“Guys and Dolls” is a film at odds with itself. Most of the footage is a pleasant distraction when it should be an invigorating entertainment, and the peak moments are strangely few and far between. At two-and-a-half hours, it constantly runs the risk of wearing out its welcome. And by the closing credits, it leaves the viewer serenely amused rather than knocked out by the greatness it should have achieved.
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Earlier this week, I saw a news item that said Mark Hamill considered moving out of the United States after Donald Trump was re-elected president last November. And my reaction was: Mark Hamill’s still alive? Oh, right, it’s his career that died.
Ever since Hamill toplined the original “Star Wars” in 1977, there has been no shortage of crazy works that try to fly with George Lucas’ imagination but inevitably take an Icarus-worthy plummet from heights where they could not travel. And while the 1982 Turkish film “The Man Who Saved the World” (a.k.a. “The Turkish Star Wars”) has gained cult classic status for its inane pilfering of “Star Wars” and a half-dozen other sci-fi classics, there are other films and television productions that are even crazier.
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Next month marks the 35th anniversary of the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” which is considered among the greatest gangster films ever made. But for every “Goodfellas,” there are plenty of other films about organized crime that were somewhat more eccentric – and in some cases, they offered an utterly warped consideration of the criminal world. If you are in search of films populated with off-kilter mobsters, then leave the gun and take the cannoli to this line-up of the 10 weirdest gangster movies to shoot their way across the big screen.
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Did you know that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the debut of Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters? Yes, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and their circle of friends began as a newspaper comic strip on October 2, 1950, and later expanded into television specials, movies, books and endless merchandising. They also inspired a genre of parody productions that frequently reconfigure the characters in ways that Schultz would never have imagined, let alone condoned.
For those with a warped sense of humor and no squeamishness over occasional deep dives into NSFW entertainment, here are the 10 weirdest Charlie Brown parodies that you’ll be able to find online.
“Every time I hear that ‘Weasel’ tune, something pops inside of me!”
And if you know what quote refers to, sit yourself down and enjoy a brief distraction regarding your favorite threesome.
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The Three Stooges’ “Half-Wits Holiday” is one of the saddest comedies ever made, not so much because of its content – which tries but mostly fails at being amusing – but because of its troubled production history. On May 6, 1946, the final day of the four-day shoot, Curly Howard suffered a massive stroke during the production that effectively ended his career. Curly’s health had been in decline since mid-1944 and it is believed that he endured several mini-strokes prior to making this short.
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No, folks, don’t get your hopes up. This is not a review of a rediscovered lost film. Instead, it is an essay about a lost film and how it got lost.