The greatest comedy creators at the movies - Chaplin, Marx Brothers and more | News.com.au
LOVE him or loathe him, The Dictator's el supremo Sacha Baron Cohen is one of an exalted few who have altered the complexion of cinematic comedy.
Here's our pick:
1920s
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Before Chaplin's iconic Tramp waddled into frame, movie comedies were slapsticky shorts, seen once and soon forgotten. Chaplin hauled the form into feature-length territory, bringing a wide spectrum of emotions along with him.
SEE: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925)
1930s
THE MARX BROTHERS
Once the smart-alec siblings downsized from a quartet to a trio, all comedic hell broke loose. Rigorously organised anarchy defined the Marxes in their prime, with an ability to fire physical and verbal zingers at high velocity that still dazzles today.
SEE: Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935)
1940s
BOB HOPE & BING CROSBY
They may never have made a genuinely classic comedy together, but one irrefutable fact remains : BobnBing made the world fall in laugh with the buddy comedy, and the relationship continues to this very day. Their screen friendship was fickle, foolish and always funny.
SEE: Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Rio (1947)
1950s
SOME LIKE IT HOT
A staple of all-time Top Ten lists to this very day, writer-director Billy Wilder's frantic screwball chuckler ended a so-so decade for laughter with an atomic blast of hilarity. Look past the broad gags, and you will find a sophistication that urged audiences of the era to expect more from a comedy movie.
SEE: A Wilder double-bill of The Seven Year Itch (1955) and The Apartment (1960).
1960s
PETER SELLERS
This chameleonic British funnyman raised the art of comic acting to a whole new level. Though blessed with abundant versatility and an astonishing habit of disappearing wholly inside a character, Sellers always ensured the joke was never lost on his audience.
SEE: Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Party (1968)
1970s
WOODY ALLEN
The complete package, able to direct, write and perform at the highest level. A master of marrying the absurd to the accessible, and the only genuine rival to Chaplin as the biggest influence upon movie comedy in the 20th century. Still taking risks and drawing crowds four decades after his prime.
SEE: Annie Hall (1977), Play It Again Sam (1972)
1980s
THIS IS SPINAL TAP
After becoming one of the first breakout hits of the home video era, this ferociously on-the-money satire of heavy metal music gained swift renown as one of the funniest movies ever made. The mockumentary format perfected by director Rob Reiner here is now a genre unto itself in both film and television.
SEE: Reiner's equally influential The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989)
1990s
JIM CARREY
No single movie comedian has ever matched the hot streak set ablaze by Carrey in the 1990s. The lanky Canadian-born comic fused a manic madcap sensibility with a physical dexterity that deserved its own Olympic event. No wonder he burnt himself out.
SEE: Dumb & Dumber (1994), The Cable Guy (1996)
2000s
SACHA BARON COHEN
Cohen spent almost a decade on TV pole-vaulting back and forth over the wall separating fact and fiction. With Borat, however, Cohen tore that wall down completely. He may never repeat that remarkable achievement again. But neither will anyone else.
SEE: Borat (2007), The Dictator (2012)
2010s
KRISTEN WIIG
If anyone is likely to put an emphatic punchline on the decade, it could well be the multi-talented Wiig. The slamdunk success of Bridesmaids has kicked down a door for female comedians through which many are sure to follow. If Wiig can repeat the dose, chick flicks will never be the same again.
SEE: Bridesmaids (2011)
