A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Movie Courtseans
| A Funny Matter Happened on the Manner to the Forum | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release affiche | |
| Directed by | Richard Lester |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Burt Shevelove Larry Gelbart |
| Produced by | Melvin Frank |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Nicolas Roeg |
| Edited by | John Victor-Smith |
| Music by | Ken Thorne Songs: Stephen Sondheim |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release engagement |
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| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Countries | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $ii million |
| Box office | $3.four million (United states of america/Canada) [1] |
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a 1966 period musical comedy motion picture, directed by Richard Lester, with Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford reprising their stage roles, it also features Buster Keaton in his concluding screen function; Phil Silvers, for whom the stage musical was originally intended; and regular Lester collaborators Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern and Roy Kinnear.
The picture was adapted for the screen by Melvin Frank and Michael Pertwee from the stage musical of the aforementioned name with music and lyrics past Stephen Sondheim, and book 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 past helping his immature master woo the girl adjacent 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 only wish is to buy his freedom from his principal's parents, the henpecked Senex and his overbearing wife, Domina. When he finds out that his master, Senex's handsome only dim son Hero, has fallen in love with the beautiful Philia (destined to exist a courtesan) from the house of Marcus Lycus, next door, Pseudolus makes a deal: he will get the girl for Hero in return for his freedom.
Unfortunately, the virgin has been sold to the dandy Roman soldier Miles Gloriosus, who even now is on his way from conquering Crete to claim her as his helpmate. In an effort to fake out the corking Gloriosus and buy enough futurity up with a programme that volition requite Philia to Hero, Pseudolus and his overseer, Hysterium, phase a sit down-downward orgy for fourteen. Pseudolus informs the helm that his helpmate is expressionless and blackmails Hysterium into masquerading every bit the corpse of Philia to fool the helm and transport him heartbroken away; merely things go wrong at every plough.
When the supposedly dead "Philia" suddenly comes back to life afterwards the great Gloriosus announces his intention of cutting "her" eye out as a memorial, a chase beyond Rome and on into the countryside ensues. Eventually, Miles Gloriosus collars Hero, the existent Philia, Hysterium, Marcus Lycus, Pseudolus, and Gymnasia, the silent courtesan fancied by Pseudolus, and brings them dorsum to Rome to untangle the skein of deception and encounter that justice is done.
In the finish Hero gets Philia; Senex'due south next-door neighbor Erronius learns that Philia and Miles Gloriosus are in fact his long-lost children; Marcus Lycus is spared from execution for breaking a marriage contract; Miles Gloriosus takes the gorgeous Gemini twins as his consorts; and Pseudolus gets his freedom, the beautiful and Amazonian Gymnasia to be his wife, and a dowry of x,000 minae, compliments of Marcus Lycus.
Bandage [edit]
- Null Mostel as Pseudolus
- Phil Silvers as Marcus Lycus
- Buster Keaton as Erronius
- Jack Gilford as Hysterium
- Michael Crawford as Hero
- Michael Hordern every bit Senex
- Annette Andre every bit Philia
- Patricia Jessel as Domina
- Leon Greene as Captain Miles Gloriosus
- Pamela Brown as Loftier Priestess
- Inga Nielsen as Gymnasia
- Beatrix Lehmann as Domina's female parent
- Alfie Bass as Gatekeeper
- Roy Kinnear as Gladiator teacher
- Bill Kerr as Gladiator-in-Training
- Lucienne Bridou as Panacea
- Helen Funai as Tintinabula
- Jon Pertwee as Crassus
- Janet Webb equally Fertilla
- Peter Butterworth as Lookout
- Frank Thornton equally 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-year-former was able to perform many of his ain stunts, to the anaesthesia of the cast and crew.[ii] Forum would exist his final film appearance.
- Futurity Third Physician Jon Pertwee, brother of screenwriter Michael Pertwee, appears briefly every bit Crassus, who reports that there is no plague in Crete. He had originally played Lycus in the 1963 West Terminate stage product.
- Kinnear appeared in eight other films directed by Richard Lester: Help! (1965), How I Won the War (1967), The Bed Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Juggernaut (1974), Royal Flash (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989).
Songs [edit]
- "Comedy Tonight" — Pseudolus and Company
- "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 cut for the moving picture: "Love I Hear" (Hero), "Costless" (Pseudolus and Hero), "Pretty Little Moving-picture show" (Pseudolus, Hero, Philia), "I'm Calm" (Hysterium), "Impossible" (Senex and Hero), "That Dirty Old Human being" (Domina) and "That'll Show Him" (Philia).[3]
Sondheim'due south music was adapted for the film version of Forum by Ken Thorne, who previously worked with The Beatles on Assist! (1965).[iv]
Production [edit]
Although the musical had originally been written with Phil Silvers in listen, Nil Mostel starred on Broadway as Pseudolus,[v] and Richard Lester was his choice to direct the movie version. Other directors who were considered included Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Mike Nichols.[4] It was filmed at the Samuel Bronston Studios in Madrid, Espana, and on location around that city, on an estimated upkeep of $2 million. Filming took place from September to November 1965.[ citation needed ]
Jack Gilford was likewise re-creating his phase role, as Hysterium,[5] and there are other connections to the Broadway production. Tony Walton, who designed the product, including the costumes, was too the designer of the Broadway bear witness. For Walton, who was married to Julie Andrews from 1959 to 1967, Forum came at the beginning of both his film and stage careers: information technology was his 2nd Broadway production, and his tertiary flick - he had designed costumes for Mary Poppins in 1964, and did the overall production design of Fahrenheit 451 in 1966. Bob Simmons, a renowned stunt coordinator, designed and performed many of the action scenes in the film.[ citation needed ]
Forum is remarkable equally ane of the few films in which Buster Keaton appeared where he employed a double. Keaton was suffering from final cancer at the time – a fact of which he was non aware – and Mick Dillon stood-in for him for the running sequences. However, Buster performed the pratfall afterward running into a tree in the chase sequence virtually the stop of the flick himself, as no 1 could properly imitate his pratfalls.[vi]
The animated end credits created past Richard Williams characteristic many houseflies, a reminder of the fly problem the production suffered through when the fruits and vegetables which festooned the set were left out to rot overnight after the end of the shooting day.[4]
George Martin, who with Ethel Martin is credited with the choreography of the flick,[seven] was the assistant to choreographer Jack Cole on Broadway.[viii] (Jerome Robbins also did some uncredited piece of work on the phase show.[5]) Other members of the Forum team are notable as well. Cinematographer Nicholas Roeg moved up to the director's chair to brand films such every bit Performance (1970), with Mick Jagger, Walkabout (1971), Don't Await Now (1973), and The Man 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 xiv of that twelvemonth. It went into general release in January 1967.[ citation needed ]
Reception [edit]
Box function [edit]
The moving picture obtained $viii.5 million in bodily box part domestic gross receipts during 1966–67. When adjusted for current (2019) motion picture costs, its box part revenue would be equivalent to $69.three million. It was the 26th-nigh-pop movie shown in U.Due south. theaters that year.[x]
The picture show received nigh $iii million in rentals in the U.S.[ citation needed ]
Critical reception [edit]
The film received generally positive notices, with a current 86% score on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews, with an average of 7.00/10.[xi] Diversity wrote, "Flip, glib and sophisticated, yet rump-slappingly earthy and fast-paced, 'Forum' is a capricious await at the seamy underside of classical Rome through a 20th-Century hipster'due south shades [...] Mostly assayed with satirical thrust and on-target accurateness, almost all of the performances are top-rung and thoroughly good."[12] In a generally favorable review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby praised the "handsomely realistic settings" and determined that "Stephen Sondheim'south music and lyrics concur up well," but too found it "difficult to decide whether Mr. Lester has gone likewise far, or non far plenty, in translating into film terms the carefully calculated nonsense originally conceived for the theater. He'due south washed a lot of tricky things — with his penchant for quick cut and juxtaposition of absurd images — but in that location are times when this mode seems oddly at variance with the basic material, which is roughly ii,000 years older than the motion-picture camera."[13]
Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the motion picture moved and then fast that "I simply couldn't ingest information technology all in one viewing," but "I was able to annals enough to realize I was enjoying myself hugely. 'Forum' is a bawdy, ribald romp that rips Rome'due south Groovy Guild right up the middle, an out-and-out burlesque show that may fifty-fifty—underneath all the frenetic foolery, the flourishing of floozies and the pratfalls—have something satirical and cynical to tell us near nations and why they fall."[fourteen] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post raved, ""Bawdy, gaudy and lawry, how funny! 'A Funny Matter 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 pct of the picture," calling the jokes "both atrocious and exactly correct for Mostel, Silvers and visitor."[16] A review in the UK'south Monthly Moving-picture show Bulletin thought that Lester's fast-moving direction style made for a "curious effect of dislocation," writing that Mostel and Silvers "constantly find the editor snapping at their tails while Lester dashes down some attractive byway and the laugh they probably would have got is stopped short." The review concluded, "Apart from the long chase at the terminate, which is boring and irrelevant, this is an odd, good-humoured mess of a movie, in spite of everything decidedly likeable."[17]
A negative review came from King Reed who opined in his review of the tape version of the film'south soundtrack album that "the real wit in Stephen Sondheim'southward score for the very funny Broadway burlesque A Funny Thing Happened on the Mode to the Forum was all but totally demolished in Richard Lester's vulgar, witless, and over-stylized film version. All but a handful of the marvelous Sondheim songs were ditched, the few remaining musical numbers were so integrated into the action that they took a dorsum seat to Lester'south cocky-witting visual gimmicks, and the riotous Aught Mostel was nearly crowded out of the plot completely."[ citation needed ]
Awards and honors [edit]
Music manager Ken Thorne received an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Accommodation or Treatment in 1966. In addition, the flick was nominated that year for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy".[eighteen] [xix]
Run across too [edit]
- List of American films of 1966
- Up Pompeii!
References [edit]
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1967", Diversity, three January 1968 p 25. Please annotation these figures refer to rentals accruing to the distributors.
- ^ Buster Keaton: A Difficult Act to Follow, Thames Goggle box 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 Style to the Forum" (TCM commodity)
- ^ a b c IBDB "A Funny Thing Happened on the Fashion to the Forum"
- ^ Freese, Factor Scott (2014) Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s (Second Edition). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company ISBN 978-1-4766-1470-0
- ^ TCM Full credits
- ^ IBDB George Martin
- ^ "Overview". Turner Archetype Movies.
- ^ "1966 Top Box Office Movies | Ultimate Film Rankings". 2018-04-xviii.
- ^ A Funny Thing Happened on the Mode to the Forum at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Moving picture Reviews: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum". Variety: 6. 1966-09-28.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (1966-10-17). "Screen: 'Funny Thing' Happens Here". The New York Times: 48.
- ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (December four, 1966). "'Fahrenheit' Freezes Blood, 'Forum' a Funny Thing". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 11.
- ^ Coe, Richard L. (1966-12-24). "'Funny Matter' A Funny Thing". The Washington Post. p. D7.
- ^ Gill, Brendan (1966-10-22). "The Electric current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 165.
- ^ "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 34 (398): 41. March 1967.
- ^ "Winners & Nominees 1967". world wide web.goldenglobes.com . Retrieved 2021-xi-eleven .
- ^ "Oscars Awards Database". awardsdatabase.oscars.org . Retrieved 2022-05-26 .
External links [edit]
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the American Film Constitute Catalog
- A Funny Matter Happened on the Mode to the Forum at IMDb
- A Funny Affair Happened on the Way to the Forum at AllMovie
- A Funny Matter Happened on the Fashion to the Forum at the TCM Flick 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)