It's hard to imagine a life without comedy and that's why the story tellers used to tread the way of comic elements from time immemorial. It appeared first through literature and applied in the film from the silent era. Comedy is one of the oldest genres of film where everything reflects through humor and it intends to entertain people through amusing circumstances and sequences. This kind of films generally has a happy ending and often deal with lighthearted stories but some of them use slapping satires to deliver political and social commentary.
Hollywood is dealing with Comedy from the ages when sound was not introduced in films and those movies were made depending only on visual illustrations. From 1927, it took another swing with the help of dialogs. You may categorize comedy films in different types both in traditional and hybrid genres. In the traditional view you may have comedy of manners, Slapstick Comedies, Parody films, Anarchic Comedy films, Black Comedy, Romantic Comedy etc and in the hybrid genre there are Action Comedy, Comedy Horror, Fantasy Comedy, Sci-fi Comedy etc. So from all these types Hollywood has produced so far, we can easily pick our top 10 Hollywood comedy movies of all time.
The comedy classic Blazing saddles was directed by Mel Brook and made from the draft of Bergman that tops our list with true reason. The crude, racist, and sexist film with toilet humor and robust languages portrays a western all-white town with a black sheriff and a sex-obsessed Governor in a total anarchic plot. The director Brook appeared in those two supporting roles. The film also stars Cleavon little and Gene Wilder and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Commonly known as Dr Strangelove, is a Political Satire Black Comedy of 1964 based in the Cold war fears of a nuclear conflict between US and USSR. Based on a thriller novel Red Alert of Peter George the film is directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott. The film warns us about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button, and the political comment brought to us through great laughter.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an obviously re-watchable comedy classic written by the comedy group of Monty Python and directed by Gilliam and Jones. Since 1975, when it hits the screen first, the film has been considered among the great comedy movies till now. It parodies the legend of King Arthur and his quest to find the Holy Grail. The film was a great Box-office success and received 97% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's all about two musicians who dress in drag to escape from mafia gangsters whom they witnessed to commit the 1929 murder of the North Side Irish gang lead by Bugs Moran which was later named as Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. The American Comedy was directed and produced by Billy Wilder with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the star cast. When the movie released in 1959 color films were increasing in popularity but it was produced in black and white. It is said that Monroe did the best job of her career.
The film portrays a male-dominated San Diego TV station of '70s where a famous Anchorman clashes with his new female counterpart. Will Ferrell in the lead role of the Anchorman named Ron Burgundy who finds his position threatened by a young lady journalist was hilarious. Directed by Adam McKay and produced by Judd Apatow the film grossed huge in its total theatrical run.
The satirical political comedy-drama film was written, produced, scored and directed by Charlie Chaplin starring himself in the lead role. This was the first true talking-picture of Chaplin and was a most commercially successful film he ever made. In his autobiography Chaplin claimed that he would not have made the film if he had known the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.
It is a satirical disaster comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker is a parody of another Paramount film Zero Hour from which it borrows the plot as well as the central characters. For the use of surreal humor and slapstick comedy the film is considered among the top graded comedy films.
The film was not fully appreciated at the time of its release but proved itself as the best and funniest among all the screwball comedies of that time. It's all about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets a paleontologist and unintentionally makes a mess of both their lives. The film was directed by Howard Hawks and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in the lead roles.
The film is said to be Woody Allen's greatest comedy where he portrays a neurotic man in love with Diane Keaton. The film extensively mixed up romance with comedy and became a Best Picture in the romantic-comedy genre. The film made the heroine a star and her mannish clothing became very popular.
The elaborated title of the film mostly portrays the plot where a Kazakh Journalist appears in the title character, travels through the U.S, interviewing and interacting with Americans to learn their culture. This is a British-American mockumentary comedy film written and produced by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who also plays the title role of Borat Sagdiyev.
From the above list of Hollywood comedy movies we can see the variety, diversity and polyphonic cinematic expression through the ages. Many of them intended to deliver messages through humor or satire while there are few that had been contented in only producing laughable moments.
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