David St. Hubbins: I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
Ian Faith: I really think you’re just making much too big a thing out of it.
Derek Smalls: Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea.
I just re-watched Cannonball Run a couple nights ago. Still some amusing bits, but a lot more “couldn’t be done today, and probably a good thing” stuff. Everyone stocking up on beer for their cross-country drive, so many of the jokes based on the lowest possible racial denominator, etc.
Is she still at it? Criminy, I haven’t heard her name for forty years. Something I love about you, kid, is that you always have a memory jogger in your posts.
Some of the 80’s comedies from my youth are embarrassing. “Adventures in Babysitting” has the unfortunate scene where the white kids are forced to sing at the Blues club and get a raucous response from the black patrons for the line, “Cruising down the highway in a big ole Cadillac!” And “Bill and Ted” call each other “Fag” far too frequently.
Must be you. My son, my daughter and my wife and I still bust a gut every time we watch Ghostbusters.
Most comedies don’t last well. Shakespeare, for example - I have no idea why exam boards in the UK usually insist on us teaching comedies at GCSE and sometimes A level. Why not Hamlet? That story holds up well through the ages. Jokes about what colour stockings someone’s wearing (Twelfth Night) need explaining to modern audiences and jokes that need explaining don’t actually make you laugh.
Humour is in the moment and it’s pretty rare for it to last beyond that moment.
I have to agree. It’s a pacing thing and also perhaps because Star Wars has been parodied to hell since then so it’s all old hat. Still, it was great for its time, and that’s not bad at all.
I think they both have a few problems (Bill and Ted less so; love both those movies), but what’s the problem with the Cadillac thing?
And kids these days have no problem with male teenagers calling each other fag in a friendly way. It’s exactly like the “you’re so gay” jokes that people shoot at each other, only something you do when you’re not actually saying that being gay is bad, you’re just taking the piss. And it was used a lot in a particular scene in the 40-year-old Virgin many years after Bill and Ted.
There you go. It’s also one of the greatest road trip movies, from the dog’s perspective, that you will find. 
Sir, I demand satisfaction!
The “Asshole” scene alone is comedy gold and should be taught alongside “Who’s On First?”
Yep. It stank from the git go.
I think *Lilies *will always hold up; Guess Who should be deleted from all entertainment formats, everywhere. It is amazing how bottom drawer it seems now. Back in the 60s, though, even into the 70s, it was pretty excellent.
Even more anachronistic than the race-mixing question, is the portrayal of the rich girl and a rich international doctor giving a shit about what their parents thought about their prospective spouse.
Derek Smalls: Point of order - are we doing *Stonehenge *again tonight?
Marty DiBergi: “This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.”
Nigel Tufnel: That’s just nitpicking, isn’t it?
The original film, Le Cage Aux Folles, remains hilarious. We still watch it every few years.
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I saw Love At First Bite back in the 70’s and have fondly remembered how hilarious it was ever since. Finally got a chance to see it again a couple of months ago and was astonished by how bad it is. Two good one-liners, literally nothing else good about it.
“A black chicken!”
I think they both have a few problems (Bill and Ted less so; love both those movies), but what’s the problem with the Cadillac thing?
And kids these days have no problem with male teenagers calling each other fag in a friendly way. It’s exactly like the “you’re so gay” jokes that people shoot at each other, only something you do when you’re not actually saying that being gay is bad, you’re just taking the piss. And it was used a lot in a particular scene in the 40-year-old Virgin many years after Bill and Ted.
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The problem with the Cadillac “joke” is the stereotype that African-Americans love Cadillacs, even to the point of hooting and cheering at the mere mention.
I teach at a large, suburban high school our kids do not call one another, “fag”, with affection. It is considered an insult here in Michigan.
In my own experience, Mel Brooks movies are only funny when you’re 12. (Young Frankenstein excepted.)
Beetlejuice seems to have aged well. Maybe not laughing out loud, but enjoyable
Gotta agree with the Captain. Most of the movies being cited are still funny as hell. The ones that aren’t generally weren’t funny to begin with, like Spaceballs.
The wife and I still quote Blues Brothers before starting out on any road trip.
Nathan Lane put his own stamp on the character of Max, while Matthew Broderick did quite a Gene Wilder impression as Leo.
I won’t defend the movie or these scenes, and I haven’t watched it in a decade, but I will point out that I saw Ace Ventura when it first came out, and at the time I had the impression that the vomiting and spitting up was a parody of the audiences’ reactions to “that scene” in The Crying Game. It was all so over the top specifically because it was pointing out how inappropriate it was.
Basing a major plot point and running jokes around understanding the cultural reaction of a completely different movie is still pretty dumb.
