Every Marx Brothers Movie, Ranked

WATCH BOX OFFICE MOVIES FOR FREE


Every Marx Brothers Movie, Ranked

The Marx Brothers are, quite simply, some of the funniest people to ever take the stage or the screen. While it's been nearly 100 years since the brothers Marx brought one of their popular stage plays to the big screen, real comedy is timeless, and the best of the Marx Brothers still hold up today as some of the greatest comedies of all time.

Having said that, not every Marx Brothers film is a comedy classic. There are only 13 feature-length films that star at least three of the five brothers (and one never made any films at all), and while some of them are magical, others are pretty awful. Which is which? Let's dive deep into cinema's history and rank the movies of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo.

13. Love HappyLove Happy was the last movie to star Groucho, Harpo, and Chico and there's a reason. After a movie like this one, it would have been remarkable if anybody had wanted to try and make another. The film was originally designed to be a solo vehicle for Harpo, but Chico talked his way into joining the movie, reportedly so he could pay off gambling debts.

The movie itself went into debt and investors would only supply more cash if Groucho, the bigger name in the family, showed up. This leads to Groucho performing as a narrator over the top of a far-from-memorable story. This is clearly the worst effort by the Marx Brothers by a wide margin, because it's not much of an effort at all.

There's only one reason to bother remembering that Love Happy even exists, a cameo appearance by a beautiful young actress who had never been in a movie before, named Marilyn Monroe.

12. The Big StoreQuite often, a Marx Brothers movie seems to take a similar path to the screen as creating a Die Hard movie or one of the many knockoffs. It's the Marx Brothers in (fill in the blank). When the blank is getting filled in with "Department Store," you can be sure somebody is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Groucho is a floorwalker tasked with protecting the heirs to a department store from an evil store manager who wants to kill them and take the store. The premise could be ridiculous if the comedy was on point, but it's not. The brothers joked that this was their farewell movie, and one has to wonder if they should have retired before they made it.

One of the best scenes in the movie is a physical gag where Chico and Harpo get chased around the store on roller skates, which is frustrating because the scene is obviously using doubles and not Chico or Harpo. It's that kind of movie.

11. A Night in CasablancaAs the name would imply, A Night in Casablanca was inspired by the classic film Casablanca and at one time was designed to be a more direct parody of that movie. The final version of this movie is more of a send-up of World War II dramas in general that sees Groucho as the new manager of the Hotel Casablanca, a position whose previous inhabitants have tended to leave in a box. While it doesn't quite work as well as most Marx Brothers films, I actually kind of enjoy this one. Everybody is clearly older, Groucho's receding hairline is obvious, but everybody came to play. The jokes may not all land, but they're all delivered with the same energy as the best Marx Brothers movies.

10. Go WestGo West has pretty much all of the elements that the rest of the Marx Brothers movies had, but for some reason, they just don't really click here. As the title suggests, the film is a western that sees Chico and Harpo playing brothers who end up in possession of a piece of land on the western frontier which, while devoid of gold, is about to see the railroad go through it, making it much more valuable. The movie does have a great finale on board a train that is as lunatic as anything the Marx Brothers have ever done, making this one worth seeing for that, if no other reason. But you have to get through some pretty significantly lame material to get there.

9. Room ServiceRoom Service is a unique film in the Marx Brothers filmography because it's the only one that wasn't written specifically with them in mind. It's based on a stage play, made obvious by the fact that nearly the entire film takes place in a single hotel room, and while the brothers are still playing their traditional characters, they're significantly toned down, making for a movie that barely feels like a Marx Brothers movie at all. In the end, the brothers are best when the material plays to their strengths, but there's a lot to like about the odd intermission in Marx history.

One thing worth liking is a young Lucille Ball in the role of Christine. She wasn't a star yet, but it's clear here that she would be.

8. At The CircusWhile this is only the number eight spot on this list, it's actually in many ways the mid-point. Every movie we've been through so far is, on balance, not great, while everything from here on is legitimately hilarious. At the Circus is somewhere in-between. You might love it as much as the best Marx Brothers movies, or you might not, but everything that there is to love is here. The high point of At The Circus has to be Groucho's rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" one of his best musical performances in a run that actually includes some great bits. You can do better than At the Circus, but you also can certainly do worse.

7. A Day At The RacesA Day at the Races is probably the last universally loved Marx Brothers movie, chronologically speaking. The story sees Groucho in the role of a veterinarian who has been brought in to treat a wealthy and eccentric human at a sanitarium, played by the Marx Brothers' frequent straight woman, Margaret Dumont. The sanitarium is in danger of closing and being turned into a casino. The only way to save the sanitarium is to bet everything on a horse and hope it wins. Yeah, it's silly, but you were expecting anything less? The operating room scene is a classic, as is the sequence where Chico scams Groucho by selling him a tip on a horse race, which can only be read by the use of a codebook, which Chico has available to sell. Of course, the codebook requires a master codebook to be useful, and I bet you can guess who can sell you one of those.

6. The CocoanutsThe Cocoanuts was the first Marx Brothers film to make a wide release (an earlier attempt at making a movie, Humor Risk, was apparently so bad that it was only shown once and the rumor is Groucho bought the only print and burned it), thus it's also the first one on our list to feature the fourth Marx Brother, Zeppo. Zeppo was the straight man in the family, and often played the romantic lead in the early movies. He does so here, in a film that sees Groucho as a Florida resort hotel manager trying to sell swampland at auction. Meanwhile, Chico and Harpo attempt to rob one of the hotel's few paying customers. The great routine in this one sees a viaduct found on a map, leading Chico to ask, "I give up, why a duck?"

5. Horse FeathersHorse Feathers is, from start to finish, a hilarious film. Groucho plays a college professor and Zeppo plays his son, a student at the college, which is the first reason you know the movie will be ridiculous. The speakeasy sequence where Groucho tries to guess the password (Swordfish) is a classic, as is Groucho's song, "I'm Against It." Groucho looks to recruit a couple of people to join the college football team, but ends up getting Chico and Harpo by mistake. They win the game anyway, via shenanigans of course. It's not exactly Remember the Titans, but a funnier football scene in a movie you're unlikely to find.

4. Monkey BusinessMonkey Business is Marx Brothers insanity in its purest form. The characters in the movie played by the four brothers aren't even given actual names in the script, proving that the plot here is inconsequential. The brothers are stowaways on an ocean liner who end up going to work for a couple of competing mobsters in order to avoid being discovered. One mobster kidnaps the daughter of the other, which sounds important, but it's not. In the end, the lack of plot lets the Marx Brothers just be the Marx Brothers, and the result may not make any sense as a movie, but it's frequently hilarious.

It's difficult to pick a "best part" of Monkey Business but it's probably the passport bit that sees the brothers all attempt to use the stolen passport of French superstar of the day Maurice Chevalier (who never actually appears in the film) to get off the boat.

3. Animal CrackersAnimal Crackers is the brothers' second movie and also the second one based directly on one of their stage plays. It may contain one of Groucho's most memorable performances ever as Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding (literally the least silly name for a Groucho character ever) which includes the great "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" song. The film has several of Groucho's most quotable lines ("One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know"). The film is so stacked with comedy they even let Zeppo get in a few lines. It's proof that the fourth brother was criminally underused in the films. It makes one wonder how much funnier these movies all could have been if he were part of the ensemble.

2. A Night At the OperaThe packed stateroom scene where the Marx Brothers, and most of a cruise ship, get crammed into a tiny room is one of the best known Marx Brothers bits in history. It's enough to put A Night at the Opera near the top of this list by itself. But that's not the only great bit in the film. It's also got the contract exchange between Groucho and Chico ("That's what they call a sanity clause." "You can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Claus.") It's glorious shenanigans combined with a story that holds together remarkably well for a Marx Brothers film. It's so good that the movie was essentially remade in 1992 as Brain Donors, a movie that's far better itself than it has any right to be.

1. Duck SoupGroucho becomes the leader of the nation of Freedonia, and his ego gets them involved in a war. That's as good a place as any to start a movie.

If there's a moment in the history of the Marx Brothers more famous than the Night at the Opera stateroom scene, it's the mirror sequence from Duck Soup. Harpo and Chico both disguise themselves as Groucho in order to steal Freedonia's war plans. Harpo finds himself standing directly across from Groucho, and starts to mimic every move Groucho makes in an attempt to make Groucho think he's standing in front of a mirror. As the scene is done in complete silence, it's Harpo's shining achievement. But he's not the only great performer here. Groucho and Chico here have some of the best dialogue they've ever had Duck Soup wasn't well loved when it was new, but it's aged well and has become the greatest work of the Marx Brothers ever.






Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of Avengers: Endgame, have revealed their regrets at shooting the film back to back with Avengers: Infinity War. Making a film on the scale of Avengers
Avengers Directors Have One Regret About Endgame and Infinity War




Maisie Williams Drops F-Bomb Over The New Mutants' Fate 12 minutes ago Josh Boone's The New Mutants is currently quite the enigma. Thanks primarily to the Disney-Fox merger, the project has existed in a nebulous state for months now,…
Game of Thrones Actor Maisie Williams Drops F-Bomb in Update




RELATED: Tom Hanks Got Very Emotional Recording Toy Story 4's Ending. The plot of the fourquel will revolve around Woody's relationship with Bo Peep, which went on the backburner for the third one. So, ahead of Toy Story 4's release this summer, here are 10 things we know so far about Bo Peep.
Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land: What We Know So Far




What Marvel's War Machine Movie Would Have Been About, According To Don Cheadle 12 Apr 2019 12 Comments Off on What Marvel's War Machine Movie Would Have Been About, According To Don Cheadle
Avengers: Endgame's Don Cheadle Explains Why Rhodes Was So




The writer-director's latest, Skyscraper, I'd never seen an amputee on the poster as the lead guy in an action picture, and I thought it was just about time. It feels like they just sort
Rawson Thurber Interview: Skyscraper | ScreenRant




Two years after its release, Suicide Squad director David Ayer has finally explained a plot hole concerning the Joker's teeth. Suicide Squad might have had an outstanding visual flavor - whatever
Suicide Squad director David Ayer explains Joker plot hole




Listen To John Williams' New Score For Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Land Movies November 18, 2018 No Comments In a theme park far, far away construction is starting to come together to bring the world of Star Wars to your next Disney Parks visit.
Listen To John Williams' New Score For Disney's Star Wars




With Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham being busy shooting Hobbs and Shaw, the two will be sitting out the next main installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast and Furious 9. However, that movie will be getting some new star power to help fill that void, as after being teased in April, […]
John Cena Officially Joins Fast & Furious 9 - articlebio.com




Will Aquaman's Black Manta star be in new Netflix Hulk Hogan biopic? If Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has his way, the answer may be yes. Perhaps in jest, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II took to Twitter to respond to the recent news of Chris Hemsworth signing on to play Hulk Hogan.
'Aquaman' Star Wants To Play Booker T In Chris Hemsworth Hulk




Having said that, one of the most talked about previews of 2018's Super Bowl was not even for a real movie. The fake Dundee reboot starring Danny McBride and an army of Australian movie stars
Danny McBride explains 'Crocodile Dundee' movie, ad for




Subscribe To Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Could Make More Money Opening Weekend Than We Thought Updates close Subscribe To Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Could Make More Money Opening
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Could Make More Money




Subscribe To Upcoming Disney Movies: Full List Of Titles And Release Dates Updates Release Date: June 7, 2019. The X-Men haven't joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe quite yet, but the final
What are the X-Men movies in the order of their release date




Twilight's Kristen Stewart To Star In Lesbian Rom-Com Movies January 25, 2019 No Comments Kristen Stewart has come a long way since coming in the middle of a war between sparkly vampires and werewolves in the Twilight franchise .
Twilight's Kristen Stewart To Star In Lesbian Rom-Com


movie streaming game of thrones
airplane movie streaming
where is the lego movie streaming
ninja movie streaming
youtube free movie streaming
fifty shades freed full movie streaming
gifted movie streaming
what is amazon movie streaming
life movie streaming
quadrophenia movie streaming
movie streaming zgemma
columbus movie streaming
yify movie streaming
worst witch movie streaming
upgrade movie streaming
movie streaming script
movie streaming kingsman 2
movie streaming quality ts
movie streaming sites australia
movie streaming v
movie streaming no sign up
movie streaming website template
hd movie streaming free
go movie streaming
it movie streaming
the best free movie streaming sites
it movie streaming online free
how do you know movie streaming
best movie streaming websites
mandy movie streaming
queen malayalam movie streaming
zero movie streaming
streaming movie quiet place
movie streaming ps4
top ten movie streaming sites
movie streaming online for free
movie streaming bandwidth
movie streaming canada
kulari ke pantai full movie streaming
top 5 movie streaming sites
movie streaming online
movie streaming in canada
movie streaming us free
movie streaming list
movie streaming box
what streaming movie should i watch tonight
will you be there movie streaming
movie streaming dates
movie streaming news
movie streaming in australia
how much data does movie streaming use
movie streaming php script
movie streaming vf
xbox movie streaming apps
amazon movie streaming
movie streaming vumoo
jumanji full movie streaming
movie streaming hd online
movie streaming free 2019
movie streaming chromecast
reddit movie streaming sites 2018
mary queen of scots movie streaming
it movie streaming free
what is movie streaming
a goofy movie streaming
uri movie streaming partner
xbox one movie streaming sites 2019
latest movie streaming sites
what are the best free movie streaming sites
john wick 3 full movie streaming
movie streaming theme wordpress
movie streaming terrarium
the worst horror movie ever made streaming
movie streaming history
after full movie streaming
free movie streaming 123
aquaman full movie streaming
movie streaming sites new zealand
it full movie streaming free
top 10 movie streaming sites
must be love full movie streaming
movie streaming sites yahoo answers
how much is amazon movie streaming
movie streaming guide
pengabdi setan 2017 full movie streaming
movie streaming urls
how big is a streaming movie
psych the movie streaming
movie streaming paid
does amazon have movie streaming
xbox 360 movie streaming sites
movie up streaming
top 20 movie streaming sites
dimsum martabak full movie streaming
best free movie streaming sites 2019
dilan 1991 full movie streaming
zovioz.com unlimited movie streaming
rabbit movie streaming
movie streaming options
lego movie streaming youtube
movie streaming deals
free movie streaming app for ipad
movie streaming video
zodiac movie streaming
that thing you do full movie streaming
top 10 free movie streaming sites
danur full movie streaming
how to download movie streaming
best movie streaming sites
movie streaming database
movie streaming korean
movie streaming ios
that was then this is now movie streaming
john wick full movie streaming
movie streaming search
movie streaming websites 2019
as the gods will movie streaming
movie streaming theme
best movie streaming
split movie streaming
#hostales #merica #WatchUsRise #watchnerds #watchmaniac #fireworks #filmlover #TVSHow #watchestyle #watchhill #filmography #blackhistory365 #watchthemoonrise #Movies #watchobsessed #netflix #filmizle #filmyorumu #movieaddict #melanin #socialstreaming #filmtavsiyesi #watchful #watchpornid #independenceday #watchfamily #watchenthusiasts #Seriale #melaninmagic #watchos4 #blavity #watchquiz #slay #watchalert #Zgerdhiu #holiday #netflixturkiye #moviesstreaming #CASAMXhostales #Qesh #blacktech #watchtattoo #WatchJunkie #movietime #americanflag #Filma24 #blackiflix #watchbrandname #watchingthesunset #blackqueen #watchmovies #watchcandy #fourthofjuly #blacksuccess #watchdose #putitinreverseterry #SomosTuConexi #watchluxus #watchcrazy #bff #Filmametitrashqip #saladetv #blackenterprise #sandrabullock #watchmvmt #TvSeries #WatchMovies

0 comments:

Post a Comment