Today Lou would have been 100 so I decide to write a review of,"The Nauhgty Nineties".
Back in the late 1970's and into the early '80s,every Universal produced Abbott & Costello film was shown on local TV. As a kid I found them to be just fall down funny! Being someone who reads and writes a lot,their constant word-play routines would make me laugh 'til I cried! I even found their "slap in the face" gag funny. (I laugh now but kind of cringe at the slightly unwarranted smacks Lou had to endure,fake or not.
Anyhow,I bought this on VHS in 2004,brand new and hadn't seen it in a long,long time. Happy to say "Who's On First","The Cat-Buger Gag" and more still are as funny now as then. My favorite routine,even more than "Who's",is the scene where Bud Abbott is giving directions to a riverboat stage-hand about how to arrange background scenery. Lou comes on-stage wanting to rehearse his song,"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean".
While Lou tries to do his song acapella,Bud is still talking to the stage-hand but...Lou thinks the directions are for him! "Higher!" (Lou sings a little higher) "Higher"!! (Lou sings higher until he screeches! Then "Lower",then "a little to the right",to the left. "Lift the left leg (a stage left piece of back-drop)Lou lifts his left leg,then his right until he's jumping up & down and still trying to sing!! I wont give away the pay-off!
The overall plot is good and standard for a comedy of the 1940's. The captain of the riverboat is deceptively taken over by crooked people. Bud and Lou wok on the ship. Bud is a "ham" actor (full of himself). Lou fixes things on the boat & other duties. It's up to them to get the boat back in the hands of the captain & his daughter somehow. I'll let you rent or buy the movie to see how it all plays out.
Easily one of their top ten best,if not #1,comedies. This is the duo just before the pinnacle of their rise to success. Much as I don't exactly like straight comedy mixed w/musical comedy,I'll forgive it here because unlike in Marx Brothers films where it slows the pace of the laughs,it's not so here. Thank goodness.
Happy 100th Lou,it's your birthday but you are the one who left us the best present.
Back in the late 1970's and into the early '80s,every Universal produced Abbott & Costello film was shown on local TV. As a kid I found them to be just fall down funny! Being someone who reads and writes a lot,their constant word-play routines would make me laugh 'til I cried! I even found their "slap in the face" gag funny. (I laugh now but kind of cringe at the slightly unwarranted smacks Lou had to endure,fake or not.
Anyhow,I bought this on VHS in 2004,brand new and hadn't seen it in a long,long time. Happy to say "Who's On First","The Cat-Buger Gag" and more still are as funny now as then. My favorite routine,even more than "Who's",is the scene where Bud Abbott is giving directions to a riverboat stage-hand about how to arrange background scenery. Lou comes on-stage wanting to rehearse his song,"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean".
While Lou tries to do his song acapella,Bud is still talking to the stage-hand but...Lou thinks the directions are for him! "Higher!" (Lou sings a little higher) "Higher"!! (Lou sings higher until he screeches! Then "Lower",then "a little to the right",to the left. "Lift the left leg (a stage left piece of back-drop)Lou lifts his left leg,then his right until he's jumping up & down and still trying to sing!! I wont give away the pay-off!
The overall plot is good and standard for a comedy of the 1940's. The captain of the riverboat is deceptively taken over by crooked people. Bud and Lou wok on the ship. Bud is a "ham" actor (full of himself). Lou fixes things on the boat & other duties. It's up to them to get the boat back in the hands of the captain & his daughter somehow. I'll let you rent or buy the movie to see how it all plays out.
Easily one of their top ten best,if not #1,comedies. This is the duo just before the pinnacle of their rise to success. Much as I don't exactly like straight comedy mixed w/musical comedy,I'll forgive it here because unlike in Marx Brothers films where it slows the pace of the laughs,it's not so here. Thank goodness.
Happy 100th Lou,it's your birthday but you are the one who left us the best present.