Originally Posted by
Olympic Fan
Well, Dr. Strangelove, which is definitely a comedy, made the ciritics top 10 in 2002. The directors put Modern Times -- a Chaplin comedy -- and Singin in the Rain -- a musical, yes, but a comic one -- in their top 10. In the past, Keaton's The General has cracked the top 10. Duck Soup and Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot are routinely included on lists of greatest films.
I think quite a few comedies are taken seriously. Preston Sturges (who made nothing but comedies -- and even made a great comedy justifying his focus on comedy, Sullivan's Travels) -- is routinely honored by critics and film historians. Masters of sophisticated comedy such as Fellini and the Coen Brothers are taken seriously -- heck, Woody Allen, who does 99 percent comedy, is one of the most widely honored filmmakers in history (more writer nominations and tied for the second-most director nominations in screen history).
There's also the problem of jamming films into narrow compartments. Is Fargo a comedy? Rules of the Game, which always makes the top 10, is a brilliant comedy (almost Sturges-like in the way it veers from sophisticated comedy to verbal pyrotechnics to physical slapstick) that ends with a great tragedy. The Searchers is an action film ... does it fit your definition of a "pure" action film? Probably not, because it's the drama and the characterizations (especially Ethan Edwards) that lift it beyond an ordinary action movie. Same with Seven Samurai -- a pure action movie, except it transends action. I think Unforgiven is like that ... not enough for my top 10, but to be in my personal top 50.
The problem with comedy is that unlike drama and even action, there is a wider varience in the reaction of the audience. There are a couple of mentions of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in this thread -- that's one of the most boring movies I've ever sat through. I'm not the only one who thinks that. On the other hand, there are a couple of mentions of Animal House and at least one for Caddyshack -- I love both of them. But I know people who hate them. I love, love, love the Marx Brothers, but Laurel and Hardy leave me cold. I love Harold Lloyd, but Chaplin's shtick doesn't do it for me. I understand that's just a matter of taste. Because I don't find Will Ferrell funny, it doesn't mean he isn't talented and other people can't enjoy Old School (I got exactly one laugh out of that one) or Anchorman or Blades of Glory.
That happens with drama too -- there is a famous episode of Seinfeld about how agonizing The English Patient is to sit through -- but I think it's more common with comedy.
The great thing about the Sight and Sound Survey is that it's so all-inclusive. The worldwide panel of critics and directors includes so many people from so many nations from so many points of view that it captures the universaility of great films.
It might not include my favorite films -- or yours -- but it's a pretty fair consensus of educated opinion.