To Be or Not to Be (1983)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Alan Johnson

Writers:

Edwin Justus Mayer (1942 screenplays)
Ronny Graham (writer)

Release Date:

1 February 1984 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War | Comedy

Tagline:

That is the movie!

Plot:

A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when what should intrude but World War II in the form of an invasion...

Plot Keywords:

Gay Holocaust | Reference To Hamlet | Remake | German Occupation | Funny Nazi

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Mel Brooks	...	Dr. Frederick Bronski
Anne Bancroft	...	Anna Bronski
Tim Matheson	...	Lt. Andre Sobinski
Charles Durning	...	Col. Erhardt
Christopher Lloyd	...	Capt. Schultz
José Ferrer	...	Prof. Siletski
Ronny Graham	...	Sondheim
Estelle Reiner	...	Gruba
Zale Kessler	...	Bieler
Jack Riley	...	Dobish
Lewis J. Stadlen	...	Lupinsky
George Gaynes	...	Ravitch
George Wyner	...	Ratkowski
James 'Gypsy' Haake	...	Sasha (as James Haake)
Earl Boen	...	Dr. Boyarski

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Brazil:Livre | Finland:S | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | UK:PG | Argentina:Atp | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Mayfield Senior School - 500 Bellefontaine Street, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Brooksfilms

Trivia:

Col. Earhardt's joke is about Hitler becoming a "pickle". In German, "pickel" means "pimple" or "zit".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Anne Bancroft's character's name is Anna Bronski. However, it should be Anna Bronska because it is an adjectival surname and all adjectives in Polish have masculine and feminine forms. The endings -i and -y are masculine, the feminine equivalents of adjectival surnames end in -a.

Quotes:

[Frederick has to stall Prof. Siletski while the others rush back to his hotel room to search it]
Frederick Bronski: Just don't keep me hanging much longer, I stink without a script!
Lupinsky: [under his breath] He stinks with a script.
Frederick Bronski: I heard that!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Beat This!: A Hip Hop History (1984) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ladies

The most under rated Brooks film

When I saw this I had no idea it was a remake. I didn't know the original had been rated the 49th best comedy of all time by the AFI or that Brooks neither wrote nor directed it.

What I knew was that from the moment it started to the moment the curtains came down I was laughing nonstop in awe of an incredible plot. The film managed to escalate with each passing scene. Just when you thought nothing more could be done to it, they managed to push it further and further. Brook's performance was dead on, as was the entire casts. It's the sort of movie that gives Christopher Loyd only seven or eight lines, and you love him for it and need to ask for anything more.

It continually makes fun itself, building on jokes you thought were over half a movie ago. I'd place this movie above Spaceballs and below Men in Tights, but would say that it is without a doubt the best plot of any movie I've seen in some time, comedy or otherwise.

This is a movie that you should waste no time seeking out and renting, buying, seeing in whatever way you can.

Still not sold? I'll retell one of the jokes. Don't read further if you want the first five minutes to be as fresh as they were for me - if you're debating whether to see it or not, I hope this is able to sway you.

They're in a theater, putting on a show. We hear the Polish songs - not quite sure what they're singing about. The curtain comes down on the two actors smiling and bowing together as the audience claps. The moment the audience can no longer see them the actors start bickering in Polish. We're not sure what they're discussing, but it's clearly a heated debate. The curtain then comes up, they immediately are smiling, bowing, curtain comes down once again and it's back to the Polish bickering. They continue bickering, stopping for an announcement over the loudspeakers in this vaudeville theater. "Attention, for the Sanity and Clarity of the Audience the rest of this movie will be English"

Then the movie switches into English, and the plot begins.