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Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Jack Gilford, Michael Crawford ... see more see more... , Annette Andre , Patricia Jessell , Michael Hordern , Leon Greene , Inga Neilsen , Myrna White , Lucienne Bridou , Helen Funai , Jennifer Baker , Susan Baker , Alfie Bass , John Bennett , John Bluthal , Pamela Brown , Peter Butterworth , Frank Elliott , Andrew Faulds , Bill Kerr , Roy Kinnear , Beatrix Lehmann , Jack May , Jon Pertwee , Ingrid Pitt , Frank Thornton , Ron Brody

Director Richard Lester uses the Burt Shevelove/Larry Gelbart/Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical hit as a launching pad for some of his wildest slapstick gaggery. Zero Mostel repeats his stage role as ... read more read more...Pseudolus, the cunning Roman slave who'll do anything to win his freedom. The plot hinges on three Roman houses next door to each another. One is the home of Pseudolus' masters: the philandering Senex (Michael Hordern), his domineering wife, Domina (Patricia Jessell), and their handsome but empty-headed son, Hero (Michael Crawford). The second house is a brothel belonging to unctuous procurer Lycus (Phil Silvers). The third house has long been empty, in that its owner, the senile Erronius (Buster Keaton), has gone on a long journey to find his children, who were kidnapped in infancy by pirates. Other principals include Pseudolus' fellow slave, the aptly named Hysterium (Jack Gilford); vain warrior Miles Gloriosus (Leon Greene), who marches triumphantly into Rome declaring "I am a parade!"; and the virginal Philia (Annette Andre), a resident of Lycus' "domicile" who is loved by Hero but who has been promised in marriage to Miles Gloriosus. There are also acrobats, transvestites, a phony funeral, and an outsized climactic chase. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

74% liked it

9,326 ratings

Critics

82% liked it

17 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Richard Lester

Release Date: January 1, 1966

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DVD Release Date: May 15, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (439)

  • ajv2688
    December 9, 2010
    ajv2688
    This movie is really very funny, much more so than I expected. The cast is great, but I really felt that Keaton needed a bigger role in the story. Anyway, the story is very interesting in a classical way, it's like something Shakespeare could have written. I liked this movie.
  • moonrivers
    May 20, 2010
    moonrivers
    just-for-the-hell-of-it comedy with zero mostel mugging unmercilessly through the midsummer nights dream circumstances of a hapless slave seeking his freedom w/chicanery aforethought. the roman locale is only one superficiality of the story. yeah, it got laughs out of me. i di... read moredn't wanna, but they took 'em from me! it was a riot.
  • garyX
    June 9, 2007
    garyX
    A kind of american version of Up Pompeii, this roman comedy based on a musical is actually pretty funny. But with a cast including the likes of Zero Mostel and Phil Silvers, you can't really go wrong...
  • hypathio7
    September 12, 2011
    hypathio7
    Lester's mark on this comedy and the psychedelia of the 60's are definitely present. There are a lot of changes from the stage version of the musical comedy including that most of the songs have been cut. I saw this several years ago and didn't really appreciate the sense of humo... read morer. I recently was the assistant director for a production of this show at a community theater and I thought the stage play partly by Larry Gelbart had more potential. It is supposed to be a vaudevillian comedy based on the ancient comedies of Plautus. I re-watched this movie after the show was up and running. I liked it just a bit more than before, but my increase in laughs was more based on having spent the time rehearsing the play. To recognize some of the original lines that were kept and differences between our version and this wacky picture was my main source of enjoyment.
  • fb100000398655007
    May 17, 2012
    fb100000398655007
    Not exactly my kind of thing and neither did I find it good. Their where some funny moments but nothing laugh out loud. It's recommended for mature audiences and that's because it has hidden adult humor. To tell you the truth I'm an adult and the crude humor escaped my mind. What... read more I didn't like about this was the plot. It seemed weak and the build up was lousy. The writing was okay. Their where some good lines. The production values are what scared me the most. The direction could have been better. I understand that this was a famous play but they toke out most of the songs. If you like musicals then by all means watch it. If you aren't so fawned by musicals then don't.
  • paj85
    April 13, 2012
    paj85
    "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is a riot! This perfect cast delivers laugh after laugh after laugh. I nearly busted a gut during the song "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" and that chariot chase sequence at the end was absolutely hysterical. I understand that ... read morethis version is very different from the stage show but, being unfamiliar with the stage version, I really enjoyed this film as its own entity. Any discussion of the actors must begin with Zero Mostel, whose wit is a perfect fit for the role of Pseudolus. The bantering dialogue between him and Jack Guilford (as Hysterium) is genius, while Phil Silvers often hops into the dialogue as Lycus at all of the perfect moments. The other role that I really enjoyed was Michael Hordern as Senex, the miserable husband who is desperate to be with anybody other than his dominating (literally) wife. This story manages to throw in just about every joke in the book in a quick-witted, fast-paced dialogue. As the plot grows thicker and thicker, resolution seems impossible... but in a matter of 35 seconds, the entire story is turned on its head and every loose end finds its place. If you are looking for a hysterical look at the historical Roman Empire, this is the movie for you!
  • scrambledegg7
    October 11, 2009
    scrambledegg7
    This is far from Sondheim's best musical. His lyrics hadn't really settled into themselves yet, and musically here he suffers from Cole Porter Syndrome, where each of his songs has exactly 1 tune that is repeated 15,000 times, with cleverly-rhymed verses for each one... but it ju... read morest goes on far too long without any substance. The visual choices for the songs were also very unpleasant - rapid montage sequences that are just very distracting.

    The story itself occasionally goes overboard on the slapstick, but I would still infinitely rather watch something like this than any of the period comedies written today which feature pop culture jokes that will be outdated in 2 years. It's not perfect, by any means, but I mostly enjoyed it. Zero Mostel was occasionally over-the-top but always entertaining.
  • TheJuniorEbert
    January 30, 2009
    TheJuniorEbert
    One of those movies that makes it easy and enjoyable to stay home on a Friday night. The story is zaney, the songs are catchy and the laughs are a barrel a minute! If you're looking for a pick-me-up or just a plain good time, give this one a try.
  • gwynfallan
    April 14, 2008
    gwynfallan
    Silly, silly and very 60's. Many things I loved while others just turned me off, there was no in between.
  • flixsterbum
    March 6, 2008
    flixsterbum
    Silly, bawdy fun. Phil Silvers, Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton, plus a bevy of beautiful women. What's not to like? A light musical comedy that's fairly light on the musical, full of cross-dressing, debauchery, and horse sweat. Delightful!

View All A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Reviews

Critic Reviews

Wesley Lovell
June 22, 2010
Wesley Lovell, Oscar Guy

Humorous to an extent, but lacking the bang you might expect from a big screen musical. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
February 5, 2009
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The middling low-brow slapstick comedy overdoses on the brassy Zero Mostel hamming it up. Full Review

Douglas Pratt
June 15, 2007
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser

The funniest movie ever made

Steve Crum
June 29, 2005
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Hilarious, stagey version of hit Broadway musical comedy.

Emily Blunt
April 10, 2004
Emily Blunt, Blunt Review

This is freakin' hilarious!

James Rocchi
November 7, 2002
James Rocchi, Netflix

The Empire strikes back in loutish, fun musical comedy. Full Review

Bob Bloom
October 4, 2002
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

A great mixture of slapstick, farce and music. Zero Mostel is a treat as is the underappreciated Jack Gilford.

Ken Hanke
August 21, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Perhaps the first modern film musical -- breaking with and even making sport of the theatrical artifice that had been bogging down the genre for nearly a decade. Full Review

John J. Puccio
January 1, 2000
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

A funny thing happened on the way to Hollywood: A good musical-comedy lost much of its fizz.

February 23, 2012
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

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