Top 10 Moves that Defined Comedies.

[babyblob]

I am loving these define threads and thought 'Why cant I jump on that bandwagon?"

So here is my thread. Pick the Top 10 Movies from any era that define comedy. Not as Simple as it sounds. There are so many great movies to choose from.

So lets pick em and talk about them. I will think about my list and post it in a bit. Spoiler alert Porky's is going to be on it as that was the first teen sex romp. With out Porky's there would be no American Pie. I will die on that hill.

[caj]

Airplane
National Lampoon's Vacation
Blazing Saddles
Caddyshack
Beverly Hills Cop
Sixteen Candles
Austin Powers
American Pie
Porky's
Good Morning Vietnam

Honorable mentioned: Home Alone

[krazijoe]

Any Mel Brooks movie
Airplane
Sixteen Candles
...
Just repost caj's list...

[CaptCleghorn]

Kentucky Fried Movie Sketches go wild
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Epic comedy
Great Dictator Political comedy
The Producers (Zero and Gene) musical comedy
Airplane! film parodies
Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb social commentary
M*A*S*H dramedy
Monkey Business random, but seriously just comedy based on actors doing roughly the same characters. see stooges, laurel and hardy, abbott and costello
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein mix of genres for laughs
Rocky Horror Picture Show cult comedy's birthplace and I will die on this hill

[babyblob]

Abbott and Costello is one of my all time favorites. My father and I watch it every Halloween during our Universal Monster Movie Marathon.

I know for those Abbott and Costello Universal Monster movies they had to pay Costello some extra money because he really didnt want to do them. And because of that Abbott demanded extra to match his partner. Universal was not happy about it. I saw that on one of the TCM specials a few years ago.

[Sutekh]

Any Mel Brooks movie
Airplane
Sixteen Candles
...
Just repost caj's list...

Oh yes, Mel Brooks, I couldn't make a top 10 list without agonizing whether or not to give him two slots for both History of the World, Part One *and* Spaceballs, or three slots for Young Frankenstein, as well!

But hell yes to Airplane, Police Academy, Dr. Strangelove, Caddyshack, Animal House, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Austin Powers.

Some of the others, like Good Morning, Vietnam, may have been funny as hell, mainly because of Robin Williams, I don't think of as primarily comedies. OTOH, if Good Morning Vietnam counts, then I'd also nominate Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy and the funniest animated shows like Aladdin (again, Robin Williams!, aaand I just remembered Mrs. Doubtfire and Birdcage, which deserve at least honorable mention...).

Blazing Saddles probably belongs on my list, too, but, like Young Frankenstein, I never really 'felt' that one.

Edit: Ooh, I forgot Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

[chicainery]

My favorite comedy is Coming to America. I used to watch that over and over as a kid and teen. Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall played so many fun characters.

[Jokerz79]

Going with films that had defining ramifications on Comedy when released.

The Kid (1921, While more of a Fan of Harold Lloyd movies the Kid is definitely the defining silent movie comedy).
The 3 Stooges (While the heyday of their career was before they started making full length films it would be wrong not to list them.).
Abbott and Costello Buck Privates (I personally like Meets Frankenstein and Time of our Lives more, but this was their 1st major hit).
Road to Moracco (Crosby and Hope while not the 1st Road Movie arguably their most popular although I personally I prefer Road to Alaska.).
Blazing Saddles (While Mel had hits before and after this this seems to be the one people talk about the most.).
Animal House (The film all college comedies are measured by, and it started the National Lampoon films which were king for a while and spawned many careers).
Airplane (The film made the parody genre popular).
Caddy Shack (Ultimate Under Dog Comedy and Thought of as one of the best Comedies).
Friday (It so damn popular it launched gifs and memes decades before they were things.).
Anchorman (Judd Apatow has had the most influence on film comedy over the last 20 years and this was the one that started it.).

[krazijoe]

Going with films that had defining ramifications on Comedy when released.

The Kid (1921, While more of a Fan of Harold Lloyd movies the Kid is definitely the defining silent movie comedy).
The 3 Stooges (While the heyday of their career was before they started making full length films it would be wrong not to list them.).
Abbott and Costello Buck Privates (I personally like Meets Frankenstein and Time of our Lives more, but this was their 1st major hit).
Road to Moracco (Crosby and Hope while not the 1st Road Movie arguably their most popular although I personally I prefer Road to Alaska.).
Blazing Saddles (While Mel had hits before and after this this seems to be the one people talk about the most.).
Animal House (The film all college comedies are measured by, and it started the National Lampoon films which were king for a while and spawned many careers).
Airplane (The film made the parody genre popular).
Caddy Shack (Ultimate Under Dog Comedy and Thought of as one of the best Comedies).
Friday (It so damn popular it launched gifs and memes decades before they were things.).
Anchorman (Judd Apatow has had the most influence on film comedy over the last 20 years and this was the one that started it.).

Bye Felisha

And YES it's Felisha, NOT Felicia...
Sorry, pet peeve of mine...

[Mister Mets]

There are two ways to consider this. I think Babyblob is asking about movies that define comedy for us as individuals. The other way of looking at is in the context of film history.

For me, it would be...
Young Frankenstein- Never laughed louder.
South Park Bigger Better and Uncut- For R-rated and animated comedy.
The Great Dictator- For the mix of serious topics and humor.
A Night at the Opera- I had to pick a Marx Brothers film, and this has the scene where everyone's trying to fit in the same cabin.
The General- For the genius of Buster Keaton.
Annie Hall- Woody Allen can be very funny.
Some Like It Hot- Works on a lot of levels.
Tootsie- For the bravado and transformation.
Liar Liar- It was one of the first "adult" films I saw in theaters.
Groundhog Day- For having fun with a great concept.

[Jackalope89]

There are two ways to consider this. I think Babyblob is asking about movies that define comedy for us as individuals. The other way of looking at is in the context of film history.

For me, it would be...
Young Frankenstein- Never laughed louder.
South Park Bigger Better and Uncut- For R-rated and animated comedy.
The Great Dictator- For the mix of serious topics and humor.
A Night at the Opera- I had to pick a Marx Brothers film, and this has the scene where everyone's trying to fit in the same cabin.
The General- For the genius of Buster Keaton.
Annie Hall- Woody Allen can be very funny.
Some Like It Hot- Works on a lot of levels.
Tootsie- For the bravado and transformation.
Liar Liar- It was one of the first "adult" films I saw in theaters.
Groundhog Day- For having fun with a great concept.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to cobble together a whole 10 films without swapping some out later on, but South Park deserves to be there. Not only as animated adult comedy, but as a comedy that presents how talking points can be overblown by people and free speech, but still being a laugh riot (though things like Brian Boitano are aged, and not well, but the context of the song still gets through).

[Zauriel]

My favorite comedy is Coming to America. I used to watch that over and over as a kid and teen. Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall played so many fun characters.

I loved that movie. It was really funny.,

Abbott and Costello is one of my all time favorites. My father and I watch it every Halloween during our Universal Monster Movie Marathon.

I know for those Abbott and Costello Universal Monster movies they had to pay Costello some extra money because he really didnt want to do them. And because of that Abbott demanded extra to match his partner. Universal was not happy about it. I saw that on one of the TCM specials a few years ago.

Abbott and Costello is awesome, too.

[Scott Taylor]

No real order here. All are equally great in my book, though I think Some Like it Hot and Princess Bride are probably the best of them.

Raising Arizona (Nick Cage and Holly Hunter)
Coming to America (Eddie Murphy)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (The Pythons)
Some Like it Hot (Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon)
City Lights (Chaplin)
Duck Soup (Marx Brothers, naturally)
The Man with Two Brains (Steve Martin)
Sons of the Desert (Laurel and Hardy)
Buck Privates (Abbott and Costello)
Princess Bride (Cary Elwes)
Coneheads (Dan Akroyd)

Honorable mentions go to:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Jerk
The Three Amigos
Hot Fuzz
Arsenic and Old Lace
Play it Again Sam

There are some movies that I find really funny but are too mixed in their genres for me to classify them as comedies:

Groundhog Day (Romance, morality tale)
Annie Hall (Something else)
Lost Boys (Horror mostly but very funny too)
Evil Dead II (Same)
Uncle Buck