EL LORO
(Con permiso de míster Poe)
A Susana Canales, que es como decir
a Diana, a Venus, a Minerva, pero más
guapa que ellas.
Una noche bochornosa;
una noche cuya atmósfera execrable,
tremebunda y apestosa,
incordiosa,
despreciable,
excitaba mi cabeza sudorosa,
yo me hallaba en mi casucha miserable
de Tortosa.
A mi frente hipocondriaca
se acercaban mil ruidos, que yo, obseso,
repetía, lo confieso:
una vaca
de regreso
a su establo, que es caricia, mimo y beso,
y más lejos – traca, traca, traca, traca-,
un expreso.
Una mano acaso experta
en dar golpes agoreros, inquietante,
asestó sobre mi puerta
-puerta tuerta
que a Levante
daba siempre-, cierto golpe espeluznante.
Yo repuse con el alma casi muerta:
“¡Adelante!”
Mi cabello se ensortija
de emoción al recordarlo… Sudo y lloro…
Mi razón se desvencija…
Rememoro:
La manija
de la puerta gira, gira… Me incorporo,
y en la helada y nada cómoda rendija,
veo un loro.
Aquel pájaro precito,
que nació en el cacahué y el aguacate,
derechito, derechito,
el maldito
botarate,
se subió en un cortinón color granate,
y dio un grito, un pavoroso y torvo grito:
“¡Chocolate!”
¿Fue sentencia cabalística,
o enigmático y teúrgico el acróstico?
¿Era un lapsus de lingüística?
¿Era mística,
y el diagnóstico
mistagógico era luz y viento gnóstico?
¿O era, en cambio, tongo y filfa silogística
de pronóstico?
Dirigime al ave impía
-disculpad que mis anhelos no recate-
y le dije: “Por mi tía
Rosalía
Cabañate,
que no sé si lo que has dicho es un dislate”.
Mas el pájaro, obstinado, repetía:
“¡Chocolate!”
“¿Qué sentido sobrehumano
le estás dando a esas tabletas, que en la tienda
compra el probo ciudadano?
Haz que entienda,
loro hermano;
haz que caiga de mis ojos esta venda,
ya que veo solamente en ese arcano
la merienda.
¿Por qué vite y admitite?
¿Por qué trágico e insólito avenate
un tortazo no “te” dite?
¿Por qué oíte?
Por qué late
en mi pecho un corazón que se debate…?”
Un silencio, y luego el pájaro repite:
“¡Chocolate!”
De mi oído ya apoplético
no se borra tu tremendo aviso fónico,
y mi duda te hace herético
o exegético
o plutónico.
Mas, ¿quién eres, que así parlas, salomónico?
¿Un Cagliostro o un augur seudo magnético
macarrónico?
“No pretendas que yo trate
-dijo el loro con sonrisa indefinida
y un fulgor color tomate-
del remate
de esta vida:
chocolate es lo que aliente y lo que late,
y el origen y el final de esta partida:
chocolate”.
“¡Líbrame ya de tu yugo!”
-espetele con el alma majareta-
y caí de mi banqueta,
hecha en Lugo,
de moqueta,
y en el suelo fui chupando todo el jugo
a una estatua en alabastro del poeta
Víctor Hugo.
Una gran metamorfosis
me cambió desde esa noche. En mi petate
grito, lleno de neurosis…
La halitosis
me combate,
y remite si suavizo mi gaznate,
degustando e ingiriendo a grandes dosis
¡¡chocolate!!
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Humor. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Humor. Mostrar todas las entradas
viernes, 31 de marzo de 2017
viernes, 17 de marzo de 2017
Esperando a Cavafis
-¿Qué esperamos congregados en la plaza del 15-M?
Es a los jóvenes, que hoy llegan.
-¿Por qué esta inacción en el Senado? ¿Por qué están ahí sentados haciendo más el vago de lo que suelen?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes.
¿Qué leyes van a hacer los senadores?
Ya legislarán, cuando abandonen el botellón, los jóvenes.
-¿Por qué Mariano Rajoy, siendo tan holgazán, madrugó tanto
y en su poltrona, en el Congreso de los diputados,
está sentado, solemne y ajustándose las gafas?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes.
Y Mariano Rajoy espera para dar a su líder,
mal que le pese,
el timón de la nave del estado.
Incluso preparó, para entregárselo, un maletín lleno de papeles. En él está guardada la cifra verdadera de la deuda nacional por pagar, el número de trabajos sanos convertidos en trabajos basura y la cantidad de dinero que se ha ahorrado en educación, sanidad, ciencia y cultura.
-¿Por qué nuestro nuestros banqueros y constructores salieron
hoy con tantas prebendas y puestos en consejos de administración;
por qué llevan cochazos y nóminas hinchadas y vueltas a hinchar;
por qué empuñan hoy oscurísimas tarjetas
y pagos en negro magníficamente ocultados?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes;
y espectáculos así seducen a los jóvenes.
-¿Por qué no acuden, corriendo como siempre, los ilustres tertulianos
a liarla parda mintiendo sin tasa y lamiendo el culo a los de siempre?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes
y les fastidian los rollos patateros y los monólogos a lo Ángel Manuel.
-¿Por qué empieza de pronto este desconcierto y confusión?
(¡Qué graves se han vuelto las jetas!)
¿Por qué calles y bares aprisa se vacían
y todos vuelven a casa compungidos?
Porque se hizo de noche y los jóvenes no llegaron.
Algunos han venido del Instituto de Estadística
y contado que ya no hay jóvenes.
¿Y qué va a ser de nosotros ahora sin jóvenes?
Esta gente, al fin y al cabo, nos iba a pagar la pensión.
Es a los jóvenes, que hoy llegan.
-¿Por qué esta inacción en el Senado? ¿Por qué están ahí sentados haciendo más el vago de lo que suelen?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes.
¿Qué leyes van a hacer los senadores?
Ya legislarán, cuando abandonen el botellón, los jóvenes.
-¿Por qué Mariano Rajoy, siendo tan holgazán, madrugó tanto
y en su poltrona, en el Congreso de los diputados,
está sentado, solemne y ajustándose las gafas?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes.
Y Mariano Rajoy espera para dar a su líder,
mal que le pese,
el timón de la nave del estado.
Incluso preparó, para entregárselo, un maletín lleno de papeles. En él está guardada la cifra verdadera de la deuda nacional por pagar, el número de trabajos sanos convertidos en trabajos basura y la cantidad de dinero que se ha ahorrado en educación, sanidad, ciencia y cultura.
-¿Por qué nuestro nuestros banqueros y constructores salieron
hoy con tantas prebendas y puestos en consejos de administración;
por qué llevan cochazos y nóminas hinchadas y vueltas a hinchar;
por qué empuñan hoy oscurísimas tarjetas
y pagos en negro magníficamente ocultados?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes;
y espectáculos así seducen a los jóvenes.
-¿Por qué no acuden, corriendo como siempre, los ilustres tertulianos
a liarla parda mintiendo sin tasa y lamiendo el culo a los de siempre?
Porque hoy llegarán los jóvenes
y les fastidian los rollos patateros y los monólogos a lo Ángel Manuel.
-¿Por qué empieza de pronto este desconcierto y confusión?
(¡Qué graves se han vuelto las jetas!)
¿Por qué calles y bares aprisa se vacían
y todos vuelven a casa compungidos?
Porque se hizo de noche y los jóvenes no llegaron.
Algunos han venido del Instituto de Estadística
y contado que ya no hay jóvenes.
¿Y qué va a ser de nosotros ahora sin jóvenes?
Esta gente, al fin y al cabo, nos iba a pagar la pensión.
lunes, 23 de enero de 2017
Presentado el faraónico proyecto de Caganchú, la estación de esquí de La Atalaya
"Presentado el faraónico proyecto de Caganchú, la estación de esquí de La Atalaya", en Miciudadreal, 20 enero, 2017:
Coincidiendo con la caída de los primeros copos de nieve de la temporada y en el marco de la Feria Internacional del Refrito (Fritur), se ha presentado el proyecto para la construcción de una imponente estación de esquí en el Parque Forestal de La Atalaya, el pico más alto del Sistema Peniculipardo de Ciudad Real.mánchamecaganchuCaganchú, que así se denominará esta infraestructura, se alumbró en pleno boom urbanístico, coincidiendo en el tiempo con proyectos como el Aeropuerto de Ciudad Real o el Reino de Don Quijote. Entonces el viento soplaba a favor y los fondos para inversiones surgían de la nada cual cencellada; no obstante, pese a contar con un copioso respaldo institucional y semoviente, el proyecto no cuajó.
La estación contará con varias pistas, clasificadas en diferentes dificultades para la práctica del esquí, la arada con bueyes y otras especialidades alpinas. Según ha trascendido, Caganchú dispondrá de la pista de leche en polvo más larga de Europa, que llegará hasta Peralvillo. Todo un reclamo para los apasionados de este deporte.
Para acceder a las instalaciones, se instalará un telesilla que unirá la explanada de la Puerta de Toledo con un centro de visitantes y ordeño que se levantará en el solar del antiguo psiquiátrico del parque forestal.
Por último, los promotores, un conglomerado de empresas aún en el anonimato, han anunciado que los forfaits incluirán el viaje de ida y vuelta en telesilla, el acceso a las pistas de esquí, un bol de gachas con torreznos y un chupito de limoná. De esta forma se pretende aunar deporte y turismo de invierno con la sibarítica gastronomía local
miércoles, 28 de diciembre de 2016
La amarga humorista Carrie Fisher
Sara Navas, "El monólogo de la HBO con el que Carrie Fisher dio una lección de vida. “Hola, soy Carrie Fisher y soy alcohólica”. La actriz que interpretó a la princesa Leia nos deja como legado una confesión valiente y divertida", en El País, 28 DIC 2016:
“Hola, soy Carrie Fisher y soy alcohólica”. La mujer que hace esta confesión a modo de presentación, al mismo tiempo que lanza al público el polvo de purpurina que lleva en una cesta de mimbre, es la actriz californiana que hace 40 años interpretó a la mítica princesa Leia en la primera trilogía de Star Wars. Carrie Fisher, que ha muerto este martes a los 60 años tras sufrir un infarto, se presenta así en Bendito alcoholismo, el monólogo producido por la HBO en el que habla sin tapujos de cada uno de los episodios que han marcado su vida.
“Si mi vida no fuera graciosa, sería real. Y eso es algo completamente inaceptable”, continua Fisher, vestida de negro de arriba abajo y descalza a los cinco minutos de empezar el espectáculo. El monólogo, de algo más de una hora, basado en una novela autobiográfica de Fisher con el mismo nombre (Bendito alcoholismo), surgió en 2009 como un espectáculo de Broadway con el que la actriz recorrió buena parte de Estados Unidos. No tardó en llamar la atención de la productora estadounidense, que decidió grabar para su canal una de las actuaciones que la actriz dio en Nueva Jersey a finales de 2010. Actualmente, este documental, que intercala imágenes de álbumes familiares de Fisher con el monólogo integro de la actriz, está disponible en la plataforma española de la HBO.
El desparpajo con el que Fisher se desenvuelve sobre las tablas y la naturalidad con la que habla de asuntos tan morbosos como su pasado marcado por las adicciones, su trastorno bipolar o sus fracasos amorosos, convierten este espectáculo en el mejor homenaje que se le puede rendir. Carrie Fisher fue la mujer que, además de protagonizar una de las sagas que más ha calado en el imaginario colectivo, dio una lección al mundo al mostrarnos cómo superar los reveses de la vida con valentía y humor.
Estas 20 frases extractadas del monólogo producido por la HBO lo demuestran:
- “Hace poco me busqué en Google y me topé con un escrito sobre mí donde alguien preguntaba qué coño había pasado con Carrie Fisher, porque "antes era muy sexy y ahora se parece a Elton John". Me dolió mucho, porque sé lo que quería decir”.
- “Hace cinco años, cuatro meses y nueve días un amigo mío murió en mi casa. Pero no contento con eso, va y se muere en mi cama. Os aconsejo que les pidáis a vuestros invitados que no se comporten así. Primero, me parece de mala educación. Segundo, suele dar mala imagen al anfitrión. Si tenéis alguna pregunta sobre cómo es levantarse con un cadáver que hasta hace unas horas había sido amigo tuyo, preguntad y haré lo posible por responderos”.
- “Mi padre era Eddie Fisher, un cantante famoso; y mi madre era Debbie Reynold, una estrella de cine. Cuando nací, mi madre estaba inconsciente por la anestesia y mi padre se acababa de desmayar al ver la placenta. Las enfermeras corrieron a socorrer al cantante y los médicos a admirar la belleza de la actriz de Hollywood, que dormía plácidamente. Cuando llegué al mundo estaba prácticamente desatendida. Desde entonces me he pasado la vida buscando llamar la atención”.
- “Cuando me pusieron el vestido blanco de Leia, George me dijo que no podía llevar sujetador porque en el espacio nadie lleva ropa interior. Y lo dijo con convicción, como si hubiera estado en el espacio investigando sobre el tema”.
- “Paul se casó con otra más joven, y yo también. La diferencia en nuestras elecciones es que a mi pareja, Bryan Lourd, se le olvidó decirme que era gay. A él se le olvidó contármelo, y a mí darme cuenta. Más tarde, él me explicó lo que había pasado: yo le volví gay. En el prospecto de la codeína que tomo no se especifica nada sobre volver a la gente gay. Es un superpoder que tengo”.
- “¿Habéis visto Alguien voló sobre el nido del cuco? La terapia es fantástica. La recomiendo, sobre todo si no tienes nada mejor que hacer. Te deja tranquilo: es lo mejor que hay. Solo tiene un pequeño inconveniente: te hace perder cuatro meses de memoria. Pero merece la pena”.
- “Ahora recibo premios constantemente por el hecho de ser una enferma mental. Por lo visto, soy muy buena en esto. Es un honor”.
- “Me casé con Paul Simon cuando tenía 26 años y con 28 me divorcié. A los 29 fui a rehabilitación, no porque la necesitase, sino porque estaba investigando para mi novela. Bueno, vale, fui porque era adicta. ¿No dicen que la religión es el opio del pueblo? Pues yo tomé grandes cantidades de opiáceos religiosamente”.
- “Soy una superviviente ¿qué mayor de 40 años no lo es? Pero, para ser un buen superviviente, tienes que meterte en líos y hacer gala de tu don”.
- “En el rodaje de Star Wars me dijeron que tenía que llevar esas pintas [señalando el peinado con forma de ensaimadas característico de la princesa Leia] y que era inevitable. George Lucas arruinó mi vida de la manera más dulce”.
- “Entre las posesiones más preciadas de George Lucas está mi imagen. Cada vez que me hago una foto le mando dos euros” [Lucas tiene los derechos de imagen de todos los personajes de la saga de Star Wars].
- “Cuando se quedó viuda Elizabeth Taylor, mi padre la consoló con flores y al final terminó consolándola con sus genitales. Esto entorpeció su matrimonio con mi madre y, en una semana, mi padre se había marchado de casa”.
- “Para los que sean jóvenes: intentad pensar en Eddie (mi padre) como Brad Pitt, en Debbie (mi madre) como Jennifer Aniston y en Elizabeth Taylor como Angelina Jolie. ¿Os ayuda a entender los enredos de mi familia?”.
- “Mi hermano y yo llamábamos a nuestra casa 'La embajada', porque tenía más pinta de un lugar donde sellan el pasaporte que de una casa. La fachada parecía un aparato de aire acondicionado”.
- “Todos sabíamos el éxito que iba a tener Star Wars menos George Lucas, y lo mantuvimos en secreto porque queríamos ver la cara que se le quedaba al enterarse”.
- “George Lucas me convirtió en una muñequita a la que mi marido podía clavar chinchetas cuando se enfadaba. Luego fui un champú en el que mi cabeza se desenroscaba y salía líquido procedente de mi cuello; también fui un jabón donde se leía 'enjabonaos con Leia y os sentiréis como una princesa'. Pero, lo más importante que me ha pasado en mi vida, es ser un dispensador de caramelos Pez. Si no has estado en venta durante los últimos treinta años, es que no has vivido” [en referencia a la cantidad de productos de merchandising que se crearon con su imagen tras el estreno de Star Wars].
- “Mi madre quería que tuviera un hijo con su marido porque creía que tendría unos ojos bonitos. Ella ya no podía tener hijos, yo tenía el horno libre y me aseguraba que se podía inseminar a alguien solo con una inyección en el brazo. ¡Y a mi abuela le parecía buena idea!”.
- “Estos años he estado acudiendo a terapia de electroshock. ¿Alguien sabe lo que es eso? Todavía no me lo han explicado".
- “Me invitaron amablemente a ir a un hospital psiquiátrico, y yo no quería ser maleducada, así que fui. Es una invitación de lo más exclusiva. ¿Cuántos de vosotros habéis sido invitados a un hospital psiquiátrico?”.
- “Mi madre quiere que sepáis que mi problema viene por parte de padre. Mi madre es tan normal como la vida misma”.
miércoles, 8 de junio de 2016
Juego de tronos
Se acerca el verano. Bajo el emblema de la Septa / Sexta se está juzgando a un Pepénister, cuya divisa es "un Pepénister siempre aumenta la deuda pública y baja a la mitad el fondo de pensiones". Es por el asesinato de su sobrino (esto de los parentescos corruptos y degenerados es muy de los poderosos), el rey Grajjroy, que pereció al beber un botellín envenenado. Entre los testigos figura el eunuco Varys, que declara a favor del Pepénister. Desairada, Sorayei exclama:
-Si no puedo tocarle los huevos draconianos, al menos le tocaré las narices, os lo juro.
Han dado por muerto a John Coletis, pero el hombre no hace otra cosa que resucitar e ir ganando votos y sumando fuerzas, al igual que Daenerys al otro lado del mar Angosto. Todo el mundo ve claro que, si el trono de lata no encuentra culo, los diecisiete reinos autonómicos se van a ir a la mierda. Los europeos presionan al otro lado del muro pirenaico y la Guardia de la Noche no da abasto. Incluso se ha celebrado un debate a muerte para resolver el asunto, pero los caballeros no han hecho otra cosa que salir en pelotas en los carteles y darse besazos en pleno hemiciclo. Es más, el Pepénister se ha escapado a pesar del cuidado del manazas del rey, Fernández Díaz, quien teme las iras de Sorayei; como es enano, se ha filtrado por una rendija y se ha marchado a Essos y con Essos. Las desgracias del reino no dejan de sucederse y ya no es posible saquear como antes: Soria quedó inválido al caerse de un Guindos, Mato fue desterrada por hacer honor a su noble apellido y por último, esa tremenda boda rojo / púrpura entre Podemos e IU ha decapitado las últimas esperanzas de lograr instalar un culo Pepénister en el trono de lata, que tiene la forma de suntuoso orinal. Y, sobre todo, hay un miedo horroroso y tenaz que se esparce por todo Poniente, porque... se acerca el verano.
-Si no puedo tocarle los huevos draconianos, al menos le tocaré las narices, os lo juro.
Han dado por muerto a John Coletis, pero el hombre no hace otra cosa que resucitar e ir ganando votos y sumando fuerzas, al igual que Daenerys al otro lado del mar Angosto. Todo el mundo ve claro que, si el trono de lata no encuentra culo, los diecisiete reinos autonómicos se van a ir a la mierda. Los europeos presionan al otro lado del muro pirenaico y la Guardia de la Noche no da abasto. Incluso se ha celebrado un debate a muerte para resolver el asunto, pero los caballeros no han hecho otra cosa que salir en pelotas en los carteles y darse besazos en pleno hemiciclo. Es más, el Pepénister se ha escapado a pesar del cuidado del manazas del rey, Fernández Díaz, quien teme las iras de Sorayei; como es enano, se ha filtrado por una rendija y se ha marchado a Essos y con Essos. Las desgracias del reino no dejan de sucederse y ya no es posible saquear como antes: Soria quedó inválido al caerse de un Guindos, Mato fue desterrada por hacer honor a su noble apellido y por último, esa tremenda boda rojo / púrpura entre Podemos e IU ha decapitado las últimas esperanzas de lograr instalar un culo Pepénister en el trono de lata, que tiene la forma de suntuoso orinal. Y, sobre todo, hay un miedo horroroso y tenaz que se esparce por todo Poniente, porque... se acerca el verano.
sábado, 4 de junio de 2016
jueves, 19 de mayo de 2016
Profesores que bailan
Perhaps, los profesores del Alarcos necesitarían algunas clases de baile por el estilo de las de estos profes británicos
martes, 1 de diciembre de 2015
Los cien mejores guiones cinematográficos de humor... americano
Los cien mejores guiones de películas de humor según el Sindicado de Guionistas de América (por lo cual aparecen solo películas americanas o en inglés, no saben idiomas... ni tampoco demasiada geografía: al parecer "América" es solo los Estados Unidos). He buscado los títulos equivalentes para el mercado español (y a veces ha sido bastante difícil hallarlos; algunas, incluso, no se estrenaron en España):
1. Annie Hall (1977) "Annie Hall"
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Funnily enough, Woody Allen was trying to break away from being so funny. He and Marshall Brickman wanted to call their film Anhedonia (psychiatric term meaning the inability to experience pleasure). “I wanted to do a movie that might not have anything funny in it for a minute... more
2. Some Like it Hot "Con faldas y a lo loco" (1959)
Screenplay by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond, Based on the German film Fanfare of Love by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan
Great comedies wreak havoc on conventional wisdom, and Some Like it Hot changed what comedies could be in Hollywood – to wit, a pastiche of genres, including a throwback gangster film... more
3. Groundhog Day "Atrapado en el tiempo" (1993)
Screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, Story by Danny Rubin
Harold Ramis read Danny Rubin’s script and imagined an updating of It’s A Wonderful Life. Rubin hadn’t set out to write a Capra-esque parable, exactly. “When I first designed the original screenplay, it was almost like an experiment,” Rubin said at the 2015 Austin Film Festival... more
4. Airplane! "Aterriza como puedas" (1980)
Written by James Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker
Long before it became de rigueur for dramatic actors to spoof their own gravitas, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams deployed Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen beautifully in the tour de force of silliness that was Airplane!... more
5. Tootsie (1982) "Tootsie"
Screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal, Story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart
The elevator pitch – an out-of-work actor becomes a cause célèbre while disguised as a woman on a soap opera – fails to capture what made Tootsie feel hilarious and monumental. “'In my very first meeting with Larry Gelbart, I said, `If in 1982 a man puts on a dress... more
6. Young Frankenstein "El jovencito Frankenstein" (1974)
Screenplay by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, Screen Story by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, Based on Characters in the Novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
“At the top of the page I wrote, ‘Young Frankenstein,’ and then wrote two pages of what might happen to me if I were the great grandson of Beaufort von Frankenstein... more
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) "Doctor Strangelove, volamos hacia Moscú"
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Peter George and Terry Southern
No other anti-war film – much-less anti-war comedy – surpasses Stanley Kubrick’s film in the canon of contemporary cinema. George Plimpton recalled in Harper’s magazine that Peter Sellers had read Terry Southern’s comic novel The Magic Christian and gave a copy to Kubrick... more
8. Blazing Saddles (1974) "Sillas de montar calientes"
Screenplay by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger, Story by Andrew Bergman
In the writers’ room were Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, Alan Uger, and 26-year-old Andrew Bergman. “The thing I remember them saying is that comedy is like poetry... more
9. Monty Python and the Holy Grail "Los caballeros de la mesa cuadrada" (1975)
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
It’s a quest movie that gave us the line, “It’s only a flesh wound.” A send-up of Middle Age barbarity and “Sir Arthur, King of the Britons” (crickets), the movie further embedded the Pythons into the American comedy consciousness after their TV series Monty Python’s Flying Circus... more
10. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) "Desmadre a la americana"
Written by Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney & Chris Miller
Released in 1978 and written by Ramis along with National Lampoon stalwarts Doug Kenney (Harvard, class of ’68), and Chris Miller (Dartmouth, class of ’63), Animal House set box office records for a comedy. Though plenty crude, by moving the film’s time and place... more
11. This is Spinal Tap (1984) (no se estrenó doblada)
Written by Christopher Guest & Michael McKean & Rob Reiner & Harry Shearer
The script ran to four pages, said writer-director Rob Reiner. There was a character bible on bandmates Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, and an outline of their “Smell the Glove” tour. From there, Reiner and writer-performers... more
12. The Producers (1967) "Los productores"
Written by Mel Brooks
“Where did I go right?” cries Max Bialystock, when his Hitler musical leaves them roaring. Mel Brooks won an Oscar and a Writers Guild Award for best original screenplay. On the DVD re-release in 2008, Brooks said the Bialystock character was based on a producer Brooks worked for... more
13. The Big Lebowski (1998) "El gran Lebowski"
Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Similar to other films on this list – Duck Soup, Office Space, and Harold and Maude – The Big Lebowski was not embraced as a classic when it hit theaters, its genius rediscovered on home video, almost as if it had originally been censored by the authorities... more
14. Ghostbusters (1984) "Los cazafantasmas"
Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
“I thought to marry the old ’30s ghost comedies with the real vernacular, and the technical language of real ghost hunting, like Hans Holzer’s work, and [William G. Roll], and the Maimonides Dream Lab,” Dan Aykroyd told Howard Stern recently... more
15. When Harry Met Sally… (1989) "Cuando Harry encontró a Sally"
Written by Nora Ephron
The premise, Nora Ephron told Written By, felt believable and bigger than itself as soon as director Rob Reiner described it to her: A man and a woman, both coming out of relationships, meet. They decide not to have sex because it will ruin the friendship. Then they have sex... more
16. Bridesmaids (2011) "La boda de mi mejor amiga"
Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Wait, so women can actually be funny and make a blockbuster comedy? That was the news flash after Bridesmaids stormed the box office. Co-writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who had met as writer-performers in the Los Angeles improv company The Groundlings... more
17. Duck Soup (1933) "Sopa de ganso"
Story by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Additional Dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin
Duck Soup is the film that Harold Bloom called one of the great works of art of the past century,” noted critic Dana Stevens in The New York Times. “It’s one of the movies T. S. Eliot wanted to discuss when he met with Groucho in 1964, and the one that inspired Woody Allen’s character... more
18. There’s Something About Mary (1998) "Algo pasa con Mary"
Screenplay by John J. Strauss & Ed Decter and Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly, Story by Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Something about this box office hit (penis caught in zipper and/or semen ending up as hair gel?) put it in the crosshairs of a cultural argument about “gross-out comedy” and a pushback... more
19. The Jerk (1979) "Un loco anda suelto"
Screenplay by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias, Story by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb
“I had an idea for a film,” Steve Martin writes in his memoir, Born Standing Up. “It came from a line in my act: ‘It wasn’t always easy for me. I was born a poor black child.’” In trying to place himself in the wider world, the rube Navin R. Johnson considers getting listed in the phonebook... more
20. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) "Un pez llamado Wanda"
Screenplay by John Cleese, Story by John Cleese & Charles Crichton
A lively jewel heist farce, involving two American grifters, one of whom consumes goldfish, a British gangster, his stuttering subordinate, and Cleese himself as a seduced barrister. The script, Oscar- and Writers Guild Award-nominated, was a collaboration... more
21. His Girl Friday (1940) "Luna nueva"
Screenplay by Charles Lederer, Based on the Play The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
Of the rapid-fire, overlapping banter between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, Howard Hawks told Peter Bogdanovich: “I had noticed that when people talk, they talk over one another... more
22. The Princess Bride (1987) "La princesa prometida"
Screenplay by William Goldman, Based on Goldman's Novel of the Same Name
“I don’t like my writing,” William Goldman said in an interview with The Writers Guild Foundation. “I’ve only liked two things I’ve ever written – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Princess Bride.” Goldman adapted his own book to the screen... more
23. Raising Arizona (1987) "Arizona baby"
Written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Joel and Ethan Coens’ second film marked a shift from “the mundane, economical dialogue of Blood Simple” to “the kind of eccentric, ‘high hick’ diction that will become a Coens’ staple,” wrote Christopher Orr in The Atlantic. Raising Arizona not only affirmed... more
24. Bringing Up Baby (1938) "La fiera de mi niña"
Screenplay by Hagar Wilde and Dudley Nichols, Story by Hagar Wilde
In 1989, The New York Times ran part of a speech given by Budd Schulberg at the Deauville film festival, in which Schulberg compared the “auteur theory” of directing to “that of a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up all the contributions of the writers...” more
25. Caddyshack (1980) "Caddyshack" o "Los locos del golf"
Written by Brian Doyle-Murray & Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney
The movie is lionized for Bill Murray’s “Cinderella story” speech (improvised, apparently), for Rodney Dangerfield’s golf pants, for Chevy Chase’s ad hoc wisdom (“…be the ball…”), and for its raucous send-up of country club WASP culture. Harold Ramis made his directorial debut... more
26. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) "La vida de Brian"
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
The story of Jesus as told via a Jew named Brian Cohen, born one manger over from the Messiah Himself. The Pythons’ satire made them a target for critics not pleased that they were having a laugh with such sacred events as the Sermon on the Mount... more
27. The Graduate (1967) "El graduado"
Screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, Based on the Novel by Charles Webb
“I always thought The Graduate was the best pitch I ever heard: this kid graduates college, has an affair with his parents’ best friend, and then falls in love with the friend’s daughter. Give that to 20 writers and you’ve got 20 scripts,” Buck Henry told Vanity Fair in 2008... more
28. The Apartment (1960) "El apartamento"
Written by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond collaborated on 11 screenplays. The Apartment won them an Oscar and a Writers Guild Award. In an interview with the Writers Guild Foundation, Wilder recalled a five-page outline initially inspired by the David Lean film Brief Encounter... more
29. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) "Borat"
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer, Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips, Based on a Character Created by Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen took his wrong-headed Kazakhstani rube-reporter Borat on the road... more
30. The Hangover (2009) "Resacón en Las Vegas"
Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, the spec script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore was called What Happens in Vegas. Their twist on a bachelor party comedy was not to show the party. “These movies didn’t translate well onscreen,” Moore told Variety... more
31. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) "Virgen a los 40"
Written by Judd Apatow & Steve Carell
Inherent in the title is a twist on the well-trod turf of teen films – the quest for first-time sex. But what if the teen is 40? No stranger to using the love act as a vehicle for comic mortification, Apatow this time has a grounding protagonist in the sweet and earnest Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell)... more
32. The Lady Eve (1941) "Las tres noches de Eva"
Screenplay by Preston Sturges, Story by Monckton Hoffe
“The secret of Mr. Sturges's distinctive style is yet to be analyzed,” The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote when this film came out in 1941. “But mainly it is composed of exceedingly well-turned dialogue, a perfect sense for the ridiculous in the most mundane... more
33. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) – TIE "Todo en un día"
Written by John Hughes
In placing the comedy on its National Film Registry, the Library of Congress called Ferris Beuller “one of film’s greatest and most fully realized teen heroes.” For writer-director John Hughes, Ferris Bueller (coming hard upon the releases of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club)... more
33. Trading Places (1983) – TIE "Entre pillos anda el juego"
Written by Timothy Harris & Herschel Weingrod
The screenplay by the team of Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod “rediscovers and brings up to date a kind of social awareness that was so important to such comedies of the ’30s and ’40s as My Man Godfrey and Sullivan’s Travels,” wrote Vincent Canby in The New York Times... more
35. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) "Los viajes de Sullivan"
Written by Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges’s self-reflexive 1941 masterpiece of a Hollywood satire is, as Richard Brody of The New Yorker points out, “two movies in one. The comedy that it’s framed as, and the earnest, indeed grim drama, that the story, and for that matter ultimately Sullivan himself, repudiate...” more
36. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) "Mejor solo que mal acompañado"
Written by John Hughes
An enduring John Hughes holiday film, constructed around the perils of travel at the crowded Thanksgiving holiday. Beneath this, Hughes made room for a great straight man v. clown dynamic in the pairing of confident ad executive Neal (Steve Martin, playing it straight)... more
37. The Philadelphia Story (1940) "Historias de Filadelfia"
Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, Based on the Play by Philip Barry
Like his Algonquin Round Table co-horts Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman and Robert Benchley, Donald Ogden Stewart, a humorist and essayist, went west to work in pictures. “The Algonquinites hated Hollywood, but that doesn't mean they weren't good at it... more
38. A Night at the Opera (1935) "Una noche en la ópera"
Screenplay by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
When the film came out, playwrights George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind had already written the musicals The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, both Marx Brothers Broadway shows. “Morrie Ryskind and I learned a great lesson... more
39. Rushmore (1988) "Academia Rushmore"
Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
Wes Anderson’s characters aren’t strange so much as lit from within by their idiosyncratic behaviors. Max (Jason Schwartzmann) is a 15-year-old outsider at a rich kids’ prep school, a self-starter with droll interests... more
40. Waiting for Guffman (1996) "El experto"
Written by Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
The “Guffman” of the title is Mort, a Broadway producer who fails to show up for the premiere of the original musical Red, White and Blaine, in small-town Blaine, Mo. Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy’s satire of community theater, and the mounting of a show from soup to nuts... more
41. The Odd Couple (1968) "La extraña pareja"
Screenplay by Neil Simon, From the Play by Neil Simon as Produced on the Stage by Saint-Subber
When he conceived the play, Neil Simon thought he’d come up with “a grim, dark play about two lonely men” in Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison, Simon told The Paris Review. Instead, his Broadway show, a smash hit in 1965, became a hit film in 1968... more
42. The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad! (1988) "Agárralo como puedas"
Written by Jerry Zucker & Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Pat Proft, Based on the Television Series Police Squad! Created by Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker
From their first collaboration, 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie, brothers David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams began making trenchant, joke-heavy pop-cultural spoofs, but without polished... more
43. Office Space (1999) "Trabajo basura"
Written for the Screen by Mike Judge, Based on the "Milton" Animated Shorts by Mike Judge
Like The Big Lebowski, Office Space has enjoyed an after-life of appreciation that its modest release failed to predict. That’s possibly because it seemed so modest in its ambitions – a slow-burn of a comedy about the crushing, institutional tedium at a tech company... more
44. Big (1988)
Written by Anne Spielberg & Gary Ross
The screenplay earned Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg nominations for a Writers Guild Award and an Oscar. A 12-year-old boy makes a wish at a carnival: He wants to be all grown up. Josh Baskin wakes up the next morning in the body of a 30-year-old man... more
45. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) "Las vacaciones de una chiflada familia americana"
Screenplay by John Hughes
When he was still an advertising copywriter in Chicago, John Hughes published a short story in The National Lampoon called “Vacation ’58.” It was about a family driving from Gross Pointe, Mich., to Disneyland, and their misadventures along the way... more
46. Midnight Run (1988) "Huida a medianoche"
Written by George Gallo
A fear of flying was the initial spark for George Gallo’s screenplay about bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) tasked with bringing a mob accountant nicknamed “The Duke” (Charles Grodin) from New York to Los Angeles. In an early scene that touches off their journey... more
47. It Happened One Night (1934) "Sucedió una noche"
Screenplay by Robert Riskin, Based on the Short Story by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Opposites – of class, certainly, and of temperament, ostensibly – attract in what has become one of the most important romantic comedies of all time. Claudette Colbert is an heiress fleeing her impending marriage and Clark Gable is the tough-minded newspaperman... more
48. M*A*S*H (1970) "MASH"
Screenplay by Ring Lardner, Jr., From the Novel by Richard Hooker
M*A*S*H “was the first major American movie in which the word ‘fuck’ was spoken,” Ring Lardner Jr. writes in his memoir I’d Hate Myself in the Morning. Lardner was a member of the Hollywood 10, and his career was derailed for decades... more
49. Harold and Maude (1971) "Harold y Maude"
Written by Colin Higgins
In 1983, 12 years after its theatrical release, The New York Times reported that Harold and Maude had at last turned a profit. This was largely due to its runaway popularity in college towns and repertory theaters, where its cult following flourished. The story of an unlikely romance... more
50. Shaun of the Dead (2004) "Zombies party (una noche... de muerte)"
Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Simon Pegg doesn’t consider Shaun of the Dead a zombie spoof movie so much as a “zombie film that happens to be funny,” as Pegg told Kurt Anderson on the radio program Studio 360. Pegg made his debut feature with frequent collaborators Edgar Wright and Nick Frost... more
51. Broadcast News (1987) "Al filo de la noticia"
Written by James L. Brooks
You’d be hard-pressed to think of a better role written for a woman in a contemporary romantic comedy than the neurotic and driven TV producer played by Holly Hunter in Broadcast News. The character, James L. Brooks told Written By... more
52. Arthur (1981) "Arthur, el soltero de oro"
Written by Steven Gordon
“Suddenly, everyone loves Steve Gordon,” began a 1981 New York Magazine profile of the writer-director of Arthur. “Strangers on the street pound him on the back and congratulate him.” Before Arthur, Gordon was a successful TV writer and a not-so-successful playwright... more
53. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) "Cuatro bodas y un funeral"
Written by Richard Curtis
“Its influence on the British film industry, on romantic-comedy writing, on the pop charts, on funeral readings, on haircuts, was enormous,” said The Guardian, looking back on the film 20 years later. Four Weddings and a Funeral was a sensation in the U.S., too... more
54. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) – TIE "El reportero"
Written by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay met at SNL; their first feature together had Ferrell as a chauvinist pig of a 1970s San Diego news anchor and bloviator extraordinaire. To call the film a parody of local news fails to capture how far out the comedy goes, as when rival news teams square off... more
54. Dumb and Dumber (1994) – TIE "Dos tontos muy tontos"
Written by Peter Farrelly & Bennett Yellin & Bob Farrelly
“We went nine years in Hollywood without getting a movie made,” Peter Farrelly told Newsweek. “But we had a good attitude.” The drought ended with Dumb and Dumber, an unlikely hit in which Jim Carrey, a hot comedic star, and Jeff Daniels, heretofore seen in dramatic roles... more
56. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Written by Mike Myers
“Coming off of the success of Wayne’s World, Mike Myers conjured himself as a thawed-out relic of London’s swinging ’60s era, as well as a spy in the 007 mold. Myers told The Toronto Star that the idea for Austin Powers sparked in the car... more
57. The General (1926) "El maquinista de la General"
Screenplay by Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton, Based on the Book The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger
Buster Keaton’s remarkable film was shot on location in Oregon aboard moving trains, with chase scenes that build dramatically as much as comedically... more
58. What’s Up, Doc? (1972) "¿Qué me pasa, doctor?"
Screenplay by Buck Henry and David Newman & Robert Benton, Story by Peter Bogdanovich
This screwball comedy seemed an unlikely follow-up for both director Peter Bogdanovich, coming out of The Last Picture Show, and screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton, who had earned a three-picture deal at Warner Bros... more
59. Wedding Crashers (2005) "De boda en boda"
Written by Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are a pair of rapscallion divorce lawyers who crash weddings for sex, until they meet their match at the blue-blooded nuptials for a daughter of the U.S. Treasury Secretary. The film has something of a sweet, romantic comedy structure... more
60. Sleeper (1973) "El dormilón"
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Cryogenically frozen after expiring during routine surgery sometime in the 1970s, Woody Allen awakens 200 years into a future where fruits and vegetables are the size of public monuments and human sexuality is an intimacy-free zone of automated pleasure... more
61. Galaxy Quest (1999) "Héroes fuera de órbita"
Screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon, Story by David Howard
The original draft of the script, by David Howard, was called Captain Starshine, which evolved, over subsequent revisions by Robert Gordon, into Galaxy Quest. The comedic premise is somewhat ingenious: The cast of a once-popular Star Trek-like show... more
62. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) "El mundo está loco, loco, loco"
Screenplay by William and Tania Rose, Story by William and Tania Rose
The husband-and-wife team of William and Tania Rose wrote the screenplay for a film that is most-remembered for its kitchen-sink cast – Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman and Spencer Tracy, to name five. They and others are on a mad... more
63. Best in Show (2000) "Vary important perros"
Written by Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
Having lampooned the hubris of a heavy metal band in This Is Spinal Tap and amateur thespian intimations of greatness in Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest trained his dry, satiric gaze on the Westminster Dog Show. Well, not exactly the Westminster Dog Show, but close... more
64. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) "Pequeña miss Sunshine"
Written by Michael D. Arndt
A dysfunctional-family comedy in which the Hoovers of Albuquerque hit the road to take 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) to a kid beauty pageant. The family unit exists on a continuum of American dreamers and non-conformists: a father who’s a motivational speaker... more
65. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) "South Park: Más grande, Más largo y Sin Cortes".
Written by Trey Parker & Matt Stone & Pam Brady
“It’s Sunday morning in a quiet little, white-bread, redneck mountain town,” the denizens of South Park sing in the opening number of this cinematic spin-off of the TV series. A decade before Trey Parker and Matt Stone delivered their hilarious and highly un-PC Broadway musical Book of Mormon... more
66. Being There (1979) "Bienvenido mister Chance"
Screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski, Inspired by the Novel by Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosinski’s adaptation of his novella was a Writers Guild Award winner. Peter Sellers starred as a guileless character of dubious origin who has spent his entire life in the same Manhattan townhouse, tending to a garden, his perception of the wider world consisting of the imagery... more
67. Back to the Future (1985) "Regreso al futuro"
Written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
The script that launched a time-travel franchise (if not an entire sub-genre) might never have been made: Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis’ script was rejected over 40 times, Gale told Empire magazine. The germ of the idea, Gale said, came on a visit home to Missouri... more
68. Superbad (2007) "Supersalidos"
Written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg got a head start on their script, when they were 13. Rogen and Goldberg were writing what they knew – the story of two high school best friends who really, really, really want to lose their virginity before college... more
69. Bananas (1971) "Bananas"
Written by Woody Allen, Mickey Rose
Part of the “early Woody Allen” canon and the filmmaker’s second collaboration with Mickey Rose after Take the Money and the Run. This time Allen played the hapless and sex-starved Fielding Mellish, a New York Jew who joins a band of revolutionaries to impress his leftist girlfriend... more
70. Moonstruck (1987) "Hechizo de Luna"
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Playwright John Patrick Shanley burst onto the Hollywood scene with his first screenplay, winning an Oscar and Writers Guild Award with a topsy-turvy love story between a strong-willed Bronx widow and the brutish, soulful brother of her fiancé... more
71. Clueless (1995) "Fuera de onda"
Written by Amy Heckerling
Having examined high school in the San Fernando Valley (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), writer-director Amy Heckerling came over the hill and did it again, this time among Beverly Hills rich kids of the 1990s. While Clueless traffics in a far more materialistic world than Fast Times... more
72. The Palm Beach Story (1942) "Un marido rico"
Written by Preston Sturges
The idea for this screwball comedy, Preston Sturges says in his autobiography, “was conceived as an illustration of my theory of the aristocracy of beauty, or, as Claudette Colbert expressed it to Joel McCrae, ‘You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything... more
73. The Pink Panther (1963) "La pantera rosa"
Written by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards
A jewel heist plot – involving an heiress and a precious diamond, nicknamed “the pink panther” – anchored the first installment of a franchise that became synonymous with the careers of director Blake Edwards and the wonderfully bumbling antics of Peter Sellers... more
74. The Blues Brothers (1980) "Granujas a todo ritmo"
Written by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis
Long a side passion project for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers had a hit record when the SNL stars decided to make a movie about the brothers Jake and Elwood. As recounted by Ned Zeman in Vanity Fair: Aykroyd holed up on the Universal lot to write the script... more
75. Coming to America (1988) "El príncipe de Zamunda"
Screenplay by David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein, Story by Eddie Murphy
For posterity, this is the first movie in which Eddie Murphy played multiple characters: a pampered African prince arriving in Queens to look for a more enlightened wife, mainly, but also several denizens of a local barbershop... more
76. Take the Money and Run (1969) "Toma el dinero y corre"
Screenplay by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose, Story by Jackson Beck
Written with his childhood friend, the comedy writer Mickey Rose (the duo would next collaborate on Bananas) Allen directed and starred as Virgil Starkwell, a criminal “wanted in six states for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart... more
77. Election (1999) "Elecciones"
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel by Tom Perrotta
Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, the script by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor won the 2000 Writers Guild Award for best adapted screenplay and earned Payne and Taylor their first Oscar nominations. Dark satire meets a campaign for student council president... more
78. Love and Death (1975) "Amor y muerte"
Written by Woody Allen
The last of the zany, out-and-out comedies Allen made before Annie Hall transformed the trajectory of his career. As film critic Scott Tobias wrote in slate.com, Love and Death was the climax of a decade in which Allen mastered “a sophisticated form of low comedy, mingling the silly antics... more
79. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) – TIE "Un par de seductores"
Written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning
Screenwriter Dale Launer updated the 1964 comedy Bedtime Story, written by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning, which co-starred David Niven and Marlon Brando as con artists on the French Riviera seducing women out of their clothes and money. “Launer reorganized the story... more
79. Lost in America (1985) – "Perdidos en América"
Written by Albert Brooks & Monica Johnson
Having made two idiosyncratic films, Real Life and Modern Romance, Albert Brooks’ third comedy, co-written with Monica Johnson, was a road movie of sorts, with plenty of room for Brooks’ inimitable comic indignation to flourish. David and Linda, a yuppie couple... more
81. Manhattan (1979) "Manhattan"
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
“Few cities – Fellini’s Rome? – have ever belonged to a filmmaker as fully as New York has to Allen,” Peter Biskind wrote in Vanity Fair. Shot in black and white, Manhattan was both a love letter to a city and a companion piece of sorts to Annie Hall... more
82. Modern Times (1936) "Tiempos modernos"
Written by Charles Chaplin
Chaplin’s masterwork about man and machines, and the film in which he literally became caught in the gears of mechanization. Released in 1936, when Hollywood had gone the way of the talkie, Modern Times was mostly a silent, and even those characters who spoke... more
83. My Cousin Vinny (1992) "Mi primo Vinny"
Written by Dale Launer
A wiseguy in the Deep South is the fish-out-of-water premise, but only partly so. Vinny Gambini isn’t a gangster, he’s a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the New York bar and now has to get his college-aged cousin and friend out of a murder charge in small-town Alabama... more
84. Mean Girls (2004) "Chicas malas"
Screenplay by Tina Fey, Based on the Book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman
For all the comedies that have come out of Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live creative nest, Mean Girls is one of the more underrated. That might be because it wasn’t a vehicle for a Bill Murray or Mike Myers, it was the first screenplay by Tina Fey... more
85. Meet the Parents (2000) "Los padres de ella"
Screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg, Story by Greg Glienna & Mary Ruth Clarke
Like many comedies, it’s about the perils of concealment – in this case during a first visit home to meet your future in-laws. Ben Stiller was in top twitchy form as the future son-in-law (with the last name of Focker, evidently Jewish), and the odd site of Robert DeNiro in a cardigan... more
86. Fargo (1996) "Fargo"
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
The main character of Fargo is as much place as person: Minnesota in depth of winter, where otherwise decent folks endure the long winter with uncomplaining aplomb and plain-speaking diction. The Coens disturb the peace with a violent, kidnapping-gone-awry story... more
87. My Favorite Year (1982) "Mi año favorito"
Screenplay by Dennis Palumbo and Norman Steinberg, Story by Dennis Palumbo
Nominated for a Writers Guild Award, the script by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo is set in the backstage world of a comedy-variety series in TV’s Golden Age. A newbie writer, Benji Stone, is assigned to babysit a washed-up Hollywood star named Alan Swann... more
88. Stripes (1981) "El pelotón chiflado"
Written by Len Blum & Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis
Len Blum and Dan Goldberg had already teamed up with Harold Ramis to write the summer camp romp Meatballs when they created a second straight vehicle for Bill Murray, this time making him a hard-luck schnook who enlists in the Army... more
89. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) "Superdetective en Hollywood"
Screenplay by Daniel Petrie, Jr., Story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie, Jr.
Daniel Petrie Jr. had advanced from the mailroom at ICM to become an agent, but it wasn’t until he was fired after five years that he returned to screenwriting. His first produced effort was a studio rewrite on Beverly Hills Cop, “which was then in development hell... more
90. City Lights (1931) "Luces de la ciudad"
Written by Charles Chaplin
Despite the advent of sound, Charlie Chaplin made this silent classic in which his Little Tramp meets and falls for a blind flower girl, for whom he goes to great lengths to find the funds to restore her sight. Among the comic set pieces Chaplin created for his character... more
91. Sideways (2004) "Entre copas"
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel by Rex Pickett
The screenplay, by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, based on the novel by Rex Pickett, won an Oscar and Writers Guild Award. You could call Sideways a road comedy – the roads here being the ones that wind through Santa Barbara wine country, as a groom and his best man... more
92. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Written by Woody Allen
Allen employed a great framing device to establish the tone and plot: The movie opens on four Ed Sullivan Show-era comedians at the Carnegie Deli, reminiscing about a colorful talent manager named Danny Rose, whose acts ranged from a flock of parakeets... more
93. Swingers (1996)
Written by Jon Favreau
Revisiting his impetus to write his first feature, Jon Favreau told the Web site Grantland.com that he didn’t even realize he was writing a movie. “I couldn’t wait to share it with my friends more as, like, doodles in the notebook than saying, ‘Hey, here’s my big movie... more
94. The Gold Rush (1925) "La quimera del oro"
Written by Charles Chaplin
There is more than mere laughter in The Gold Rush,” said Mordaunt Hall, film critic for The New York Times, in 1925. “Masked by ludicrous situations is something of the comedian's early life – the hungry days in London, the times when he was depressed by disappointments... more
95. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) "El milagro de Morgan Creek"
Written by Preston Sturges
With the country at war, the plot of this Preston Sturges screwball comedy made waves in Washington, D.C. Trudy (Betty Hutton), a nice girl from small-town Morgan’s Creek, wakes up from a drunken revelry with departing soldiers to discover she’s married one of them... more
96. All About Eve (1950) "Todo sobre Eva"
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Based on the Short Story and Radio Program "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr
"Dialogue comes easy to me,” writer-director Joseph Mankiewicz told The New York Times in 1950. “Organization is my problem, but once I have a beginning and an end in mind... more
97. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) "Arsénico por compasión"
Screenplay by Julius Epstein & Philip G. Epstein, Based on the Play by Joseph Kesselring
The identical twins Julius and Philp Epstein adapted the dark farce as contract writers at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and ’40s, during which their credits also included Casablanca (with Howard Koch), The Strawberry Blonde and The Man Who Came to Dinner... more
98. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) "Los Tenembaums"
Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
Writer-director Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson met in a playwriting class at the University of Texas at Austin. After Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, they co-wrote The Royal Tenenbaums, which really established Anderson as part-ironist and part-fantasist... more
99. Mrs. Doutbtfire (1993) "Señora Doutbtfire"
Screenplay by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, Based on Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
Mrs. Doubtfire was Randi Mayem Singer’s first produced screenplay. “I was drawn to the idea of a divorced couple learning to put their differences aside in the interests of co-parenting... more
100. Flirting with Disaster (1996) "Flirteando con el desastre"
Written by David O. Russell
Writer-director David O. Russell “finds the strong central line” where all screwball comedies begin, wrote the late film critic Roger Ebert. “The seemingly serious mission or quest.” The quest here belongs to Mel, a first-time father who decides to track down his birth parents... more
101. Shakespeare in Love (1998) "Shakespeare enamorado"
Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
“Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter?” Toiling away at that unfortunately titled work, Shakespeare needs a muse – his Juliet. He finds her in Lady Viola, even if young Will is just an ink-stained wretch and the lady (she really wants to act) belongs to a count... more
1. Annie Hall (1977) "Annie Hall"
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Funnily enough, Woody Allen was trying to break away from being so funny. He and Marshall Brickman wanted to call their film Anhedonia (psychiatric term meaning the inability to experience pleasure). “I wanted to do a movie that might not have anything funny in it for a minute... more
2. Some Like it Hot "Con faldas y a lo loco" (1959)
Screenplay by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond, Based on the German film Fanfare of Love by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan
Great comedies wreak havoc on conventional wisdom, and Some Like it Hot changed what comedies could be in Hollywood – to wit, a pastiche of genres, including a throwback gangster film... more
3. Groundhog Day "Atrapado en el tiempo" (1993)
Screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, Story by Danny Rubin
Harold Ramis read Danny Rubin’s script and imagined an updating of It’s A Wonderful Life. Rubin hadn’t set out to write a Capra-esque parable, exactly. “When I first designed the original screenplay, it was almost like an experiment,” Rubin said at the 2015 Austin Film Festival... more
4. Airplane! "Aterriza como puedas" (1980)
Written by James Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker
Long before it became de rigueur for dramatic actors to spoof their own gravitas, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams deployed Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen beautifully in the tour de force of silliness that was Airplane!... more
5. Tootsie (1982) "Tootsie"
Screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal, Story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart
The elevator pitch – an out-of-work actor becomes a cause célèbre while disguised as a woman on a soap opera – fails to capture what made Tootsie feel hilarious and monumental. “'In my very first meeting with Larry Gelbart, I said, `If in 1982 a man puts on a dress... more
6. Young Frankenstein "El jovencito Frankenstein" (1974)
Screenplay by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, Screen Story by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, Based on Characters in the Novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
“At the top of the page I wrote, ‘Young Frankenstein,’ and then wrote two pages of what might happen to me if I were the great grandson of Beaufort von Frankenstein... more
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) "Doctor Strangelove, volamos hacia Moscú"
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Peter George and Terry Southern
No other anti-war film – much-less anti-war comedy – surpasses Stanley Kubrick’s film in the canon of contemporary cinema. George Plimpton recalled in Harper’s magazine that Peter Sellers had read Terry Southern’s comic novel The Magic Christian and gave a copy to Kubrick... more
8. Blazing Saddles (1974) "Sillas de montar calientes"
Screenplay by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger, Story by Andrew Bergman
In the writers’ room were Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, Alan Uger, and 26-year-old Andrew Bergman. “The thing I remember them saying is that comedy is like poetry... more
9. Monty Python and the Holy Grail "Los caballeros de la mesa cuadrada" (1975)
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
It’s a quest movie that gave us the line, “It’s only a flesh wound.” A send-up of Middle Age barbarity and “Sir Arthur, King of the Britons” (crickets), the movie further embedded the Pythons into the American comedy consciousness after their TV series Monty Python’s Flying Circus... more
10. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) "Desmadre a la americana"
Written by Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney & Chris Miller
Released in 1978 and written by Ramis along with National Lampoon stalwarts Doug Kenney (Harvard, class of ’68), and Chris Miller (Dartmouth, class of ’63), Animal House set box office records for a comedy. Though plenty crude, by moving the film’s time and place... more
11. This is Spinal Tap (1984) (no se estrenó doblada)
Written by Christopher Guest & Michael McKean & Rob Reiner & Harry Shearer
The script ran to four pages, said writer-director Rob Reiner. There was a character bible on bandmates Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, and an outline of their “Smell the Glove” tour. From there, Reiner and writer-performers... more
12. The Producers (1967) "Los productores"
Written by Mel Brooks
“Where did I go right?” cries Max Bialystock, when his Hitler musical leaves them roaring. Mel Brooks won an Oscar and a Writers Guild Award for best original screenplay. On the DVD re-release in 2008, Brooks said the Bialystock character was based on a producer Brooks worked for... more
13. The Big Lebowski (1998) "El gran Lebowski"
Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Similar to other films on this list – Duck Soup, Office Space, and Harold and Maude – The Big Lebowski was not embraced as a classic when it hit theaters, its genius rediscovered on home video, almost as if it had originally been censored by the authorities... more
14. Ghostbusters (1984) "Los cazafantasmas"
Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
“I thought to marry the old ’30s ghost comedies with the real vernacular, and the technical language of real ghost hunting, like Hans Holzer’s work, and [William G. Roll], and the Maimonides Dream Lab,” Dan Aykroyd told Howard Stern recently... more
15. When Harry Met Sally… (1989) "Cuando Harry encontró a Sally"
Written by Nora Ephron
The premise, Nora Ephron told Written By, felt believable and bigger than itself as soon as director Rob Reiner described it to her: A man and a woman, both coming out of relationships, meet. They decide not to have sex because it will ruin the friendship. Then they have sex... more
16. Bridesmaids (2011) "La boda de mi mejor amiga"
Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Wait, so women can actually be funny and make a blockbuster comedy? That was the news flash after Bridesmaids stormed the box office. Co-writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who had met as writer-performers in the Los Angeles improv company The Groundlings... more
17. Duck Soup (1933) "Sopa de ganso"
Story by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Additional Dialogue by Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin
Duck Soup is the film that Harold Bloom called one of the great works of art of the past century,” noted critic Dana Stevens in The New York Times. “It’s one of the movies T. S. Eliot wanted to discuss when he met with Groucho in 1964, and the one that inspired Woody Allen’s character... more
18. There’s Something About Mary (1998) "Algo pasa con Mary"
Screenplay by John J. Strauss & Ed Decter and Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly, Story by Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Something about this box office hit (penis caught in zipper and/or semen ending up as hair gel?) put it in the crosshairs of a cultural argument about “gross-out comedy” and a pushback... more
19. The Jerk (1979) "Un loco anda suelto"
Screenplay by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias, Story by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb
“I had an idea for a film,” Steve Martin writes in his memoir, Born Standing Up. “It came from a line in my act: ‘It wasn’t always easy for me. I was born a poor black child.’” In trying to place himself in the wider world, the rube Navin R. Johnson considers getting listed in the phonebook... more
20. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) "Un pez llamado Wanda"
Screenplay by John Cleese, Story by John Cleese & Charles Crichton
A lively jewel heist farce, involving two American grifters, one of whom consumes goldfish, a British gangster, his stuttering subordinate, and Cleese himself as a seduced barrister. The script, Oscar- and Writers Guild Award-nominated, was a collaboration... more
21. His Girl Friday (1940) "Luna nueva"
Screenplay by Charles Lederer, Based on the Play The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
Of the rapid-fire, overlapping banter between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, Howard Hawks told Peter Bogdanovich: “I had noticed that when people talk, they talk over one another... more
22. The Princess Bride (1987) "La princesa prometida"
Screenplay by William Goldman, Based on Goldman's Novel of the Same Name
“I don’t like my writing,” William Goldman said in an interview with The Writers Guild Foundation. “I’ve only liked two things I’ve ever written – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Princess Bride.” Goldman adapted his own book to the screen... more
23. Raising Arizona (1987) "Arizona baby"
Written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Joel and Ethan Coens’ second film marked a shift from “the mundane, economical dialogue of Blood Simple” to “the kind of eccentric, ‘high hick’ diction that will become a Coens’ staple,” wrote Christopher Orr in The Atlantic. Raising Arizona not only affirmed... more
24. Bringing Up Baby (1938) "La fiera de mi niña"
Screenplay by Hagar Wilde and Dudley Nichols, Story by Hagar Wilde
In 1989, The New York Times ran part of a speech given by Budd Schulberg at the Deauville film festival, in which Schulberg compared the “auteur theory” of directing to “that of a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up all the contributions of the writers...” more
25. Caddyshack (1980) "Caddyshack" o "Los locos del golf"
Written by Brian Doyle-Murray & Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney
The movie is lionized for Bill Murray’s “Cinderella story” speech (improvised, apparently), for Rodney Dangerfield’s golf pants, for Chevy Chase’s ad hoc wisdom (“…be the ball…”), and for its raucous send-up of country club WASP culture. Harold Ramis made his directorial debut... more
26. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) "La vida de Brian"
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
The story of Jesus as told via a Jew named Brian Cohen, born one manger over from the Messiah Himself. The Pythons’ satire made them a target for critics not pleased that they were having a laugh with such sacred events as the Sermon on the Mount... more
27. The Graduate (1967) "El graduado"
Screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, Based on the Novel by Charles Webb
“I always thought The Graduate was the best pitch I ever heard: this kid graduates college, has an affair with his parents’ best friend, and then falls in love with the friend’s daughter. Give that to 20 writers and you’ve got 20 scripts,” Buck Henry told Vanity Fair in 2008... more
28. The Apartment (1960) "El apartamento"
Written by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond collaborated on 11 screenplays. The Apartment won them an Oscar and a Writers Guild Award. In an interview with the Writers Guild Foundation, Wilder recalled a five-page outline initially inspired by the David Lean film Brief Encounter... more
29. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) "Borat"
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer, Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips, Based on a Character Created by Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen took his wrong-headed Kazakhstani rube-reporter Borat on the road... more
30. The Hangover (2009) "Resacón en Las Vegas"
Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, the spec script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore was called What Happens in Vegas. Their twist on a bachelor party comedy was not to show the party. “These movies didn’t translate well onscreen,” Moore told Variety... more
31. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) "Virgen a los 40"
Written by Judd Apatow & Steve Carell
Inherent in the title is a twist on the well-trod turf of teen films – the quest for first-time sex. But what if the teen is 40? No stranger to using the love act as a vehicle for comic mortification, Apatow this time has a grounding protagonist in the sweet and earnest Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell)... more
32. The Lady Eve (1941) "Las tres noches de Eva"
Screenplay by Preston Sturges, Story by Monckton Hoffe
“The secret of Mr. Sturges's distinctive style is yet to be analyzed,” The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote when this film came out in 1941. “But mainly it is composed of exceedingly well-turned dialogue, a perfect sense for the ridiculous in the most mundane... more
33. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) – TIE "Todo en un día"
Written by John Hughes
In placing the comedy on its National Film Registry, the Library of Congress called Ferris Beuller “one of film’s greatest and most fully realized teen heroes.” For writer-director John Hughes, Ferris Bueller (coming hard upon the releases of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club)... more
33. Trading Places (1983) – TIE "Entre pillos anda el juego"
Written by Timothy Harris & Herschel Weingrod
The screenplay by the team of Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod “rediscovers and brings up to date a kind of social awareness that was so important to such comedies of the ’30s and ’40s as My Man Godfrey and Sullivan’s Travels,” wrote Vincent Canby in The New York Times... more
35. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) "Los viajes de Sullivan"
Written by Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges’s self-reflexive 1941 masterpiece of a Hollywood satire is, as Richard Brody of The New Yorker points out, “two movies in one. The comedy that it’s framed as, and the earnest, indeed grim drama, that the story, and for that matter ultimately Sullivan himself, repudiate...” more
36. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) "Mejor solo que mal acompañado"
Written by John Hughes
An enduring John Hughes holiday film, constructed around the perils of travel at the crowded Thanksgiving holiday. Beneath this, Hughes made room for a great straight man v. clown dynamic in the pairing of confident ad executive Neal (Steve Martin, playing it straight)... more
37. The Philadelphia Story (1940) "Historias de Filadelfia"
Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, Based on the Play by Philip Barry
Like his Algonquin Round Table co-horts Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman and Robert Benchley, Donald Ogden Stewart, a humorist and essayist, went west to work in pictures. “The Algonquinites hated Hollywood, but that doesn't mean they weren't good at it... more
38. A Night at the Opera (1935) "Una noche en la ópera"
Screenplay by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
When the film came out, playwrights George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind had already written the musicals The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, both Marx Brothers Broadway shows. “Morrie Ryskind and I learned a great lesson... more
39. Rushmore (1988) "Academia Rushmore"
Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
Wes Anderson’s characters aren’t strange so much as lit from within by their idiosyncratic behaviors. Max (Jason Schwartzmann) is a 15-year-old outsider at a rich kids’ prep school, a self-starter with droll interests... more
40. Waiting for Guffman (1996) "El experto"
Written by Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
The “Guffman” of the title is Mort, a Broadway producer who fails to show up for the premiere of the original musical Red, White and Blaine, in small-town Blaine, Mo. Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy’s satire of community theater, and the mounting of a show from soup to nuts... more
41. The Odd Couple (1968) "La extraña pareja"
Screenplay by Neil Simon, From the Play by Neil Simon as Produced on the Stage by Saint-Subber
When he conceived the play, Neil Simon thought he’d come up with “a grim, dark play about two lonely men” in Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison, Simon told The Paris Review. Instead, his Broadway show, a smash hit in 1965, became a hit film in 1968... more
42. The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad! (1988) "Agárralo como puedas"
Written by Jerry Zucker & Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Pat Proft, Based on the Television Series Police Squad! Created by Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker
From their first collaboration, 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie, brothers David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams began making trenchant, joke-heavy pop-cultural spoofs, but without polished... more
43. Office Space (1999) "Trabajo basura"
Written for the Screen by Mike Judge, Based on the "Milton" Animated Shorts by Mike Judge
Like The Big Lebowski, Office Space has enjoyed an after-life of appreciation that its modest release failed to predict. That’s possibly because it seemed so modest in its ambitions – a slow-burn of a comedy about the crushing, institutional tedium at a tech company... more
44. Big (1988)
Written by Anne Spielberg & Gary Ross
The screenplay earned Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg nominations for a Writers Guild Award and an Oscar. A 12-year-old boy makes a wish at a carnival: He wants to be all grown up. Josh Baskin wakes up the next morning in the body of a 30-year-old man... more
45. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) "Las vacaciones de una chiflada familia americana"
Screenplay by John Hughes
When he was still an advertising copywriter in Chicago, John Hughes published a short story in The National Lampoon called “Vacation ’58.” It was about a family driving from Gross Pointe, Mich., to Disneyland, and their misadventures along the way... more
46. Midnight Run (1988) "Huida a medianoche"
Written by George Gallo
A fear of flying was the initial spark for George Gallo’s screenplay about bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) tasked with bringing a mob accountant nicknamed “The Duke” (Charles Grodin) from New York to Los Angeles. In an early scene that touches off their journey... more
47. It Happened One Night (1934) "Sucedió una noche"
Screenplay by Robert Riskin, Based on the Short Story by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Opposites – of class, certainly, and of temperament, ostensibly – attract in what has become one of the most important romantic comedies of all time. Claudette Colbert is an heiress fleeing her impending marriage and Clark Gable is the tough-minded newspaperman... more
48. M*A*S*H (1970) "MASH"
Screenplay by Ring Lardner, Jr., From the Novel by Richard Hooker
M*A*S*H “was the first major American movie in which the word ‘fuck’ was spoken,” Ring Lardner Jr. writes in his memoir I’d Hate Myself in the Morning. Lardner was a member of the Hollywood 10, and his career was derailed for decades... more
49. Harold and Maude (1971) "Harold y Maude"
Written by Colin Higgins
In 1983, 12 years after its theatrical release, The New York Times reported that Harold and Maude had at last turned a profit. This was largely due to its runaway popularity in college towns and repertory theaters, where its cult following flourished. The story of an unlikely romance... more
50. Shaun of the Dead (2004) "Zombies party (una noche... de muerte)"
Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Simon Pegg doesn’t consider Shaun of the Dead a zombie spoof movie so much as a “zombie film that happens to be funny,” as Pegg told Kurt Anderson on the radio program Studio 360. Pegg made his debut feature with frequent collaborators Edgar Wright and Nick Frost... more
51. Broadcast News (1987) "Al filo de la noticia"
Written by James L. Brooks
You’d be hard-pressed to think of a better role written for a woman in a contemporary romantic comedy than the neurotic and driven TV producer played by Holly Hunter in Broadcast News. The character, James L. Brooks told Written By... more
52. Arthur (1981) "Arthur, el soltero de oro"
Written by Steven Gordon
“Suddenly, everyone loves Steve Gordon,” began a 1981 New York Magazine profile of the writer-director of Arthur. “Strangers on the street pound him on the back and congratulate him.” Before Arthur, Gordon was a successful TV writer and a not-so-successful playwright... more
53. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) "Cuatro bodas y un funeral"
Written by Richard Curtis
“Its influence on the British film industry, on romantic-comedy writing, on the pop charts, on funeral readings, on haircuts, was enormous,” said The Guardian, looking back on the film 20 years later. Four Weddings and a Funeral was a sensation in the U.S., too... more
54. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) – TIE "El reportero"
Written by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay met at SNL; their first feature together had Ferrell as a chauvinist pig of a 1970s San Diego news anchor and bloviator extraordinaire. To call the film a parody of local news fails to capture how far out the comedy goes, as when rival news teams square off... more
54. Dumb and Dumber (1994) – TIE "Dos tontos muy tontos"
Written by Peter Farrelly & Bennett Yellin & Bob Farrelly
“We went nine years in Hollywood without getting a movie made,” Peter Farrelly told Newsweek. “But we had a good attitude.” The drought ended with Dumb and Dumber, an unlikely hit in which Jim Carrey, a hot comedic star, and Jeff Daniels, heretofore seen in dramatic roles... more
56. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Written by Mike Myers
“Coming off of the success of Wayne’s World, Mike Myers conjured himself as a thawed-out relic of London’s swinging ’60s era, as well as a spy in the 007 mold. Myers told The Toronto Star that the idea for Austin Powers sparked in the car... more
57. The General (1926) "El maquinista de la General"
Screenplay by Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton, Based on the Book The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger
Buster Keaton’s remarkable film was shot on location in Oregon aboard moving trains, with chase scenes that build dramatically as much as comedically... more
58. What’s Up, Doc? (1972) "¿Qué me pasa, doctor?"
Screenplay by Buck Henry and David Newman & Robert Benton, Story by Peter Bogdanovich
This screwball comedy seemed an unlikely follow-up for both director Peter Bogdanovich, coming out of The Last Picture Show, and screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton, who had earned a three-picture deal at Warner Bros... more
59. Wedding Crashers (2005) "De boda en boda"
Written by Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are a pair of rapscallion divorce lawyers who crash weddings for sex, until they meet their match at the blue-blooded nuptials for a daughter of the U.S. Treasury Secretary. The film has something of a sweet, romantic comedy structure... more
60. Sleeper (1973) "El dormilón"
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Cryogenically frozen after expiring during routine surgery sometime in the 1970s, Woody Allen awakens 200 years into a future where fruits and vegetables are the size of public monuments and human sexuality is an intimacy-free zone of automated pleasure... more
61. Galaxy Quest (1999) "Héroes fuera de órbita"
Screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon, Story by David Howard
The original draft of the script, by David Howard, was called Captain Starshine, which evolved, over subsequent revisions by Robert Gordon, into Galaxy Quest. The comedic premise is somewhat ingenious: The cast of a once-popular Star Trek-like show... more
62. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) "El mundo está loco, loco, loco"
Screenplay by William and Tania Rose, Story by William and Tania Rose
The husband-and-wife team of William and Tania Rose wrote the screenplay for a film that is most-remembered for its kitchen-sink cast – Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman and Spencer Tracy, to name five. They and others are on a mad... more
63. Best in Show (2000) "Vary important perros"
Written by Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
Having lampooned the hubris of a heavy metal band in This Is Spinal Tap and amateur thespian intimations of greatness in Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest trained his dry, satiric gaze on the Westminster Dog Show. Well, not exactly the Westminster Dog Show, but close... more
64. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) "Pequeña miss Sunshine"
Written by Michael D. Arndt
A dysfunctional-family comedy in which the Hoovers of Albuquerque hit the road to take 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) to a kid beauty pageant. The family unit exists on a continuum of American dreamers and non-conformists: a father who’s a motivational speaker... more
65. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) "South Park: Más grande, Más largo y Sin Cortes".
Written by Trey Parker & Matt Stone & Pam Brady
“It’s Sunday morning in a quiet little, white-bread, redneck mountain town,” the denizens of South Park sing in the opening number of this cinematic spin-off of the TV series. A decade before Trey Parker and Matt Stone delivered their hilarious and highly un-PC Broadway musical Book of Mormon... more
66. Being There (1979) "Bienvenido mister Chance"
Screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski, Inspired by the Novel by Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosinski’s adaptation of his novella was a Writers Guild Award winner. Peter Sellers starred as a guileless character of dubious origin who has spent his entire life in the same Manhattan townhouse, tending to a garden, his perception of the wider world consisting of the imagery... more
67. Back to the Future (1985) "Regreso al futuro"
Written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
The script that launched a time-travel franchise (if not an entire sub-genre) might never have been made: Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis’ script was rejected over 40 times, Gale told Empire magazine. The germ of the idea, Gale said, came on a visit home to Missouri... more
68. Superbad (2007) "Supersalidos"
Written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg got a head start on their script, when they were 13. Rogen and Goldberg were writing what they knew – the story of two high school best friends who really, really, really want to lose their virginity before college... more
69. Bananas (1971) "Bananas"
Written by Woody Allen, Mickey Rose
Part of the “early Woody Allen” canon and the filmmaker’s second collaboration with Mickey Rose after Take the Money and the Run. This time Allen played the hapless and sex-starved Fielding Mellish, a New York Jew who joins a band of revolutionaries to impress his leftist girlfriend... more
70. Moonstruck (1987) "Hechizo de Luna"
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Playwright John Patrick Shanley burst onto the Hollywood scene with his first screenplay, winning an Oscar and Writers Guild Award with a topsy-turvy love story between a strong-willed Bronx widow and the brutish, soulful brother of her fiancé... more
71. Clueless (1995) "Fuera de onda"
Written by Amy Heckerling
Having examined high school in the San Fernando Valley (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), writer-director Amy Heckerling came over the hill and did it again, this time among Beverly Hills rich kids of the 1990s. While Clueless traffics in a far more materialistic world than Fast Times... more
72. The Palm Beach Story (1942) "Un marido rico"
Written by Preston Sturges
The idea for this screwball comedy, Preston Sturges says in his autobiography, “was conceived as an illustration of my theory of the aristocracy of beauty, or, as Claudette Colbert expressed it to Joel McCrae, ‘You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything... more
73. The Pink Panther (1963) "La pantera rosa"
Written by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards
A jewel heist plot – involving an heiress and a precious diamond, nicknamed “the pink panther” – anchored the first installment of a franchise that became synonymous with the careers of director Blake Edwards and the wonderfully bumbling antics of Peter Sellers... more
74. The Blues Brothers (1980) "Granujas a todo ritmo"
Written by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis
Long a side passion project for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers had a hit record when the SNL stars decided to make a movie about the brothers Jake and Elwood. As recounted by Ned Zeman in Vanity Fair: Aykroyd holed up on the Universal lot to write the script... more
75. Coming to America (1988) "El príncipe de Zamunda"
Screenplay by David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein, Story by Eddie Murphy
For posterity, this is the first movie in which Eddie Murphy played multiple characters: a pampered African prince arriving in Queens to look for a more enlightened wife, mainly, but also several denizens of a local barbershop... more
76. Take the Money and Run (1969) "Toma el dinero y corre"
Screenplay by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose, Story by Jackson Beck
Written with his childhood friend, the comedy writer Mickey Rose (the duo would next collaborate on Bananas) Allen directed and starred as Virgil Starkwell, a criminal “wanted in six states for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart... more
77. Election (1999) "Elecciones"
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel by Tom Perrotta
Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, the script by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor won the 2000 Writers Guild Award for best adapted screenplay and earned Payne and Taylor their first Oscar nominations. Dark satire meets a campaign for student council president... more
78. Love and Death (1975) "Amor y muerte"
Written by Woody Allen
The last of the zany, out-and-out comedies Allen made before Annie Hall transformed the trajectory of his career. As film critic Scott Tobias wrote in slate.com, Love and Death was the climax of a decade in which Allen mastered “a sophisticated form of low comedy, mingling the silly antics... more
79. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) – TIE "Un par de seductores"
Written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning
Screenwriter Dale Launer updated the 1964 comedy Bedtime Story, written by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning, which co-starred David Niven and Marlon Brando as con artists on the French Riviera seducing women out of their clothes and money. “Launer reorganized the story... more
79. Lost in America (1985) – "Perdidos en América"
Written by Albert Brooks & Monica Johnson
Having made two idiosyncratic films, Real Life and Modern Romance, Albert Brooks’ third comedy, co-written with Monica Johnson, was a road movie of sorts, with plenty of room for Brooks’ inimitable comic indignation to flourish. David and Linda, a yuppie couple... more
81. Manhattan (1979) "Manhattan"
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
“Few cities – Fellini’s Rome? – have ever belonged to a filmmaker as fully as New York has to Allen,” Peter Biskind wrote in Vanity Fair. Shot in black and white, Manhattan was both a love letter to a city and a companion piece of sorts to Annie Hall... more
82. Modern Times (1936) "Tiempos modernos"
Written by Charles Chaplin
Chaplin’s masterwork about man and machines, and the film in which he literally became caught in the gears of mechanization. Released in 1936, when Hollywood had gone the way of the talkie, Modern Times was mostly a silent, and even those characters who spoke... more
83. My Cousin Vinny (1992) "Mi primo Vinny"
Written by Dale Launer
A wiseguy in the Deep South is the fish-out-of-water premise, but only partly so. Vinny Gambini isn’t a gangster, he’s a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the New York bar and now has to get his college-aged cousin and friend out of a murder charge in small-town Alabama... more
84. Mean Girls (2004) "Chicas malas"
Screenplay by Tina Fey, Based on the Book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman
For all the comedies that have come out of Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live creative nest, Mean Girls is one of the more underrated. That might be because it wasn’t a vehicle for a Bill Murray or Mike Myers, it was the first screenplay by Tina Fey... more
85. Meet the Parents (2000) "Los padres de ella"
Screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg, Story by Greg Glienna & Mary Ruth Clarke
Like many comedies, it’s about the perils of concealment – in this case during a first visit home to meet your future in-laws. Ben Stiller was in top twitchy form as the future son-in-law (with the last name of Focker, evidently Jewish), and the odd site of Robert DeNiro in a cardigan... more
86. Fargo (1996) "Fargo"
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
The main character of Fargo is as much place as person: Minnesota in depth of winter, where otherwise decent folks endure the long winter with uncomplaining aplomb and plain-speaking diction. The Coens disturb the peace with a violent, kidnapping-gone-awry story... more
87. My Favorite Year (1982) "Mi año favorito"
Screenplay by Dennis Palumbo and Norman Steinberg, Story by Dennis Palumbo
Nominated for a Writers Guild Award, the script by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo is set in the backstage world of a comedy-variety series in TV’s Golden Age. A newbie writer, Benji Stone, is assigned to babysit a washed-up Hollywood star named Alan Swann... more
88. Stripes (1981) "El pelotón chiflado"
Written by Len Blum & Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis
Len Blum and Dan Goldberg had already teamed up with Harold Ramis to write the summer camp romp Meatballs when they created a second straight vehicle for Bill Murray, this time making him a hard-luck schnook who enlists in the Army... more
89. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) "Superdetective en Hollywood"
Screenplay by Daniel Petrie, Jr., Story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie, Jr.
Daniel Petrie Jr. had advanced from the mailroom at ICM to become an agent, but it wasn’t until he was fired after five years that he returned to screenwriting. His first produced effort was a studio rewrite on Beverly Hills Cop, “which was then in development hell... more
90. City Lights (1931) "Luces de la ciudad"
Written by Charles Chaplin
Despite the advent of sound, Charlie Chaplin made this silent classic in which his Little Tramp meets and falls for a blind flower girl, for whom he goes to great lengths to find the funds to restore her sight. Among the comic set pieces Chaplin created for his character... more
91. Sideways (2004) "Entre copas"
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel by Rex Pickett
The screenplay, by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, based on the novel by Rex Pickett, won an Oscar and Writers Guild Award. You could call Sideways a road comedy – the roads here being the ones that wind through Santa Barbara wine country, as a groom and his best man... more
92. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Written by Woody Allen
Allen employed a great framing device to establish the tone and plot: The movie opens on four Ed Sullivan Show-era comedians at the Carnegie Deli, reminiscing about a colorful talent manager named Danny Rose, whose acts ranged from a flock of parakeets... more
93. Swingers (1996)
Written by Jon Favreau
Revisiting his impetus to write his first feature, Jon Favreau told the Web site Grantland.com that he didn’t even realize he was writing a movie. “I couldn’t wait to share it with my friends more as, like, doodles in the notebook than saying, ‘Hey, here’s my big movie... more
94. The Gold Rush (1925) "La quimera del oro"
Written by Charles Chaplin
There is more than mere laughter in The Gold Rush,” said Mordaunt Hall, film critic for The New York Times, in 1925. “Masked by ludicrous situations is something of the comedian's early life – the hungry days in London, the times when he was depressed by disappointments... more
95. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) "El milagro de Morgan Creek"
Written by Preston Sturges
With the country at war, the plot of this Preston Sturges screwball comedy made waves in Washington, D.C. Trudy (Betty Hutton), a nice girl from small-town Morgan’s Creek, wakes up from a drunken revelry with departing soldiers to discover she’s married one of them... more
96. All About Eve (1950) "Todo sobre Eva"
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Based on the Short Story and Radio Program "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr
"Dialogue comes easy to me,” writer-director Joseph Mankiewicz told The New York Times in 1950. “Organization is my problem, but once I have a beginning and an end in mind... more
97. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) "Arsénico por compasión"
Screenplay by Julius Epstein & Philip G. Epstein, Based on the Play by Joseph Kesselring
The identical twins Julius and Philp Epstein adapted the dark farce as contract writers at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and ’40s, during which their credits also included Casablanca (with Howard Koch), The Strawberry Blonde and The Man Who Came to Dinner... more
98. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) "Los Tenembaums"
Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
Writer-director Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson met in a playwriting class at the University of Texas at Austin. After Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, they co-wrote The Royal Tenenbaums, which really established Anderson as part-ironist and part-fantasist... more
99. Mrs. Doutbtfire (1993) "Señora Doutbtfire"
Screenplay by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, Based on Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
Mrs. Doubtfire was Randi Mayem Singer’s first produced screenplay. “I was drawn to the idea of a divorced couple learning to put their differences aside in the interests of co-parenting... more
100. Flirting with Disaster (1996) "Flirteando con el desastre"
Written by David O. Russell
Writer-director David O. Russell “finds the strong central line” where all screwball comedies begin, wrote the late film critic Roger Ebert. “The seemingly serious mission or quest.” The quest here belongs to Mel, a first-time father who decides to track down his birth parents... more
101. Shakespeare in Love (1998) "Shakespeare enamorado"
Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
“Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter?” Toiling away at that unfortunately titled work, Shakespeare needs a muse – his Juliet. He finds her in Lady Viola, even if young Will is just an ink-stained wretch and the lady (she really wants to act) belongs to a count... more
miércoles, 30 de septiembre de 2015
Los chistes y apólogos filosóficos de Slavoj Zizek
¿Saben aquel que Zizek...?, en El País, 1-III-2015:
Slavoj Zizek, estrella pop del pensamiento, suele echar mano de los chistes para explicar asuntos más opacos. Así en 'Mis chistes, mi filosofía', Barcelona, Anagrama, 2015:
I
La lógica de la tríada hegeliana se puede transmitir perfectamente mediante las tres versiones de la relación entre el sexo y las migrañas. Comencemos con la escena clásica: un hombre quiere tener relaciones con su mujer, y ella le contesta: “Lo siento, cariño, pero tengo una terrible migraña, ¡ahora no puedo hacerlo!”. Esta posición de arranque es negada/invertida con el apogeo de la liberación feminista: ahora es la esposa la que exige sexo, y el pobre hombre, cansado, el que contesta: “Lo siento, querida, tengo una terrible migraña...”. En el momento concluyente de la negación de la negación que de nuevo invierte toda la lógica, transformando esta vez el argumento en contra en un argumento a favor, la mujer afirma: “Cariño, tengo una terrible migraña, ¡así que vamos a hacerlo para que se me pase!”. Y uno incluso puede imaginarse un momento bastante depresivo de negatividad radical entre la segunda y la tercera versión: tanto el marido como la mujer sufren migraña, y acuerdan simplemente tomarse una taza de té.
II
Así pues, el “populismo” es por definición un fenómeno negativo, un fenómeno arraigado en un rechazo, incluso en una admisión implícita de impotencia. Todos conocemos el viejo chiste acerca de un tipo que ha perdido la llave y la busca debajo de una farola; cuando le preguntan dónde la ha perdido, admite que ha sido en un rincón sin luz. ¿Por qué la busca debajo de la farola, entonces? Porque la visibilidad es mucho mejor. En el populismo siempre hay algo parecido a este truco. Busca las causas de los problemas en los judíos, pues estos son más visibles que los procesos sociales complejos.
III
En cuanto introducimos la paradójica dialéctica de la identidad y la similitud cuyo mejor ejemplo son los chistes de los hermanos Marx (“No es extraño que se parezca a X, ¡es que es usted X!”. “Este hombre puede parecer un idiota y actuar como un idiota, pero no se engañe, ¡realmente es un idiota!”) se hace evidente lo rara que resulta la clonación. Supongamos que muere un hijo único muy querido por sus padres, y que estos deciden clonarlo para recuperarlo: ¿no está más que claro que el resultado es monstruoso? El nuevo niño posee todas las propiedades del fallecido, pero esa mismísima similitud hace que la diferencia sea más palpable. Aunque parezca exactamente el mismo, no se trata de la misma persona, por lo que es un chiste cruel, un impostor espeluznante; no es el hijo perdido, sino una copia blasfema cuya presencia no puede dejar de recordarnos ese chiste de los hermanos Marx en Una noche en la ópera: “Todo me recuerda a ti: tus ojos, tu cuello, tus labios... Todo excepto tú”.
IV
En los primeros tiempos de su gobierno, a Tony Blair le gustaba parafrasear el famoso chiste de La vida de Brian de los Monty Python (“Muy bien, pero, aparte del alcantarillado, la medicina, la educación, el vino, el orden público, la irrigación, las carreteras, el sistema de agua potable y la sanidad pública, ¿qué han hecho los romanos por nosotros?”) a fin de desarmar a sus críticos con ironía: “Ellos han traicionado el socialismo. Cierto, han traído más seguridad social, han mejorado mucho la asistencia sanitaria y la educación... pero, a pesar de todo eso, han traicionado el socialismo”.
V
En un viejo chiste de la difunta República Democrática Alemana, un obrero alemán consigue un trabajo en Siberia; sabiendo que todo su correo será leído por los censores, les dice a sus amigos: “Acordemos un código en clave: si os llega una carta mía escrita en tinta azul normal, lo que cuenta es cierto; si está escrita en rojo, es falso”. Al cabo de un mes, a sus amigos les llega la primera carta, escrita con tinta azul: “Aquí todo es maravilloso: las tiendas están llenas, la comida es abundante, los apartamentos son grandes y con buena calefacción, en los cines pasan películas de Occidente y hay muchas chicas guapas dispuestas a tener un romance. Lo único que no se puede conseguir es tinta roja”.
¿Y no es esta nuestra situación hasta ahora? Contamos con todas las libertades que queremos; lo único que nos falta es la “tinta roja”: nos “sentimos libres” porque carecemos del lenguaje para expresar nuestra falta de libertad. Lo que esta carencia de tinta roja significa es que, hoy en día, todas las principales expresiones que utilizamos para designar el presente conflicto —“guerra contra el terror”, “democracia y libertad”, “derechos humanos”— son falsas, enturbian nuestra percepción de las cosas en lugar de permitirnos pensar en ellas. La tarea que se nos plantea hoy en día es darles a los manifestantes tinta roja.
VI
Los chistes acerca del presidente croata, Franjo Tudjman, en general muestran una estructura de cierto interés para la teoría lacaniana. Por ejemplo: ¿por qué es imposible jugar al escondite con Tudjman? Porque si se escondiera, nadie se molestaría en buscarlo... He aquí una interesante cuestión libidinal que nos indica que esconderse sólo tiene sentido si alguien pretende encontrarte. El ejemplo supremo nos lo ofrecen Tudjman y su gran familia en un avión que vuela sobre Croacia. Consciente de los rumores de que muchos croatas llevan una vida desdichada y miserable, mientras él y sus compinches amasan una gran riqueza, Tudjman dice: “¿Y si lanzara un cheque por un millón de dólares por la ventanilla? Entonces al menos un croata, el que lo cogiera, sería feliz, ¿no?”. Su aduladora esposa dice: “Pero Franjo, querido, ¿por qué no arrojas dos cheques de medio millón cada uno, y así tendrás a dos croatas felices?”. Su hija añade: “¿Y por qué no cuatro cheques de un cuarto de millón cada uno, y harás felices a cuatro croatas?”. Y así sucesivamente hasta que, al final, su nieto —el proverbial niño inocente que sin darse cuenta suelta la verdad— dice: “Pero, abuelo, ¿por qué simplemente no te tiras tú por la ventanilla, y así todos los croatas serán felices?”.
VI
En los buenos tiempos del socialismo real, a todos los escolares se les repetía una y otra vez que Lenin leía vorazmente, así como su consejo para los jóvenes: “¡Aprended, aprended, aprended!”. Un chiste clásico de la época del socialismo produce un interesante efecto subversivo utilizando este lema en un contexto inesperado. A Marx, Engels y Lenin se les pregunta qué prefieren, si una esposa o una amante. Marx, cuya actitud en cuestiones íntimas se sabe que era bastante conservadora, contesta: “Una esposa”. Engels, que era un hombre que sabía disfrutar de la vida, por supuesto contesta: “Una amante”. Pero la sorpresa llega con Lenin, que contesta: “Las dos cosas, una esposa y una amante”. ¿Acaso, sin que nadie lo supiera, era muy amante de los placeres sexuales? No, puesto que explica con rapidez: “Así le puedes decir a tu amante que estás con tu mujer, y a tu mujer que estás con tu amante”. “¿Y qué haces en realidad?”. “Me voy a un lugar solitario y aprendo, aprendo, aprendo”.
VII
En una de sus cartas, Freud se refiere al chiste del recién casado que, cuando sus amigos le preguntan qué aspecto tiene su mujer, si es guapa, contesta: “A mí personalmente no me lo parece, pero es cuestión de gustos”.
VIII
El efecto de lo real aparece en el chiste en el que un paciente se queja a su psicoanalista de que hay un enorme cocodrilo bajo su cama. El psicoanalista le explica que se trata de una alucinación paranoica, y con el tiempo lo acaba curando, con lo que el paciente deja de ver el cocodrilo. Unos meses después, el psicoanalista se encuentra por la calle con un amigo del paciente que veía el cocodrilo y le pregunta si sabe cómo le va, a lo que el amigo contesta: “¿A cuál se refiere? ¿Al que murió porque se lo comió un cocodrilo que estaba escondido debajo de su cama?”.
martes, 22 de septiembre de 2015
Los chistes de Pablo Iglesias
Pablo Iglesias, líder de Podemos, ha respondido al president de la Generalitat, Artur Mas, hablando en indio como hizo el presidente catalán en su mitin del domingo, donde aseguró que "grandes jefes venir reserva catalana para decir indígenas lo que conviene votar" remachando "indígenas decir a grandes jefes Madrid PP, PSOE y Podemos que un gran corte de mangas".
Iglesias tomó anoche el testigo y, también en indio, dijo lo siguiente: "Parece que esto va de indios. Coleta Morada mandar señales de humo a Pequeño Pujol. Coleta Morada no entender Pequeño Pujol votar reforma laboral con Gran Jefe Plasma. Coleta Morada no entender Pequeño Pujol votar amnistía fiscal con Gran Jefe Plasma. Pequeño Pujol y Gran Jefe Plasma fumarse un gran puro. Pequeño Pujol hablar con lengua de serpiente [...] Coleta no entender Pequeño Pujol sólo hablar de bandera y no hablar de barracones. Coleta Morada no entender Gran Bandera Sánchez traicionar a su tribu. Coleta Morada tampoco entender Pájaro Naranja Rivera vender humo. Pájaro Rivera: humo ser para mandar señales, no ser para vender. Coleta Morada creer Pájaro Naranja ser Gaviota Azul. Pequeño Pujol, Gran Jefe Plasma, Gran Bandera Sánchez, Pájaro Naranja Rivera hablar con lengua de serpiente".
"Mas, usted no es un indígena. Es un hombre blanco haciendo el indio", añadió después Iglesias.
sábado, 5 de septiembre de 2015
Un par de poemas de José Aguilar Jurado, "Fray Josepho"
I
Diálogo con un antitaurino
–¿Prohibirías los toros? –Sin duda alguna, sí.
–¿Por qué quieres prohibirlos, si me gustan a mí?
–Porque matan al toro, sin ninguna razón.
–Pues no te comas ese bocata de jamón.
–Perdona, no es lo mismo. –Te ruego que concretes.
–Al toro lo torean. –¡También lo hacen filetes!
–Lo malo es que se haga por diversión y fiesta.
–¿La diversión es mala? ¿Acaso te molesta?
–Me molesta que el público disfrute con la muerte.
–Oye, pues tú no vayas, si eso no te divierte.
–¡Jamás hay diversión si un ser vivo se inmola!
–¿Te fastidia tal vez porque es fiesta española?
–El toro sufre mucho por culpa del torero.
–¿Y la vaca disfruta cuando va al matadero?
–Muere un ser indefenso, y eso es lo que deploro.
–¿Indefenso? Perdona. Ponte enfrente de un toro…
–El torero va armado. No aguanto que se queje.
–¿Y el feto, en un aborto? ¿A ese quién lo protege?
–El aborto es distinto. Decide la mujer.
–Pero el feto está vivo. Y también es un ser.
–Si me sales con esas, ya el debate lo corto.
–¿Te asquean las corridas y te mola el aborto?
II
Relación de personalidades ilustres de Cataluña
El Quixot es novela catalana,
que al mundo Cataluña entrega, ufana.
(Miguel Servet fue el padre del autor,
un catalán también, de lo mejor).
De Ávila no fue Santa Teresa,
pues ejerció en Pedralbes de abadesa.
Colón no fue marino genovés:
fue catalán, como Ferran Cortés.
Américo Vespucio, por fortuna,
fue catalán, Despuig, sin duda alguna.
Y Francisco Pizarro, vive Dios,
se llamaba en verdad Francesc Pinós.
(Cataluña también descubrió América,
cosa que pone a España muy histérica).
El Lazarillo, espejo de truhanes,
se escribió en los Países Catalanes.
Galceran de Cardona es Garcilaso:
lo hemos sabido ahora, con retraso.
España, la cruel nación vecina,
nos afanó también La Celestina.
Quevedo, un español, mala persona,
solo plagió al rector de Vallfogona.
Y les diré, por si a alguien le interesa,
que Leonardo da Vinci es de Manresa.
Catalana también es la sonrisa
de su obra magistral, la Mona Lisa.
Y es Artur Mas, en fin, el campeón
en lo de combatir la corrupción.
Diálogo con un antitaurino
–¿Prohibirías los toros? –Sin duda alguna, sí.
–¿Por qué quieres prohibirlos, si me gustan a mí?
–Porque matan al toro, sin ninguna razón.
–Pues no te comas ese bocata de jamón.
–Perdona, no es lo mismo. –Te ruego que concretes.
–Al toro lo torean. –¡También lo hacen filetes!
–Lo malo es que se haga por diversión y fiesta.
–¿La diversión es mala? ¿Acaso te molesta?
–Me molesta que el público disfrute con la muerte.
–Oye, pues tú no vayas, si eso no te divierte.
–¡Jamás hay diversión si un ser vivo se inmola!
–¿Te fastidia tal vez porque es fiesta española?
–El toro sufre mucho por culpa del torero.
–¿Y la vaca disfruta cuando va al matadero?
–Muere un ser indefenso, y eso es lo que deploro.
–¿Indefenso? Perdona. Ponte enfrente de un toro…
–El torero va armado. No aguanto que se queje.
–¿Y el feto, en un aborto? ¿A ese quién lo protege?
–El aborto es distinto. Decide la mujer.
–Pero el feto está vivo. Y también es un ser.
–Si me sales con esas, ya el debate lo corto.
–¿Te asquean las corridas y te mola el aborto?
II
Relación de personalidades ilustres de Cataluña
El Quixot es novela catalana,
que al mundo Cataluña entrega, ufana.
(Miguel Servet fue el padre del autor,
un catalán también, de lo mejor).
De Ávila no fue Santa Teresa,
pues ejerció en Pedralbes de abadesa.
Colón no fue marino genovés:
fue catalán, como Ferran Cortés.
Américo Vespucio, por fortuna,
fue catalán, Despuig, sin duda alguna.
Y Francisco Pizarro, vive Dios,
se llamaba en verdad Francesc Pinós.
(Cataluña también descubrió América,
cosa que pone a España muy histérica).
El Lazarillo, espejo de truhanes,
se escribió en los Países Catalanes.
Galceran de Cardona es Garcilaso:
lo hemos sabido ahora, con retraso.
España, la cruel nación vecina,
nos afanó también La Celestina.
Quevedo, un español, mala persona,
solo plagió al rector de Vallfogona.
Y les diré, por si a alguien le interesa,
que Leonardo da Vinci es de Manresa.
Catalana también es la sonrisa
de su obra magistral, la Mona Lisa.
Y es Artur Mas, en fin, el campeón
en lo de combatir la corrupción.
domingo, 23 de agosto de 2015
Dismaland, el parque de atracciones posmoderno diseñado por Bansky
Carmen Valiño, "La gran bofetada de Banksy. El grafitero inglés abre un parque temático con obras suyas y de otros 58 artistas", en El País, 22 de agosto de 2015:
Nunca será feliz. Y, desde luego, ya no comerá perdices. El cuerpo de la bella Cenicienta yace inmóvil, pese a los intentos de sus dos fieles pajaritos por reanimarla. Alrededor, los restos de su carroza volcada y los caballos agonizando dan fe de lo ocurrido. Tal vez fueran las prisas por volver del baile antes de la medianoche, o quizás el intento de huir de los paparazis que ahora se ceban a flases con su cadáver. El caso es que la princesa debió de coger con demasiada rapidez una curva y ahora es carne para morbosas primeras páginas. Un cuento de hadas culminado en tragedia, con un guiño al drama de Lady Diana. Y una instalación que resume Dismaland, la versión distópica de parques temáticos como Disneyland que el grafitero Banksy inauguró el pasado viernes en Reino Unido.
Todo en Dismaland tiene una doble o triple lectura. Estará abierto hasta el 27 de septiembre
Cientos de invitados acudieron a Weston-super-Mare, pequeña localidad perdida en la costa oeste de Inglaterra, para descubrir la última ocurrencia del creador urbano más cotizado y misterioso del planeta, maestro de los estarcidos con plantilla y de la provocación al poder. Su mayor trabajo hasta la fecha, según ha sentenciado ya la prensa británica de un tipo que ha pintado grafitis en el muro de Gaza, expuesto un elefante vivo o vendido por pocos dólares en una tienda temporánea en Nueva York decenas de sus valiosísimas obras.
Los primeros visitantes se encontraron con un monumento al inconformismo, un lugar que apenas comparte dos elementos con los parques temáticos habituales: el mapa y la noria. Desde fuera, Dismaland recuerda más bien a Alcatraz. Y, una vez dentro, el disparatado mundo de Banksy se desvela con toda su fuerza. Donde en los parques tradicionales hay muñecos deseosos de abrazos, Dismaland ofrece empleados al borde de la depresión, que bufan resignados si uno se niega a jugar al minigolf o reprochan al visitante: “¡No te rías!”. Cada esquina proporciona imágenes desoladoras, de un entristecido soldado imperial de La guerra de las galaxias con un globo que reza “Soy un imbécil”, a una piscina donde el público pilota una patera repleta de inmigrantes, sorteando los cuerpos de cuantos ya se han ahogado.
“Es todo taaan deprimente”, sintetiza con una sonrisa Penny Woolcock, venida desde Londres a descubrir la nueva genialidad del grafitero. Porque en el fondo Banksy ha levantado una catedral de la risa amarga, una galería de obras e instalaciones que mezclan humor negro y mensajes sutiles para recordarnos que el nuestro no es, ni mucho menos, el mejor de los mundos posibles. El abanico va desde un estand donde hay que intentar tumbar un yunque a golpes de bolas de pimpón —el premio para la utópica misión es el propio yunque— hasta una impresionante maqueta de una ciudad entera repleta de coches accidentados y edificios decadentes, donde predominan las luces azules de policías y antidisturbios.
Dobles lecturas.
Todo en Dismaland tiene doble o triple lectura. Empezando por el contraste entre el descuido total del recinto que lo acoge, la alegría imparable del público y la intensidad de las obras de arte que ahí se exponen. “Es un parque temático para la familia incómodo para los niños”, según su creador, aunque el entusiasmo con el que varios pequeños corretean de un lado a otro parece desmentirle. El propio Banksy ha contribuido con 10 obras y seleccionando a otros 58 artistas internacionales, de 17 países —con especial hincapié en Oriente Próximo—, que han aportado su granito de arena. Hay pesos pesados como Damien Hirst o Jenny Holzer y creadores desconocidos, todos tratados, eso sí, como iguales. No falta presencia española, con los cuadros del artista granadino Paco Pomet, de la galería My Name’s Lolita Art, y la obra del grafitero valenciano Escif.
“Todos los trabajos son muy subversivos”, asevera entusiasta otra visitante, Emily Lequesne. Y, acto seguido, agradece también a Banksy la elección del lugar. El creador ha contado que de pequeño solía visitar en Weston-super-Mare el parque temático de Tropicana, que acabó cerrando en el año 2000 debido a la caída en picado de la afluencia. Banksy se coló en la estructura hace meses y debió de quedar tan satisfecho que decidió despegar aquí su nueva ocurrencia. Contenta debe de estar también la ciudad, sobre todo a juzgar por los resultados de la anterior muestra de Banksy en Reino Unido: en 2009, su retrospectiva en Bristol superó los 300.000 asistentes. Los interesados tienen tiempo hasta el 27 de septiembre, cuando Dismaland cierre las puertas —la entrada vale tres libras y hay 4.000 entradas diarias para el público de la calle— y el grafitero se vuelque en su siguiente misión.
El parque fue un misterio hasta hace unos días. En teoría, solo cuatro personas de un consejo local sabían qué se estaba levantando en el recinto de Tropicana. Los demás responsables creyeron a la versión oficial, la que también escucharon los habitantes de Weston-super-Mare: el barullo era cosa de Hollywood, del rodaje de un supuesto thriller bautizado Grey Fox.
Pero las cámaras no llegaban, y el decadente castillo que ocupa el corazón del parque se convirtió pronto en una pregunta demasiado grande como para no tener respuesta. De ahí que el misterio de Banksy volara por los aires poco antes de la inauguración. Y la página web de Dismaland se colgó bajo millones de clicks. Sea como fuere, el creador, nativo de la cercana Bristol —uno de los pocos datos ciertos de su casi ignota biografía—, quiso regalar otro homenaje a su región natal: el viernes por la mañana solo podían acceder los habitantes de Weston-super-Mare, lo que se traducía en un apacible desfile de familias y ancianos. Por la tarde, en cambio, la fiesta de inauguración se convirtió en algo así como una alfombra roja hipster, con los visitantes que se desafiaban a golpes de modernidad y elegancia.
Cualquiera de ellos, en realidad, podría ser el propio Banksy, ya que nadie conoce su cara. “¿Y si fuera yo? ¿Qué harías?”, interpelaba al periodista Emily Lequesne. Al fin y al cabo, se ha especulado con que el creador sea una mujer o quizás un grupo de siete artistas. Probablemente nunca se sabrá si Banksy quiso vivir en primera persona el debut de su parque.
Pero, a falta del anfitrión, Dismaland regalaba otros encuentros inesperados. Tanto como hacer la cola en la tienda de regalos —colocada al final, como manda el títulos de su filme Exit through the gift shop, el documental de Banksy que en 2011 optó al Oscar, y en el que se burlaba del mundo del arte urbano y los enormes precios de las obras— tras un tipo que se parece impresionantemente al actor Jack Black. “¿Cómo vas?¿Qué camiseta te gusta más?”, pregunta de repente el hombre al periodista, tras darse la vuelta. Su carnet de conducir, sacado para pagar, aleja las dudas: es Jack Black. Lo que trae otra certeza: al menos él no puede ser Banksy. Bueno, quién sabe.
Dos españoles en el reino de Banksy
El anfitrión de Dismaland ha escogido personalmente los artistas y hasta las obras que quería exponer en su nuevo parque temático. De entre 58 artistas de 17 países, Banksy ha seleccionado a dos españoles: el pintor Paco Pomet y el grafitero Escif (el único español que aparecía en el documental de Bansy Exit through the gift shop).
“Contactaron conmigo en torno a Navidad. Solo dijeron que estaban organizando una exposición en Reino Unido con artistas internacionales, que estaban interesados en mi obra y que todo tenía que ser confidencial”, relata Pomet. En concreto, siete de sus cuadros han sido seleccionados y lucen en la galería del parque. El artista considera que “el inconformismo” es la clave que une su trabajo al de Banksy, y de los demás creadores presentes. Traducido a sus cuadros, significa ver al Monstruo de las galletas subido a un jeep con varios guerrilleros o unos árboles que parecen sangrar tras ser cortados.
Pomet relata que la organización se encarga de todo: el traslado, el seguro, alojamiento y estancia de los artistas. A cambio, pide cierto silencio sobre los enigmas que rodean Dismaland y su creador, lo que él respeta a rajatabla. Tampoco desvela mucho más Ramón García, titular de la galería My Name’s Lolita Art donde el pintor expone. Eso sí, el galerista no para de sonreír y subrayar su revancha: en los últimos dos años, la feria Arco le ha dicho “no” y sin embargo ha sido llamado a la corte de Banksy.
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