It's a (somewhat) rainy May 2nd, but it is Springtime! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPXHRX8Q2hs

I guess Williams' gained acclaim due to his ad-libbing abilities, but it seems clear he was heavily 'inspired' by this performance. Dick Shawn was the best thing about this film (along with Springtime....) and it's no surprise the audition and show performance seem to be considered as highlights by many.

The remainder of the film left me pretty cold really in all areas.

@theburbs said:

...and not think Robin Williams was inspired by Dick Shawn?

No! It's not a stretch at all to think that Shawn's humor permeated CA when Robin was coming up. Clearly he had a solid influence, but Robin's performances were so suffused with a million different nuances and encounters he had that he held his own as a consummate composite of humanity at large.

@Fergoose said:

I guess Williams' gained acclaim due to his ad-libbing abilities, but it seems clear he was heavily 'inspired' by this performance. Dick Shawn was the best thing about this film (along with Springtime....) and it's no surprise the audition and show performance seem to be considered as highlights by many.

The remainder of the film left me pretty cold really in all areas.

I can think of so many iconic moments from Brook's film. The ancillary performances were not really the takeaway in regards to humor most took away from this play. Maybe you missed the satire?

@Fergoose said:

The remainder of the film left me pretty cold really in all areas.

Yeah, I didn’t follow the film well at all myself, and I would go so far as to state that the Springtime… scene(s) is/are the only one(s) I found funny in this. 😂

It might be worth re-watching. Hint- You don't have to repay investors if your play fails. :)

Yeah, I got the whole thrust of the film with the hippy Hitler inadvertently making the play a comedic success and ruining our protagonist's plans. I just found it very heavy handed and a bit over the top for my personal tastes. I only watched it to challenge my Gene Wilder aversion after watching a documentary on him. I remain non-plussed on that score.

So it's just your bias that drives your antipathy then? Nothing to do with the premise (of all Jewish protagonists) . Or the content, message, satire of the actual play?

So it's just your bias that drives your antipathy then? Nothing to do with the premise (of all Jewish protagonists) . Or the content, message, satire of the actual play?

@ANTIVICTORIA said:

So it's just your bias that drives your antipathy then? Nothing to do with the premise (of all Jewish protagonists) . Or the content, message, satire of the actual play?

Oh no, I always have an open mind and the antipathy is a result of hammed up performances far below comedic excellence and a somewhat underwhelming script that does little to capitalise on the promising premise. I'm not one to give extra points because of the ethnicity/creed of the talent and dont think it lended the film a particular poignancy given it is a goofball comedy. I'd have laughed more if the script and performances were better and the cast were all Austrian atheists.

A Mel Brooks film with hammed up performances??? The Devil you say! If that is your criteria, I recommend you never watch another Mel Brooks movie. Over the top, overacted, and hammed up comedy, is all he does. Maybe the understated lowkey comedy of Wes Anderson is more your style

How would you have improved it?

@ANTIVICTORIA said:

A Mel Brooks film with hammed up performances??? The Devil you say! If that is your criteria, I recommend you never watch another Mel Brooks movie. Over the top, overacted, and hammed up comedy, is all he does. Maybe the understated lowkey comedy of Wes Anderson is more your style

How would you have improved it?

I said "hammed up performances below comedic excellence". You can be hammed up and still amuse me. I would have acting based for the screen rather than for the stage. It's fine to be like that on the stage as you need to project things to the audience. With a movie camera right infront of the actor we dont need everything 'dialled up to 11'. Even within this film Dick Shawn's performance was ridiculously crazy, but it was done without just repeatedly yelling and screaming (which is why I think his performance was the best in the movie).

I just didn't think the acting was up to scratch. In terms of another comedy film I watched around the same time Planes, Trains & Automobiles was far more to my taste. Whilst Candy and Martin were a bit over the top I didn't feel like I was watching someone acting like an attention deprived infant (which is what much of this felt like to me).

I also particularly love Warner Bros cartoons. But if every character in them screamed like Yosemite Sam it'd be one beat, repetitive and get old fast. Much like how I found the leads in this.

Having seen Wilder in Stir Crazy it seems his default is just to bawl like a child. Maybe this was a particularly popular style at the time, but it's not to my taste. I thought he was superb Charlie & the Chocolate Factory though where he clearly had to exercise some degree of restraint and his performance was all the more rewarding for it.

I think I get you now. It's not that you have a bias, you're just younger (than I am-which is just about everyone!). I watched the movie when it was released, and it was a new and mind-blowing idea at the time. Satirizing the money money-making motivations behind the pure "Art" of theater had just never been addressed. It's originality, and newness at the time, created a joyous hilarity that I emotionally bonded with at the time.
You fresher people, have such a sophisticated eye for cinema. I get pulled forward from your view, but also am a little sad that you don't know the origins of what you love, nor why you love it. But there are only about 100 plots for every play ever written. I'll give you an example, I'm a massive Scifi fan. I started at age 7 with Ray Bradbury's "R is for Rocket", from Lucian's "A True Story" in the 2nd century onward, I've read everything. I'm generally bored with most SciFi movies, because they're regurgitating derivative material. But OMG how excited I get when I'm surprised! So I'M the one with the bias! Also, I adore the understated humor of Wes Anderson. I'm going to watch "O Brother Where Art Thou" (Coen Bros) in a half hour. (For the 5th time). The music is fabulous. Thank you DearHeart!
You've expanded my narrow views with your words. How wonderful is that?

@theburbs said:

...and not think Robin Williams was inspired by Dick Shawn?

When I first saw Robin Williams in 1977, I did think that he reminded me a bit of Dick Shawn. Is it a coincidence that both actors died at 63 years of age within 22 miles (35 km) from each other?