Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Slapstick Blogathon

slapstick_blogathon_flickhead

  • I’m not easy when it comes to comedy. Films or TV shows that get others howling have left me bored and numb, while any given moment of idiocy in, say, a Blake Edwards movie will get me rolling on the floor. (Please don’t ask me how many times I’ve seen The Great Race.) Therefore, if just to keep my hand in today’s Slapstick Blogathon hosted by Thom at Film of the Year, I’d rather go directly to the source. Below in three parts is an excellent example of slapstick (as well as other forms), the Charlie Chaplin classic, Easy Street (1917):


    Part one


    Part two


    Part three

    • posted by Ray Young at 8:12 PM

    3 Comments:

    Anonymous Thom said...

    Humorous slapstick viewing for a Friday morning, thank you. Parts of this seem to be inspired by Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), but it's much more fun to watch. Favorite gags - The big brawl on "Easy Street," police billyclubs having absolutely no effect on the heavy but they keep whacking away anyhow, the gas attack, and Charlie's eclectic fighting style in the penultimate scene (look out Jackie Chan).

    Thanks for the chuckle, and for contributing to the blog-a-thon.

    10:05 AM EST  
    Blogger Joe Thompson said...

    Ray: Thanks for sharing a bit of Chaplin. Watching it, I started to wonder what would have happened if Eric Campbell had not died in a car wreck the same year. He could have played Big Jim McKay in "The Gold Rush". Or Black Larsen. Or he could have had his own starring career apart from Chaplin.

    Regards,
    Joe Thompson ;0)

    6:48 PM EST  
    Blogger Flickhead said...

    Thom & Joe, thanks. I first saw Easy Street when I was five or six years old. It's one of the few films that continues to have the same effect on me more than forty years later. (Though I must confess I'm not big on Chaplin when he went to feature length.)

    I had no knowledge of Eric Campbell's untimely death. You're right: he surely would've gone on to play the heavy in any number of pictures.

    7:11 PM EST  

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