In September of 2009, while writing an article expressing my displeasure at the shoddy, pan-and-scan DVD of Dudley Moore’s Arthur (other than Blu-Ray, still the only one available), and trying to get an upgrade for what is arguably one of the funniest movies ever made, I noted that a remake had been rumored, starring Russell Brand.  I was appalled at this news at the time, and said something like, “Moore, Gielgud and [writer/director] Gordon are rolling over in their graves at t...
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Still mourning the passing of Bea Arthur? Vainly pining for a surreal musical ode to recreational drug use between the erstwhile Maude and her friend Rock Hudson? Pine no longer. “Sniff, swig, puff and your cares are gooooone!”The video below is from 1980's Beatrice Arthur Special, and the tune belted out by these old pros is called Ev'rybody Today is Turning On (originally featured in the Broadway musical I Love My Wife). Very funny, charmingly old school, and as un-PC as you'd e...
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If one takes into account the "laugh quotient" while considering the funniest movie of all time, certainly one of the top contenders would have to be 1981's Arthur. Bravo places it at number 10 on their list of the 100 Funniest Movies, AFI has it at a criminally-low 53. This Dudley Moore vehicle has more genuine laughs-per-minute than most modern comedies put together.Written and directed by Steve Gordon (who died tragically of a heart attack the following year), Arthur tells the story of a ric...
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Arguably one of the most influential films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde marked a turning point for popular cinema. Along with Easy Rider and The Graduate, this movie went against every cinematic convention known, and succeeded not in spite of this rebellion, but because of it.Was it a comedy? A drama? A historical bio-pic? A surreal, glamorized, post-modern take on two notorious bank robbers from the 1930s? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Long before Oliver Stone gave us Natural Born Killers, di...
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