Sid Caesar Movies

Sid Caesar was the star and producer of two of the landmark television comedy series of the 1950's, Your Show Of Shows and Caesar's Hour, but a large part of Caesar's gift was his eye for talent -- his cast featured Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Nannette Fabray, and Howard Morris, and his writing staff included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating The Comedy features interviews with Caesar and his fellow actors and writers, discussing how the came to create some of the great moments of television's golden age. The video also features a number of classic sketches from Caesar's shows, including one of Caesar's famous doubletalk routines, The Cobbler's Daughter; a pantomimed argument set to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Sid as beatnik jazz musician Progress Hornsby; and the classic film parody From Here To Obscurity. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fantasist Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of his 1957 Saturday Evening Post short story, "The Magic White Suit," previously adapted as a TV drama, a stage musical, and a play. Middle-aged Gomez (Joe Mantegna) hopes to own the beautiful white suit he spots in a store window. Since he can't afford it, he locates four same-size men to each contribute $20. On a Friday evening, the five in turn don the shining suit for an hour, and when they wear the iridescent garment, their wishes come true. Director Stuart Gordon had success 30 years ago with his production of the stage play. The opening titles are in sand animation. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This is the fourth in a series of movies that began with National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983 and feature the family headed by Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) going on wacky vacations. This time, the Griswolds visit Las Vegas. Clark immediately goes to the blackjack table and starts blowing all his money, continually encouraged to spend more and more by a taunting dealer, Marty (Wallace Shawn). Ellen Griswold (Beverly D'Angelo) becomes smitten with the lounge singer Wayne Newton (playing himself), who invites her to sing onstage with him. Their son Rusty (Ethan Embry) is incredibly lucky playing dice, and he is virtually adopted by a family of gangsters who see him as their meal ticket. Daughter Audrey (Marisol Nichols) gets hooked up with her wild cousin Vickie (Shae D'Lyn), who takes her to sleazy dance clubs. White-trash cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), who lives on a former A-bomb test site in the nearby desert, also gets involved with the capers. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Three giants of early television--Milton Berle, Sid Caesar and Danny Thomas--combine their talents in the made-for-TV Side by Side. Berle and Caesar play a couple of 65-year-olds who've just been forcibly retired; Thomas portrays a widower, who's been aimless and lethargic since the death of his wife. The trio gains a new lease on life when they team up to manufacture a line of clothing exclusively designed for senior citizens. Their zeal intensifies when Berle's old boss Richard Klein spitefully develops a rival wardrobe line. Marjorie Lord, who'd played Danny Thomas' wife on TV in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is here cast as Sid Caesar's spouse. Side By Side first aired on March 6, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This witty version of Hans Christian Anderson's moral tale of a king whose vanity makes him an easy mark for con artists, features Sid Caesar and Art Carney. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In its own mild, unobtrusive manner, the made-for-TV Love is Never Silent managed to knock an all-star adaptation of Alice in Wonderland out of the ratings box when it was first telecast on December 9, 1985. Based on the Joanne Greenberg novel In This Sign, the film stars Mare Winningham as a normally functioning woman with deaf parents. Using sign language, Winningham has spent most of her Depression-era childhood as her parents' only conduit to the outside world. When a close family friend (Sid Caesar in a towering non-comic performance) asks Winningham if she isn't sacrificing the opportunity for happiness on her own, she carefully considers his words. She marries Frederick Lehne, at which point her embittered parents close off their relationship with their daughter. How Ms. Winningham manages to bridge this gap is the focus of the film's final scenes. The parents are played by Ed Waterstreet and Phyllis Frelich, longtime members of the National Theatre for the Deaf. The Emmy-winning Love is Never Silent was originally presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy fuses Three Stooges clips with a storyline about a "Stooge Maniac" who is so obsessed with the comedians his sanity comes into question. Josh Mostel plays Stooge devotee Howard F. Howard, and Melanie Chartoff is Beverly, the woman of his dreams. Howard's condition is analyzed by Dr. Fixyer Minder (Sid Caesar) and for awhile the Stooge fanatic spends some time in a mental institution. Will this damage his love affair with Beverly? And will he know it if it does? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

(Burt Reynolds) as J.J. McClure takes off across the country again in this rickety sequel to Cannonball Run. A sheik has offered $1,000,000 to the first driver to reach a destination in Connecticut from Redondo Beach, California, inspiring J.J. and others to go for the gold. With cameos from more name performers than any dozen films together, (Frank Sinatra and the rat pack, Telly Savalas, Susan Anton, Shirley MacLaine, Jackie Chan, Sid Caesar, Marilu Henner, Catherine Bach, etc., etc., etc.), the movie becomes a pastiche and is executed as though no rehearsals were required, or ever happened. A disparate group of people racing to get a lot of money was first successfully exploited in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, a much better film, and with just as many cameos, in fact. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This 1983 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Sid Caesar and features musical guest Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

Two giants of American TV comedy--Dick Van Dyke and Sid Caesar--were teamed for the first (and thus far last) time in Found Money. Forced into early retirement, bank executive Max Shepherd (Van Dyke) befriends bank guard Sam Green (Caesar) who likewise has been given the sack. Since both men have been cheated of their pensions, Max and Sam plot an intricate revenge. They will use their combined "inside" know-how to rob the bank, then cleanse themselves of perfidy by redistributing the wealth to the needy. Originally telecast December 19, 1983, Found Money was directed by former Dick Van Dyke} contributor Bill Persky; it was co-written by actor Richard Sanders, of WKRP in Cincinnati fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mel Brooks produced, directed, wrote, and starred in this episodic comedy in the spirit of Monty Python and the 1957 studio travesty The Story of Mankind. The film is divided into five sequences that play like blue-toned Eddie Cantor vaudeville sketches -- "The Dawn of Man," "The Stone Age," The Spanish Inquisition," "The Bible," and "The Future." Also included is a Brooksian depiction of The Last Supper and a long-winded sequence about the French Revolution. The film starts with a 2001: A Space Odyssey parody, narrated by Orson Welles, in which a collection of ape-men learn to stand erect (in more ways than one). The Stone Age reveals the origins of both the first homo sapien and homosexual marriages. Brooks then appears in an Old Testament sequence as Moses, descending from Mount Sinai with three heavy stone tablets bearing the 15 Commandments; after he drops one of these tablets, the laws of God become 10 Commandments. The Roman period picks up with Brooks as Comicus, attempting to get a gig as a "stand-up philosopher" at Caesar's Palace. The Spanish Inquisition is a musical production number with monks torturing Jews to lively Broadway musical strains. The final French revolution section is a broad parody of The Man in the Iron Mask story. The film closes with coming attractions of "History of the World, Part II" that features a rousing Star Wars parody (anticipating Space Balls) called "Jews in Space" that includes a jaunty theme song. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This early-'80s made-for-TV movie includes most of the cast of the original Munsters TV series. An evil scientist creates android replicas of the Munster family in order to frame them for the robbery of an art-gallery. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide