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A weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves
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I used to watch Dumb and Dumber all the time when I was young and have been watching the buddy genre over the years so, finally, a Thursday Movie Picks week I'm prepared for, although I have to keep some of my favourites out because they revolve around women.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
After witnessing a Mafia murder, two musicians from Chicago, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), join an all-female band disguised as women. But things get a little more complicated when one of the two falls for Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), another member of the band. I adore this film. It's engaging, funny, has the right amount of romance and one of my favourite endings.
The Sting (1973)
All 3 films are great. The first one is funny and Some Like It Hot is brilliant. That one is a great choice and if I hadn’t used it before, it would have been on my list. The Sting is another brilliant film with so many twists helped by the great music of Scott Joplin
ReplyDeleteI gave up on not re-using movies a long time ago haha.
DeleteI'm kicking myself for not thinking of Some Like it Hot now. What a great choice. I like Hot Fuzz too but I haven't seen The Sting.
ReplyDeleteReally? You need to check it out as it's one of the best heist films ever made.
DeleteI ADORE Some Like It Hot!! That is one crazy movie where all the pieces just fall into place exactly right. Tony & especially Jack are dead on with their characterizations, the maracas scene is just brilliant, but so are Marilyn and Joe E. Brown. Couldn't agree more about the ending.
ReplyDeleteRedford & Newman are great in The Sting, as they were in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, exuding the kind of chemistry you just can't manufacture. It's a fine intricately plotted film as well with great period design and a fantastic cast supporting the guys.
I thought Hot Fuzz was okay but it dragged for me after awhile. I'd heard a lot about it before watching it so perhaps my expectations were too high.
I decided to expound on the theme a bit and choose three teams and a film of each this is considered one of their best.
Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy-Brought together by the happenstance of both being employed at the Hal Roach studios they discovered they were a perfect fit. Starting in 1921 until their retirement from films in 1951 they appeared in 106 films, shorts and special subjects.
The Bohemian Girl (1936)-Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter. Bumbling all the way they still manage to rescue the girl in the final reel. Thelma Todd’s final film, released several months after her murder.
Bing Crosby & Bob Hope-Hugely successful separately Bob & Bing were paired in The Road to Singapore-a script originally intended for George Burns & Gracie Allen-along with Dorothy Lamour (who would appear in all the subsequent films in the series) as a couple of feckless roving buddies and hit comic gold for seven Road pictures between 1940 and 1962.
The Road to Morocco (1942)-Starving vagabond Jeff (Bing) sells best friend Orville (Bob) into slavery in a Moroccan marketplace to buy food. Seized by a guilty conscience, Jeff discovers that Orville is now engaged to the gorgeous Princess Shalmar (Dorothy). Astrologers have told the Princess that her first husband will die violently, leaving her free to marry her beloved Sheik Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn). But when the princess falls for Jeff, things get complicated.
Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor-When he received the script for Silver Streak Gene Wilder told the producers that only one actor could play the part opposite him-Richard Pryor. They agreed and a comedy team was born making in total four films as mismatched buddies.
Silver Streak (1976)-While on a cross-country train ride, overworked book editor George Caldwell (Gene) begins a spur of the moment romance with the mysterious Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh). Their interlude interrupted when he witnesses a murder and is then accused. The true perpetrators kidnap Hilly and throw Caldwell from the moving train. Desperate, Caldwell teams up with car thief Grover Muldoon (Richard), and together they must save Hilly while avoiding the police. Many complications and hilarity ensue.
I haven't seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid yet but I really want to because of them.
DeleteThe Sting is the one film in that list I haven't seen but I hope to one of these days. Some Like It Hot is just incredible. How can anyone not love that film? I also liked Hot Fuzz as I went on a different approach to my picks as it all relates to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you still haven't seen it. I hope you'll like it as much as I did.
DeleteI'd never really thought of Some Like it Hot as a buddy movie. Great shout. I'd have to have Clerks on mine.
ReplyDeleteIs it bad if I've never heard of Clerks? 😅
DeleteI've enjoyed your first two pick.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen The Sting but would like to since I thought Redford and Newman were good in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
I still haven't seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but they are terrific in The Sting. And the film is great too, one of the best heist films ever.
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