Last night on TCM they showed Murder by Death . I was 6 when this came out, and there’s no way I could have understood much of what was going on, but it quickly became one of my favorite films, up there with Snow White and TV’s Laugh-In. I know I must have seen it three times at the movie theater.
Even at 6, it featured some of my favorite actors at the time: Peter Sellers, the Bounty paper towel lady, Peter Falk, David Niven (who I knew from other Peter Sellers movies), James Coco (who in retrospect I must have thought was Dom DeLuise), Truman Capote in a rocket-powered chair… (whom I probably recognized from Dinah Shore’s show) Wow, if it’d had Paul Lynde and Jonathan Winters in it, that would have sewn it up for me.
That’s not to mention the people I never realized were in it: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Private Benjamin’s drill Sgt., Maggie Smith, James Cromwell and Elsa Lanchester.
I was completely ready to be as disappointed by this: how on earth could it be good? Oh but it is! I laughed out loud at least a dozen times in the first 45 minutes. The sheer number of Oscar nominations among that cast is staggering; no Towering Inferno/Love Boat/washed up actors collecting paychecks here – this is a genuinely funny film that reminded me of Gosford Park, and made me realize that it was THIS film that was one of the main reasons I liked Gosford Park so much.
At 6, I didn’t know much about the Thin Man movies, which have since become required viewing at the Mauer household, but Niven and Smith were great as them, and I really think they could have pulled off a full-length feature mid-70s revival of Nick & Nora. Of course the plot is dumb, but so is Nancy Walker, and watching her and Alec Guiness in the kitchen scenes was priceless. Guiness doing a Buster Keaton impression all the way through – it’s just great slapstick.
They showed it b/c of Guiness’ birthday – they also showed Lavender Hill Gang, which I tried to watch, but just got bored. This might be my favorite Neil Simon-penned movie.
Bet you wern’t expecting to see THAT movie at the top of the page.
ok, well, The Odd Couple, sure. but besides that.
Hey Mark, watch The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu and let me know if that holds up as well.
Come on – that was an awful movie. See, in Murder By Death, Sellers’ character is Chinese, but has an adopted Japanese son. That’s comedy gold.
I also saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s recently. That Mickey Ronney cracks me up.
I agree absolutely; this film–particularly, for me, Peter Falk, although The Cheap Detective will NOT hold up, I’d imagine.
As to Guinness–I kind of like Lavender, and get kind of bored by Kind Hearts, but my god Ladykillers and The Horse’s Mouth are outstanding. The guy is as good as Sellers, in many ways, at fully inhabiting and affirming the ridiculous.
Truman Capote in a rocket-powered chair
If only I’d gotten to spend ten minutes with Philip Seymour Hoffman, I’m sure I could have convinced him to include the scene of Capote in the rocket-powered chair in his bio-pic…
Oh well, maybe I’ll work it into my own bio-pic of Paul Lynde somehow.