10- North By Northwest (1959)
Dir- Alfred Hitchcock
Almost every Alfred Hitchcock film deserves some spot or the other in a definitive list of the greatest, wittiest comedies (yes even serious thrillers like 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo' for their unexpected levels of cynicism). But while even his early homemade British thrillers have the trademark doses of cheeky mirth enlivening the proceedings, nothing beats 'North By Northwest', possibly the cream of his 'wrong man' trope cinema, for pure quotability and effortless comic spontaneity. Sure, it is a helluva thriller to begin with, with corporate charmer Roger Thornhill pursued by spies and even a crop-duster plane across the country. But thanks to Ernest Lehman's endlessly wise-cracking script, that jaunty Bernard Hermann score and yes, Cary Grant's ineffable charisma and convincing despair as the harried Thornhill, the result is something unexpected hilarious and even self-deprecatory, puncturing Hitchcock's meticulous tension and breakneck pace with flashes of genuine hilarity. Just watch that faux pas at the auction to see just how despair can drive you to extreme ends.
9- City Lights (1931)
Dir- Charles Chaplin
The verdict on this loveable nugget of quaint old silent cinema, albeit made in the age of increasingly popular talkies, is a bit debatable. While everyone gushes with love over that superbly performed climax (I leave you to discover it), one also feels that this was the simplest of Charlie Chaplin's memorable creations. The plot's numerous detours, while genuinely amusing and endearing in equal measure, don't quite lead anywhere and after a while, the film begins to feel a bit creaky. But all that is niggling given the winsome sincerity and slippery charm of the Little Tramp, played to perfection by Chaplin himself. As we follow him on his whimsical trail through the city streets, helping a suicidal millionaire once, losing a prizefighting match the next moment, we are also tugged into an enduringly simple and heartfelt tale of how love can trump all misadventures, especially the ones that involve swallowed whistles. No wonder that even 'WALL-E' took a cue from it.
8- The King Of Comedy (1982)
Dir- Martin Scorsese
Scorsese and comedy? Oh, it is possible. 'The Wolf Of Wall Street' was a contender and so were 'Goodfellas' and 'The Departed' for the darkly comic ways in which he visualised crime and violence. But 'The King Of Comedy' was something else entirely, a dastardly jab at the hollow culture of celebrity-worship by frenzied fans told through the perspective of a true sociopath. Following his already celebrated act in 'Taxi Driver', regular collaborator Robert De Niro sunk himself further, ensuring that his neighbourhood weirdo Rupert Pupkin had an even greater disturbing element of social inadequacy. Pupkin is an aspiring stand-up comic, who spends whole afternoons and nights chattering and laughing with cardboard cutouts of his idol, the talkshow legend Jerry Langford (played appropriately by Jerry Lewis). The star himself is beleaguered at this hopeless fanatic and rejects his advances. That is when Pupkin swears revenge and what follows is both outrageous in its comic audacity and shocking in how the director, after 'Raging Bull', delivers brutal blow after blow.
7- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Dir- Richard Lester
Remember that laughing version of 'And Your Bird Can Sing'? Richard Lester's seminal comedy multiplies the spectacular silliness of that moment of classic rock and roll by packing together John, Paul, George and Ringo into a high-toned and sleekly choreographed musical misadventure that has as much energy and excitement as any of their albums. The Liverpudlian legends find themselves running, rocking and rolling through a couple of frenetic days in the newly swinging London, with hordes of screaming fans and Paul's crafty grandfather in tow. In between their jaunty jam sessions and the big, epic concert in the climax, there are John's wicked sense of humour, George's scathing lament of consumerism, Paul's delicious good looks and even Ringo's self-doubting alienation to give all that sparkling wit (thanks to Alun Owen's cheeky-tongued script) an added layer of sophistication and even satirical depth. As a comedy of friends and fellow rock legends, it is wonderful; as a celebration of Beatlemania, it is quite unforgettable.
6- The Big Lebowski (1998)
Dir- Joel & Ethan Coen
The Coen Brothers are known for infusing unexpected, even slapstick humour in even the darkest of their thrillers; watch 'Fargo' for evidence. But there is something beautifully berserk about the way they embrace the pure, unhinged lunacy of their heyday psychedelic masterpiece, especially by its titular character. Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski (Jeff Bridges in an iconoclast role) is a White-Russian swilling bum who does little else than bowl and whine about his life. This hapless fool is soon embroiled into a kidnapping mystery, packed to the brim with weirdos weirder than most trademark Coen creations and such an overwhelming surfeit of trippy chaos that it is hard not to laugh at the unabashed silliness on display. Shot with spaced-out beauty by Roger Deakins, 'The Big Lebowski' also boasts of some of the most gloriously nutty humour ever found in cinema, from the crackling repartee (that Lennon/Lenin slip-up) to the crazy temper of John Goodman's thick-headed Walter Sobchak, who never forgets he is a veteran of Vietnam.
5- Zelig (1983)
Dir- Woody Allen
And you thought that Woody Allen was only about movies that celebrated love and longing in New York City. The endlessly dynamic writer-director unleashes, from time to time, a gift for blazing, barnstorming satire and the result is something both unconventional and amusing with its intelligence and wit. Fashioned like a serious-minded documentary, with cinematographer Gordon Willis cutting from frenetic black-and-white 1930s sped-up footage to sombre present-day interviews, 'Zelig' is the razor-sharp narrative of the titular human chameleon, essayed with smarmy, almost slithery ease by Allen himself. As we follow his life, made up of an uncanny despair to adjust to the fashions of fads of a constantly capitalist and consumerist American society, we also gaze at the world through his eyes and Allen lands his punches on our fallacy to celebrate amusing mediocrity over genuine virtue. But that is only worth thinking after you are done with chuckling heartily at the exploits of this strange, bemused protagonist stumbling between being a philanderer to a lover.
4- Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dir- Stanley Kubrick
It is to the credit of Stanley Kubrick, co-writer Terry Southern and the excellent cast and crew that 'Dr. Strangelove' is, even after nearly five decades, as eerily resonant as disturbingly, almost unsettlingly hilarious in its brash mockery of man-made perfection leading humanity to its doom. Just think, also, of how well the demanding director uses Peter Sellers. Cast as three laughably hapless characters trying to grapple with a mad general and his intractable decision to nuke Russia, the English comedian is a hoot, particularly as the initially stern-faced President Merkin Muffley who soon lapses into something of a helpless fool (just watch him bantering with the Russian Premier on the hot-line). The other actors and characters are equally ridiculous amidst the sweltering pathos but this is more than just a comedy of manners ('You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!'). It is also an essential slice of satire that refuses to grow stale. Today, it is impossible to laugh at it without feeling a shudder.
3- Duck Soup (1933)
Dir- Leo McCarey
The world was still a far cry from seeing terrible sadistic fools become political leaders when the inimitable Marx Brothers starred in what would be one of the most spiky and scabrous comedies ever made. 'Duck Soup' was a relative failure in its day but watch it today and you will find the wisecracking and roaring buffoonery of Rufus T. Firefly mirrored in Donald Trump. Firefly, played with firecracker spontaneity by Groucho, is the unlikely ruler of Freedonia, 'the land of the free', as the songs say it. But barely has he started annoying exasperated cabinet ministers that a plot is underway to defame him. The legendary comic siblings (of whom Harpo's scissor-wielding silent prankster steals the thunder) let it rip with devilish repartee ('ethyl' rhymes with 'Ethel' and 'taxes' is actually 'Texas'), from driving a lemonade vendor nuts to that effortlessly entertaining mirror scene that still needs to be rivalled. Sure, Leo McCarey's film starts feeling a tad patchy and the plot does not have much to it eventually. But it would be impossible to find today a comedy that shuttles from scalpel-sharp satire to full-blown hearty laughs so thrillingly.
2- Modern Times (1936)
Dir- Charles Chaplin
The Great Depression was almost over when Charlie Chaplin did the unexpected: shove a mirror of the disillusionment in the faces of people and yet daring them to laugh over the foibles and follies of those hard times. 'Modern Times' is not only a stirring, even poignant story of humanity crippled by the worst excesses of capitalism; it is also a hilarious and heartfelt of real pathos. This is one of the ambling comic's most resonant portrayals as the Little Tramp, here a sincerely determined yet ultimately slippery working class fellow who finds himself again a vagrant after the factories close shop. Like in 'City Lights, a budding romance with a fellow tramp (Paulette Goddard) drives this usually luckless struggler on a series of short-lived jobs, from a night watchman on roller-skates to a mechanic's assistant puzzled by unpredictable equipment. There are spectacular, almost surreal scenes of comedy here, from employee-feeding machines to Communist paranoia to smuggled nose powder to dilapidated houses. But the simple sight of our hero, singing gibberish just to land a job as a waiter, is both side-splitting and searing in its portrayal of sheer human despair.
1- Life Of Brian (1979)
Dir- Terry Jones
If The Beatles and The Rolling Stones taught us how to rock and roll, Monty Python, the intrepid group of dynamic British comic talents, proved that Englishmen could also have a sense of humour that could be more spiky and brutally hilarious than any American stand-up comic roasting everyone at a show. And while their brilliant BBC series and the equally pitch-perfect swashbuckler genre mockery of 'Holy Grail' proved them to be the best in the business, it is their second, more satirical outing that is something truly special.
One wonders what was all that fuss about religious leaders being offended. 'Life Of Brian' is not even remotely about mocking religion, let alone about Christianity, even as it is mainly about a hapless common man mistaken as the Messiah even when the real one is going around spreading the word of God. No, rather, the transcendental comic beauty of 'Life Of Brian' lies in its audacious mockery of the very concept of fanaticism and bogus religion. For this is the fake Biblical epic world in which there are self-proclaimed evangelists preaching nonsense, petty squabbling crowds who cannot understand real spiritual teachings and, most notably, a crazy, silly land in which a man trying to save his skin is hailed as a prophet by crowds obsessed even with the most trivial of things.
But even as it elicits our heartiest and most bitter laughs at our propensity for senseless fanaticism (has there been any farce more resonant than that 'stoning' scene?), 'Life Of Brian', with all its splendid silliness ('Biggus Dickus') and the unforgettable verbal repartee ('What have the Romans ever given us'?), is also a lasting and lambasting critique of many other disturbing truths, of grand empires stuffed with ludicrous mediocrity and of revolutionary groups seeking futile, laughable ends. A host of brilliant performances from the group bolsters the whole film together with its lethally hilarious wit and cheek, from Michael Palin playing both an 'ex-leper' and a ridiculous Pontius Pilate to Graham Chapman's believably beleaguered eponymous Brian whose growing pathos has even a shade of Kafka.
Take a bow, Monty Python. Blessed are these cheesemakers, if they are so good at it, really.
