"Check Out These Movies"

While browsing the Internet a few weeks ago, I came upon an article on the Reader’s Digest website (www.rd.com/fun/archive.jhtml) entitled, “The 100+ Funniest Films” by Stefan Kanfer.

I don’t know about you, but I think I am a pretty good judge of humor, so I wanted to know who Stefan Kanfer is and what are his credentials. Again, using Internet, I learned that Kanfer is the author of seven books (mostly about Hollywood figures). He was also a writer for Time Magazine as well as a senior editor on the magazine staff. Before becoming a journalist, he wrote comedy routines for such comedians as Victor Borge, Gwen Verdon and Alan Funt.

Having learned of his credentials, I perused Kanfer’s list of funny films. As a film buff, Mr. Kanfer goes way back to the silent films in his listing. The Library owns a couple of these, including “The Gold Rush” by Charlie Chaplin and “The General “ staring Buster Keaton, the “Great Stone Face”. More recent films include the 1950 production of “Father of the Bride” with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.

I can actually remember seeing the first run of the 1959 black and white comedy, “Some Like It Hot” staring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. That’s one movie that I loved the first time I saw it, but I have never been willing to see it again for fear that I will not be as enthralled. “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” was such an experience for me. It was great fun to watch the movie the first time around in a theatre setting with hundreds of people laughing, but on a television screen, in the seclusion of my living room, I soon became bored.

Mr. Kanfer doesn’t list “The African Queen” as one of his “funniest” movies, but I found the dining room scene in the mission house, when Humphrey Bogard can’t stop his stomach from growling, to be one of the most hysterically funny scenes on celluloid.

“M*A*S*H” with Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman did not strike me as a particularly funny movie when it was released in 1970, during the throes of the Viet Nam War. Years later, with the television version, I learned to love the humor and the wonderful writing.

I suppose one of my all-time favorites on the Kanfer’s list is “Harold and Maude”. I’ve probably seen that movie 10 to 15 times. I practically roll on the floor during some of the suicide scenes. Bud Cort’s deadpan reactions and Ruth Gordon’s blithe “joy de vie” has made that movie a perennial cult film of the college-age generation.

Whether some of the more recent films will remain on this list of the “100+ Funniest Films” is anyone’s guess. I did enjoy the 1982 film “Tootsie” starring Dustin Hoffman. “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” (1989) continues to be the most checked out film in the Library’s collection. “The Full Monty” (1997) brings the working-class British humor to the screen. “You’ve Got Mail” (1998) is more of a love story than a comedy. “There’s Something About Mary” (1998) is sophomoric, but oh, so funny. “Meet the Parents” with Ben Stiller may become a timeless comedy.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” will probably be on any future list of funny movies. It contrasts and makes humorous our human condition of ethnic diversity and shows how lovers can overcome many of the obstacles society places before them.
If you’re looking for a funny movie during the doldrums of this winter, you might want to check out the Reader’s Digest website and then, come to the Library to check out a couple of the recommended films.