A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

Thanks for the memories!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Having worked on this stage musical and having seen it a few times, I have to express my disappointment in this show. To start with, you take one of the funniest guys in history, Zero Mostel, add Jack Gilford, and several other successful stars, and then you cut the heart out of the thing. Take away about half of the music. The songs in this play are hilarious. What happened to them? The plot mirrors Roman comedy. What happened to the plot? Somewhere someone in a position of authority decided that they would make it more of a straight comedy and less of a musical. What happens is most of the humor disappears. The pontificating characters, the charlatans, the courtesans, have wonderful songs, but they aren't here. I hope someone does a new version of this; perhaps a Great Performance. Or, I know! A live TV production.

Like Singin' in the Rain, this is one of the best musical comedies of all time. Zero Mostel(From Watership Down) plays Pseudolus, a slave who helps a young man name Hero(Michael Crawford) get the girl of his dreams, named Philia, in order to get his freedom. However, Pseudolus must outsmart the chief slave Hysterium, his master's parents, Sennex(Michael Hordern) and Dominia, and Marcus Lycus(Phil Silvers). Zero Mostel performs the role of Pseudolus very perfectly(I mean, who else can play Pseudolus) and features a few great musical numbers(Comedy Tonight was my personal favorite). It's a comedy of Roman Porportions!

Zero Mostel must have waited his whole life to play the part of the sly and crafty Pseudolus as he is supremely perfect for the part. In this film, "A Funny Thing Happened To Me On the Way To The Forum " Pseudolus is a conniving Roman slave out to win his freedom at any cost. His young Roman master is called Hero (Michael Crawford) who's only concern is an innocent maid and courtesan living in a house next door. Hero promises his slave his freedom if he will help him to win the heart of Philia (Annette Andre) his intended. This film is a remake of the popular Broadway play and just as funny as the quest for the young girl takes on a comic life of it's own. Many character along the way include, Jack Gilford, great acting as Hysterium, Phil Silvers as Marcus Lycus, Michael Hordern as Senex and the great Buster Keaton as Erronius. Hilarity is everywhere as general confusion and outrageous slapstick are combined to give the audience a flavor of true historical comedy. This is one film that surely has earned it's Classic status. Excellent film. ****

I remember back in the '70s, WLS-TV now commonly known as ABC 7 Chicago used to show this movie from time to time in their afternoon movie. They used to show movies at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM with tons of commercials. The movies they show were hard to comprehend simply because they have been chopped so badly. This movie I remembered trying to watch a couple of times but it was so badly mangled it was hard to make head or tails. Finally I got to see the complete version and was not disappointed.The movie was a film adaptation of the Broadway hit of the same name. It's about Pseudonious a slave who's always scheming to get himself free. One day he finds the opportunity when his masters' son falls in love with one of the courtesan next door. She's a slave too having just arrived recently. He makes a deal with the son, his freedom in exchange for helping the son get his true love. What neither of them knew is that she's already been sold to a captain in the roman legion. The movie and the play was made for big belly laughs unfortunately many of the jokes has been ripped-off by inferior writers who used it on their own shows. I remember at least a couple of the jokes were used in "Three's Company" almost exactly as they were written here. Many of the jokes has that been there, done that feeling simply because it has been ripped off. Nevertheless what other writers and directors don't have are great comic actors who knows how to deliver a line properly.The performances are very good. Zero Mostel plays Pseudonious and he plays it with zeal. He's a schemer and he constantly try to find ways to make things work for him. Phil Silvers who played television's all time schemer 'Sgt. Bilko' plays the brothel owner next door. He played his character much more subdued at least for him. It makes you wonder how taking the 'Sgt. Bilko' persona to the role of Pseudonious would have work. Jack Gilford plays another slave and with his straight face you never expect a one liner coming form him and that's why his punchlines and one-liners worked so well. The others in the cast were very good also. The great Buster Keaton was also in the movie playing the role that became a trademark for him at this late stage in his career. He played the old man who basically runs around the movie for no good reason.Overall the movie was quickly pace and had more than a joke a minute but so many of those jokes had been ripped off that they were no longer as funny as hearing them for the first time, but the actors certainly knew how to deliver them.