The In-Laws

Comedy is a hard thing to get right. What's funny in one decade could be seen as offensive in the next decade. It's all a matter of making sure you hit your mark without any mistakes along the way.

So you could imagine the undertaking Andrew Bergman went through in writing Arthur Hiller's The In-Laws. A few years after the success of Blazing Saddles (he co-wrote it), he was tasked with writing the script for a picture that was to star Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. (It was initially going to be a sequel to Freebie and the Bean, which had also starred Arkin.) Knowing the potential that could be mined from the two actors, Bergman took on the opportunity.

While a little slow in its build-up, The In-Laws goes out on all pistons running. Falk plays with his Columbo persona, seemingly not all there but very much is. Arkin, meanwhile, plays the straight man to Falk beautifully. It's a shame the two didn't work together more after this.

Now Hiller isn't the kind of director you'd associate with this type of picture, having made Love Story earlier in the decade. But bear in mind that just three years earlier, Hiller made Silver Streak, which starred Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. He may not have done comedy often during his career but Hiller knew how to get the beats down.

The In-Laws may be one of the more underappreciated comedies of the last half century. It takes someone who really knows what they're doing to get something like this right. Thankfully, it's directed by, written by, and stars such people.

My Rating: ****1/2

Silver Streak

For years, filmmakers have been paying tribute to the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Even when the director was still alive and well, there were works being made with his influence all over them. And they're still being doled out today.

Arthur Hiller's Silver Streak (coincidentally released the same year as Hitchcock's swan song Family Plot) borrows part of its story from North by Northwest. Sure, there have been other imitations since the first film's 1959 release but there's something that Hiller brings to his film that makes it work.

Perhaps that something is -- like Hitchcock before him -- Hiller using an actor that's adept with comedy. Similar with Cary Grant, Gene Wilder has had his fair share of serious and silly roles prior to Silver Streak. And it's because of that detail the later film works as well as it does.

But Silver Streak isn't solely Wilder's show. Alongside him are the likes of Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Ned Beatty and Patrick McGoohan, just to name a few. They all hold their own, certainly, but it's Wilder's who carries the whole picture away by himself. (Okay, Pryor definitely has his moments as well.)

Silver Streak is further testament of Wilder's ability as a performer. (His collaborations with Mel Brooks during the previous decade merely acknowledged the masses to it.) He was one of those rare comedic actors that added a certain kindness to whatever he was in (which perhaps explains his role in Willy Wonka a few years before this). And that's on full display here, especially his scenes with Clayburgh.

My Rating: ****

The Americanization of Emily

There's a certain level of audacity when it comes to war comedies. Sure, war is hell but sometimes those opinions on war get by without controversy because they're in a comedy. Still, they're sometimes insightful

Such is the case with Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily. (Being written by Paddy Chayefsky certainly helps in that situation.) There weren't many films from that time period with such a jaded nature but even then there's a romanticized nature added to it.

Starring in The Americanization of Emily are James Garner and Julie Andrews. (Yes, a whole eighteen years before Victor/Victoria.) As would also be established in Blake Edwards' film, Garner and Andrews have great chemistry together. (They also stand well on their own.)

Back to Chayefsky's script. Cynicism was rare but unheard of when it came to Hollywood during its Golden Age. (After all, Billy Wilder's career was in full swing during this time.) Much like what he would do with Network the following decade (and Marty in the previous one), Chayefsky shows that we live in a bitter world and we have to make sacrifices for the sake of brief happiness. At least The Americanization of Emily is a bit more cheerful than Network.

The Americanization of Emily is good though it does get a bit too Hollywood in some scenes. The speeches delivered throughout the film (especially the ones from Garner) establish what was to be expected from Chayefsky in the years to come: a jaded perspective.

My Rating: ****