It was amusing to see the cast being silly in this setting, Ancient Rome, and it definitely comes across as an old school comedy. The pace is great though; it zips along from one bit or line to another at breakneck speed with that free spirit of the 1960's, so even though only some of it worked for me, I was reasonably entertained. It seemed a little bit like a guilty pleasure because the treatment of women is pretty poor, especially early on. We see all the stereotypes here - the shrewish wife, the buxom prostitutes, the innocent virgin, the exoticized Asian and African-American dancers, and the less attractive but horny one. There's a potion concocted for virility, and a potion concocted to drug a woman so she can be carried away. None of it's meant in a hurtful way, but it does have a certain Benny Hill / juvenile vibe to it.
At its best there are elements of wry humor or sophistication in the dialogue, and I chuckled at times. I also liked some of the physical comedy of Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford (both heroes of the blacklist era), and always like seeing Phil Silvers' deliver his lines. It was touching to see Buster Keaton in his last film role at age 70, even if there really wasn't a whole lot to see, other than my wistful recollections of his glory years 40 years earlier. I love the fact that he improv'd that last bit running in to the tree. If he seems criminally underused, well he was, but he was terminally ill with cancer and died 8 months before the film was released, so it's understandable.
Everything here is a mixed-bag though, even the soundtrack from Stephen Sondheim, which has one memorable number you may recognized ("Comedy Tonight") but several others that are mediocre (including "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", which serves up a good dose of misogyny in its lyrics). I can't really compare it to the stage production because I haven't seen it, but it seems that director Richard Lester went all out for a frenetic production, and the result was entertaining as a spectacle, but uneven.
Quote: "Arrange food, drink, entertainment, and a sit-down orgy for fourteen."
At its best there are elements of wry humor or sophistication in the dialogue, and I chuckled at times. I also liked some of the physical comedy of Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford (both heroes of the blacklist era), and always like seeing Phil Silvers' deliver his lines. It was touching to see Buster Keaton in his last film role at age 70, even if there really wasn't a whole lot to see, other than my wistful recollections of his glory years 40 years earlier. I love the fact that he improv'd that last bit running in to the tree. If he seems criminally underused, well he was, but he was terminally ill with cancer and died 8 months before the film was released, so it's understandable.
Everything here is a mixed-bag though, even the soundtrack from Stephen Sondheim, which has one memorable number you may recognized ("Comedy Tonight") but several others that are mediocre (including "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", which serves up a good dose of misogyny in its lyrics). I can't really compare it to the stage production because I haven't seen it, but it seems that director Richard Lester went all out for a frenetic production, and the result was entertaining as a spectacle, but uneven.
Quote: "Arrange food, drink, entertainment, and a sit-down orgy for fourteen."