

Comedy For All Eternity
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a comedy for all eternity. This is one of those big box, big budget, long-running-time, cameo-loaded, expensive, broad-canvas farces of the 60's that I love so much. Released in 1962, this was one of Stanley Kramer's greatest and last movies. This award-winning movie is a timeless masterpiece for the whole family.

After a bouncy, splashy Saul Bass animated title sequence, the story begins with a brief car chase in the California desert. Bank robber Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) wrecks his car, and with his dying words reveals a secret about buried treasure to the seven strangers who stopped on the roadside. 'Look for the big W' in Santa Rosita, he says, and then he kicks the bucket.

After a brief attempt at cooperation, the treasure hunt is on and it's every man for himself, in four teams. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett decide to take to the air but their pilot, Jim Backus, gets hammered on Old Fashioneds. Husband-and-wife Sid Caesar and Edie Adams can only find a biplane cropduster. The lone truck driver, Jonathan Winters, can't get gas. And his mother-in-law Ethel Merman fatally hampers Milton Berle, with his wife Dorothy Provine.

So all four teams scamper across the landscape, across the broad canvas of this movie, wound tight by desperate greed and calmly monitored by a Sergeant Culpepper, Spencer Tracy. This is the framing story for an amazing string of billed appearances and unbilled cameos so many that at last your senses are sort of dulled. Oh, it's Carl Reiner in the control tower. Oh, look, it's Stan Freberg, yeah. The best cameo, hands down, is Jerry Lewis, who comes barreling down Long Beach Boulevard in a moment of exuberant stupidity and runs over Spencer Tracy's hat.

Probably my favorite, I have so many, co-star was Terry Thomas who plays a vacationing Englishman in a rattling station wagon, who picks up Milton Berle. He's talkative. He prattles away (accurately) about why it is that the American male is positively preoccupied with booo-sums, and says things like, "I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!" This sequence, within the context of the movie so far, has a single funny moment when this whole vast farce might come alive, find its voice, and this circus might make sense - Terry-Thomas finds the tone for the rest of the movie. I find it compelling that the aesthetic success of all this footage, all these appearances, all this thoroughly American spectacle, suddenly pivots around a few fussy syllables about breasts. But once the moment passes, Terry-Thomas is efficiently neutralized and dismissed by Ethel Merman, and on we go.

The array of challengers eventually reach Santa Rosita, and several unexplainably humorous events occur. These I will not reveal to you and allow you to view the movie on your own time. I must add though, that if you do see this movie, reserve several hours. Like most from its decade its LONG... VERY LONG... But allow me to assure you, you wont be disappointed.

Madness is Genius
Eight traveling vacationers witness the sudden car-crash and slow final death of con-man Smiler Grogan in the hills above Palm Desert, Cal.. Grogan's dying words reveal the secret location of $350,000 hidden in Santa Rosita Park, near San Diego. This sparks a wild, hectic race for the dough. Pure greed,buried treasure, and car crashes. It's all here. "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World" was the most successful movie directed by ace Stanley Kramer. All of the famous television and film comics from 1963 appear in this wild comedy. Only Bob Hope is missing. The cast includes Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, and Spencer Tracy. Ernest Gold composed an original booming, wonderful soundtrack you'll be humming for days. At two hours and 41 minutes, "Mad World" is too long, but an incredible cast and mad-cap action propel the story along. This new MGM DVD is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect. The colors are crisp and vibrant. The "Mad World" DVD includes an excellent 1991 documentary with all the major surviving cast members. There's also 1 hour of "out-takes", faded and damaged, from the original Cinerama 70mm release. And there's two trailers. The year 2001 produced an obvious remake of "Mad World" called "Rat Race", a modest hit. Stanley Kramer and Spencer Tracy made 4 classic films together. The last was the inspiring "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967. In ill health, sadly, Tracy died just days after shooting ended. Stanley Kramer himself died in Feb. 2001. His genius is now gone. His legacy lies before you.

It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad DVD
I would give this DVD 5 stars if all the movie was here, but it isn't, hence 3 stars. There's no excuse for this considering that no major restoration has been attempted here, the storage capabilities of DVDs are huge, and MGM has already released the full-length movie on VHS. The deleted scene feature is a mess. Watching the scenes seperately is tedious and not much fun. The least they could do would be to put the deleted scenes in the order that they appeared in the original film. The third and fourth scenes appear to be exactly the same as do others later on. Sometimes the scene appears the same only zoomed in. Others scenes have no sound. Some of the last scenes go on and on up to 10 minutes and contains everything that is included in the feature except for very minor snippets of dialogue. Sometimes you can't detect anything new, like in the money dividing proposal scene.

I can see why MGM would want to keep their pristine 35mm print whole and transfer that to DVD but perhaps they should have included a 2nd disc and a 2nd version that patched together all the missing scenes, no matter what condition, and reconstructed the film as best as they could to the longest originally released version.

MGM, when you finally "Special Edition" this movie offer a rebate with the proof of purchase from this inferior edition!

Best, Most Memorable Comedy Ever Made !!
I originally saw the movie in '63. I was 8. Dad started my Birthday party with it. After the movie, Dad drove the route of the Santa Monica portion of the car chase(yes, there really was a "Big W").
Just finished watching the movie on Turner TV. The narrator came on after the movie and said that THE ORIGINAL WAS 5 HOURS long(Just too much "good stuff"). The movie studio had it edited to the shortened current version of three hours.
Back in '63 it was a terrific movie-In '04 it is still a terrific movie.

An all star cast of comics, great comedy

Director: Stanley Kramer
Format: Color
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: September 26, 1995

Cast:

Spencer Tracy ... Capt. T.G. Culpeper
Milton Berle ... J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar ... Melville Crump, DDS
Buddy Hackett ... Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman ... Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney ... Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn ... Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers ... Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas ... Lt.Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters ... Lennie Pike
Edie Adams ... Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine ... Emeline Marcus-Finch
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Second cab driver
Jim Backus ... Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue ... Biplane pilot
Joe E. Brown ... Union official
Alan Carney ... Police sergeant
Chick Chandler ... Detective outside Chinese laundromat
Barrie Chase ... Sylvester's girlfriend
Lloyd Corrigan ... The Mayor
William Demarest ... Police Chief Aloysius
Andy Devine ... Sheriff of Crockett County
Selma Diamond ... Ginger Culpeper
Peter Falk ... Third cab driver
Norman Fell ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Paul Ford ... Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg ... Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn ... Billie Sue Culpeper
Leo Gorcey ... First cab driver
Sterling Holloway ... Fire Chief
Edward Everett Horton ... Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan ... Irwin
Buster Keaton ... Jimmy the boatman
Don Knotts ... Nervous man
Charles Lane ... Airport manager
Mike Mazurki ... Miner
Charles McGraw ... Lt. Matthews
Cliff Norton ... Reporter
Zasu Pitts ... Switchboard operator Gertie
Carl Reiner ... Tower controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue ... Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts ... Policeman outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Arnold Stang ... Ray
Nick Stewart ... Migrant truck driver
Joe DeRita ... Fireman
Larry Fine ... Fireman
Moe Howard ... Fireman
Sammee Tong ... Chinese laundryman
Jesse White ... Radio tower operator at Rancho Conejo
Jimmy Durante ... Smiler Grogan
Roy Engel ... Patrolman/Police radio voice unit F-14
Nicholas Georgiade ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Stacy Harris ... Police radio voice unit F-7
Don C. Harvey ... Policeman in helicopter
Allen Jenkins ... Police officer
Tom Kennedy ... Traffic cop
Harry Lauter ... Police dispatcher
Ben Lessy ... George the steward
Jerry Lewis ... Man who runs over hat
Bob Mazurki ... Eddie (miner's son)
Jack Benny ... Man in car in desert
Eddie Ryder ... Air traffic control tower staffer
Paul Birch ... Policeman
Doodles Weaver ... Dinckler's Hardware Store clerk
Stanley Clements ... Detective in squad room
Bobo Lewis ... Pilot's wife
Minta Durfee ... Bit Part

Intended to be the comedy to end all comedies, with a cast including virtually all the name comedians at the time.

Jimmy Durante plays a guy who is in a fatal auto accident, but before he dies, tells 5 bystanders where there is $350,000 hidden under a "W", whuch leads to a chase to find the money.

Meanwhile, Capt. T.G. Culpeper (Spencer Tracy) is aware of the stolen money and he and his policemen observe the chase with interest through the desert, mountains, and along the California coast, with the contestants using aircraft, cars, trucks, a bicycle and every method of transportation in their attempt to be first to reach the money.

Tracy was ill when the film was shot, and so only worked four hours per day. The long shots and physical stuff was performed by stand-ins.

This is a fun movie. If there is a criticism, it is that the comedy is perhaps overdone. With so many top comedians, there is certainly no dearth of funny lines, pratfalls, and laughs--that's for sure.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

... Read more

Reviews (30)

Even Doris Complained About It
Yes, in her autobiography, Doris Day complained that co-star Cary Grant just wasn't into his role here. I call this incarnation "Wink Cary" because towards the end of his movie career, Cary always seemed to be screwing up his eyes as though staring into the sun; I interpret this as his growing dissatisfaction with the movie roles offered him. "Wink Cary" never has proper interaction with his co-stars and is apparently waiting to be told to go home, as if he were on jury duty. In "That Touch of Mink", Cary plays a wealthy man whose limo splashes the dress of Doris Day. One thing leads to another, and he tries to launch an affair with her, only to be foiled repeatedly by various things, including her breaking out into a rash at the thought of fornication, even with Cary. Adequate supporting work by indignant Audrey Meadows and misidentified Gig Young, who keeps getting slapped by Meadows who thinks he's the guy trying to breach Doris' honor. There's better Doris and better Cary movies out there; see them first.

A delightful and witty sex comedy
"That Touch of Mink," directed by Delbert Mann, is a delicious 60's sex comedy about the romantic duel between Cathy Timberlake (played by Doris Day), an unemployed working girl with small-town roots, and Philip Shane (Cary Grant), a rich businessman. Along for the ride are Audrey Meadows as Cathy's fiercely protective roommate Connie and Gig Young as Philip's wisecracking employee Roger.

"That Touch" is absolutely hilarious and delightful from start to finish. Day is irresistible--wholesome and innocent, yet feisty. Grant is charming and funny. Meadows and Young get lots of comic mileage out of their marvelous supporting roles.

The film is also a joy to look out. The sets and costumes are marvelous (there's even a fashion show); the screen bursts with color. The script combines witty dialogue, zesty social satire and goofy physical comedy with a cleverly structured plot. There are also some fun cameos by recognizable faces--I won't spoil the fun by revealing them. And it's all nicely complemented by a playful musical score. "That Touch" is one comic battle of the sexes that really holds up after all these years.

Not bad, but not as good as the Hudson/Day/Randall comedies
Watching _That Touch of Mink_ is like watching something from an alternate universe where instead of the formulaic early '60s romantic comedy where you had Rock Hudson as the desirable yet unavaliable bachelor, Doris Day as the perpetual virgin and Tony Randall as the neurotic and closeted best friend you had Cary Grant as the desirable yet unavailable bachelor, Doris Day as the perpetual virgin (apparently no other actress approached Doris Day's iconic status as a virgin) and Gig Young as the neurotic and closeted best friend. Talk about "through a glass darkly"!.
All of this is very cute but the problem with Grant and Young is that they can't pull off the Rock Hudson/Tony Randall dynamic. Hudson had a boyish charm that Grant, a more substantial actor, didn't, and the dynamic between Hudson and Randall is a lot more playful than the one between Grant and Young, and of course when it came to playing neurotic closetcases no one can even hold a candle to Tony Randall. I mean really, if they had ever had an Academy Award for "Best Portrayal of a Neurotic Closetcase" they would have awarded it once, in 1961 for _Lover Come Back_ and then retired it forever.
Doris Day is of course virginal, amazing that someone with so little talent was able to make such a career out of the supposed possession of a hymen. You might dispute as to whether or not virginity is a good thing but regardless of your opinion you have to admire Day for making so much out of hers.

Sweet romantic comedy
Doris Day plays Cathy Timberlake, an unemployed girl next door from outta town. Cary Grant plays the suave and sophisticated Phillip Shane Managing Director of a successful company. On a rainy day in Manhattan Phillip Shane's car accidentally splashes Cathy Timberlake who is standing on the edge of a kerb. Later from his office he spots Cathy on the street and he sends his assitant Gig Young to apologise and to give her money to compensate for her ruined dress. Cathy is not impressed and says to Gig Young that she wants to throw the money back in Philipp's face so she goes up to his office but instead of telling him off she falls for his good looks and charm. She is then whisked off to a meeting of board directors, flies on his private jet, attends a UN speech and ends the day attending a baseball match. Cathy is thoroughly smitten by Phillip and he is really impressed by her so much that he asks her to go away with him for the weekend to Bahamas.

Being Doris Day, Cathy is of course all virtuous and is in a dilemma as to whether she should go away on her dirty weekend with Phillip. She decides no but is finally persuaded to do so because Phillip goads her into do so. She has a wonderful time until the night arrives and is faced by being seduced by Phillip at which point she is so stressed that she develops a rash all over. So poor Phillip is left playing cards on the terrace with another man who's wife "is not well". So Cathy returns to New York with her virtue in tact. She tries to lure Phillip away again and the second time is so drunk that she falls off her balcony. Phillip decides to not woo her any longer and finds her a job in a credit card company only for her to mess up the company's entire filing system. In the end, to win back Phillip, Cathy and her roommate, Audrey Meadows think up of a plan for her to go away with the sleazeball who works at the local benefits office and for Phillip to chase after them which inevitably he does.

This film is a bit dated ie Cathy being virtuous and shy but it's a great comedy. If you love vintage clothing from the sixties there's even a catwalk run thrown in. The colours are wonderful and the lines delivered by the actors are sharp. Doris Day is her usual bubbly self and you couldn't get smoother guy than Cary Grant. Fun film to watch on a rainy day in.

Lealing

That Touch Of Mink
This is a marvelous comedy classic Starring Doris Day and Cary Grant in this marvelous Universal Comedy Classic ! But released onto Video by Republican PIctures! Cathy Timberlake (Doris Day) is a poor out of work New Yorker that gets run into herself with mud by a limousine owned by Philip Shayne (Cary Grant) well they end up falling in love and go to Brazil together and have all and a lot of fun! Great classic family movie! They get married at the end and have a happy life together! ... Read more

Reviews (115)

Life's A Banquet--and Auntie Mame Invites You To It
The Patrick Dennis novel was a runaway bestseller--and it was soon followed by a stage version starring Rosalind Russell, who was born to play the madcap Mame in this story of an eccentric, fast-living society woman of the 1920s who "inherits" her nephew when her brother died. Determined to "open doors" for her adoring nephew, Mame exposes to him everything from bootleg gin to oddball characters--all the while doing battle with her nephew's ultra-conservative trustee, who is equally determined that the boy's life remain free of "certain influences."

This is a knockout show, and Rosalind Russell delivers a knockout performance in it--easily her finest comedy performance since 1939's THE WOMEN. She is extremely well supported by the sadly under-acknowledged Coral Brown in the role of Vera Charles, an actress who passes out in Mame's apartment with considerable regularity, and Forrest Tucker as the Southern gentleman who becomes her knight in shining honor; the supporting cast, which includes Fred Clark, Peggy Cass (particularly memorable as Agnes Gooch, Jan Handzlik, Roger Smith, and Joanna Barnes is equally flawless.

The infamous "production code" was still somewhat in force when AUNTIE MAME was filmed, and consequently several of the play's most famous lines had to be re-written--but this scarcely gets in the way of Russell and company, and director DaCosta offers a brilliant compromise between the art of cinema and the "set piece" nature of the stage show. The production values are rich, the score is memorable, and everything about the show is a tremendous amount of fun; by the time it ends, you'll wish that Auntie Mame was yours.

Although there were a few minutes when I felt the film had been slightly cropped, the DVD version offers a visually stunning print of the film in its original ratio, and the sound is quite good as well. The few extras are nothing to speak of--but frankly, it hardly matters: this is one film you'll be glad to have on DVD, for you're likely to wear out a VHS in short order. If you need a good laugh, especially one with a slightly satricial edge, you'll adore AUNTIE MAME from start to finish. One of my favorite films, and strongly recommended.

Hysterical, warm, REALLY TOP-DRAWER!
I'm a big fan of this movie after only seeing it 3 times. It's filled with great scenes and one-liners that'll have you laughing for days on end. I won't spoil them; you'll have to watch the movie to find them. Rosalind Russell gives the performance of a lifetime. She's got great dialogue and great costumes! Not only that, she's a very warm person and shows true love for her nepwhew. I really wish I had an Auntie Mame, or a Rosalind Russell in the person of Auntie Mame! there are plenty of other great performances, too, such as Peggy Cass, who's an absolute riot as mame's hopelessly out-of-it secretery, Agnes Gooch, and coral browne, who's good as Mame's friend, the first lady of the American theatre, Vera Charles. A wonderful movei, one that I definitly recommend. However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE MUSICAL REMAKE, MAME, WITH LUCLILLE BALL! That's not nearly as god as this one.

One of my favorite DVDs
I bought this as soon as it came out on DVD. I just got around to reviewing it.

The sound is not as great as I'd like but it is a must have.
Image quality is stunning. This movie makes me wish I had a huge tv and not just a 36".

This is one of the best written films. You will watch again and again. My fiancee doesn't normally watc older films. He has seen this one over and over. He will start reading or playing on the pc and always sets it aside to watch one more time with me. You can't help yourself. That is the best praise I can think of.

Buy this dvd. I can't think of anyone who would dislike it. Seriously. It was a hit play and a hit movie.

If you like old movies and this one try "the Women" on DVD. Not as broad of an appeal. But the same quick wit and same sort of humour. And Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford too.

Life is a banquet........
And most poor fans of Lucille Ball will be starving to death. I still have this and it's counterpart on tape. May buy it on disc soon, as it is one of my favorites (Rosalind Russell Rules). But who was the nutcase who included the trailer for the musical from 1974, without releasing a DVD of the musical? Oh well, I guess we buy this one now, and will get the musical next year. Wait, it IS next year. Come on Warner release the other one too.:-)

Mame was better
The Lucille Ball version was sooooo much better. If you want to see a good version of this movie, get "Mame" with Lucille Ball, not "Auntie Mame!" ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Sherlock Holmes as You've Never Seen Him Before
The late, great George C. Scott does a fine turn as a widower judge who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes in "They Might Be Giants," a film that proves Scott easily could have played the fictional detective in a straight adaptation of Conan Doyle's mysteries, too. The film takes great delight in lampooning the establishment of the day--no surprise, as it debuted in 1971--with particular attention on cutting down to size the burgeoning mental health industry. Joanne Woodward is charming as a psychiatrist and social misfit, appropriately named Dr. Watson, who teams up with Scott to track the nefarious Moriarity, only to discover love and destiny instead. Along the way, they are joined by a battalion of New York City's cataways, including laconic Jack Gilford, a young M. Emmet Walsh, F. Murray Abraham with an afro, and even Paul Benedict, the fellow who would go on to fame as "Mr. Bentley" of television's "The Jeffersons" fame. Though it has an atypical but beguiling score by John Barry and some very tender moments courtesy of screenwriter James Goldman (Gilford's affinity for swashbuckling and Watson's doomed attempt at a romantic dinner among them), "They Might Be Giants" sometimes suffers from a lack of thematic focus that rivals the mania of its main characters. A slapstick scene in a grocery store seems tonally wrong in a film that otherwise takes the high road of satire rather than the low road of farce. (Apparently, it was originally excised from the film, only to return in a later version, though I recall seeing the film on TV as a child in the 70s, and the grocery store scene was intact.) Commentary by the film's director, Anthony Harvey, is worth noting, though the man interviewing him dodges the most obvious question burning in the mind's of viewers--exactly what is one to make of the film's ending?

Hm...
Okay, I gave this movie 3 stars, mostly because I didn't know if it deserved 2 or 4 stars. It's kind of a weird flick, and I bought it soley because I'm a They Might Be Giants fan; and TMBG, to my understanding, plucked their band name from this film.

The premise is interesting enough: a once-respected judge has decided he's THE Sherlock Holmes. His brother is trying to get him declared an official nut-ball. His seemingly fate-selected Dr. Watson is a female psychiatrist who has taken his case to heart. A slice or romance rises between them, but that's not quite the thrust of the movie. I've yet to identify that "thrust" by the way.

I was bored in spots, and I mention this because I think many of you might feel the same. But, considering when the film debued (1971, the year of my birth), it was pretty unique. I cut it lots of slack. It was just . . . strange.

The ending made me squirm with embarassment that I was enjoying myself; at the same time, I squinted my eyes wondering why.

As with all of my Amazon reviews, I don't like to give away too much. I just like to give my reactions. I haven't watched this movie twice, though I do own it. I will probably put it my DVD player again soon and perhaps come up with a second opinion.

I'm curious to know what you all think of it. All I can tell you is it wasn't bad. It was probably a 4-star movie, maybe a 2, and I finally acquiesced and ratee it with a 3 while scratching my head and smirking smirkingly.

They Might Be Giants
I write lots of lists. Lists like, 100 Geatest Movies and 100 Greatest Westerns and so on and so on. This movie is near the very top of my 100 Greatest Sleepers(a very cherished list)and near the very top of my Movie Charm list. It is the top, though, of my Greatest Movie endings list, contrary to a lot of Amazon reviewers. That means I think it has a better ending than 2001 or Some Like It Hot or A Clockwork Orange or Ball of Fire or All Quiet on the Western Front or Blow-Up. It breaks me every time.
It's one of the sweetest movies ever made and I'm going to purchase the DVD this weekend. I found it on VHS some time ago and was dismayed to find that it had the late night supermarket scene removed and I'm dying to have a copy with it restored. After many repeated viewings I went from finding the supermarket sequence, originally, a silly outta place slapstick moment to later it being an integral part of the resolution and essential to the impact of the ending.
I'm not the biggest fan of George C Scott. I often find he's chewing the scenery. That's not to say that I don't think he's a great actor and that I don't like many of his films. This is my favorite of his performances and I think the role is perfectly suited for his style. He also seems to be enjoying himself tremendously. He was so rarely given a chance to play lighter or comic roles. An unfortunate fact considering how well he did with this role and with General Buck in Dr Strangelove.
Joanne Woodard is the perfect counterpoint and has all the needed skill to be able to play off such a powerhouse as Scott, keeping everything in balance.
Both play their part with great vunerablity while hiding behind their facades. There some great acting going on here.
Add an seemingly endless ensemble supporting cast of great character actors like Jack Gilford and Al Lewis and Severn Darden
and many others. Plus a teriffic script, full of wit and heart and room to let everybody to spread their wings and you have one of the most charming undiscovered gems in the world. Mind you, this isn't for everyone. It has to be watched with a little sensitivity and patience and it's quirky to say the least. When they go to the phone company, well, there aren't too many scenes like that in anywhere(Most directors are too afraid something like that just won't work). Films of the late sixties and seventies were just a little more courageous and less worried with the bottom line. So, during that time we get some of our greatest flops and some of our sweetest sucesses.
If you liked The Owl and the Pussycat or Little Fugitive or Little Murders, you'll like this movie. A real little gem.

A Waste of Good Plastic
George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward were/are great actors. What is a great mystery is what they are doing in this piece of junk. The derainged one had to be the director. At the ending(?)I felt totally robbed! But I'm being too kind. The only reason I gave it one star is there was no option to give it less. This movie SUCKS! and if you buy it don't say I didn't warn you!

George C Scott and Joanne Woodward shine!
This is a GREAT film that was unnoticed upon it's original release because of its quirkiness.
It concerns a judge (played by Scott) who believes he is Sherlock Holmes. He lives in a complete fantasy world, which he created right after his beloved wife died, to provided shelter from a cold world. However, he finds the fantasy world a bit lonely, for no one believes he is Holmes. A psychiatrist played by Woodward (also excellent) tries to cure him, much to the disdain of his brother, who would like Scott to be declared incompetent so he can control Scott's money.
It turns out that Woodward is also lonely, and you can see where the movie will go, but it doesn't detract from a sweet, funny and touching movie.
The film gained popularity on TV's Late Show. It isn't shown much on cable, so this DVD is invaluable. It also contains commentary by the director.
Much thanks to Anchor Bay for releasing this film, and so many others that deserve to be seen but are not that well known. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Great Pairing.
This film was the very first screen pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Along with 'The Odd Couple', I would say this is the best.

It was directed by Billy Wilder, who by this time had already made some memorable movies with Jack Lemmon. 'Some Like It Hot' and 'The Apartment' to name just two of them.

The basic story is:
Jack Lemmon is this cameraman who gets injured while he is filming an American football game. Walter Matthau plays his brother-in-law, who happens to be a lawyer. Matthau tries to convince Lemmon to make out that his injury is worse than it really is, since Matthau decides they should sue the insurance company and make a load of money out of it. Lemmon goes along with it, while the football player, 'Boom Boom' Jackson (played by Ron Rich), who was the person who partly injured Lemmon in the first place, becomes his friend and helps look after him. Lemmon's ex-wife comes back and decides to take over Jacksons job of looking after him. Is she there for the money, or because she really cares? 'Boom Boom' kinda loses it from there and gets into trouble as his career fades. So, watch it to see how it all turns out.

Overall, I think this movie is brilliant, although I do have one problem with it. That is with Judi West who played Lemmons ex-wife. I believe (May be wrong) that this was her screen-debut. I really think she is the only person in the movie who lets it down slightly due to her acting.

A quick mention about the DVD. The print used here is very good. However, it lacks any decent extras.
I recommend this movie very highly. Especially if you are a fan of Jack Lemmon.

PLEASE NOTE: I am the owner of the UK Region 2 release of this DVD from the same company, so the discs, besides the region coding, should be the same.

A wonderful CYNICAL comedy
Jack Lemmon is a TV camerman. During a pro-football telecast, he is hit along the sidelines by an out-of-bounds player and immediately taken to the hospital with possible injuries. Enter his crooked lawyer brother-in-law, Willy Gingrich (Walter Mathau). This lawyer convinces Lemmon to fake a back injury in order to collect BIG bucks from the insurance company. The movie title refers to a message in a fortune cookie (You can fool all the people some of the time......).

Although not at the level of "Some Like It Hot", this is one of Billy Wilder's best comedies. His view of humanity is certainly cynical and bleak, but not nihilistic. The best performance is by Mathau who plays Willy to the hilt. He's wonderful and deserved his Oscar. The music by Andre Previn is also very good and very sly. You won't be disappointed. Bring on the DVD!

Whoa Nelly!
Andre Previn's music sets the scene for Billy Wilder's black-and-white world. From slinky jazz to raucous Central European classical, Previn captures the cynical and the sentimental in the sly director's unmistakable touch.

Jack Lemmon captures it too. All-American with a nervous twitch-- I mean, twist-- Lemmon is a good guy, a normal guy, with a mad streak. In this case, he wants his wife back-- wants her bad.

Walter Matthau-- "Whiplash Willie"-- exploits his brother-in-law's unrequited love by bringing a lawsuit (for one-million dollars) against the Cleveland Browns, CBS, and Municipal Stadium. If you know the rest, I need not repeat; if you don't-- that is, if you haven't seen the movie--I won't give it away.

But you might want to know a few things.

Hapless Harry Hinkle (Lemmon) is a camera-man for CBS, at a Browns game, and punt-returner Boom Boom Jackson (Ron Rich) runs into him. Fans of football (though college instead of pro) will be happy to recognize a younger version of the great-- the legendary-- Keith Jackson (of ABC).

So, with his big sad eyes, Hinkle wants his wife back. There's something sentimental in here about love, about how much we need it. But brother-in-law Willie is all cynicism-- delicious, laugh-out-loud cynicism.

There are a few uncomfortable moments-- for me anyway-- regarding the treatment of Ron Rich's character. He does a lot of smiling, cooking, cleaning, encouraging, making up of beds, and (not to spoil the plot), drinking, punching, and so forth.

But the punch-line-- yes, the punch-line-- of the movie rests on a very progressive, an enlightened, handling of race matters, and really, it would be unfair to say Boom Boom Jackson is a stereotype of an African-American athlete. Two of the equipment guys say he's the last guy they'd expect to get in a fight after having too many drinks.

It seems Billy Wilder never wants us to get too comfortable as we're watching his pictures. Beware of thinking too deeply about these things, but this movie-- one of his very best-- has an edge to it that makes you say "pure genius." Jack Lemmon in his wheelchair whirring about the room to "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To"-- you feel like crying even as you're laughing. Well, I do at any rate.

Walter Mathau's Oscar-Winner
This Billy Wilder creation is the first film in which Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were teamed. Matthau as a less than ethical lawyer is in constant persuit of justice and settlements for his brother-in-law (Lemmon) who got hurt on the job. Matthau won Best Actor Oscar. The Matthau/Lemmon chemistry was so smashing that the two teamed up six more times....

Four stars for content, but........
"The Fortune Cookie" has long been one of my favorite Billy Wilder movies, and I was pleased to see it's release on DVD, especially in the original widescreen format. While the movie and performances are great (especially Walter Matthau in his Oscar-winning turn), and the script by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond hits the target, I was very disappointed in the lackluster transfer to disc that this unqualified classic received. Sure, the letterboxing is great, but halfway through the film, the sound quality takes a turn for the worse - less audible, and almost scratchy at times. Plus, the only "extra" is the original trailer, and there is no additional booklet. Surely a genius like Wilder deserves better preservation than this! ... Read more

Description

Master storyteller Orson Welles weaves a wry, often whimsical, documentary about the nature of art to bedazzle and fool us all.With mock intensity, Welles investigates the charming Elmyr de Hory, who makes a lavish living painting fake Picassos and Matisses.Equally captivating is Welles' own trickery and a glimpse behind his public facade. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Fitfully entertaining essay film about art forgery
Long after Orson Welles lost the clout to produce Hollywood feature films, he managed to cobble together this idiosyncratic essay film from documentary footage shot by French filmmaker Francois Reichenbach. Initially, the subjects are master art forger Elmyr de Hory and his would-be biographer Clifford Irving, also author of the infamous Howard Hughes biography. Welles eventually transforms the film into an analysis of the question of authorship: who is truly the "author" of a work of art?

Welles packs the film with guest stars, anecdotes, and witticisms... even a magic trick! It's not perfect: the film changes gears perhaps one too many times, and Welles can't resist including gratuitous shots of his mistress, Oja Kodar. But Welles aficionados will delight in the director's foray into deconstructionist cinema. "F for Fake" lies somewhere between the realms of fact and fiction. Welles the magician conjures up an altogether new form of movie, one that can't be easily classified.

F For Fantastic!
Wow, what a treat for Welles fans. This is a fascinating piece of work. So interesting and the editing is excellent. Wonderful appearances by Orson to tantalise the viewer (love the trick he plays on us at the end). It's a must see. A unique type of documentary film, solely concentrating on two outrageous fakers. From the feel & look of the movie, you can tell that Welles is having the time of his life, and that's good enough for me.

It should get 6 stars, if that were possible
There is no Orson Welles movie, no matter how influential and well regarded, that I love more than this master piece. This is Orson Welles at his best: just chating along in an entertaining, funny, witty, profound way, teaching you so much about himself, about humanity and about Life, as if it was just a walk in the park - he makes it look so easy to be a genius.

If I had to choose the proverbial film I would take with me to a deserted island, this would be the one. This is the guy I want to talk to forever if I'm ever allowed in whatever Paradise he's in now.

This is all anyone needs to love the movies and Orson Welles. It is the one that will convert you into thinking you can't really have one without the other.

A Really Fake Review
Master filmmaker and artist, Orson Welles, takes you on an intriguing trip into the world of the Fake and the Real. Do you really know the difference between what people tell you and what you know to be real? Perhaps enough people have told you the "truth" where it seems there is no doubt as to what is really real, when all along you were given an pseudo-truth when in fact the truth turned out to be comepletely fake and no one knew about it. This idea, essentially is what this film is about. Filmed in a documentary style, mainly focusing on the life of Elmyr de Hory, one of his many "fake" names. Elmyr is a famous artist, except no one knows who he is because he has "faked" other famous artist masterpieces. In which case the "experts" cannot tell one from the other. So much, in fact, that the "experts" have argued emphatically that Elmyr's version is the "real" one. The well known biographer Clifford Irving wrote about Elmyr's life and his "fake" masterpieces. Irving known especially for the biography of the late Howard Hughes. Except one "fact remained in suspicion of Irving's book is how this man comes along and is granted an interview with Mr. Hughes who has been in hiding for the past 20 years. So the argument remained that Irving's biography of Hughes was indeed "faked." Mr. Orson Welles, who appears from time to time is credited as the director did indeed direct some of the film, while he "faked" it other times. Welles known for his "fake" news bulletin of the War of the Worlds also lets the view see one hour of totally "true" documentary of Elmyr, Hughes and Irving. This is nice of Mr. Welles, and if anyone knows about time, they will bear in mind the film runs longer than one hour.

Its not a casual film of entertainment like Welles' other works, some deemed the best in film history by some "experts." No, this film takes some turns of the usual Hollywood style narrative and makes an almost chaotic feast of editing where time seems to have slowed down. The only draw back to the film is the one just mentioned, that it seems entirely too long when in fact its quite shorter than one expects. Another leg Mr. Welles pulls on the viewers to have them presume as much as they want and get something entirely different.

Not for everyone's taste, but certainly for either the Orson Welles fanatic, and for the person who likes to have thier reality challenged. Cutting edge by means of style and presentation of the film, Mr. Welles has certainly done it again. Unfortunately this has dropped into the back shelf of "important" films.

PHEW! TALK ABOUT A MASTERPIECE!
Orson Welles' only color film is THE ULTIMATE PROOF OF 'MISE EN SCENE' HAPPENING AT THE EDITING STAGE. Most of this film was shot by Francois Reichenbach before Welles got involved with it. Reichenbach didn't know what to do with his footage--how to best put it all together--so he asked Welles, whom he greatly admired, to see what he could do. Welles shot some scenes featuring himself to go around the documentary footage, came up with a narrative concept and EDITED everthing. The result? WELLES' PERSONALITY TOOK OVER. This is unmistakably a film that only Orson Welles could make. Welles uses his ingenious narration and every trick known to film editing to weave a philosophical meditation on the nature of truth and lies that has DEEP universal significance, but also particularly applies to the nature of all 'ART-ifice.' It's a very intellectual as well as supremely entertaining film which requires at least 5 viewings to even begin to be appreciated. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

What a Waste!
I bought this video expecting lots of topless scenes and slapstick comedy. I got very little of either. I first read about this movie in Maxim's best "B" movies and it said it had topless skydiving, sunbathing, etc. There is a topless skydiver but she is in the air and the camera is on the ground so you can't see anything. I am fan of those movies from the good ol' 70s with big racks, but this is garbage. The scene where Danny Bonaduche (spelling?) cant get it up is an instant classic of how not to act. Topless football game is very short and not worth the money.

Great Movie Great 70s fun!
I havent had the honor to get the DVD yet,but I have seen this movie many times.It takes use back to a time,whenwe knew what fun was and lived itin movie form.It's the kind of movie,that made me look forward to college life,while I was still in my teens.Susan Kiger and her entourage of Beauties,were very entertainingand awesomely attractive in one of the summer movies that caught my attention.I guess you could say,this movie is why we looked forward to college life so much and hadfun along the way.

Help Out The Seals (H.O.T.S.)
This is the infamous HOTS in all of its (topless) glory. Fun 80's college flick about snooty (and hot) sorority girls hounded by cute, big-chested outcast girls who form their own sorority as competition. Plenty of topless swims, towel fights, hot scenes with boys, and campus pranks. Lots of flesh and lots of humor. Ultimately, the girls settle their differences in a game of strip football. You get the idea.

I don't need to tell you this isn't exactly Chariots of Fire. For what it is, it's worth it for get the DVD. The transfer and sound are good, I don't recall any extras. This isn't the DVD you get for the extras. The "extras" are in the film itself.

Sexy skin shots
Saw this movie when HBO had it on - years ago. Remember it for having a weak story line, but it more than made up for it with female full nudity (all thru the movie)! Young flesh is always nice to view, especially their sports competition at the movies end.

Silly 1970's fun
I saw this movie as a teenager at the old Paramount theater in San Juan. So it brings back some great memories of days when one had to struggle to see naughty R-rated movies. Seeing it again as an adult was interestimg, The humor is pretty dumb, but the girls are still sexy. And the movie has a "devil-may-care" attitude which is refreshing.
The strip football game is fun to watch.
The DVD is pretty plain. It just features a trailer. It would have been nice to have has a director's or cast commentary. Or to see how the HOTS girls are doing. Although, perhaps, its better to remember them as they were back in the 70's. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Gene Wilder At His Irish Best!!
Quakser Fortune(Gene Wilder)is a somewhat eccentric,uneducated humble,fertilizer merchant in Dublin Ireland when a rich,sophisicated American visitor Zazel Pierce(Margot Kidder)becomes fascinated by him when they first connect,their different lifestyles become irrelevant but they later grow tired of each other especially by Zazel's snobbish friends.Quakser then retreats to his old job of gathering horse manure to sell as fertilizer.When his cousin in the Bronx dies he leaves a small fortune for Quakser that changes his livelihood forever.This is quite an interesting,offbeat comedy/drama with Gene Wilder at his Irish best!!

A Gentle Classic Comedy
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a variety of films were made that would have little chance to exist prior to that period, and little chance for approval after that period. A good example of such a film is this gentle tale of an Irish dung collector in love, with Gene Wilder in the title role. Other usual classics from this era include "Get to Know Your Rabbit," with Orson Welles as the instructor at a school for tap-dancing magicians (also includes Katharine Ross from "The Graduate," along with Tommy Smothers and a great comic performance by John Astin), "Evil Roy Slade" (a made-for-TV parody western), "Inserts" (a rarely-seen film about the making of porn, with a strong cast), Marlon Brando's controversial erotic classic "Last Tango in Paris," the Beau Bridges film "The Landlord" (about a rich kid who buys a tenement), the French film "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs," and various others. Most are not easy to find, but are available on video or DVD, and worth seeking out.

Pleasant, Pleasant, Pleasant
The previous Amazon reviewers have given this five stars. QUACKSER FORTUNE is not one of the greatest movies of all time, and not one of the near-greatest. But it's a solid film, worth seeing. The two main characters are three-dimensional, for a change. Both Kidder and Wilder are wonderful in their roles. The picture drags too much; some good editing would have helped. Also there is a bit too much of -- how can I say it? -- reverse