Who Wrote a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
| A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Richard Lester |
| Screenplay past |
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| Based on | A Funny Thing Happened on the Style to the Forum by Burt Shevelove Larry Gelbart |
| Produced by | Melvin Frank |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Nicolas Roeg |
| Edited past | John Victor-Smith |
| Music by | Ken Thorne Songs: Stephen Sondheim |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release appointment |
|
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Countries | United States Britain |
| Language | English |
| Upkeep | $2 million |
| Box office | $3.4 million (Us/Canada) [i] |
A Funny Thing Happened on the Mode to the Forum is a 1966 menstruation musical comedy movie, directed by Richard Lester, with Nothing Mostel and Jack Gilford reprising their stage roles, it too features Buster Keaton in his terminal screen function; Phil Silvers, for whom the stage musical was originally intended; and regular Lester collaborators Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern and Roy Kinnear.
The film was adapted for the screen past Melvin Frank and Michael Pertwee from the stage musical of the same name with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and volume by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, which was inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251–183 BC) – specifically Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria – and tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl side by side door.
Plot [edit]
In the city of Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero, Pseudolus is "the lyingest, cheatingest, sloppiest slave in all of Rome", whose but wish is to buy his freedom from his master'south parents, the henpecked Senex and his overbearing married woman, Domina. When he finds out that his primary, Senex's handsome but dim son Hero, has fallen in love with the cute Philia (destined to be a courtesan) from the firm of Marcus Lycus, side by side door, Pseudolus makes a bargain: he volition become the daughter for Hero in render for his freedom.
Unfortunately, the virgin has been sold to the great Roman soldier Miles Gloriosus, who even now is on his way from conquering Crete to claim her every bit his bride. In an attempt to fake out the great Gloriosus and buy enough time to come up up with a programme that will give Philia to Hero, Pseudolus and his overseer, Hysterium, stage a sit-down orgy for 14. Pseudolus informs the captain that his helpmate is dead and blackmails Hysterium into masquerading as the corpse of Philia to fool the captain and transport him heartbroken abroad; but things go wrong at every turn.
When the supposedly dead "Philia" suddenly comes back to life afterwards the great Gloriosus announces his intention of cutting "her" heart out as a memorial, a chase across Rome and on into the countryside ensues. Somewhen, Miles Gloriosus collars Hero, the existent Philia, Hysterium, Marcus Lycus, Pseudolus, and Gymnasia, the silent courtesan fancied by Pseudolus, and brings them back to Rome to untangle the skein of deception and see that justice is done.
In the end Hero gets Philia; Senex's next-door neighbour Erronius learns that Philia and Miles Gloriosus are in fact his long-lost children; Marcus Lycus is spared from execution for breaking a wedlock contract; Miles Gloriosus takes the gorgeous Gemini twins every bit his consorts; and Pseudolus gets his liberty, the cute and Amazonian Gymnasia to be his wife, and a dowry of ten,000 minae, compliments of Marcus Lycus.
Bandage [edit]
- Naught Mostel as Pseudolus
- Phil Silvers as Marcus Lycus
- Buster Keaton as Erronius
- Jack Gilford as Hysterium
- Michael Crawford every bit Hero
- Michael Hordern as Senex
- Annette Andre as Philia
- Patricia Jessel as Domina
- Leon Greene as Helm Miles Gloriosus
- Pamela Brown equally Loftier Priestess
- Inga Nielsen as Gymnasia
- Beatrix Lehmann every bit Domina's mother
- Alfie Bass as Gatekeeper
- Roy Kinnear equally Gladiator instructor
- Beak Kerr as Gladiator-in-Training
- Lucienne Bridou as Panacea
- Helen Funai as Tintinabula
- Jon Pertwee every bit Crassus
- Janet Webb as Fertilla
- Peter Butterworth as Sentry
- Frank Thornton every bit Slave driver
- Ingrid Pitt as Courtesan
Cast notes:
- Veteran comedian Keaton was terminally ill with cancer at the fourth dimension of filming. Nevertheless, the 70-twelvemonth-erstwhile was able to perform many of his ain stunts, to the amazement of the cast and crew.[ii] Forum would be his final film appearance.
- Futurity Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, blood brother of screenwriter Michael Pertwee, appears briefly as Crassus, who reports that there is no plague in Crete. He had originally played Lycus in the 1963 West Stop stage product.
- Kinnear appeared in viii other films directed by Richard Lester: Assistance! (1965), How I Won the State of war (1967), The Bed Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The 4 Musketeers (1974), Juggernaut (1974), Royal Flash (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989).
Songs [edit]
- "Comedy This evening" — Pseudolus and Visitor
- "Lovely" — Philia and Hero
- "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" — Pseudolus, Senex, Lycus, and Hysterium
- "Bring Me My Bride" — Miles Gloriosus and Company
- "Lovely" (reprise) — Pseudolus and Hysterium
- "Funeral Sequence" — Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Company
- "Finale" — Company
Songs from the original Broadway score which were cutting for the film: "Dearest I Hear" (Hero), "Free" (Pseudolus and Hero), "Pretty Niggling Film" (Pseudolus, Hero, Philia), "I'yard Calm" (Hysterium), "Impossible" (Senex and Hero), "That Dingy Old Man" (Domina) and "That'll Show Him" (Philia).[3]
Sondheim'due south music was adapted for the picture version of Forum by Ken Thorne, who previously worked with The Beatles on Help! (1965).[4]
Product [edit]
Although the musical had originally been written with Phil Silvers in listen, Zilch Mostel starred on Broadway equally Pseudolus,[5] and Richard Lester was his choice to direct the film version. Other directors who were considered included Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Mike Nichols.[4] Information technology was filmed at the Samuel Bronston Studios in Madrid, Spain, and on location effectually that city, on an estimated upkeep of $two million. Filming took place from September to November 1965.[ commendation needed ]
Jack Gilford was besides re-creating his stage role, as Hysterium,[v] and in that location are other connections to the Broadway production. Tony Walton, who designed the production, including the costumes, was likewise the designer of the Broadway show. For Walton, who was married to Julie Andrews from 1959 to 1967, Forum came at the get-go of both his motion picture and phase careers: information technology was his second Broadway production, and his third film - he had designed costumes for Mary Poppins in 1964, and did the overall production pattern of Fahrenheit 451 in 1966. Bob Simmons, a renowned stunt coordinator, designed and performed many of the action scenes in the film.[ commendation needed ]
Forum is remarkable as one of the few films in which Buster Keaton appeared where he employed a double. Keaton was suffering from final cancer at the fourth dimension – a fact of which he was not aware – and Mick Dillon stood-in for him for the running sequences. Nevertheless, Buster performed the pratfall after running into a tree in the hunt sequence nearly the end of the film himself, as no one could properly imitate his pratfalls.[6]
The blithe stop credits created past Richard Williams feature many houseflies, a reminder of the wing trouble the production suffered through when the fruits and vegetables which festooned the gear up were left out to rot overnight afterward the end of the shooting 24-hour interval.[4]
George Martin, who with Ethel Martin is credited with the choreography of the movie,[7] was the banana to choreographer Jack Cole on Broadway.[viii] (Jerome Robbins also did some uncredited work on the stage show.[5]) Other members of the Forum team are notable as well. Cinematographer Nicholas Roeg moved up to the managing director'due south chair to make films such as Performance (1970), with Mick Jagger, Walkabout (1971), Don't Await Now (1973), and The Human being Who Fell to Earth (1976) with David Bowie.
Release [edit]
Forum premiered in New York City on October 16, 1966[nine] and in London on December 14 of that year. It went into full general release in January 1967.[ citation needed ]
Reception [edit]
Box part [edit]
The moving-picture show obtained $eight.5 meg in actual box office domestic gross receipts during 1966–67. When adapted for current (2019) picture show costs, its box part revenue would exist equivalent to $69.iii million. It was the 26th-most-popular film shown in U.S. theaters that twelvemonth.[10]
The film received about $3 million in rentals in the U.South.[ commendation needed ]
Critical reception [edit]
The pic received generally positive notices, with a current 86% score on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews, with an boilerplate of vii.00/x.[11] Variety wrote, "Flip, glib and sophisticated, still rump-slappingly bawdy and fast-paced, 'Forum' is a capricious wait at the seamy underside of classical Rome through a 20th-Century hipster's shades [...] Mostly assayed with satirical thrust and on-target accurateness, almost all of the performances are pinnacle-rung and thoroughly proficient."[12] In a generally favorable review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby praised the "amply realistic settings" and determined that "Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics hold up well," merely also found it "hard to decide whether Mr. Lester has gone besides far, or non far enough, in translating into motion picture terms the carefully calculated nonsense originally conceived for the theater. He's done a lot of tricky things — with his penchant for quick cut and juxtaposition of cool images — but there are times when this style seems oddly at variance with the basic material, which is roughly 2,000 years older than the motion-motion-picture show camera."[13]
Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film moved so fast that "I simply couldn't ingest information technology all in 1 viewing," but "I was able to register plenty to realize I was enjoying myself hugely. 'Forum' is a bawdy, ribald romp that rips Rome's Keen Guild correct upward the centre, an out-and-out caricatural prove that may even—underneath all the frenetic foolery, the flourishing of floozies and the pratfalls—take something satirical and contemptuous to tell us nigh nations and why they fall."[14] Richard 50. Coe of The Washington Post raved, ""Earthy, gaudy and lawry, how funny! 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' has arrived at the Cinema, where laughter should be exploding for months."[15]
Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote "I laughed my way mindlessly through ninety percent of the picture," calling the jokes "both awful and exactly right for Mostel, Silvers and company."[16] A review in the Great britain's Monthly Film Bulletin thought that Lester's fast-moving management style made for a "curious outcome of dislocation," writing that Mostel and Silvers "constantly find the editor snapping at their tails while Lester dashes downward some attractive byway and the express mirth they probably would have got is stopped brusk." The review concluded, "Apart from the long chase at the end, which is boring and irrelevant, this is an odd, practiced-humoured mess of a pic, in spite of everything incomparably likeable."[17]
A negative review came from King Reed who opined in his review of the tape version of the moving-picture show's soundtrack anthology that "the real wit in Stephen Sondheim's score for the very funny Broadway caricatural A Funny Matter Happened on the Way to the Forum was all simply totally demolished in Richard Lester's vulgar, witless, and over-stylized motion-picture show version. All but a handful of the marvelous Sondheim songs were ditched, the few remaining musical numbers were then integrated into the action that they took a back seat to Lester'southward self-conscious visual gimmicks, and the riotous Naught Mostel was virtually crowded out of the plot completely."[ citation needed ]
Awards and honors [edit]
Music director Ken Thorne received an Academy Honor for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Handling in 1966. In addition, the picture was nominated that yr for the Gilded Globe Award for Best Motility Picture – Musical or Comedy".[eighteen] [19]
See also [edit]
- List of American films of 1966
- Up Pompeii!
References [edit]
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1967", Variety, 3 January 1968 p 25. Please annotation these figures refer to rentals accruing to the distributors.
- ^ Buster Keaton: A Hard Human action to Follow, Thames Tv set documentary (aired in the U.S. on Turner Classic Movies)
- ^ "Songs" on the Cyberspace Broadway Database
- ^ a b c Jessica Handler "A Funny Thing Happened on the Fashion to the Forum" (TCM article)
- ^ a b c IBDB "A Funny Thing Happened on the Style to the Forum"
- ^ Freese, Gene Scott (2014) Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s (2nd Edition). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company ISBN 978-1-4766-1470-0
- ^ TCM Full credits
- ^ IBDB George Martin
- ^ "Overview". Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ "1966 Superlative Box Function Movies | Ultimate Movie Rankings". 2018-04-18.
- ^ A Funny Affair Happened on the Way to the Forum at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Film Reviews: A Funny Matter Happened On The Way To The Forum". Diverseness: 6. 1966-09-28.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (1966-10-17). "Screen: 'Funny Matter' Happens Here". The New York Times: 48.
- ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (December 4, 1966). "'Fahrenheit' Freezes Blood, 'Forum' a Funny Affair". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 11.
- ^ Coe, Richard L. (1966-12-24). "'Funny Thing' A Funny Affair". The Washington Mail service. p. D7.
- ^ Gill, Brendan (1966-10-22). "The Electric current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 165.
- ^ "A Funny Thing Happened on the Manner to the Forum". The Monthly Film Message. 34 (398): 41. March 1967.
- ^ "Winners & Nominees 1967". world wide web.goldenglobes.com . Retrieved 2021-11-11 .
- ^ "Oscars Awards Database". awardsdatabase.oscars.org . Retrieved 2022-05-26 .
External links [edit]
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Fashion to the Forum at the American Picture Institute Itemize
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Style to the Forum at IMDb
- A Funny Affair Happened on the Style to the Forum at AllMovie
- A Funny Matter Happened on the Manner to the Forum at the TCM Pic Database
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Rotten Tomatoes
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Funny_Thing_Happened_on_the_Way_to_the_Forum_(film)
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