Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Trailer Trash: No Pinkies?!

Three decades before Mel Brooks took on Broadway (and triumphed, at least the first time out of the gate), Rialto favorite Neil Simon decided to tread the Brooksian route with a spoof of classic Hollywood whodunits.

The result, Murder by Death, may not be a great film, but it has a peerless cast, amusing situations, some funny lines (Maggie Smith really gives her all to "Where's my Dickie?"), and the peculiar spectacle of Truman Capote trying to be a movie star. Throw in unbridled hammery from the likes of Nancy Walker, Alex Guinness, and Estelle ("Murderpoo?") Winwood, and you've got a perfectly satisfactory night out. It's not Young Frankenstein, but then again neither is it (thank God) Won Ton Ton...

1 comment:

  1. It's a good peice of fun.

    Nancy Walker "screaming" as the deaf-mute maid absolutely destroys me.

    The two old ladies in bed. My sister and I did that bit for years whenever one of us "lost our manners."

    Elsa Lanchester: I smell gas!
    Estelle Winwood: I can't help it, I'm old.
    Elsa: No, not that kind of gas. The kind that kills!
    Estelle: Well, sometimes my gas...

    ReplyDelete