Comedies from the 1970s

Sadsacks Go to War (Les Bidasses s'en Vont en Guerre)
      1974 | France | Laughs: 2.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.5
      who was involved?

This sequel to The Five Crazy Boys continues their adventures in the army. It's watchable and well-intentioned but didn't manage to make me laugh. If you're really in the mood for an army comedy, go watch Stripes or Hill Halfon Doesn't Answer. (Last viewed: August 2014)

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Car Wash
      1976 | USA | Laughs: 2.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Set around a car wash business as the title suggests, this movie feels a bit like a sitcom condensed to the ninety minutes of a feature film. The antics of the staff are not hilarious, but the movie is fun for a number of reasons—the 1970s texture, the gritty working class setting, the African-American culture, a sighting of George Carlin and a pumping soundtrack. Car Wash! (Last viewed: March 2013)

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Fantozzi (White Collar Blues)
      1975 | Italy | Laughs: 2.3 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.9
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I had high expectations for this movie, as some people see it as one of the funniest Italian movies ever. Fantozzi is in fact a series of nine films. I picked the earliest, which also has the highest IMDB rating in the series (7.9). The film is mainly about office life (the main character Ugo Fantozzi is an accountant), much like Office Space and The Office. What could go wrong? Everything. I laughed once and spent the rest of nearly two hours wishing that the film would end. This poor guy just keeps getting hurt—hurt in ways that are just not funny in this day and age. (To draw laughs, lots of the old slapstick movies relied on characters getting knocked on the head.) Maybe the more recent films in the series are better, I haven't yet had a chance to try them. (Last viewed: October 2011)

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Mimino (Мимино)
      1977 | Soviet Union | Laughs: 2.2 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 8.2
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After briefly meeting an alluring stewardess, a helicopter pilot from a rural area decides to become an airline pilot and travels to Moscow to apply for a job. The dialog might be hilarious, but with my twenty words of Russian I missed all that and only smiled where a native might have laughed. Nevertheless, this film is worth watching for its other merits besides comedy. It is cute, it has beautiful cinematography, and it extols the virtues of comradeship—and everyone loves a comrade, no matter on which side of the iron curtain you were born. (Last viewed: August 2015)

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Life of Brian
      1979 | U.K. | Laughs: 2.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 8.1
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The story of Brian of Nazareth, who had a parallel though more obscure life than a celebrated contemporary prophet. The movie has funny and perhaps clever moments, but I don't think you will laugh. It quickly loses points in the opening scenes by featuring a man who uses a shrill voice to play the role of a woman, a device I always find irritating—and hard on the ear. What's the point? Is that funny? On the more pleasant side, there's a lot of John Cleese to be seen, as well as pretty Tunisian landscapes. There's an animated Star Wars sequence, and the movie ends on the now classic song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle. The movie was banned in some places, which speaks less for the movie itself than about a rampant disease, human idiocy. If only for cultural reasons, it is worth a watch. (Last viewed: Jul 1995 October 2012)

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Not Cost More (לא לעלות יותר / Lo La'alot Yoter)
      1979 | Israel | Laughs: 2.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.7
      who was involved?

Unable to conceive, a couple are prescribed an intensive method. It takes a toll on the husband, who soon becomes suspicious of his wife. Even when comedies are not funny, I sometimes enjoy them for their cultural value. But even for cultural value, you can do much better. Skip this one. (Last viewed: July 2014)

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How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer
      1975 | Czechoslovakia | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This is a terrific movie about water sprites (immortal humanoids who can turn into fish and travel through plumbing) who are faced with extinction. To avoid eviction, they need to drown a lawyer, but he and a female sprite fall in love. The movie didn't make me laugh, but it sure had me smiling the whole time. Highly unusual and highly recommended. (Last viewed: July 2014)

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Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию / Ivan Vasilevich Menyaet Professiyu)
      1973 | Soviet Union | Laughs: 2.0 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 8.4
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The top-rated Russian comedy on IMDB at the time of viewing. Cute, but didn't make me laugh—in hindsight, I wouldn't watch it. Through a time machine he's built in his apartment, an engineer sends the building's superintendent to the time of the Tsars, while Ivan the Terrible is brought into the present. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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Now Where Did the Seventh Company Get to? (Mais Où Est Donc Passée La 7ème Compagnie)
      1973 | France | Laughs: 2.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.9
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How would you like to watch a movie about a platoon of French soldiers running from the German army during World War 2? If it were hilarious, I would not mind. For the most part, this is a light-hearted movie with lots of texture but not much comedy. Perhaps it just aged poorly. At first, I gave up after half an hour. After a positive experience with each of the sequels, I watched a bit more and finished the film on the third sitting (the second half was funnier). The first sequel isn't bad, and the third installment is even better. (Last viewed: August 2014)

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La Zizanie
      1978 | France | Laughs: 2.0 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.4
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To fill a large order, an industrialist converts his house into a factory, leading to domestic trouble. I don't like noise, and this movie is very loud. Even without the noise, it's just not funny, apart from a few chuckles. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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The Castaways of Turtle Island (Les Naufragés de l'Ile de la Tortue)
      1976 | France | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.4
      who was involved?

A travel agent pitches his boss on the idea of "survivor holidays" where tourists must fend for themselves on a desert island, Robinson-Crusoe-style. All too soon, he finds himself leading a first group of holiday makers in the Caribbean. This offbeat comedy is poor in laughs but rich in texture, pacing and characters, two of whom are played by actors noted for their significant contributions to French comedy: Pierre Richard (La Chèvre) and Jacques Villeret (The Dinner Game). A small treasure that aged beautifully and can be savored anytime. (Last viewed: April 2013)

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The Legend of Paul and Paula (Die Legende von Paul und Paula)
      1973 | East Germany | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Although this movie was tagged as a comedy on imdb, it isn't designed to make you laugh—my definition of comedy for the purpose of this site. But it's a terrific movie that I highly recommend watching. It's a light-hearted love story, light-hearted yet sometimes dark, and, strangely, psychedelic. I guess 1973 was the seventies in East Germany too. Good pacing, endearing characters, nice texture and soundtrack: what's there not to like? (Last viewed: August 2015)

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The Pink Panther Strikes Again
      1976 | USA | Laughs: 1.9 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.2
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Clouseau is now Chief Inspector of the Sureté. Dreyfus escapes from the madhouse, kidnaps a brilliant scientist and blackmails the superpowers to kill Clouseau for him—or else he will destroy cities! This film goes overboard in the sinister trend to turn Clouseau into an incompetent imbecile. Where is the charm of the absent-minded early character? Crude and cruel. (Last viewed: September 2009)

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Revenge of the Pink Panther
      1978 | USA | Laughs: 1.8 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.7
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In this very stupid script, the boss of the French connection sets out to eliminate Clouseau to impress an underworld partner. For this Peter Sellers finale in the Pink Panther series, the script writers continued their deliberate sabotage of the Clouseau character, completing his transformation into a complete moron. To watch out of nostalgia for Sellers, if at all. (Last viewed: September 2009)

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Amarcord
      1973 | Italy | Laughs: 1.8 (Smirk) | imdb: 7.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Over a period of ten years, I must have stared at the poster of Amarcord a hundred times trying to muster the courage to watch it. In the end, I just felt compelled to — I kept hearing about it and my deliberate ignorance was becoming untenable.

The movie is a sweet-and-sour remembrance of someone being a teenager in a small town of fascist Italy. I'm not a fan of Fellini's comedies: and this one is no exception. It's not something I can define in one word, but a conjunction of elements that will be the precise cause for someone else's love of director.

It's far from being all bad. I don't enjoy the ruckus; the vulgarity; the dripping nostalgia; the anachronisms; the awful lightning; and the quasi-constant impression that I'm looking at a pasteboard movie set.

On the positive side, the movie has a few stunning shots — when it leaves the awful set and ventures into the countryside, the cinematographer has a chance to show his talent; the political satire is not too heavy-handed; some faces seem taken out of a collection of theatrical masks; and the movie gives a lot to smirk about, even though the it definitely doesn't make me laugh.

To get through the last half hour I had to speed up the file by thirty percent, and it still felt slow.

Closing words of advice: Only watch if compelled to.

(Last viewed: November 2019)

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