The Aristocats (1970)

It's Mother's Day and I wanted to watch something to help celebrate this very important day and there wasn't really much and I sort of broke my golden rule of Sunday At The Classics. Usually we only view films before 1969, but for today we are watching 1970's The Aristocats which was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman (The Sword In The Stone) and is available on Disney Plus. The film stars Hermione Baddeley (The Secret Of NIMH) as retired opera singer Adelaide Bonfamille who has a fortune, but no benefactors. So one day she decides that she is going to leave her fortune to her beloved cats, but that does not sit well with her butler Edgar (Roddy Maude-Roxby). So one night Edgar decides that he is going to get rid of them, but with the help of an alley cat, they'll make their way home. The film also stars Eva Gabor (Green Acres) as Dutchess, Dean Clark as Berlioz, Gary Dubin (Pump Up The Volume) as Toulouse,  Liz English (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Marie, Pat Buttram (The Fox and The Hound) as Phil Harris (The Patsy) as O'Malley the alley cat, Napoleon, George Lindsey (Robin Hood) as Lafayette, Scatman Crothers (The Patsy) as Scat Cat,  Sterling Holloway (The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh) as Roquefort.

If the movie itself doesn't seem old then the animation certainly does because it has that old style animation that we were used to seeing from Disney back in those days. Nonetheless, the film actually has a really good story as weird as the notion of leaving all your money to cats may seem. You have the jealous butler who will do whatever it takes to get rid of them and that sequence when he reaches a duo of tough dogs is absolutely hilarious. As soon as they came back on screen for a second time, I could not stop laughing at what was going on. That was pure comedy gold right there and there were a couple of those moments scattered here and there throughout the film. Are French girls really that easy to impress as in are they really that gullible for romance because someone like Dutchess looks like she would never give an alley cat the time of day if she was English prestige or came from English wealth. They are far too snobby for someone like O'Malley, but not Dutchess. All he had to do was lead her and her kids home and she melted right in his arms and paws. Maybe that is what makes the French such romantics because they can see through all the crap life throws at you or maybe it's just a Disney cartoon. Nonetheless, this was definitely a fantastic choice for today and I was happy that I actually took the time to watch. The scene with Scatman Crothers and all of the other alley cats is awesome and the music was cool especially the song they played. What is there not to like about this film? Well, there always is that dastardly butler named Edgar, but nonetheless I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

The Patsy (1964)

Did you know that after today, there are only 38 more Sundays left in the calendar year which may seem like a lot, but it really isn't with how time flies by. So with that being said, we have another cool Sunday At The Classics for you guys and would believe me if I said I had never seen a Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor) film? Well, it's true and thanks to HULU I decided to check out the 1964 comedy The Patsy which was written and directed by Lewis himself. The film follows a comedy writing team who just recently lost their comedy star when he died in a plane crash. Rather than breaking up and go their separate ways they stumble on a nitwit hotel employee named Stanley (Lewis) who they believe they can turn into the next comedy star, but that will prove to be challenging. The film also stars Ina Balin (The Comancheros) as Ellen, Everett Sloane (Citizen Kane) as Caryl Fergusson, Phil Harris (The Jungle Book) as Chic, Keenan Wynn (Dr. Strangelove) as Harry, Peter Lorre (M) as Morgan, John Carradine (The Ten Commandments) as Bruce, Scatman Crothers (The Shining) as Shoeshine Boy, Hans Conried (Peter Pan) as Prof. Mueller, and Del Moore (The Nutty Professor) as The Policeman.

I don't really know the reason why I have never checked out a Jerry Lewis film to be perfectly honest and it's weird because I just never took the time to. To understand what kind of comedian he was, it seems like he was a very physical comedian in where they do a lot of faces and just dumb comedy like stumbling over words and bumping into things to get a laugh which he did succeed to get out of me in a few of the scenes. For Mr. Lewis to have been around as long as he had been, he must of done something right, but what I liked most about this film was the writing and the story. The film was social commentary on Hollywood at the time and how desperate they always were to find the next big thing which still applies to this very day. Just think of how many comedians have come and gone when they tried finding the next Eddie Murphy. The whole film they are riding and dying on the idea of word getting out that they have found the next star even though he seems to be a complete moron. The funny thing is that when they all abandon him at the end, that is when he is the most successful because now he has something to prove to everyone. The real star was born at the very moment in time and it all came from within him and not this comedy team. The film was also stacked with some of the best in the business and it was awesome to see Scatman Crothers in the film, he has his moment with Jerry which was very funny. I definitely think this film was worth checking out and I look forward to more Lewis films in the future so I am going to go ahead and give the film an A- for a final grade.