Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

1955 "Slapstick chases!... Pies in faces!... Shapely beauts in bathing suits!"
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

6.3 | 1h20m | en | Comedy

Harry and Willie are scammed into buying the Thomas Edison studio lot by a man named Gorman. They decide to follow Gorman's trail to Hollywood where, unbeknownst to them, he has taken the identity of a foreign film director. The lads wind up as stunt doubles in film the which Gorman is now shooting, while the conman tries to have the bungling pair done away with before they realize who he really is.

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6.3 | 1h20m | en | Comedy | More Info
Released: February. 02,1955 | Released Producted By: Universal International Pictures , Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Harry and Willie are scammed into buying the Thomas Edison studio lot by a man named Gorman. They decide to follow Gorman's trail to Hollywood where, unbeknownst to them, he has taken the identity of a foreign film director. The lads wind up as stunt doubles in film the which Gorman is now shooting, while the conman tries to have the bungling pair done away with before they realize who he really is.

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Cast

Bud Abbott , Lou Costello , Fred Clark

Director

Alexander Golitzen

Producted By

Universal International Pictures ,

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Reviews

frankebe I've seen 28 A&C movies, and I have to say that this comedy team is consistently enjoyable. The only movie that's no good is their last ("Dance w/Me, Henry"); all the others range from fall-over hilarious to innocently droll. In a couple of films Costello seems distracted and campy, but in most he manages to be sympathetic, as he is in this one.I have especially enjoyed sorting through their later "lesser" movies, like "…Go to Mars" and "…Go to Alaska", which I found quite entertaining, and I am entertained by this movie for most of the same reasons: Costello's cherubic character seems more warm and ingratiating as the movies go along. To me, the more relaxed timing in their acting and partnership makes them more engaging. Instead of so much verbal patter, the later movies emphasize character, and may actually be funnier and more appealing to anyone speaking English as a foreign language (Cantinflas movies, with their long stretches of static action, are miserably boring to watch if you don't know Spanish).In "…Keystone Cops", I found myself once again watching a cartoon-like feature-length movie that just happened to have, miraculously, Abbott and Costello as main characters. How do you go wrong with that, especially if you have an 8-year-old mind in a 56-year-old body? Nope, there are none of the classic verbal routines here, but how many of those can you watch over and over again? A&C are plenty amusing as protagonists—a classic duo like Laurel and Hardy, and although they did not make me roll with laughter, the movie certainly kept me smiling with its convivial mood and enjoyable cast.The movie has good production values, with lots of real out-of-doors shots, steam engines, single prop airplanes, and lots and lots of stunts. It is more of an "action film" than some of their other films; in fact, it's worth watching just to see the stunt men, who are really fabulous. Generally I am offended when one of these films stops being an A&C movie and becomes a stunt-man movie (as Buster Keaton famously said, "Stunt men aren't funny", meaning they don't convey character). But here, the director sets up the stunts so clearly (sometimes frightening, like the train-in-the-tunnel), that they come across as very funny events. The actors playing the Keystone Cops are stupendous. I had to stop-motion parts of the final chase because I couldn't believe what they were doing.The film has an excellent final joke.By the way, has anyone else noticed that in some movies, like this one, the lip sync is way off during some of the long shots?
david A&C Meet the Kops is a funny movie, then and now. Bud and Lou were funny men, and their best film work was done at U-I in the postwar years, starting with their Meet Frankenstein classic. All their U-I Meet Somebody movies were funny, some were very funny. This one's a hoot all the way. I saw it with Power and Hayward in UNTAMED, Fox Redwood, April 15, 1955. Can't get better value for money than that. I was 16, am now 63. Maybe you have to be really old to get it, but youngsters, these guys are better than Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller all put together. No, really, they are.
John Langbein (medrjel) Well, this is far from classic A&C. Basicly, it's a silly romp with a lot of dumb skits. That being said, I absolutely love this movie. It is a personal sentimental favorite. The use of modern Universal stuntmen to act as the Keystone Cops, and the appearance of Mack Sennett himself make this a movie to treasure. Don't worry about plot. Don't think about how out of place Bud and Lou seem in this. Just sit back and have fun with it. This is strictly a "ride" movie. Take the gags as they come.All through my years growing up, I always looked forward to my local station cycling around the A&C films to when they would be showing this movie on Sunday morning.
Leahcurry "Abbott and Costello meet the Keystone Kops" gives a nice homage to the silent film era, in most ways. In that and every other respect, this film is flawed only by the long and eventually tedious chase scene involving the fake Keystone Kops. I admit it is enjoyable to watch people run in fast motion (typical of silent films), but that scene gets boring before long. I am a big Abbott and Costello fan. Here, the acting is good. Fred Clark is good as Joseph Gorman, and the man who plays the producer (I don't remember his name) was billed last, and he is one of the best actors in the cast, better than Fred Clark, even! Also, Roscoe Ates (the hillbilly who stutters) was perfect! The mistaken identity scene of the two policemen and crooks is hilarious. This film also has many other hilarious touches: Costello being thrown out of the theater (twice), the train scenes, the stop-motion when Joseph Gorman (disguised as Sergei), yells Cut!, Abbott and Costello being carried by each other at various times, and many more. This is not the best A&C film (only one film is reserved for that honor), but this is not a badfilm. It doesn't need to be better, really. It all depends on your expectations (and that should never be very high anyway).