Sadly enough, I used to love the TV series Just Shoot Me. Not a great show in retrospect, but there will always be a line from it that will stick with me. The George Segal character once said, "There's a Marx Brothers movie on TV. I love the Marx Brothers, they make me laugh." Never have truer words been spoken on a sitcom.
The Marx Brothers are just plain funny. No matter what else is going on in their films, there is only one intention: they want you to laugh until it hurts. Played over and over on television, it seems that it would be impossible to live in this country and not have seen one of their films, yet a quick survey of my friends, a fairly well read and knowledgeable group, showed none had seen even one of their movies. I decided this just couldn't continue, so a couple of days ago several of us attended a screening of the 1932 Marx Brothers vehicle, Horse Feathers.
The fourth film of the Brothers' early Paramount period, Horse Feathers exists in that wonderful time known as pre-Code. Before Will Hayes and his Production Code reigned in all the sex and violence of 1920s Hollywood, there was a brief handful of sound years in which artists didn't have to conform to a set of standards. Coming in at he beginning of sound, the Marx Brothers' early comedies stuck much closer to their vaudeville roots than did the later MGM period, which retained all the anarchy without most of the sexuality (though Groucho could always get a couple of lines through the cracks). It is amazing how hilariously dirty their movies can be.
It is amazing how well a film like Horse Feathers holds up today. The plots are always razor thin; Horse Feathers has to do with a college and the big football game, but telling a story isn't anyone's goal here. And sure, the musical interludes play a little longer than they should and some of the references have dated, but the underlying weirdness of the setpieces are the obvious forefathers of even the current Frat Pack actors. How about this exchange between Chico and a man he is trying to kidnap:
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"a quick survey of my friends, a fairly well read and knowledgeable group, showed none had seen even one of their movies."
You should join a club and beat them over the head with it.
Where are you that they were showing Marx Brothers movies?
2 - Jesse Trussell
The best thing about living in Austin, TX is that there is usually some great older/foreign film playing every couple of weeks.
Long live Groucho!
3 - Brent McKee
I got my basic grounding in the Marx Brothers while watching local TV which had afternoon movies and movies chopped up into half hour blocks for kids and late night movies. I then went on to University where The Marx Brothers (the Four Marx Brothers - the MGM films were looked down on) were not just standard but practically required at the University theater, along with W.C. Fields and Humphrey Bogart. People in their 20s today have "court shows" and infomercials in place of afternoon and late night movies and University movie theaters - if they exist at all - show second run versions of the latest Hollywood "classic". Most people in their 20s won't even watch a movie in Black & White, so how are they going to encounter the classics.
4 - Al Barger
It is my understanding that the better Marx brothers movies are actually now illegal under the Patriot Act.
I'm not sure if that's actually true, but perhaps we need to ask Alberto Gonzalez for permission before going any further. Better safe than sorry.
5 - Joanie
Love Marx Brothers movies, just as I love most of the films made during that era. Duck Soup is another one of my faves.