Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Funniest Movies List

21 views
Skip to first unread message

Al Sary

unread,
Oct 22, 1985, 11:32:51 AM10/22/85
to
Because I got several replies for my continuing quest for funny movies, in
particular movies people consider as being the funniest they have ever seen, I
decided to compile a list of what the nominations are so far. This list
is short and I am hoping we'll get several more nominations; if people
find that some of these movies are not deserving for the funniest movies list,
feel free to comment, and we'll try to do something about it. Also, keep
in mind that the idea is to get a few nominations from each person,
because, at least for me, really funny movies are hard to come by.
However, if you think you've seen several (or more) movies which deserve
to be on this list, consider yourself among the few lucky ones, and feel free
to nominate as many as you like. Maybe the best thing to do is nominate
movies which are funny, but don't quite make it to your funnies movies
list, as a separate category.

If people feel that net.movies is getting too busy (which it is, but the
totally bad movies seem to be quieting down), send mail to me for your
nominations, although I think it is better to post to the net, since it
results in more discussions on the nominations, and may get more people the
desire to nominate their own favorite funnies.

Anyway, here is the list.

Movies nominated for the funniest movies list:

movie no. of nominations

Stripes 3
Airplane 2
Blazing Saddles 2
National Lampoon's Vacation 1
Airplane II 1
The Producers 1
The Gumball Rally (a "Cannonball Express" movie) 1
Back to the Future 1
Philadelphia Story 1
The Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope) 1
Bedazzled 1
A Christmas Story 1
After Hours 1
Cheech and Chong's Next Movie 1
National Lampoon's Animalhouse 1
Monty Python & the Holy Grail 1
The Rutles 1
Sleeper 1


Movies which are possible future nominees, and ones which have been
suggested as funny, but may not make the funniest list (and some of these
include strange nominations, so feel free to express you view on these):

Friday the 13th - including all sequels (I am not fond of freaking out so
you'll have to give me all specific titles on these,
like "Jason Freaks Out the World", "Jason Freaks Out
the Galaxy", "Jason Freaks Out the Universe", or is
that the wrong movie)
Jaws
Halloween - and all sequels (similar comment as above; need specific title)
Murder by Death
Young Frankenstein
My Favorite Year
Start the Revolution Without Me
Soup for One
And Now for Something Completely Different (Monty Python)
Beverly Hills Cop


If I lost someone's nominations, send it again, or post it to this
newsgroup. If there is enough interest, I will update this list, and
post it once in a while. Suggestions on other format of the list or
anything else are welcome.

Craig Stanfill

unread,
Oct 25, 1985, 11:40:57 AM10/25/85
to

I have two nominations for the scariest movies:

Alien (Ridley Scott)
Psycho(Hitchcock)

Marvin Moskowitz

unread,
Oct 26, 1985, 1:59:01 AM10/26/85
to

How about:

The Party- Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. Some of the funniest
sight gags Sellers has ever done. Some nice romance too!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail- One No-Prize to everyone who
remembers the conclusion to the quote from the Sir Galahad in the convent
scene: ".. and after the spanking.....". One of the true nadirs in comedy
(as far as I'm concerned, the lower the funnier).

Gandhi - (just kidding (=: )

ma...@inmet.uucp

unread,
Oct 28, 1985, 11:56:00 AM10/28/85
to

How about Clint Eastwood's "TightRope"?

Al Sary

unread,
Oct 28, 1985, 2:17:01 PM10/28/85
to
I got several (quite a few actually) nominations for the list so here
is this week's list. The movies are ordered by the the number of
nominations they got, or by the order they received that many
nominations. I still have two lists because I wasn't sure what to do
with the second. (Note that some movies appear on both lists; maybe I'll
merge the two lists eventually, or something like that.)

Movies nominated for the funniest movies list so far:

movie no. of nominations

Monty Python & the Holy Grail 6
The Producers 5
Blazing Saddles 5
National Lampoon's Animal House 4
Stripes 3
Airplane 3
Bedazzled (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore) 3
After Hours 3
Life of Brian (Monty Python) 2
Young Frankenstein 2
Airplane II 2


National Lampoon's Vacation 1

The Gumball Rally (a "Cannonball Express" movie) 1
Back to the Future 1
Philadelphia Story 1
The Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope) 1

A Christmas Story 1


Cheech and Chong's Next Movie 1

The Rutles 1
Sleeper 1

Ghostbusters 1
All of Me 1
La Cage aux Folles 1
Starting Over 1
Strange Brew 1
Pink Panther and all sequels 1
Murder by Death 1
This is Spinal Tap 1
Caddyshack 1
Slapshot 1
The In-laws (Alan Arkin & Peter Falk) 1
Beverly Hills Cop 1
There's a Girl in My Soup (Peter Sellers & Goldie Hawn) 1
The Black Bird 1
What's Up Doc 1
The Gods Must Be Crazy 1
The Long Long Trailer 1
Arsenic and Old Lace 1
Those Manificent Men and Their Flying Machines 1
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 1
The Blues Brothers 1
Trading Places 1
Stir Crazy 1
Nine to Five 1
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to
Stop Worrying Love the Bomb (title?) 1
The Frisco Kid 1
One, Two, Three (James Cagney) 1
Bananas 1
Better Off Dead 1
High Anxiety 1
Being There 1
The Party 1


Movies which are possible future nominees, and ones which have been
suggested as funny, but may not make the funniest list (and some of these

include strange nominations):

Friday the 13th - including all sequels

Jaws
Halloween - and all sequels

Murder by Death
Young Frankenstein 2
My Favorite Year 2


Start the Revolution Without Me
Soup for One
And Now for Something Completely Different (Monty Python)
Beverly Hills Cop

Blazing Saddles
Ghostbusters
It Happened One Night
Terms of Endearment (only the first 2/3 was nominated, so I placed it
in this list)
Meatballs
Stir Crazy
National Lampoon's Vacation
Airplane
Aiplane II


Monty Python & the Holy Grail

Blues Brothers


If I lost someone's nominations, send it again, or post it to this

newsgroup (otherwise, I am relying on people posting their nominations
only once). If there is enough interest, I will update this list, and
post it once in a while. Any suggestions are welcome.

Pat Boren

unread,
Oct 28, 1985, 3:55:46 PM10/28/85
to

The movies you've all mentioned are truly funny, but how about:

The Great Race
Animal Crackers
and even Smokey and the Bandit (Jackie Gleason is classic...
"They should have cremated the sumbitch")

Count me as voting for Stripes, Airplane, Young Frankenstein,
Blazing Saddles, and Animal House.
--


Patricia Boren
decvax!randvax!boren
bo...@rand-unix.arpa

Mark Larsen

unread,
Oct 28, 1985, 6:07:34 PM10/28/85
to
Frankly, having just read the so called "Funniest Movies List", I
can't believe that not one nomination was given to the two funniest
movies of all time (in my opinion, of course):
Tootsie
What's up Doc?

Other funny movies (but not as good)
Mr. Mom
Foul Play
American Dreamer (of course it was a comedy!)

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

-lml

--
-----------
Ma faute! Comment cela? L. Mark Larsen
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|hplabs|seismo}!utah-gr!larsen
ARPA: oper....@utah-20.arpa
USnail: 4602 So. 600 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84107

b...@hplabsb.uucp

unread,
Oct 28, 1985, 8:25:21 PM10/28/85
to
Let's not forget "Being There", probably Peter Sellers greatest role.

Trevor Flory

unread,
Oct 29, 1985, 9:29:38 AM10/29/85
to
In article <31...@think.ARPA> cr...@think.UUCP (Craig Stanfill) writes:
>I have ... nominations for the scariest movies:
> Alien (Ridley Scott)

I'll second that.

--
Trevor K. Flory UUCP: ...!ihnp4{!alberta}!sask!zaphod!flory
Develcon Electronics Ltd. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA

"... the play is the tragedy, `Man',
And its hero the Conqueror Worm."
Poe, c.1838

showard

unread,
Oct 29, 1985, 12:57:32 PM10/29/85
to
> If I lost someone's nominations, send it again, or post it to this
> newsgroup. If there is enough interest, I will update this list, and
> post it once in a while. Suggestions on other format of the list or
> anything else are welcome.

Well, you apparently lost my list, and after an unsuccessful attempt at
mailing it to you, I have decided to (gasp) re-post it:

*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
*Life of Brian
*any Pink Panther movie with Peter Sellers (including a Shot in the Dark)
*Murder by Death
*This is Spinal Tap
*After Hours

In light of previous comments, I should probably list all the PP movies
separately:

*The Pink Panther
*A Shot in the Dark
*The Return of the Pink Panther
*The Pink Panther Strikes Again
*The Revenge of the Pink Panther

And I should point out: Of course Murder by Death was a comedy! Screenplay
by Neil Simon, starring Peter Sellers, Truman Capote, David Niven, Sir Alec
Guiness, etc. A sendup of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple,
Charlie Chan, Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, and every 30s and 40s whodunnit
ever made.

--Mr. Blore, the DJ who would not die
--aka Steve Howard, ...udenva!showard
--"Use your damn pronouns!"--Lionel Twain to Sidney Wang

Bob Nebert

unread,
Oct 29, 1985, 3:19:43 PM10/29/85
to
>
> I have two nominations for the scariest movies:
>
> Alien (Ridley Scott)
> Psycho(Hitchcock)

I agree with Psycho. I'm a big fan of Hitchcock. Who
can't feel chills up and down their back as they watch
the birds accumulate behind the lady (I forgot her name)
as she sits on the bench in "The Birds".

My definition of scary is not gory ie. Taxas chain........
but the ones that scare you because you know that
it might happen.
Semi related to that idea let us not forget "Amityville
Horror and Poltergiest(sp).

Lynn Gurske

unread,
Oct 29, 1985, 5:38:05 PM10/29/85
to

How about these movies:

Airplane II Loved the solid fuel and the Rocky XXXVIII
poster behind Sonny Bono.

Ghostbusters A classic.

Dr. Detroit Remember when the Dr. tells mom "I'm rip your
head off and @#$%$ down your neck.

==============================================================================
from the office of the mighty

SSS KK KK EEEEEEEE !!
SS SS KK KK EE !!
SS KK KK EE !!
SSS KKKK EEEEE !!
SS KK KK EE !!
SS SS KK KK EE
SSS KK KK EEEEEEEE !!

Lynn E. Gurske
ECS/mfg Tektronix
Wilsonville, OREGON 97070
60-640

Terry Grevstad

unread,
Oct 29, 1985, 6:13:02 PM10/29/85
to
abs...@watmath.UUCP (Al Sary) says:

>The Gumball Rally (a "Cannonball Express" movie)

Gumball Rally was made previous to Cannonball Express. Therefore,
Cannonball Express could be called a "Gumball Rally" movie, but not
the other way around.

Gumball Rally was at least one star better than Cannonball Express.
The only thing funny about Cannonball Express was Dom DeLuise.

--
\"\t\f1A\h'+1m'\f4\(mo\h'+1m'\f1the\h'+1m'\f4\(es\t\f1\c
_______________________________________________________________________

Terry Grevstad
Network Research Corporation
ihnp4!nrcvax!terry
{sdcsvax,hplabs}!sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!terry
ucbvax!calma!nrcvax!terry

Gadfly

unread,
Oct 30, 1985, 9:45:13 AM10/30/85
to
--
Nobody's mentioned Mel Brooks's "The Producers" yet.
--
*** ***
JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** *****
****** ****** 30 Oct 85 [9 Brumaire An CXCIV]
ken perlow ***** *****
(312)979-7753 ** ** ** **
..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***

mce...@uiucdcs.cs.uiuc.edu

unread,
Oct 30, 1985, 11:43:00 AM10/30/85
to

> My nomination was a film from last year who's name I can't remember. It was
> a low budget film about a man who works as a bartender, starts going out
> with the bar-owners wife, and the bar owner hires a detective to kill them
> both. Probably the best thriller I've ever seen. All took place in Texas-
> the only problem I had with it was trying to understand the accents at the
> beginning of the film. Best last line I've seen in a thriller.

The name is "Blood Simple", and I second the nomination. An excellent movie.

Scott McEwan
{ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan

"Comment, Spock?"
"Very bad poetry, sir."

Pamela Freeman

unread,
Oct 31, 1985, 10:52:31 AM10/31/85
to
Here are my nominations for the funniest films:

Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Murder By Death
This Is Spinal Tap
The Loved One
Dr. Strangelove...
Being There
Harold and Maude
The Out-of-Towners
Tootsie
Touch of Class
A Boy and His Dog
The Ruling Class (the first half)
Any Woody Allen Movie (esp. Love and Death)

Al Sary

unread,
Oct 31, 1985, 10:57:35 AM10/31/85
to
In article <9...@mako.UUCP> ly...@mako.UUCP (Lynn Gurske) writes:
>
> How about these movies:
> ...
> Ghostbusters A classic.
> ...

I was surprised how few people nominated Ghostbusters (I think this is
only the second nomination), even thought it was such a boxoffice hit.
I myself was very disappointed in this movie
when I say it. It is quite funny, and Bill Murrey (sp?) was quite good in
the movie (and so is everybody else), but I was expecting lot more from a
movie with such cast, especially after STRIPES, which I thought was one
of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I thought it was Bill Murrey's
funniest movie by far.

Al Sary

unread,
Oct 31, 1985, 11:05:19 AM10/31/85
to
In article <5810...@inmet.UUCP> ma...@inmet.UUCP writes:
>
>
>
>
>How about Clint Eastwood's "TightRope"?

We are talking agout scary movies here; "TIGHTROPE" had a lot of suspense
but you can't really compare it with real scary movies (even Jays was a
lot scarier although I don't think it was a really scary movie; in my
definition, the scariest movies are the ones after which you don't like
to be in the dark alone (and such things like that) - I've seen a few of
these, but I am not a scary movie fan, so I can't recall titles).

b...@hplabsb.uucp

unread,
Oct 31, 1985, 12:56:16 PM10/31/85
to
> >
> > I have two nominations for the scariest movies:
> >
> > Alien (Ridley Scott)
> > Psycho(Hitchcock)
>
> I agree with Psycho. I'm a big fan of Hitchcock. Who
> can't feel chills up and down their back as they watch
> the birds accumulate behind the lady (I forgot her name)
> as she sits on the bench in "The Birds".

Tippy Hedren

Walter Bright

unread,
Oct 31, 1985, 1:16:22 PM10/31/85
to
In article <12...@ihuxn.UUCP> gad...@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly) writes:
>Nobody's mentioned Mel Brooks's "The Producers" yet.

That's because it wasn't funny.

Al Bert

unread,
Nov 1, 1985, 2:24:47 PM11/1/85
to

Of course, someone has already suggested "The Producers"; in fact,
several people have nominated it, and it is one of the top movies on the
list (see list).

Jerry Weil

unread,
Nov 1, 1985, 5:04:46 PM11/1/85
to
An interesting note - one of the brothers who made Blood Simple also worked
on the Evil Dead. I haven't had a chance to see Blood Simple yet, but the
one clip I saw had an amazing similarity in camera work to that of the Evil
Dead.

As far as my votes for Scariest movies, I can't pass up an opportunity to plug
"Horror Hotel," a true classic bad/horror movie. A couple of good scary
movies also include "The Exorcist", "The Omen," "Dawn of the Dead,"
and "Poltergeist." I also remember being scared as a kid by "The Four
Skulls of Jonathan Drake," but I can't say that would hold up today.

Hank Buurman

unread,
Nov 1, 1985, 5:42:39 PM11/1/85
to
In article <8...@dataioDataio.UUCP> bri...@dataio.UUCP (Walter Bright writes:

Surely you jest. This movie was hilarious. I second it.

Al Sary

unread,
Nov 4, 1985, 12:44:55 PM11/4/85
to
Lots more nominations this week. One note: if you nominate a movie
such as "all Marx Brothers movies" or "... and all sequels to", than the
nominations may not appear on this list. I try my best to remember
titles, but it is especially hard when I haven't seen the movies, so
nominate movies by title. (ordering as before; still two lists)

Movies nominated for the funniest movies list so far:

movie no. of nominations

Blazing Saddles 9
The Producers 8
Monty Python & the Holy Grail 8
National Lampoon's Animal House 6
Airplane 5
Bedazzled (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore) 5
Stripes 4
Young Frankenstein 4
Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers, George C. Scott) 4
After Hours 3
Airplane II 3
Life of Brian (Monty Python) 3
Being There (Peter Sellers) 3
The Party (Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet) 3
Strange Brew 2
Ghostbusters 2
A Christmas Story 2
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 2
Murder by Death 2
This is Spinal Tap 2
Pink Panther 2
A Shot in the Dark (Peter Sellers, Pink Panther sequel) 2
The Return of the Pink Panther 2
The Pink Panther Strikes Again 2
The Revenge of the Pink Panther 2
Tootsie 2
What's Up Doc 2
Annie Hall 2
Duck Soup (Marx Brothers) 2
The Ruling Class (Peter O'toole) 2
Arthur 2


National Lampoon's Vacation 1

The Gumball Rally (a "Cannonball Express" releated movie) 1


Back to the Future 1
Philadelphia Story 1
The Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope) 1

Cheech and Chong's Next Movie 1
The Rutles 1
Sleeper 1

All of Me 1
La Cage aux Folles 1
Starting Over 1

Caddyshack 1
Slapshot 1
The In-laws (Alan Arkin & Peter Falk) 1
Beverly Hills Cop 1
There's a Girl in My Soup (Peter Sellers & Goldie Hawn) 1
The Black Bird 1

The Gods Must Be Crazy 1
The Long Long Trailer 1
Arsenic and Old Lace 1
Those Manificent Men and Their Flying Machines 1

The Blues Brothers 1
Trading Places 1
Stir Crazy 1
Nine to Five 1

The Frisco Kid 1
One, Two, Three (James Cagney) 1
Bananas 1
Better Off Dead 1
High Anxiety 1

No Time For Sergeants 1
Rock 'N Roll High School 1
Dr. Detroit 1
Choose Me 1
A Fistfull of Yen (segment within the Kentucky Fried Movie) 1
The Great Race 1
Animal Crackers 1
Smokey and the Bandit (Jackie Gleason) 1
Mr. Hulot's Holiday 1
Les Comperes 1
A Hard Day's Night 1
Help 1
The Loved One 1
Harold and Maude 1
The Out-of-Towners 1
Touch of Class 1
A Boy and His Dog 1
Love and Death (Woody Allen) 1
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (???) 1
Play it Again Sam 1
Take the Money and Run 1
You Can't Take It With You 1
Harvey 1
Horse Feathers (Marx Brothers) 1
History of the World, Part I (Mel Brooks) 1
Twelve Chairs (Mel Brooks) 1


Movies which are possible future nominees, and ones which have been
suggested as funny, but may not make the funniest list (and some of these
include strange nominations):

Friday the 13th - including all sequels
Jaws
Halloween - and all sequels

/* no the more comedy like movies */
Murder by Death
Young Frankenstein 3


My Favorite Year 2
Start the Revolution Without Me
Soup for One
And Now for Something Completely Different (Monty Python)
Beverly Hills Cop
Blazing Saddles
Ghostbusters
It Happened One Night
Terms of Endearment (only the first 2/3 was nominated, so I placed it
in this list)
Meatballs
Stir Crazy

National Lampoon's Vacation 2


Airplane
Aiplane II
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
Blues Brothers

Duck Soup
A Shot in the Dark


Mr. Mom
Foul Play
American Dreamer

If I lost someone's nominations, send it again, or post it to this
newsgroup. If there is enough interest, I will update this list, and
post it once in a while. Suggestions on other format of the list or

anything else are welcome. If someone notices multiple entries within
each list for the same movie, let me know.

Stanley Friesen

unread,
Nov 4, 1985, 3:27:22 PM11/4/85
to

In the same vein as "The Producers" how about:

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

which I think is even funnier.
--

Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

UUCP: {ttidca|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|quad1|nrcvax|bellcore|logico}!psivax!friesen
ARPA: ttidca!psivax!fri...@rand-unix.arpa

Pat Boren

unread,
Nov 4, 1985, 6:43:50 PM11/4/85
to

How could I have forgotten "Harold And Maude"? Anyone else agree?

0 new messages