Hollywood - An Objective Look

 A lot of Hollywood films are masala of a different kind. A few are good, in various genres. But overuse of technology and special effects/VFX have spoilt the kind of good films we got to saw earlier in decades gone by. This also seems to be happening in India to an extent, with tech playing a larger role than before.

When I started watching Hollywood films in the 70s and 80s, I did not understand the accent, always. But some movies made a mark with good action, comedy and so on. Slapstick was also a part of some. Laurel and Hardy were early favourites in childhood. Until we came tp appreciate Charlie Chaplin and his social commentary/satire, in Modern Times and The Great Dictator.

In humour of a different kind, fell Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. I liked both. Some action films like Guns of Navarone, Mackenna's Gold, or Where Eagles Dare were awe-inspiring. I did not dig the ovies that relied on special effects all that much. Star Wars  or Close Encounters or disaster films like The Towering Inferno, I mean. Lawrence of Arabia seemed like a meaningful film, about the history of the Arabs.

Lately, I have liked the trilogy starting with Before Midnight which was really made well. Before that, some capers like Romancing the Stone, or A Fish Called Wanda were also fun watches. 

A really good suspense film- apart from Hitchcock films- was The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, remade badly as Karz. The original was deadly!

The Comedians

I mean the directors, not the actors, though some of them were both.

In Hollywood, the first guy that comes to mind is Woody Allen. He made several good films, one as recently as a couple of years ago. Most of these had wonderful humour, mostly about human relationships, but also a lot of other things. Sometimes dark humour, but very witty. And delivered with deadpan expressions. A genius.

A very different kind of humour (in your face, slaspstick) is to be found in Mel Brooks' films. Usually spoofs on something (Silent Movie was about Hollywood itself), I still remembers scenes from films of his I watched many years ago-Blazing Saddles (spoof on Western Cowboy movies), History of the World (about major events in history), To Be Or Not To Be (on Hitler), and a Star Wars spoof called Spaceballs. I remembered the last again while watching The Martian recently.

Closer home in India, directors of good comedy were Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Both masters of situational humour, they made between them, great films like Chupke Chupke, Chhoti Si Baat, Shaukeen, Gol Maal and Naram Garam. Angoor by Gulzar was another great comedy. Though not known for comedy, Satyen Bose's Chalti ka Naam Gaadi with Kishore Kumar was an excellent romantic comedy. So was Padosan, directed by Jyoti Swaroop. Mehmood's role in it was immortal, on of the best ever.

Silent Movie- Revisiting a Classic

Mel Brooks made a comedy called Silent Movie in 1977 or thereabout. Saw it again last night. I like his brand of humour, with lots of one-liners, and intelligent commentary about various quirks of life. Here, it is about a down and out studio chief called Mel Funn, who is trying to make a comeback. Among the odds he faces are convincing a studio chief about making a silent movie to revive its fortunes, and battling the villain - a company called Engulf and Devour which is trying to engulf (take over) the studio in question.

Full of one-liners and gags (one of which, of the trailer van careening from one side to another was shamelessly copied in Housefull 2) which make you laugh non-stop, it is great fun to watch. A classic line is the motto of Engulf and Devour- We have our fingers in everything. And their daily prayer to the Dollar sign.

The scene in which Mel Brooks and his two funny sidekicks persuade Burt Reynolds to sign up for their film is really hilarious. While taking a shower, Burt suddenly finds additional pairs of hands soaping him.

See it if you want laughs-a-minute.

Woody Allen

Having seen a few of his movies, I was aware of the wacky sense of humour. So it was with some anticipation that I bought a book (Without Feathers)written by him recently. And he did not disappoint. The same wacko humour is evident on every page. It seems he can take off on anything. The book is a collection of writings about a myriad subjects. His movies are mainly about man-woman or man-God relationships, but this bunch is a lot more diverse.

Another comic from the U.S. who I like is Mel Brookes. His movies from the classic Silent Movie, to Spaceballs, History of the World Part 1, Blazing Saddles, and To Be or Not to Be are all uniformly good. His brand of humour is unique, though some people don't identify with it.