A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

What a beautiful movie!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While Stephen Sondheim has revealed that he prefers writing music to lyrics, I couldn't imagine anybody else writing the lyrics to the musicals he has written. Unfortunately, in the case of the movie version of the 1962 smash musical farce, most of his songs are missing and other than a few, they lack the punch of what was on stage. This is far from his best score, as it is extremely light-hearted, almost a burlesque of what Rodgers and Hart had written for the similarly themed "The Boys From Syracuse". Still, it is definitely his funniest musical which was a definite influence for "The Frogs" which he wrote a decade later but didn't get produced on Broadway until the mid 2000's. I refer to that show as "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hades".Having seen two stage productions of "A Funny Thing Happened", I couldn't help but notice that the show simply couldn't be produced on film any other way than it has been. It is a show for a bawdy comic (hense Zero Mostel's presence as the narrator in the original), basically the type of show that funny men like Bobby Clark, Jackie Gleason and Bert Lahr might have done 20 years before. To re-create that on film looses the impact and it would have come off as too silly where while on stage an actor can ad-lib. Case in point, when I saw Whoopie Goldberg play the character of Pseudolous in the late 1990's, she ad-libbed quite a bit, to late patrons, to actors who forgot their lines, and to the whole silliness of the action on stage.Actually, Pseudelous is a man, not a free one, so to try to make something funny out of slavery is a difficult task. This is ancient Rome, however, so there's a lot to spoof. You couldn't do this about Southern slaves, but ancient times are ripe for parody. The cast is filled with funny people, including Mostel repeating his Tony winning role (which he wouldn't get to do for "Fiddler on the Roof"), Phil Silvers (who later won a Tony for playing Pseudelous in the first revival), Jack Gilford and Buster Keaton in his last film role. Just count the laughs Keaton gets for running around the seven hills of Rome seven times and giving the count to Mostel as he passes him. Gilford gets to repeat his stage part as the nervous Hysterium, and how can you not adore this gentle funny faced man? This is also of historical interest because of the fact that Mostel and Gilford had major comebacks after a period of blacklisting, sort of a public apology for the ridiculousness of the anti-red scare of a decade before. The role of Hero is played by none other than the future "Phantom of the Opera", Michael Crawford, in one of two movie musicals he did. He's quite unrecognizable in retrospective of his "Phantom" fame, but is low-key and shy when singing "Lovely" to the dizzy heroine, Annette Andre. British character actor Michael Hordern is appropriately lecherous as Psudelous's master with Patricia Jessel totally imperious as the rightly named Dominia. Unfortunately gone is Dominia's song, "That Dirty Old Man", which in retrospect is a perfect stage song yet might have been questionable if included in the film. Leon Greene as the General looks straight out of an Italian gladiator movie. The courtesans are properly tall and sexy and the element of farce is apparent throughout. Unfortunately, it's one of those movie musicals which for those who have seen it on stage has to be considered a missed opportunity. The problem is obviously not in its casting. That element is perfect. The problem is in the execution of how the film was done.The musical highlight has to be the inclusion of the show's biggest show-stopper, "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", which just gets bawdier and bawdier as characters join in the number that initially just starts with Mostel and Hordern. So while the film is far from perfect, it does have a few highlights, but perhaps this is one hit Broadway show that just couldn't be done as written so we have to accept what we got.

Boasting a priceless cast, a catchy score, and frenetic direction, Richard Lester's film adaptation of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is solidly entertaining and should not be judged for what could have been. Granted, many of Stephen Sondheim's songs from the stage production were cut, but fans of the original can catch the complete work in frequent revivals. Utilizing the rapid-fire editing and inventive screen compositions that revolutionized teen musicals in his two Beatles' films, Lester pumped up "Forum's" adrenaline and created a work that could never be anything but a movie. Crammed with sight gags and slapstick, many drawn from silent comedies, the movie was appropriately Buster Keaton's last film, and he left us laughing. In addition to Keaton, the irreplaceable trio of Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, and Jack Gilford are hysterical, and each member of the talented supporting cast, which includes Michael Hordern, Patricia Jessel, and Michael Crawford, has their moment.The art direction by Tony Walton is a beautiful and sometimes humorous evocation of a fanciful Ancient Rome, and Richard Williams's closing title sequence is worth waiting for. "Forum" speeds along at a breakneck pace and may exhaust some viewers. However, few will be bored. Sondheim purists will not be pleased, but those who love silent comedy will revel in the homages. While certainly not a definitive adaptation of the stage musical, Lester's version has enough merit to be sparkling entertainment and a treasure trove of inspired comic performances.

In ancient Rome, a sloppy, lazy slave must unite his young master with a virginal courtesan just imported from Greece, but she has already been bought by a virile Captain. Richard Lester's New York/Jewish burlesque revue, a 'throw everything at the screen and see if it sticks' slapstick comedy based on the hit Broadway show. With Nicolas Roeg as his cinematographer, Lester (aided by the wizardry of his editors) stages one breathless, breakneck scene after another, not attempting to top himself with each one but rather trying for any laugh he can buy. The cast of old pros mug to the camera shamelessly, slinging those wisecracks home with gusto, but the film isn't a gut-buster. It works intermittently and has some nice musical sketches (and the Madrid locations were a fine visual choice), but the jokes don't connect with the audience in a human way. It's just a series of boffo vaudeville routines, some of which get hammered home and others that are handled gingerly, making a lilting comedic impression. **1/2 from ****

The music in this film by Steven Sondheim is excellent and I enjoyed most of the songs despite the fact that most of the actors couldn't sing if their lives depended on it. And as for the story, it was pretty interesting, though after a while I felt pretty weary from the fast pace and the film actually got a bit tiresome--like it just ran out of steam. Now this isn't to say that I hated the film. At first, I really liked it, but after a while I just was ready for it all to end. I think Leonard Maltin hit the nail on the head when he commented that the film just tried a little TOO hard! In other words, it lacked subtlety and kept assaulting you so fast that you just wish the film had slowed down and taken a more leisurely pace. Also, sadly, this was Buster Keaton's last film and the role wasn't particularly memorable. Heck, blink twice and you might just miss him!