Without CGI this would be considered too dangerous if they attempted it nowadays. Hats off to those crazies who pretty much risked their lives to entertain us for probably very little money.
"I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler!" - Merkin Muffley
I agree. I didn't see much in the way of helmets or roll cages in this. Most notably the scene with Russel where Sylvester's car leaves the road and swings back in again. Man that was both hilarious and amazing.
shareCGI? That's too offensive! No CGI? That's too offensive! Slapstick? That's too offensive! No Slapstick? That's too offensive! True, funny social commentary (Everybody has to pay taxes... even businessmen! Who lie, cheat, and steal every day!)? That's too offensive! Amazing Stunts and performances? That's too offensive! That'll never sell!
Painful pop cultural references? Barrage of one-liners? Forced Romance? 3,000 subplots and counting? Poop Jokes? Raunchy humor from start to finish? Unfocused political rambling dubbed "satire?" Enough profanity for an R-rating, pushing NC-17? Rappers provide the soundtrack? Miley cyrus for dance choreography? MICHAEL BAY TO PRODUCE? Gentlemen, let's make a movie.
THAT is right on the money.
shareWhat's astounding to me is how much punishment the actors themselves took in some scenes. Like when they all pile into the cabs together. That's the stars getting into those cabs. And running up the stairs in the building. Poor Spencer Tracy! He was actually supposed to have been in poor shape at the time. Yet he has to do a full-bore run-and-chase scene. And when they climb up those rocks at the beginning after tending to Jimmy Durante. And Winters slamming Phil Silvers into the gas pump. Ethel Merman takes at least one fall herself. Berle and Terry-Thomas lift Merman upside down and shake her. That's really them doing it in one shot. Phil Silvers in the car in the water. All in the hot sun in the California desert. It can't have been easy for any of them. Can you imagine getting a bunch of today's comedy stars (Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Kevin James, Adam Sandler, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, etc.) and putting them through these paces, all the griping you'd get?
I could see Stiller and James doing it, not the others. And don't forget Jim Carrey! He would have been perfect for this movie!
shareThe stunts are amazing in this film. Who does stunts like this anymore in real time with no CG?
The sylvester/finch car battle is crazy. On and off the road at real speeds, around telephone poles. Crazy
Culpepper/cab chase - lots of great driving and pedestrians scatttering. The guy in the alley. Holy smokes.
I love the gas station destruction scene. Ok its balsa wood but the moves, the swinging engine,
Even the initial race after they can't work it out.
The airplane thru the billboard and it's antics and rolls.
The bouncing Curtiss Jenny
Crump's swinging sledgehammer crumple of the upper deck in the harware store and his tumble.
There's too many to list.
Not just that, but there just aren't that amount of comic "stars" nowadays.
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.