I remember The Jerk as being very funny, but I never did care for Stripes. The first half was good, but when they got the super secret weapon and are crusing around in Europe, that's what I didn't care for.

rotfl

I'm with the OP on this one.

I also never found Stripes very funny (except for the excellent early scenes) and always found the Jerk very unfunny. It's not that I dislike the whole late seveties/early eighties/skrewball/snobs vs. slobs/SNL alumni genre. I love Ghostbusters and Caddyshack, for example. It's just that neither of these movies are particularly good, IMO. Maybe it's because I never saw them (actually, come to think of it, I did see Stripes once) as a kid and subsequently have no nostalgic attachment.

Same here. It definitely takes a FDTD* turn for the worse. Up until then it is a great movie.


*From Dusk 'Til Dawn

Oh, if you're talking hack-jobs, the worst by far has to be what's done to the broadcast version(s) of Blazing Saddles. I mean, they've cut the sound f/x from the campfire scene for God's sake!

A big reason I think many people see them as classics is because these guys were from the era when SNL was first introduced and caught on like wildfire for lots of us baby boomers; the first few years of SNL brought some incredible comedy by SNL cast members....Martin wasn't a member, but did do several appearances early on the show so I include him in that category. We learned to love watching these guys every week and we were there late saturday nights seeing what they would come up with. When they left the show for the big screen, the cream of their theatrical movies tend to be comedy classics for alot of people-

Stripes- Bill Murray
Ghostbusters- Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd
The Blues Brothers- Ackroyd and John Belushi
Animal House- John Belushi
The Jerk- Steve Martin
Doctor Detroit- Dan Ackroyd
Caddyshack- Chevy Chase, Bill Murray
National Lampoon's Vacation- Chevy Chase



I guess it can be argued that some of these guys never lived up to their full comedic potential-they all seem to have done some truly awful movies along with some great ones- but to sit and just start writing down names of the great stuff they put out makes me rethink that mindset.

TBS is the devil.

I watched "The Jerk" the other night - and while it was still funny, it wasn't as funny as I had remembered.

Stripes, on the other hand, kept me laughing. I love that flick.

One of the best quotes from the jerk that has not been mentioned yet (probably b/c of the n-word)..."You sir are talking to a ******." Then he proceeds to kung-fu the hell out of the guys.

I laugh my ass off everytime I hear it.

Well, at least until he goes up against Iron Balls McGinty. ;)

Spies Like Us - Chase, Aykroyd
Three Amigos - Chase, Martin, Short

I will take this crop of SNL alum films over any Sandler, Farley, Spade flick any day.

Who said that? Steve Martin's character? And what scene was that?

Who's Bill Murphy?

Anyway, I think Stripes is still very funny after all these years. In fact I watched the new DVD recently and I think it holds up.

(I didn't much like Groundhog Day but I know that has a lot to do with Andie McDowell who I think is the worst actress in the world.)

On the other hand, I didn't like The Jerk when I saw it when it first came out and I have had no desire ever to watch it again. More stupid than funny. Like you, I loved Martin in All of Me, a much, much better movie IMO.

It's been awhile since I saw The Jerk but it was the part after Nathan is rich & he has a bunch of thugs working for him (at least I think they are...as I said it has been awhile). One guy tells hims that he needs to do something about the jews, mexicans & blacks but all with racist terms. That is when Martin says the quote & then kicks their asses.

Now I have to go buy this movie now...

Damn! That's MURRAY, ok! :)

No love for Tommy Boy?

Classic is definetly an over used term.

I like to think of Stripes and The Jerk as 'celebrated' rather than classics.
Meaning they are still seen quite often and still recognized. The term classic denotes a timeless quality, and as many people who are just seeing The Jerk and Stripes out of their era don't understand why they are so celebrated.


But Mel Brook's Blazing Saddles is not a classic, yet for some reason celebrated.
It is overrated.
(repeat: overrated)
And does not have one funny moment.
The end.

-Chile

How old are you?

hahahaha, good responses Mr. Salty and Cameron!

I'm 17

I don't care for a lot of the "classics" either (and I'm 33). Mostly because I just haven't seen them in decades till I finally got them on DVD and just found they weren't as funny as before. Or in some cases I never saw it before, like Animal House for instance... it was funny, but after seeing dozens of comedies come after it and use mostly the same jokes, it just didn't seem that funny for me. Same goes for Halloween, another movie I never got to see till I got the dvd a year ago.

But for me, the only true classic comedy is Pee Wee's Big Adventure. For me, that's one that just never gets old and makes me laugh every time.

Guess it just takes diff'rent strokes to move the world

I am more of a new school comedy fan. lets just say that my favorite comedies are dumb and dumber, ace ventura, tommy boy, austin powers 1,2,and 3 ect.

Did you watch it on Fox's Family Channel?

Considering that the comedies came AFTER Animal House lifted most of the funny stuff from it.... well, you judge for yourself. That's like saying, Porky's wasn't funny, because you saw American Pie first.

I still say "Son-of-bitch! Shit!". Love that scene in Stripes