Best Comedy Tournament: Round 1 - Group H (Tiebreaker)

[mae]

For the tiebreaker poll, please vote for one title to move on to the next round. The poll will be open for four days.

Biloxi Blues (1988)

Watch Trailer

Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Watch Trailer

The Court Jester (1955)

Watch Trailer

[pathoftheturtle]

Biloxi Blues doesn't even beat Brighton Beach Memoirs; if you want Neil Simon, go vote for The Sunshine Boys!

[fernandito]

Haven't watched any of these.

[webstar1000]

I cannot vote having seen none of these...

[mae]

Haven't watched any of these.

I cannot vote having seen none of these...

Sullivan's Travels, obviously.

[mae]

How is Biloxi Blues ahead of either of the other two?

[pathoftheturtle]

Haven't watched any of these.

I cannot vote having seen none of these...

Preston Sturges was a notable early Hollywood writer-director success for a while. His movies pushed and bent conventions at the time. Some now consider Sullivan's Travels his best film, although you ought certainly to watch some of the others as well if you want to understand his contribution to the art. We already discussed this movie and an expositional clip on the first thread this tie came out of to some extent.
BCT: Group H

Danny Kaye had a long, illustrious career on stage, radio, television, and in film. I don't really think The Court Jester is his best movie, but it's hard to pick a single work, partly because he was so multi-talented. It's one decent, fun musical comedy from a performer with broad range.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ9f2rnjB84

The Eugene Trilogy refers to three comedy plays written by Neil Simon, a "quasi-autobiographical" account of his own early life and career, eventually adapted into three films. Brighton Beach Memoirs tells the story of the adolescence of Eugene Morris Jerome in New York City, played on screen by Johnathan Silverman. Matthew Broderick plays Eugene in Biloxi Blues, which is about his time spent in basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi during World War II: it is the only installment in which he is not the central character, but instead witness to the struggle for power of another soldier, the gentle, intelligent Arnold Epstein, (played by Corey Parker) with middle-aged, hard-drinking platoon leader Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey (Christopher Walken.) In Broadway Bound, Eugene (played by Corey Parker) and his older brother Stanley (played by Johnathan Silverman) work together toward being comedy writers for the radio, and, eventually, television.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_trilogy

I don't really expect you guys will get through all of that in the next few days, but these are all pretty good, for the record.

[mae]

Just 12 votes so far. Come on peeps, more votes for Sullivan!

[webstar1000]

Haven't watched any of these.

I cannot vote having seen none of these...

Sullivan's Travels, obviously.

ok

[mae]

And so Sullivan's Travels pulls a bit ahead, sweet

[mae]

One day to go and there's a tie between the first two. Need more votes here, people!

[pathoftheturtle]

Yes, we need 3 more. For The Court Jester, the only Danny Kaye movie we have!

[mae]

Biloxi Blues is pulling ahead

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Biloxi Blues is pulling ahead

Christopher Walken was amazing in that film!! It's definitely one of his finest roles.

[mae]

But it's nowhere near Sullivan's Travels, which is probably Sturges's best.

[pathoftheturtle]

This is the clearest case yet of modernity bias. Biloxi Blues, too, is only a comedy because of witty dialogue and uplifting themes, (plus a remaining touch of Philip Roth style crudity for shock value)

Spoiler:

(Or as Sullivan puts it, "Yes, with a little sex in it.")

and what it has that other uplifting films with greater wit do not is the polished look that comes with an established and experienced Mike Nichols directing. People aren't thinking about balancing the process here or judging each project by what was created in its own context, they're just responding to the surface factors. Well, at least there's still a chance one of Sturges's funnier will advance.

[mae]

The poll has closed. Biloxi Blues moves on to the next round, while Sullivan's Travels and The Court Jester are eliminated.