"War is swell...when the Marx Brothers are in it. They'll be out of the trenches by Christmas...if the food doesn't improve!"
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Groucho Marx
Rufus T. Firefly
Harpo Marx
Pinky
Chico Marx
Chicolini
Zeppo Marx
Bob Roland
Margaret Dumont
Gloria Teasdale
Raquel Torres
Vera Marcal
Louis Calhern
Ambassador Trentino
Edmund Breese
Zander
Leonid Kinskey
Sylvanian Agitator
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
I never get tired of the idea that someone would think of Groucho Marx is the perfect man to lead a nation into war. Or that Harpo and Chico would be good spies. Or that Zeppo would be interested in another film after this one.
The Marx Bros are to Blockbuster as Monty Python are to Netflix and I mean that in the best way possible
**I would love to send a copy of the film to Vladimir Putin. Would he understand the gesture?** Who would have thought that this film is almost a hundred years old? I just saw it, and it is fresher and lusher than many vegetables in the supermarket! Many people no longer know who the Marx Brothers are, but a hundred years ago, at a time when there were no internet memes (or the internet), they were the kings of comedy, and it's always worth seeing what they did. They passed away a long time ago, but they left us a polite, intelligent, sharp, accessible humor that the whole family can see. The film was released in 1933, at a time dominated by the imminent threats of war. It reminds us of our own time, doesn't it? One hundred years later, we continue to make the same mistakes and show God that we have learned nothing from them. The film makes fun of this by giving us a portrait of a bankrupt country led by an incompetent man, very vain, arrogant and surrounded by sycophants who treat him as a savior of the nation. It could be Mussolini, or Hitler... and the explicit criticism of European dictators could not be sharper today, if we think about some tyrants of our time. The film is dominated by the four Marxes: Zeppo, in his last appearance as a member of the group, has a much more solid character than usual and as a result we never feel that he is too much in the film. Chico also does very well. Harpo does what he's used us to, managing to be funny without saying a word and putting all his tricks as a mime and vaudeville clown to good use. Groucho, as usual, intelligently leads the group. The king of ready answers couldn't have a quicker wit or a sharper tongue. In addition, we have Margaret Dumont in a skillful and healthy collaboration with them. Good sets and very well-imagined costumes help us compose Freedonia, a republic on the verge of collapse, bankruptcy and a foreign invasion. There is an unbelievable dose of anthological scenes in this film, from the motorcycle joke with the sidecar to the joke with the mirror. The black-and-white cinematography is sharp, well-shot, and the film doesn't look as old as it actually is. The soundtrack adds the finishing touch.
Ok, so I’m probably in a tiny minority here but I simply didn’t find the Marx brothers’ style of comedy particularly funny, and this didn’t really do much to change that view. This is all set in the tiny nation of “Freedonia” that urgently needs $20 millions to avoid bankruptcy. They can get it from a wealthy benefactress, “Mrs. Teasdale” (Margaret Dumont) but only if they agree to appoint “Firefly” (Groucho) as their new Prime Minister. Of course he hasn’t a clue, but she is sweet on him and so he is left to run/ruin this nation whilst the scheming ambassador “Trentino” (Louis Calhern) from the neighbouring “Sylvania” plots invasion. Of course, “Firefly” doesn’t come alone, but has the mischievous “Pinky” (Harpo) and “Chicolini” (Chico) in tow too, as they cause their own degree of mayhem with the local lemonade seller (Edgar Kennedy). Visually, what plays out now actually reminded me a little of “A Woman Commands” (1932) only augmented - if that is the word - by a sequence of perfectly choreographed and executed slapstick that I’m afraid just didn’t make me laugh as they deliver episodically for an hour or so. Zeppo has a go at the straighter role, but his “Bob” character barely features, and Raquel Torres brings some voluptuous glamour with her plotting “Vera”, but again on a sort of blink and you’ll miss it basis leaving this dominated by a Groucho whose alleged satire I struggled to appreciate. Sorry, but I didn’t find this anything special at all.
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.
Topper Harley is found to be working as an odd-job-man in a monastery. The CIA want him to lead a rescue mission into Iraq, to rescue the last rescue team, who went in to rescue the last rescue team—who went in to rescue hostages left behind after Desert Storm.
Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But a motley bunch they turn out to be, and it's up to Grimshawe to put the no-hopers through their paces.
The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to avenge his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers. He also gets involved in a relationship with Ramada Thompson, a woman with an unusually talented stomach. Hot Shots! makes fun of a variety of other films, from Dances with Wolves to The Fabulous Baker Boys.
An Afro-American organization, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., is in permanent fight against a white organization "The Man" defending the values of the black people in North America. When the Afro-American candidate Gen. Warren Boutwell behaves strangely in his presidential campaign, Undercover Brother is hired to work undercover for "The Man" and find what happened with the potential candidate.
In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.
A lowly pencil pusher working for MI7, Johnny English is suddenly promoted to super spy after Agent One is assassinated and every other agent is blown up at his funeral. When a billionaire entrepreneur sponsors the exhibition of the Crown Jewels—and the valuable gems disappear on the opening night and on English's watch—the newly-designated agent must jump into action to find the thief and recover the missing gems.
A collection of Monty Python's Flying Circus skits from the first two seasons of their British TV series.