First published in 1975, it was only when the sixth edition of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film dropped in 2014 that I started hearing it hailed as "the best book on the movies ever written in English;" "...the most influential book ever written about the movies;" and so forth. David Thompson's massive tome had evidently replaced Halliwell's as THE essential thousand-page reference work for the serious film buff, and I was the last to hear.
I hurriedly purchased a copy and installed it as my new "bathroom book." (Much like being appointed the "Lord Privy Seal," this is a higher honor than you might think just from the sound of it...)
Alas, the book didn't retain pride of place much longer than the next roll of toilet paper, because I did what I've been doing with movie books since the age of about 14: I flipped through the "W"s, looking for a particular name — and it wasn't there.
How do you write a "biographical dictionary of film," I wondered then (and now) without including Gene Wilder?
True, Wilder's filmography is slender: fewer than two dozen titles. And too many of those are best forgotten, particularly the ones he unwisely wrote and directed himself. But at the peak of his fame in the 1970s, Gene Wilder was one of the highest paid actors on earth, the star of record-busting blockbusters like Silver Streak and Stir Crazy (both of which ran for a year straight in some theaters, back when such a phenomenon was rare but at least possible.)
More importantly, Wilder was the best thing (sometimes the only good thing) about Mel Brooks' three half-way decent films.
It's true: I don't think Mel Brooks is funny. Fight me.
The very premise of The Producers collapses under the slightest scrutiny: If you've just paid for tickets to a Broadway show called Springtime for Hitler, how dare you be gobsmacked when the opening number is... "Springtime for Hitler"? Blazing Saddles is base and hammy. Young Frankenstein is beautifully shot, but too many of the "jokes" barely meet the definition of the word.
Mel Brooks encourages his actors to mug shamelessly in direct violation of the old comedy rule — illustrated to perfection in Airplane! — that performers should play even the craziest situations dead straight. Wilder is often the sole cast member ignoring Brooks' incompetent direction, tempering these otherwise coarse "comedies" with his eccentric yet strangely sensitive turns. (Note that all three of his collaborations with Brooks feature weirdly touching portrayals of male friendship beneath all the fart jokes.)
Bravely, Wilder dares to take a breath for a beat or two, to be quiet, in these and other films, however zany or absurd:
As a child, Wilder was sternly warned that failure to be quiet might give his invalid mother another heart attack, but the same doctor also advised him, counterintuitively, to "try to make her laugh." He told this story in almost every interview, so it's reasonable to assume it offers an insight into his craft:
At the other end of the spectrum, Wilder was renowned for throwing piercing onscreen fits that make Nicholas Cage look like Cary Cooper — what critic Terry Kelleher called "his usual 'love me, I'm having a panic attack' mode":
That Gene Wilder wasn't nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Blazing Saddles is an eternal disgrace — note his subtle, ingenious lapse into Henry Fonda's voice at the words "six-year-old kid," below, effortlessly evoking "the Hollywood Western" in a couple of seconds — which is better than ham-fisted Brooks manages to do throughout the remaining 90 minutes:
Gene Wilder is most fondly remembered for playing Willy Wonka, of course. He only agreed to do the film if the director would let him perform that freaky limp/somersault bit in his first scene. Wilder felt, rightly, that that bit of business would set the tone for the whole film, leaving viewers on edge about what was to come.
Now that "dark" films are everywhere (thanks to the so totally "over" Tim Burton and his many imitators) it's easy to forget how twisted Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is, and that it promptly bombed. The uneasy blend of that trippy late Sixties colour palette with the movie's cruelty and "Edward Gorey" sensibility left many confused and turned off.
But the movie aired regularly on television, (in Ireland, it's practically the national religion,) and thus found its massive audience:
"Vast numbers of Generation X-ers learned all their moral lessons from a single source: the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," wrote Jeff Gordinier in a book about that particular demographic cohort.
"I don't think it's going out on a limb to suggest that repeated absorption of these lessons — it's wrong to sell out, it's wrong to want to be the centre of attention, it's wrong to be too grasping and transparent in your ambitions — made a deep and lasting imprint on the Generation X sensibility."
Aware of his place in the hearts of so many, Wilder — already wilted by cancer — retreated from public life when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. His family explained after his death in 2016 that "Wilder did not want to disappoint 'the countless young children that would smile or call out to him, "There's Willy Wonka" or expose them to the cruel realities of the disease. He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world."
He was good at keeping secrets. Only in his 2005 autobiography did Wilder shatter the widespread illusions that he and frequent collaborator Richard Pryor were the best of friends off screen, or that his marriage to Gilda Radner had been an idyll. In truth, both comedians — by then deceased — had often been profoundly neurotic, mercurial and selfish, with drug use making Pryor particularly incorrigible; he frequently, foully, insulted Wilder in the press, but his partner in comedy never responded in kind.
Stoically, graciously maintaining those illusions for so long (especially while setting up Gilda's Clubs for women with ovarian cancer, and campaigning successfully for improved early detection methods) was Wilder's longest running performance.
And one that was widely ignored: After his own death, touching tweets to the tune of "He's been reunited with Pryor and Gilda!" were commonplace. I doubt such a prospect was the man's idea of heaven.
Oh well. Who can blame so many people for wanting to live in "a world of pure imagination," especially when Gene Wilder himself had made it such a magical place?
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Thank you, Kathy. I grew up loving Willy Wonka and Young Frankenstein, but I never knew much about the man who made those movies great. You've given me appreciation of and admiration for him that's based on who he really was, not just who he pretended to be.
Great comments here by all.
Kathy: If you are too busy to reply or want to move on to the next project, I understand. I'll ask again at another time.
But I've been wondering what you thought of the movie "84 Charing Cross Road," that starred Mel's wife and superb actor Anne Bancroft. I loved the movie and still do, but Roger Ebert thought the story didn't make sense. It was one of the few times I ever disagreed with Roger who once (at least) praised Mark's work.
It's been a very long time since I saw that one, I'd have to re-watch.
I am a simple person and happen to like "hammy and base". I guess that's why Animal House continues to make me laugh. Mel Brooks must be watched over and over and one picks up their favorite scenes or lines. I do an excellent Frau Blucher, complete with whinny and "Scuse me while I whip this out" will crack me up every time. The PC police have fortunately not destroyed every last copy of Brooks' films.
I love Animal House as well. I just think it a lot smarter (beneath the bawdiness) than anything Brooks ever did.
Great review, Kathy. Love Gene, but feel compelled to defend Mel, especially re "To Be or Not To Be" and the smash hit "Hitler Rap"... best ever 1980s music video, imho.
(As for Woody on this theme: "Honey, you're the one who stopped sleeping with me, OK? It'll be a year come April 20th. I remember the date exactly, because it was Hitler's birthday.")
This discussion of Mel Brooks put me in mind of our debate on Monty Python a few weeks ago. One thing I think is remarkable about Mel Brooks's humour is that it is not mean-spirited and destructive, like so much modern satire. I found Monty Python hilarious at the time, but the relentless ridiculing of English tradition came at a cost, and now that several decades have passed, I think the cost was too high. Rather like all that fantastic ethnic cuisine people present as a justification for multiculturalism, without acknowledging the less tasty ingredients that come along with it and can't be avoided.
Peter Hitchens makes the same point very well in "The Abolition of Britain." It made me rethink my lifelong Python obsession. And John Cleese has of course bewailed the fact that "England isn't England anymore" but hasn't made the connection between his own work and said disintegration.
Kathy;
Looks like I'm late to the party and most of your guests have left. Once again, your insightful writing is about much more than your main subject.
In the niche building seventies, an occasional escapist action movie was the main draw for me. Gene Wilder and Mel Brook's movies were not on my favorite lists at the time except for Mel's Blazing Saddles due in part to its highest grossing popularity in 1974. "It must be worth seeing." I also was too serious minded then to appreciate the wacky humor, sarcasm and parodic boldness (Nazi's are funny) of their work.
Your "serious movie buff" articles are providing welcome and enjoyable visits back to the movies and the people I missed or watched along the way as well as the always interesting "Shaidlean" insights.
If affable Mel was a guest on Carson or other venue, he always made me laugh. He is still tweeting at 93 or someone is doing it for him.But mostly promotions.
A serious but still funny Mel talking about Gene:
https://youtu.be/CB-tFLCShyU
Thanks Dennis! I was going to say earlier that I always enjoyed Mel Brooks as a talk show guest. He was like Robin Williams but with great anecdotes. I just never thought he successfully translated that humor onto film.
Both my grownup sons are autistic, and one thing about autistic kids is that they when they find something they like, they want to see it over and over again. And they both love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, so I have the entire screenplay memorized. My older son is a dab hand at voice mimicry, so he will play Willy Wonka, Grandpa Joe, Mike TeeVee, one after the other. He can even imitate Charlie's mom and sing her song!
Anyway, once we moved up from VHS to DVD, we watched one of the featurettes on the disc, with the cast describing their experience making the movie. Gene Wilder described being recognized at a farmer's market by a young woman with 2 kids in tow, and she asked him if he'd mind if she told them who he was. She bent down and whispered to them, "That's Willy Wonka," then she looked at him and said "What a legacy!"
I've heard that all the kids in the cast loved working with Wilder. They expected him to be a real diva, an aloof star, and he was just the opposite. He's been dead for three years and we've yet to hear anything scandalous about him. I hope that continues.
Kathy, gonna fight you. I like Mel Brooks and I think he's funny. Maybe it's an old-Jewish-guy-that-reminds-me-of-half-my-family thing.
Could be, except Woody Allen is just as Jewish, and so much funnier (to me!)
Laura and Kathy:
Mel is Rocky Road ice cream and Woody Allen is Butter Pecan or whatever flavors we personally like best in our comedy so you're both right as usual. I'm wise enough not to pick a side here.
Eugene Levy is the funniest comedy actor today IMO, but I can't explain why with any certainty. James P. might agree but many others would not.
Video clip of Mel interviewed at 93. He's the same humor laden Mel.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1203086747850002432
Eugene Levy is from my hometown, so maybe I'm biased, but I agree that he is superb. I loved him in "Best in Show" and if you haven't already, track down his old SCTV sketches.
OMG, Eugene Levy is the funniest guy in the world! And he's got the best eyebrows in the business. I remember him in SCTV's 'Bad Acting in Hollywood', playing a sleazy lawyer in an ancient courtroom drama. Those eyebrows were practically doing a tap dance all by themselves!
Since I haven't seen anyone else comment on them, I would like to take note of the real contributions made by Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn to "Young Frankenstein" and "High Anxiety" - and in Kahn's case "Blazing Saddles." But, yes, I too would not consider a compilation of film industry biographies to qualify as comprehensive if it did not include Gene Wilder - thinking about certain scenes in "Start the Revolution Without Me" can still bring on a case of the giggles.
If you want to see a terrific Madeline Kahn performance, look for her rendition of "You'd Be Surprised" on YouTube. Irving Berlin wrote it in 1919 and it is jarringly modern.
PS: sorry to stray so far from topic but if you like straight-played Christopher Guest mockumentaries like Best of Show and Waiting for Guffman - - not in the same league as Spinal Tap but with a good Second City vibe - - I highly recommend the TV show Schitt's Creek including Eugene Levy and his son. Very funny and the characters have grown in depth over its run so far to add real feeling to the show without compromising the silliness.
Being naturally (and justifiably) wary of Canadian TV comedies, I've never checked it out.
Have definitely gained a new appreciation of Gene Wilder as I've grown older and this great piece helps reinforce it. Have to agree too that I generally never found Mel Brooks movies especially funny though I always thought I should - - it made me feel there was was something I didn't get vs my friends who loved the movies (though I did enjoy The Producers). Lastly have to agree with a number of the films you mention as great silly comedies: Will Ferrell is not dependable but Achorman is great (love Tim Hutton as the NPR anchor in the battle of the news teams); Ben Stiller is in some very funny movies including Zoolander and Tropic Thunder (I would add Dodgeball to the same list). And of course Airplane is timeless and This is Spinal Tap stands alone. Even my kids use the phrase "turn it up to 11" and I don't even think they know the source.
I'd seen Spinal Tap about a dozens times before I got the "Isle of Lucy" joke. A movie that can certainly be enjoyed again and again, by each generation.
This is the only site on earth where one gets such good information about our culture.
Our brilliant host inspires us to try our best!
Will second that.
When I heard Gilda Radner had cancer I never thought she would die. I just loved her and thought her cancer would be treated successfully and then she would be around making us laugh forever. It really hit me when she died that things don't always end well just because you want them to. I knew that from having lost a very funny aunt, my dear Aunt Fran, to the same type of cancer. She and my mom were always in stitches together and I would never get what was so funny. She was forty and I was not yet a teen. But you think ten or twenty years on, they might have developed a treatment that works.
I loved Gene Wilder. He, too, made me laugh hysterically to the point of tears. The Producers probably was my favorite. Around the time it came out, I think I had just finished reading "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," and another one about Albert Speer's career under Hitler, just another professional doing his job. Nothing funny about Hitler but Gene was able to make Hitler an object in comedy somehow. It seemed to be evidence of pure genius. We need to laugh, we need to cry, we need to go ballistic with anger every now and then because life is too much to bear sometimes. I agree with what Gene said in one of the interviews: after cancer, you're not afraid of anything.
Alas, ovarian cancer treatment hasn't advanced that far since Gilda's time. Wilder successfully campaigned for the testing of the CA125 antigen, which while not 100% accurate, is an ok indicator of the disease and its progress.
Another new development since her death is the use of IP chemotherapy (drugs administered straight into the abdominal cavity) along with traditional IV chemo. It supposedly can reduce mortality significantly but there is some dispute about this.
It took her a long time to be diagnosed, which obviously didn't help matters. It was/is commonplace for women (like my mother) to be told they are just constipated. Luckily, my family doctor of 30 years knew my family history very well and rushed me to the ER.
What's really needed is a much more accurate blood test for early detection. Ovarian cancer "hides" for a long time before it is symptomatic. By then it can be too late.
Thanks for the reminder, Kathy. I think BRCA-1 & BRCA-2 are the gene mutations that if found in the blood test show an increased risk in the offspring for breast and ovarian cancer. The test is expensive but I think this Gene Wilder review and comment you just gave me is what I needed to kick my butt and get it done. You also gave me plenty of ideas for what to view over the holidays.
I'm joining the BRCA etc study. While I don't have kids I can warn about if the results are positive, at least I'll have contributed to the well of data.
This test is especially recommended for Ashkenazi women by the way, should any be reading this. According to Ancestry.ca, I am 1% Ashkenazi, so :-)
Thanks for letting me know.
I have just refreshed my memory by watching the canteen scene from Silent Movie. As always I was reduced to tears and shortness of breath. Younger people in the room looked at the same scene with little or no reaction.
At the age of 62 I'm unlikely to ever grow up.
Growing up is highly overrated.
I absolutely agree that any dictionary of film is incomplete without the great Gene Wilder. So his short bio above is incomplete, I think, without mention of "See No Evil, Hear No Evil," where Pryor and Wilder play a blind man and a deaf man on a chase caper after a McGuffin, a rare coin. Both try to conceal their conditions while they chase the bad guys, which Pryor cannot identify by sight, and which Wilder does not see for the first half of the picture. But, I guess everyone has his favorite.
I just came back from a Christmas party and of all things we were talking about how great Wilder was as the Waco Kid. I would come to Mel Brooks defense. You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today, of course. But what a cutting, intelligent, vicious satire. For me, Blazing Saddles was brilliant, maybe not in the same league, but of the same vein as Huckleberry Finn.
OK that is just spooky!
I'm sorry Kathy. The incongruity of "Springtime for Hitler" is the point. Of course it's ridiculous but, given some of the theater coming out of the sixties and seventies, it's not TOO ridiculous. And it gave Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder to do the best comedic double-act since Laurel and Hardy. And not just them - EVERYONE is hilarious. Christopher Hewitt could not be bettered as Roger De Bris and Ken Mars was side-splitting.
One of my most fondly remembered movie experiences was "Young Frankenstein." I thought the Hsrold the Hermit bit was the high-point of film comedy but twenty minutes later Mel hits us with Gene and Peter Boyle doing "Puttin on the Ritz." By the end of the film I was weak from laughter.
Mel Brooks is, at heart, a fifties Catskills comic. I've always thought that Brooks loves to laugh and desperately wants others to do so. I suppose that's why so much of his schtick after "Young Frankenstein" misses the mark. (I do have a soft spot for "Silent Movie.") Given the fact that most film "comedies" today are so awful and often preachy, it's nice there was a guy who really wanted us to laugh and was willing to throw everything and the kitchen sink ar us in pursuit of that admirable goal.
Wow you are the first person I've met who likes "Silent Movie." Amazing!
Yes, Brooks deserves credit for not being preachy -- I'll grant you that.
Young Frankenstein is a marvelous homage to the 1930's Frankenstein movies and even includes much of the equipment used in the first of the franchise. The movie is so full of lines that people recognize that it achieves almost Casablanca status in terms of penetrating the culture. Put ze candle back. Stay close to the candle, the stairs can be treacherous. He vas my boyfriend! I was going to make espresso. Etc.
I end with an amusing "out of left field" reference that I heard a couple of years ago at a physics colloquium. The speaker mentioned that he was the grandson of Hans Delbruck. Yes, that Hans Delbruck. At least he wasn't descended from Abby Someone, yse Abby Normal.
What an excellent revue of Gene Wilder and his gifts. And of Mel Brooks, I think of him as a vaudevillian – good skits often, but it's hard to make a decent movie from a bag of skits.
Thanks, Bill. Good point!
Perhaps it is a man thing (I am bring polite - I mean a woman thing, not getting really, totally hilarious movies):
Mel Brooks is a genius. Rules are for lesser mortals.
Wilder played the same character in every movie, and he did it well.
He was the straight man in comedy movies. Marty Feldman ran away with Young Frankenstein.
"Abby something. Abbey Normal"
TKO.
"My name is Jim, but most folks call me...............Jim."
This was a nice and insightful tribute to Gene Wilder. I recall the first time I ever saw him in a film, in 1967, a little three-minute part in "Bonnie & Clyde". It's about the only scene of the movie worth remembering. When Bonnie asks Wilder's girlfriend her age and she unthinkingly answers "33", the look on Wilder's face is priceless.
Boy, do I have you to thank, Dave, for reminding me about that scene in B&C. I just watched it on YouTube, and he flat-out steals it. From Warren and Faye (top-five most gorgeous women on film in that movie), as well as Gene H and Michael J. P.
And I have you to thank, Kathy, for this fond remembrance. Wilder was cute but not gorgeous, funny but not hysterical (except when "wet and hysterical), charming but not ingratiating, sweet but not treacly. I did not appreciate him when I was younger, and wondered why all my women friends (especially among the Jewish persuasion) drooled over him. But I can't help see him in almost any role now without smiling. Most if not all great screen actors play a version of their on-screen persona in every movie. Bogie was Bogie, Wayne Wayne, even a comparative chameleon like Kate Hepburn was unmistakably Bryn Mawr, whether in the African bush or the old west. And Gene Wilder was sweet, kind, brilliant, anarchic, and a little deranged in every role.
PS: I remember thinking how perfect it was that he and Gilda Radner hooked up. I'm a little saddened to hear that it wasn't all fun and games between them (ovarian cancer aside).
PPS: I'll take you up on Mel Brooks--when you're feeling better. Actually, I won't (I'm chicken). I loved Blazing Saddles as a kid, still do for sentimental reasons. But I felt like the only one who didn't get Young Frankenstein. I knew it was supposed to be funny, but...it wasn't.
His debut in Bonnie and Clyde really was one of the best of any actor I can think of. He almost steals the movie.
Yep more women had crushes on him that folks might imagine!
I understand liking Blazing Saddles etc as a kid -- I did too. But I don't feel it holds up.
People like to say "it could never be made today." But for as long as they've been saying that, movies far more "offensive" esp. pertaining to race (and genuinely funny) have been coming out: Tropic Thunder, any number of Wayans Brothers films... The fart jokes in Blazing Saddles are nothing compared to the bodily-function humor in the average Farrelly Brothers flick.
Heck, there are episodes of The Office that treat race with the same daring (and again, and genuinely hilarious.)
In terms of sheer zaniness and "jokes per second," I'll take Zoolander and Anchorman any day. Far more of those jokes "land."
"... sedagive?I" How is that bit not uniquely funny? I fight you on YF.
The opening is way too slow. The "Transylvania station" joke is lame. And I really think the "Puttin' on the Ritz" bit is painful. My favourite part is the split second where Peter Boyle assesses his burning thumb and cocks his head to one side, as if to say, "Hmmm, not bad..."
I agree with you in general on Mel Brooks' films, except for Blazing Saddles and The Producers. I think leaving at least part of one's logic at the door is required for comedies.
Most of Brooks stuff is surely as you describe - it's unwatchable now. I still recall my massive disappointment on watching History of the World, Part II and expecting to laugh at the cut away to Jews in Space again - not even a grunt. But somehow he got it right with Blazing Saddles (BS, for short?). I can still watch and laugh, and it isn't just the fart jokes. Maybe it's the fact that the unwokeness of it is a pure joy, or that it wasn't 'just' a mish mash of smutty jokes.
Gene Wilder was a joy. Thank you for helping me remember him.
Like a lot of Brooks' stuff, "Jews in Space" is a funny concept that goes nowhere.
Joe Pesci, Steve Guttenberg, Danny DeVito, Carrot-top, Seth Green and others, all who I can think only had careers based on some kind of #metoo experience still too shameful. Not a one of them overly blessed with matinee idol genes. All replaceable with some other actor.
But not Wilder. Wonka was spot on. Perfectly devious, both delighted by and the perfect foil for the kids. The Depp version proved just how indispensable Wilder was.
Zack, at this point all I know is there are Five Actors Named Chris, and I can't tell them apart! And yeah, Depp's Wonka was an abomination.
I must respectfully disagree re: Joe Pesci. "My Cousin Vinny", with all its vulgarity, was pure comedic gold and I can't see any other actor pulling it off.
Another Five Star submission from Kathy. Thanks.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I remember several years ago, whenever "Being There" was first released, that a Pakistani friend of mine and I saw it together at a nearly-packed theater in downtown Chicago. We were sitting in the back row, and at a few points in the movie, maybe a half dozen or so, we laughed out loud (loudly), and no one else made a peep, except, i.e., for one guy who was sitting near the front row.
Too bad you weren't there, Kathy. I have a feeling you'd have made a nice fourth.
No, Mel Brooks' humor is not funny. Irritating maybe. I'll give him credit for that much.
It's been a very long time since I watched "Being There." I should check it out again.
I ran into "Being There" in the late 70's... just after I got my driver's license.
It was the second movie at the North Twin Drive-In.
I was spellbound... and I didn't even intend to stay and watch it.
The first movie was supposed to be a comedy and it was just so wretched I stuck around to get my money's worth. Mr. Sellers did not disappoint.
I enjoyed this take on one of my favorites. I would add that Wilder's chemistry with Cleavon Little was perhaps among the best ever.
Little veers from horribly wooden to quite good -- the way he says "Yes we are" after Wilder asks, "Are we... black?" is very nice. I wish Richard Pryor had played the role however.
Kathy, they built a fake wooden town in that movie! Little's faux wooden take on Sheriff Bart was central to it's genius. No offense to Pryor but he would have coked it up too much. Somehow the scenes with Little and Wilder sum up all that was good about the 1970s. Maybe it's a guy thing but Little had the charisma the role needed.
I beg to differ on your assessment of Mel Brooks, especially his movie 'Blazing Saddles'. My boyhood recollections of this comedic masterpiece have not diminished with time. In fact, when it comes to fart jokes, I still found them funny both as a performer and as an audience well into my 40's... this to the great dismay of everyone around me.
Maybe it's a guy thing? Although Young Frankenstein is one of my favs. Especially Cloris Leachman - "He vas ... my boyfriend!"
She was really good in it. I felt like everyone (except for Terri Garr, who doesn't seem that confident) was manfully trying to elevate the material. But I don't get why "Frau Blucher" is funny. Feel the same about "Royale with cheese" in Pulp Fiction.
My favourite line too, Barbara!
I love reading Kathy's articles but in this case put me down as a definite "Nay".
Mel Brooks's films are undeniably variable in quality but at their peak they still induce tears of laughter and total dumbass joy. Gene Wilder is integral to many of the "finest" scenes.
John, I think it's what might be called "Three Stooges Syndrome," something that differentiates men and women at a chromosomal level :-)
I was always a "Woody Allen"/"Monty Python" person myself. And I have no problem with "so stupid, it's funny" (as my late mother would say), as long as there is a bit (or a lot) of smartness shot through it: "Anchorman," "This is Spinal Tap," "Galaxy Quest," the "Scary Movie" franchise, and my family's Christmas movie, "The Hebrew Hammer." These are all spoofs/pastiches crafted with an extraordinary attention to detail, with little "Easter egg" jokes," not just a lot of gags of variable quality thrown against the wall.
I'm not sure the difference is so much man versus woman, as it is adolescent versus adult. It just happens there are more women adults than men.
So they constantly tell us. From a huge Animal House fan.
"Seven years of college down the drain."
"Daniel Simpson Day... has no grade point average. All classes incomplete."
"Mr.- ... Mr. Blutarsky. Zero. Point. Zero."
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" "Germans?" "Forget it, he's rolling."
Animal House -- now THAT'S a funny movie.
"I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."
"...leaving! What a good idea!"
"I put it to you, Greg..."
I liked Gene Wilder movies. This is a nice obituary.
Thanks Charles!
If one can't find the humor of a Brooks-Wilder film, one has never truly experienced the joy of living