Your IP: 38.107.179.222 United States Near: United States

Lookup IP Information

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next

Below is the list of all allocated IP address in 45.239.0.0 - 45.239.255.255 network range, sorted by latency.

The Comic VHS cover Directed by Carl Reiner Produced by Carl Reiner Aaron Ruben Written by Carl Reiner Aaron Ruben Narrated by Dick Van Dyke Starring Dick Van Dyke Mickey Rooney Michele Lee Cornel Wilde Nina Wayne Pert Kelton Jeannine Riley Music by Jack Elliott Cinematography W. Wallace Kelley Editing by Adrienne Fazan Distributed by Acre Enterprises Inc. Columbia Pictures Corporation Release date(s) Premiere: 19 November 1969 Running time 94 min. Country USA Language English The Comic is a 1969 drama/black comedy film co-written, co-produced and directed by Carl Reiner. It stars former Disney regulars Dick Van Dyke as Billy Bright (the original title) and Michele Lee as Bright's love interest. Reiner himself and Mickey Rooney (who would later reunite with Van Dyke for the second time thirty seven years later in Night at the Museum) co-stars as Bright's friends and work colleagues. Reiner wrote the screenplay with Aaron Ruben, which was inspired by the end of silent film era, and in part, by the life of silent film superstar Buster Keaton. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Response 5 Availability 6 Footnotes 7 External links Plot Billy Bright (Dick Van Dyke), a silent-era film comedian, narrates this film which begins at his character's funeral in 1969 and tells his life story in flashbacks, unable to see his own faults and morosely (and incorrectly) blaming others for the turns of the events in his life. Headstrong and talented, vaudeville clown Bright arrives on his first California film location insisting that he will perform his bit role only if he can wear the outrageous costume and makeup of the character he has been known for on the stage. The director refuses and Bright begins to storm off, but when his car rolls off a cliff he is forced to accept the terms. As soon as the cameras are rolling, however, he improvises (and sabotages) his way to becoming the hero of the scenario. His combination of acquiescence and audacity pays off, and before long he has become a major film comedy star in the 1910s and '20s, the silent picture era of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel. He steals his leading lady, Mary (Michele Lee), from the film bigwig she's been dating and the two increasingly popular performers marry, starting their own production company together. As early as her pregnancy, however, she begins to suspect his adultery; when she confronts him he tries to turn the tables and shame her into apologizing for the accusation. When, at the height of their fame and fortune, he is served with papers naming him in a Hollywood power couple's divorce filing, she leaves him, taking their young son — and the couple's palatial estate. Bright sinks into despair and alcoholism, and leaves the country to film in Europe for four years. He sobers up and attempts a comeback in Hollywood, but — ever living in the past — will accept it on no other terms than those he had been accustomed to, adamantly refusing the studio's offer to star him in a talkie, and storming out on his agent (Carl Reiner). Like the film industry, his wife has moved on, and rebuffs his attempt to win her back by reminding her of what once was. The one constant in his life, other than his decreasingly appealing sense of identity, is his old screen sidekick and only friend, Cockeye (Mickey Rooney). Steve Allen appears as himself, a late-1960s talk show host who has the faded star on in an effort to revive his career, and the elderly Bright proves capable of — if somewhat pathetic to the groovy stars of the day on the couch alongside him for — recreating his old pratfall schtick. The pitch works, but this time the only vehicle that will allow him to run through his preferred brand of slapstick is a detergent commercial. The denouement of Bright's life, and the film, finds him in and out of the hospital, just had been visited by his now-grown son Billy Jr. (also played by Van Dyke in a duel role), reduced to setting the alarm in his dingy two-room apartment, and catching airings of he and his former wife's old comedies at odd hours on TV — which he watches without a hint of a smile. Cast Dick Van Dyke as Billy Bright / Billy Bright, Jr. (adult) Michele Lee as Mary Gibson Mickey Rooney as Cockeye Cornel Wilde as Frank Powers Nina Wayne as Sybil Pert Kelton as Mama Steve Allen as Himself Barbara Heller as Ginger Ed Peck as Edwin G. Englehardt Jeannine Riley as Lorraine Gavin MacLeod as 1st Director Jay Novello as Miguel Craig Huebing as Doctor Paulene Myers as Phoebe Fritz Feld as Armand Production In his autobiography, Carl Reiner said he had written the film as a vehicle for Van Dyke who had, on the set of their TV show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, often expressed the wish that he had been working at the same time as comedy legends such as his hero Stan Laurel.[1] Reiner loosely patterned the story of Bright's career downfall on the real-life travails of a number of early film actors, primarily Buster Keaton (although some details parallel the experience of the film's co-star Rooney), who likewise saw his Hollywood success falter as filmgoers' tastes changed and he fell into alcoholism. Ironically, after Van Dyke's critically acclaimed performance as a desperately struggling alcoholic in the 1974 TV film The Morning After, Van Dyke disclosed that he had only recently overcome a serious drinking problem in his own life. Response Very few people saw the film upon its release, but in later years, it would be liked as a movie about one silent star's rise and fall, patterned after the many silent stars that tried to make it in later years and failed: among the exceptions would be silent and sound film star Stan Laurel, who Dick Van Dyke loved. He would later learn that since the end of Laurel's time with Oliver Hardy, many imitators came and went and no attempt was made to legally stop them from imitating Laurel, his friend Hardy or even copying his face, which in part inspired this film. Van Dyke said of The Comic: "very few people saw that movie, but we were proud of it."[2] Availability The Comic was produced on a VHS tape published by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (Burbank, CA) in 1986 (OCLC 17939307). Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment also released a VHS edition the same year (ISBN 0800132823). Footnotes ^ My Anecdotal Life by Carl Reiner (St. Martin's Press; 2003, hardcover, ISBN 0312311044). Quoted on The Comic trivia page at the Internet Movie Database. ^ On Larry King Live, "Dick Van Dyke Discusses His Career in Entertainment". Aired September 22, 2000. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0009/22/lkl.00.html External links The Comic at the Internet Movie Database The Comic at Allrovi The Comic at Rotten Tomatoes v · d · eFilms directed by Carl Reiner 1960s Enter Laughing (1967) · The Comic (1969) 1970s Where's Poppa? (1970) · Oh, God! (1977) · The One and Only (1978) · The Jerk (1979) 1980s Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) · The Man with Two Brains (1983) · All of Me (1984) · Summer Rental (1985) · Summer School (1987) · Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989) 1990s Sibling Rivalry (1990) · Fatal Instinct (1993) · That Old Feeling (1997) This article about a comedy–drama film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e