Areas of Unrest

18 June 2000 - Cast On 143,672 and Find Something Funny

QOTD: "The thing I love most about my S&M mistress is that she doesn't care whether I'm Baptist, Jewish, Catholic, or Methodist. She's a non-denominatrix." - Woody Walker

Reading: The July 2000 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Listening to: Paris Combo

Today's technical challenge (well, actually it was Thursday's but I had to finish whining about business travel first) is materials related. For those who may not know the terminology, I should first explain that those golf-ball shaped things you see covering antennas are called radomes. Essentially, they protect the antenna from weather. The obscure trivia that led to this challenge is that they don't necessarily start out white. It can take some exposure to sunlight to turn the material white. Which is all well and good until some bureaucrat where you are putting one up decides that you can't because it will disturb the environment to have a beige radome.

Normal people come up with solutions like putting it up somewhere else and moving it after it turns white. Of course, that's far too easy. We'd rather come up with ideas like claiming that the beige is "Navajo white" and said bureaucrat is being racist. I am proud to say that I came up with the solution that will live in infamy whenever hairbrained schemes are being talked about. "Wait! I have it!" I exclaimed. "Radome cozies. You know - like tea cozies. Just let me know when to start knitting."

Anyway, while everyone else is writing about funny movies, primarily due to the American Film Institute, I thought it was worth jumping in and talking about humor in general. The AFI was trying to select the 100 funniest American movies, although they defined American movies in a somewhat inconsistent manner. I'm not going to limit myself, especially since few of the movies I've laughed really hard at were American. I think that's less true for older movies, but I tend to judge old movies as less funny since I generally see them at home on TV, instead of in the theatre. Laughter is partly a social experience and people play off each other when they laugh. So I tend to perceive movies as funnier if I see them with a larger audience. I don't think this is an unusual reaction - it's why they stick those annoying laugh tracks on TV sitcoms.

The flip side is that it can be really annoying when one person finds things funny and the others around don't. I've been on both sides of this. I remember watching the video of "Mars Attacks!" at a hostel in Pretoria with a group of people who were mostly British, German or Belgian. There are a lot of Los Angeles in-jokes in that movie and, of course, nobody else got them. Oh, sure, I tried to explain that the speech the President gives to the Martians is right out of the one Rodney King gave during the riots ("can't we all just get along?") but it just doesn't mean the same thing to people who don't share the culture.

Anyway, the result is that I don't laugh as hard at the Marx Brothers, for example, as I think I should. There are a few actors and films that transcend the social factor, but they're few. "The Court Jester" is one of my favorites and Danny Kaye doesn't suffer from being a solitary pleasure. Nor does the original "Little Shop of Horrors" (not the musical). Nor does "Dr. Strangelove."

To get to the point, here's a brief list of some of what I think are the funniest movies ever, American or not:

1. The Gods Must Be Crazy. The essence of comedy is twisting expectations and this South African movie is a great example. I first saw it in a theatre in Berkeley and loved it then. I've seen it at least three times since (various friends rented it and invited me over) and it's just as funny every time.

2. Tano da Morire (To Die For Tano). It's probably not fair to put this on the list since I don't think it's been released in the U.S. yet. (I saw it in Edinburgh in 1998.) Imagine a John Waters film about the Mafia. Cast it with hairdressers and electricians from an Italian village. Add music. For example, women in the beauty parlor are preparing for a wedding - and burst into a big production number about one of them having killed her husband. Let's put it this way. If I ever get to organize a film festival, I'm showing this one.

3. The Court Jester. Danny Kaye as a court jester who makes a fool of himself. This is, of course, most famous for the bit with "the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle."

4. Tampopo. Japanese food pornography with considerable wit. The spaghetti eating scene is classic.

5. Local Hero. My all time favorite movie. The comedy arises from the quirkiness of the characters and is always warm and gentle. I love most of Bill Forsyth's movies and I hope someday to see "That Sinking Feeling," which was his very first and has to do with a gang of kids who steal plumbing fixtures.

6. Take the Money and Run. Woody Allen plays the cello in a marching band. That scene alone puts this film on the list. "Annie Hall" would be the more conventional choice for a Woody Allen selection on a short list.

7. Dr. Strangelove. I need to watch it again to give a better reason for its inclusion on this list, but all I can think of right now is "precious bodily fluids.

8. Little Shop of Horrors. Some people like the dentist scene, but I'm partial to the guy who eats carnations. The musical is not nearly as funny.

9. The Producers. Mel Brooks often goes too far for me to entirely enjoy his movies. I liked him better when I was younger; I especially adored "Young Frankenstein." But this movie has aged better.

10. Woman of the Year. I had to choose a Tracy/Hepburn romantic comedy. It was between this one and "Desk Set" but I think I like the latter more than I should out of M.I.T. bias.

There are also a couple of movies that may not stand the test of time but have some special interest. For example, I loved "Free Enterprise," but you need to be pretty high up on the geekdom scale to really appreciate it. The funniest car chase scene ever is in a moderately obscure Australian movie, "Malcolm." While I'm on Australian films, the theme song from "The Coca Cola Kid" is memorable, even if the movie doesn't quite hang together as a comedy. I'm also sure that there are lots of movies I love that I just can't think of right now. But the omission of Monty Python movies is intentional; they often have their moments but are too gross overall for my tastes. There is a lot to be said, though, for the John Cleese vehicle, "Clockwise." Oh, and how could I forget the single most bizarre British comedy I've ever seen? "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" tells the story of a man and a boil on his shoulder and what it does to his career. It's almost as weird as "Tano da Morire."

Finally, I went to see "Small Time Crooks" today. It was pretty funny, although I winced at some jokes about domestic violence. The main thing I want to say about it, though, is a fashion note. In a few of the scenes where he is in less formal settings, Hugh Grant wears a sort of neckwear that is somewhere between a tie and a bandana. It looks like a thin strip of fabric, casually tied around his neck, with his shirt collar open underneath it. I've been entirely unsuccessful finding a term for this style, but whatever it is, I want to encourage its widespread use among men who want to charm me. Because it is a completely devastating look.

And that's something I'm not joking about.