A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966) Review

Leering ,loud, madcap, pun-filled farce gives Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Phil Silvers, and a very young Michael Crawford a lot to be very silly about. 

 It's a naughty bawdy (well for the mid-60s) film adaptation of a legendary Broadway show with songs by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Larry Gelbart (Tootsie/ tv's Mash  ) and Bert Shevelove turned into a lush gag-filled film directed by Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night - 1964; Help! - 1965,  The Three Musketeers - 1974) and photographed (Madrid Spain standing in for the outskirts of Rome) by Nicholas Roeg  (Walkabout -1971;  Don't Look Now - 1973; The Man Who Fell to Earth - 1976).

The film showcases Zero Mostel (The Producers;  The Hot Rock) as the scheming slave Psuedolos who's rubber-faced antics are a delight to witness.   One of the best of the many throwaway lines happens as he examines a bottle of wine and says: ‘was One a good year?".

Jack Gilford (who will still probably be a familiar face to anyone over 40) almost steals the show away from Mostel with his antics as a slave who tries to follow the rules.  Phil Silvers almost seems to be playing Sgt. Bilco in a tunic (which is very funny)  and you have wonderful supporting work from a wide variety of well cast actors completely committed to keeping things silly and over the top.

It will be too loud and too exhausting for some, but director Lester never lets up with his fast edits that add goofy little bits constantly.

As an added treat we have a few minutes of Buster Keaton who plays a character amusingly titled  Eronius;  introducing a silly sub-plot and then literally becoming the movie's running gag (because he is constantly running).   It was one of the last roles the great comedian would play and he's perfectly cast in the small role.

The plot is a loosely constructed bedroom sort of farce involving the son of a wealthy family falling in love with a courtesan who has already been bought by a Captain. Psuedolos (Mostel)wants his freedom so agrees to help get the two young lovers together, defying the wishes of his masters and running afoul of the Captain who arrives to claim his prize.  The complications, switching of identities, men in drag, scantily clad women, bad puns, older men leering after young women, lead to a ridiculous chase sequence reminiscent of the old Mack Sennett Keystone cops of the silent era.

Best song:  COMEDY TONIGHT.

Why all the flies in the animation during the end-titles? Inside joke.  The lavish sets were decorated with lots of fresh fruit.  The fruit rotted in the hot sun attracting lots of flies and creating some unforeseen production problems-thus  flies animated for the end-credits.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM  1966   Directed by Richard Lester