Mike Grady Movies
- 1989
- R
Tony award-winning British musical comedy star Robert Lindsay makes his first important American film appearance in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool. Lindsay, of course, plays the title character, a coal miner who dreams of becoming a big showbiz star. Only problem is, there's very little demand for Bert Rigby's impersonations of Buster Keaton and Gene Kelly. Undaunted, Bert heads to Hollywood, where, while working as a butler in the household of movie mogul Jim Shirley (Corbin Bernsen), he must fend off the advances of Shirley's hot-to-trot wife, Meredith (Anne Bancroft). Befitting the old-fashioned nature of Bert Rigby's behavior and tastes in entertainment, director Carl Reiner adopts a "retro" approach to his material; at times, the film looks as though it was made in 1939 rather than 1989, despite its R-rated sex, profanity, and body-function jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lindsay, Cathryn Bradshaw, (more)
- 1983
- G
Joseph Papp's notion of staging one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best-loved operettas with two pop singers (Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith) in the leads paid off as a surprise Broadway smash in the early 1980s, and this film faithfully reproduces Papp's production, featuring most of the original cast and the original director. Frederic (Smith) has been taught since childhood to be a sea-going bandit by the Pirate King (Kevin Kline), but with his 21st birthday imminent, Frederic wants to leave pirating behind, especially after he becomes infatuated with innocent Mabel (Ronstadt). But the Pirate King informs Frederic that since he was born on the last day of February on a Leap Year, his 21st birthday won't roll around for some time yet, and he still owes the King some raiding on the high seas. To Frederic's embarrassment, the Pirate King's next target turns out to be Major General Stanley (George Rose), Mabel's father! The Pirates of Penzance also features Angela Lansbury as Ruth (the sole major casting change from the Broadway production -- Estelle Parsons played the role on stage). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, (more)
- 1975
- G
- Add The Return of the Pink Panther to QueueAdd The Return of the Pink Panther to top of Queue
After several years at loggerheads with one another, director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers reteamed for the slapstick fiesta The Return of the Pink Panther. It looks as though wizard cat-burglar Sir Charles Litton, played by David Niven in the original 1964 Pink Panther but here essayed by Christopher Plummer, is back in business. Dispatched to the Swiss resort town of Gstaad by his long-suffering superior Inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom), Clouseau adopts a series of easily penetrable (and hilarious) disguises to get the goods on Sir Charles and his wife Claudine (Catherine Schell). If you remember A Shot in the Dark, you'll recall that Clouseau's ineptitude turned Inspector Dreyfuss into a twitching homicidal maniac. The same thing happens here, paving the way for the sequel, The Pink Panther Strikes Again. And, as with all the "Panther" movies, we are treated to the insinuating theme music by Henry Mancini, and the animated opening and closing titles. Return of the Pink Panther earned $17 million on its initial release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, (more)
Zany British comedian Frankie Howerd, who'd previously laid waste to Ancient Rome in Up Pompeii, does same with World War II in Up the Front. Howerd plays a timorous servant who undergoes hypnosis. While thus entranced, he imagines himself a fearless warrior, and makes a beeline to the recruiting office. The laughs come fast and furious when Howerd finds himself the recipient of the enemy's war plans--tattooed on his tush. As was customary, Frankie Howerd took several opportunities in Up the Front to directly address the audience and crack wise about the situation at hand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
