Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Check out the big list on Brad: Essential American film comedies, 1963 -- present

" . . . that, as much as anything else, led to my drinking problem . . ." Robert Hays as Ted Striker in "Airplane!"
Lists are addictive. What started as a handful of recommendations turned into a comprehensive search. There are a lot of idiosyncratic choices here, many of which I'm sure people will not find agreeable. There are a lot of filmmakers and films left out as well (no apologies to Jerry Lewis, teen sex comedies, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, most of Adam Sandler's work, and others I just can't stand).


BLAKE EDWARDS
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in Edwards' "Panther" series.
A Shot in the Dark
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
10
S.O.B.
Victor Victoria


WOODY ALLEN

Take the Money and Run
Bananas
Love and Death
Sleeper
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex
Play It Again, Sam
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Stardust Memories
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Radio Days
Alice
Bullets over Broadway
Mighty Aphrodite
Sweet and Lowdown


MEL BROOKS

The Producers (1968)
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein


GENE WILDER

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother
The World’s Greatest Lover
The Woman in Red
Haunted Honeymoon


MIKE NICHOLS

The Graduate
Catch-22
Carnal Knowledge
The Fortune
Working Girl
Postcards from the Edge


ROBERT ALTMAN

M*A*S*H
A Wedding


PAUL MAZURSKY
"Harry and Tonto"

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Alex in Wonderland
Blume in Love
Harry and Tonto
Moon over Parador
The Pickle


ALBERT BROOKS

Real Life
Modern Love
Lost in America
Defending Your Life


CARL REINER
Steve Martin in "The Jerk."

Oh, God!
The Jerk
The Man with Two Brains
All of Me


ROB REINER

This is Spinal Tap
The Princess Bride
When Harry Met Sally . . .


ZUCKER, ZUCKER &/OR ABRAHAMS
"Hot Shots: Part Deux."

Airplane!
Airplane II: the Sequel
Ruthless People
Big Business
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots Part Deux
The Naked Gun Trilogy


ANTHOLOGIES

The Groove Tube
Tunnel Vision
The Kentucky Fried Movie


HAL ASHBY
"The Last Detail."

The Last Detail
Harold and Maude
Shampoo
Being There


JOHN WATERS

Multiple Maniacs
Pink Flamingoes
Female Trouble
Desperate Living
Polyester
Hairspray
Serial Mom
Pecker


JOHN LANDIS

Animal House
The Blues Brothers
Trading Places
An American Werewolf in London
Three Amigos
Coming to America


HAROLD RAMIS
Bill Murray as the immortal Carl Spackler in "Caddyshack."

Caddyshack
Vacation
Groundhog Day


SPIKE LEE

She’s Gotta Have It
School Daze
Bamboozled


JONATHAN DEMME
"Melvin and Howard."

Melvin and Howard
Something Wild
Married to the Mob


IVAN REITMAN

Stripes
Ghostbusters
Twins
Kindergarten Cop
Dave


ROBERT ZEMECKIS

Used Cars
Romancing the Stone
Back to the Future trilogy
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Death Becomes Her


TIM BURTON

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
Beetlejuice
Ed Wood
Mars Attacks!


PAUL BARTEL

Eating Raoul
Lust in the Dust
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills


AMY HECKERLING

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Johnny Dangerously
Clueless


PARKER & STONE

Cannibal!: The Musical
Orgazmo
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Team America: World Police


ARTHUR HILLER

The Americanization of Emily
Silver Streak
The In-Laws
Outrageous Fortune


MARK RYDELL

The Reivers
Cinderella Liberty
Harry and Walter Go to New York


ELAINE MAY

A New Leaf
The Heartbreak Kid


PETER BOGDANOVICH

What’s Up, Doc?
Paper Moon
They All Laughed


RON HOWARD

Night Shift
Splash
Parenthood


COEN BROTHERS

Raising Arizona
The Hudsucker Proxy
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Burn After Reading
A Serious Man


FRANK OZ

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
What About Bob?


GARRY MARSHALL

The Flamingo Kid
Frankie and Johnny


KEVIN SMITH

Clerks
Dogma
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back


DAVID O. RUSSELL

Flirting with Disaster
Three Kings


FARRELLY BROTHERS

Kingpin
There’s Something About Mary


BARRY SONNENFIELD

The Addams Family
Addams Family Values
Get Shorty
Men in Black
Men in Black II
BARRY LEVINSON

Diner
Tin Men
Wag the Dog


CHRISTOPHER GUEST

The Big Picture
Waiting for Guffman
Best in Show
A Mighty Wind


WES ANDERSON

Bottle Rocket
Rushmore
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou


SPIKE JONZE

Being John Malkovich
Adaptation


MIKE JUDGE

Office Space
Idiocracy
Extract


BROKEN LIZARD

Super Troopers
Club Dread
Beerfest


TODD PHILLIPS

Old School
The Hangover


ALEXANDER PAYNE

Citizen Ruth
Election
About Schmidt
Sideways
The Descendants


JUDD APATOW

The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Knocked Up
Funny People


EDGAR WRIGHT

Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz


BEN STILLER

Reality Bites
Zoolander
Tropic Thunder


MICHEL GONDRY

Human Nature
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


A MISCELLANY

After the Fox
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Dr. Strangelove; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Cat Ballou
What’s New, Pussycat?
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
The President’s Analyst
The Longest Yard
Murder by Death
Slap Shot
Heaven Can Wait
Funny Farm
Up in Smoke
1941
Breaking Away
Bulworth
Love At First Bite
Zorro, the Gay Blade
Mr. Mom
Strange Brew
Repo Man
The Stunt Man
All Night Long
Nine to Five
Stir Crazy
The Stunt Man
Steelyard Blues
Man Friday
My Favorite Year
Tootsie
Heathers
A Christmas Story
Better Off Dead
Fletch
Smile
Student Bodies
Prizzi’s Honor
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
Big Trouble in Little China
Broadcast News
Moonstruck
Roxanne
Big
Big Top Pee-Wee
Bull Durham
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
Scrooged
She’s Having a Baby
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Major League
The Freshman
Joe Versus the Volcano
City Slickers
Soapdish
Honeymoon in Vegas
A League of Their Own
My Cousin Vinny
Wayne’s World
Dazed and Confused
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
The Ref
The Brady Bunch Movie
A Very Brady Sequel
Kingpin
Swingers
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
George of the Jungle
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Rushmore
Friday
Galaxy Quest
Mystery Men
SLC Punk
Pootie Tang
Wet Hot American Summer
Barbershop
Scary Movie series
Old School
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Borat
Enchanted
Orange County
Hamlet 2
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Synecdoche, New York
"Hamlet 2" --the "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" number.