American comedy films are
comedy films produced in the
United States. The genre is one of the oldest in American cinema; some of the first
silent movies were comedies, as
slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s and 1930s, comedic dialogue rose in prominence in the work of film comedians such as
W. C. Fields and the
Marx Brothers. By the 1950s, the television industry had become serious competition for the movie industry. The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies. In the 1970s,
black comedies were popular. Leading figures in the 1970s were
Woody Allen and
Mel Brooks. One of the major developments of the 1990s was the re-emergence of the romantic comedy film. Another development was the increasing use of "
gross-out humour
Gross out is described as a movement in art (often with comical conotations), which is intended to shock the viewer(s) and disgust the wider audience by presenting them with controversial material (such as toilet humor and fetishes) that might be ...
".
History
1895–1930
Comic films began to appear in significant numbers during the era of silent films, roughly 1895 to 1930. The visual humour of many of these silent films relied on slapstick and
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. . In American film, the most prominent comic actors of the silent era were
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
(although born in England, his success was principally in the U.S.),
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and
Harold Lloyd.
A popular trend during the 1920s and afterward was comedy in the form of animated cartoons. Several popular characters of the period received the cartoon treatment. Among these were
Felix the Cat,
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
,
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...
.
1930–1950s
Toward the end of the 1920s, the introduction of sound into movies made possible dramatic new film styles and the use of verbal humour. During the 1930s, the silent film comedy was replaced by dialogue from film comedians such as
W. C. Fields, the
Marx Brothers, and
Our Gang
''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...
.
Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...
and
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...
, who had made a number of very popular short silent films, used the arrival of sound to deepen their well-formed screen characterizations and enhance their visual humour, and went on to great success in talking films. The use of sound was used to the advantage for
ribaldry for comedians like
Mae West. These films were known as
Pre-Code. As the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
came to improve, the film industry no longer needed to use
shock value to draw in moviegoers. Meanwhile, the
Roman Catholic Church recognized the
off-color humor
Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult c ...
in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
and led a moral crusade. By 1934, the
Hays Code was enforced years after its original enactment.
Film censorship became strong throughout the next three decades. The comedian
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
was one of the last silent film hold-outs, and his films during the 1930s were devoid of dialogue, although they did employ sound effects.
Screwball comedies, such as produced by
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
, and notably "
Bringing Up Baby", exhibited a pleasing, idealized climate that portrayed reassuring social values and a certain optimism about everyday life. Movies still included slapstick humour and other physical comedy, but these were now frequently supplemental to the verbal interaction. Another common comic production from the 1930s was the short subject.
Hal Roach Studio specialized in this form. While
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
was prolific, producing 190
Three Stooges releases, alone. These non-feature productions only went into decline in the 1950s when they were migrated to the television.
As the rise of
Adolf Hitler and
Nazism rose in
Germany,
Adolf Hitler in popular culture became more common in the American film industry. ''
Bosko's Picture Show'' became the first American cartoon to parody Hitler, however brief. ''
Der Fuehrer's Face'' and ''
Herr Meets Hare
''Herr Meets Hare'' is a 1945 anti-Nazi ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on January 13, 1945, and features Bugs Bunny. This short, released not long before the collapse of the Third Reich, was the penu ...
'' became cartoons to expand the parody of the Fuhrer. As
Jews, the
Three Stooges felt personally concerned for
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in
the Holocaust. In 1940, they decided to turn their fears into comedy. They parodied Hitler in their shorts, ''
You Nazty Spy
''You Nazty Spy!'' is a 1940 comedy film directed by Jules White and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard). It is the 44th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedi ...
'' and ''
I'll Never Heil Again'' Chaplin followed with his ''
The Great Dictator.'' The film was not only Chaplin's first sound film, it was the final appearance of his Tramp character, who he reveals is Jewish.
With the entry of the United States into
World War II,
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
became focused on themes related to the conflict. Comedies portrayed military themes such as service, civil defense, boot-camp and shore-leave.
Abbott and Costello
Abbott may refer to:
People
*Abbott (surname)
*Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist
* Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act
Places Argentina
* Abbott, Buenos Aires United States
* Abbott, Arkansas ...
became a popular comedy duo who appeared in films, such as "
Buck Privates." The war-time restrictions on travel made this a boom time for Hollywood, and nearly a quarter of the money spent on attending movies.
The post-war period was an age of reflection on the war, and the emergence of a competing medium, the television. In 1948, television began to acquire commercial momentum and by the following year there were nearly a hundred television transmitters in American cities.
By the 1950s, the television industry had become a serious competition for the movie industry. Despite the technological limitations of the TV medium at the time, more and more people chose to stay home to watch the television. The Hollywood studios at first viewed the television as a threat, and later as a commercial market. Several comic forms, such as
Burns and Allen,
Ed Wynn,
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...
, and
Lucille Ball, that had previously been a staple of movie theaters transitioned to the television. Both the short subject and the cartoon now appeared on the television rather than in the theater, and the "B" movie also found its outlet on the television.
As television became filled with family-oriented comedies, the 1950s saw a trend toward more adult social situations. Only the
Walt Disney studios continued to steadily release family comedies. The release of comedy films also went into a decline during this decade. In 1947 almost one in five films had been comic in nature, but by 1954 this was down to ten percent.
The 1950s saw the decline of past comedy stars and a certain paucity of new talent in Hollywood. Among the few popular new stars during this period were
Judy Holliday and the comedy team phenom of
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
and
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
. Lewis followed the legacy of such comedians as Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but his work was not well received by critics in the United States (in contrast to
France where he proved highly popular). As in the United Kingdom, in the next decade much of this talent would move into television.
Sex symbols, particularly
Marilyn Monroe and
Tony Curtis, established the
sex comedy by the end of the decade. Set in the 1920s, ''
Some Like It Hot
''Some Like It Hot'' is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney and N ...
'' borrowed elements from the
Pre-Code era with its subtle undertones and suggestions.
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
and
Rock Hudson also offered material that set the stage for the
sexual revolution
The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
of the next decade.
1960s–1980s
The next decade saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies including ''
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer with a story and screenplay by William Rose and Tania Rose. The film, starring Spencer Tracy with an all-star cast of comedians, is a ...
'' (1963), ''
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'' (1965) and ''
The Great Race'' (1965). By the middle of the decade, some of the 1950s generation of American comedians, such as
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
, went into decline, while
Peter Sellers found success with international audiences in his first American film ''
The Pink Panther''. The bumbling
Inspector Clouseau was a character Sellers would continue to return to over the next decade.
Toward the end of the 1950s, darker humour and more serious themes had begun to emerge, including satire and social commentary. ''
Dr. Strangelove'' (1964) was a satirical comedy about
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of Geopolitics, geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''Cold war (term), co ...
paranoia, while ''
The Apartment'' (1960), ''
Alfie'' (1966) and ''
The Graduate'' (1967) featured sexual themes in a way that would have been impossible only a few years previously.
In the year 1970, the
black comedies ''
Catch 22'' and ''
M*A*S*H'' reflected the anti-war sentiment then prevalent, as well as treating the sensitive topic of suicide. ''M*A*S*H'' would be toned down and brought to television in the following decade as a long-running series.
Among the leading lights in comedy films of the next decade were
Woody Allen and
Mel Brooks. Both wrote, directed and appeared in their movies.
Brooks' style was generally slapstick and zany in nature, often parodying film styles and
genres, including
Universal horror films (''
Young Frankenstein''),
westerns (''
Blazing Saddles
''Blazing Saddles'' is a 1974 American satirical western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay with Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger. The film stars Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. ...
'') and
Hitchcock films (''
High Anxiety''). Following his success on
Broadway and on film with ''
The Odd Couple''
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
Neil Simon would also be prominent in the 1970s, with films like ''
The Sunshine Boys'' and ''
California Suite''. Other notable film comedians who appeared later in the decade were
Richard Pryor,
Steve Martin and
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
.
In 1980, the gag-based comedy ''
Airplane!'', a
spoof of the previous decade's disaster film series was released and paved the way for more of the same including ''
Top Secret!'' (1984) and the ''
Naked Gun'' films. Popular comedy stars in the 1980s included
Dudley Moore,
Tom Hanks,
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
,
Robin Williams, and
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...
. Many had come to prominence on the American TV series ''
Saturday Night Live'', including
Bill Murray,
Steve Martin and
Chevy Chase. Eddie Murphy made a success of comedy-
action films including ''
48 Hrs.
''48 Hrs.'' (pronounced 'forty-eight hours') is a 1982 American buddy cop action-comedy film directed by Walter Hill, who co-wrote the film with Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza and Roger Spottiswoode. It stars Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, the ...
'' (1982) and the ''
Beverly Hills Cop'' series (1984–1993).
Also popular were the films of
John Hughes such as the "
National Lampoon's Vacation (film series)" and ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. He would later become best known for the ''
Home Alone'' series of the early 1990s. The latter film helped a revival in comedies aimed at a family audience, along with ''
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' and its sequels.
1990s–2010s
One of the major developments of the 1990s was the re-emergence of the romantic comedy film, encouraged by the success of ''
When Harry Met Sally...'' in 1989. Other examples included ''
Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), ''
Clueless'' (1995) and ''
You've Got Mail'' (1998). Spoofs remained popular as well, especially with the
''Scary Movie'' franchise and ''
Not Another Teen Movie''.
There were also "stoner" comedies, which often involve two men on an adventure with random things happening to them along the way. Based on
Cheech and Chong, big movies of this subgenre would be ''
Dude, Where's My Car
''Dude, Where's My Car?'' is a 2000 American stoner comedy film directed by Danny Leiner. The film stars Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott as two best friends who find themselves unable to remember where they parked their vehicle after a nigh ...
'', ''
Big Nothing
''Big Nothing'' is a 2006 black comedy crime film directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, starring David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg and Alice Eve. It had its world premiere at the Cardiff Film Festival on 18 November 2006, and was released in the United K ...
'', ''
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'', and ''
Pineapple Express''. These movies usually have drug-related jokes and crude content.
Another development was the increasing use of "
gross-out humour
Gross out is described as a movement in art (often with comical conotations), which is intended to shock the viewer(s) and disgust the wider audience by presenting them with controversial material (such as toilet humor and fetishes) that might be ...
" usually aimed at a younger audience, in films like the "
Austin Powers" films, ''
There's Something About Mary'', ''
American Pie'' and
its sequels, and ''
Freddy Got Fingered''. In mid-2000s, the trend of "gross-out" movies is continuing, with adult-oriented comedies picking up the box office. But serious black comedies (also known as dramatic comedies or
dramedies) were performing also well, such as ''
The Weather Man
''The Weather Man'' is a 2005 American dark comedy-drama film directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Steve Conrad, and starring Nicolas Cage in the lead role, Michael Caine and Hope Davis. It tells the story of a weatherman in the midst of a m ...
'', ''
Broken Flowers
''Broken Flowers'' is a 2005 French-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of ...
'' and ''
Shopgirl''. In late 2006, ''
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'' blended vulgar humour with cultural satire.
Since the late 2000s, the live-action comedy film has entered a period of severe decline, with studios
green-lighting far fewer of them each year.
The problem is that faced with brutal competition in developed markets in the same timeframe, major film studios became dependent upon distributing their films to increasingly diverse international audiences in
emerging markets to maintain their profits; but the humor in most comedy films is tightly bound to the home culture of the films' creators and does not translate well.
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
See also
*
List of American comedy films
This is a list of American comedy films.
Comedy films are separated into two categories: short films and feature films. Any film over 40 minutes long is considered to be of feature-length (although most feature films produced since 1950 are co ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Comedy Film