Golden age of comedy movies: late '70s/early '80s

[bandit957]

Wow, those were the days!

That was the era of 'Animal House', 'Hollywood Knights', 'Honky Tonk Freeway', 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', the original 'National Lampoon's Vacation', and the uproarious sheriff in 'Smokey And The Bandit'.

But what happened after that? Why don't they make movies like that anymore?

After the early '80s, humor in movies became more lighthearted and wasn't as edgy. Movies after the early '80s weren't as good. They usually weren't unwatchable, but they were nothing like the earlier movies. There actually were a couple of later so-called comedies that I shouldn't have wasted my valuable time on, because they were stupid compared to the earlier stuff.

[Big John]

Became too formulaic and directors weren't given as much free reign as before.

[Henry]

Also, blame the producers for wanting more family-friendly films (Home Alone, Back to the Future, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Ghostbusters being the prime examples of that premise).

[Rothman]

Harold Ramis had a hand in a lot of them.  Then, he got old.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Let's not forget ZAZ (Zucker, Abraham's and Zucker) who gave us Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, and the Naked Gun trilogy.

[Max Rockatansky]

There is a lot of stuff in Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies that wouldn't jive with modern sensibilities.  I'm kind of surprised they haven't come under attack online given more modern comedies like Tropic Thunder have.

[formulanone]

1. The transition to romantic comedies for a larger audience share

2. "X won't fly with Y anymore" jokes (or maybe the jokes were overplayed anyway)

3. Comedies don't translate as well into other cultures/languages, thus not turn as much profit as action films

4. We grew up. Slapstick is a low form of humor, and if you're over thirty watching movies about teenagers trying out the many ways to get laid, maybe it's time to re-evaluate your life.

[Max Rockatansky]

I love slapstick, but when it is done right.  Airplane!, Space Balls and the first Naked Gun movie all did those bits right. 

[formulanone]

I love slapstick, but when it is done right.  Airplane!, Space Balls and the first Naked Gun movie all did those bits right. 

When it's interspersed with some heady jokes, it works.

If it's just Home Alone but with less Christmas music, pass.

[vegas1962]

John Hughes did a fair amount in the early-mid '80s too (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off to name but a few), but his films had a number of ethnic and sexist tropes that wouldn't fly today.

[wanderer2575]

It isn't only movies.  People going out of their way to take personal offense is the reason you'll never see another All in the Family or Dean Martin Celebrity Roast on broadcast television again.

[kphoger]

My wife and I gravitate toward movies from the late 1980s through about 2004 or so—especially when looking for movies to watch with the kids.  After that point, for whatever reason, animated movies tend to be better than "real" movies.

[formulanone]

My wife and I gravitate toward movies from the late 1980s through about 2004 or so—especially when looking for movies to watch with the kids.  After that point, for whatever reason, animated movies tend to be better than "real" movies.

It also became less expensive to produce a comedy through animation methods by that point; and the professional voice-over work takes a lot less billable time.

Probably more time overall to "direct/assemble" the work, but I think production itself might take far less time (and you don't have to shoot on location, et cetera). I'm probably mixing up production from direction, but you get the idea.

It isn't only movies.  People going out of their way to take personal offense is the reason you'll never see another All in the Family or Dean Martin Celebrity Roast on broadcast television again.

I feel like we've had a similar discussion before; there's some jokes that wouldn't get told today, there's plenty of jokes from today that wouldn't make the scripts in the 1970s-1980s. Think they'd let Archie Bunker rip a fart on screen back then?

[tmoore952]

Without getting into lots of details, older game shows which were tame then (and which I watched) were in some ways incredibly sexist when looked at through a modern lens (almost every non-professional woman was a housewife).

Match Game in the '70s (not tame) was particularly egregious in the way those who are old enough remember, but that was well-known. At the time I could not understand why my G-rated mind could never match anyone.

Changing the topic slightly -- recent versions of Who's Line Is It Anyway? are humorous in edgy ways. They say things on there that I didn't think you were allowed to say on TV.

[Stephane Dumas]

The "Blue Oyster Bar" running gag in the four first Police Academy movies wouldn't be made today.

And will Mel Brooks would have been able to do Blazing Saddles today?

[Max Rockatansky]

So basically we are all agreeing this is more a phenomenon of risqué comedy not being socially acceptable anymore?

[bandit957]

I liked the road trip comedies from that era that were full of edgy humor.

[Big John]

Without getting into lots of details, older game shows which were tame then (and which I watched) were in some ways incredibly sexist when looked at through a modern lens (almost every non-professional woman was a housewife).

Match Game in the '70s (not tame) was particularly egregious in the way those who are old enough remember, but that was well-known. At the time I could not understand why my G-rated mind could never match anyone.

Changing the topic slightly -- recent versions of Who's Line Is It Anyway? are humorous in edgy ways. They say things on there that I didn't think you were allowed to say on TV.

There was Family Feud with Richard Dawson kissing all the women, but the categories/answers on this and Ray Combs' versions were family friendly.  But the modern version with Steve Harvey have replaced those with a lot more raunchy/risqué content.

[tmoore952]

So basically we are all agreeing this is more a phenomenon of risqué comedy not being socially acceptable anymore?

I didn't say anything close to that in my last paragraph (about Who's Line Is It Anyway?).

[Rothman]

So basically we are all agreeing this is more a phenomenon of risqué comedy not being socially acceptable anymore?

If anything, raunch today is, inexplicably, considered comedy today, in of itself.

It's unfortunate.

[kphoger]

So basically we are all agreeing this is more a phenomenon of risqué comedy not being socially acceptable anymore?

If anything, raunch today is, inexplicably, considered comedy today, in of itself.

It's unfortunate.

Raunchy humor is more acceptable today than in the past.
Insensitive humor is less acceptable today than in the past.

[GCrites]

Honky Tonk Freeway is a good roadgeek movie. So is Smokey and the Bandit really.

[freebrickproductions]

And will Mel Brooks would have been able to do Blazing Saddles today?

Probably. A lot of the (usually conservative) people who go all over social media wailing about how it "couldn't be made today because it's un-PC/the SJWs/wokes!!!1!" clearly didn't understand the themes of the film.
If there's any reason why it wouldn't be made today, it'd be due to the fact that Westerns stopped being nearly as popular shortly after it came-out, and, for various reasons, studios are also seemingly more hesitant to produce a one-off film like that.

[Rothman]

And will Mel Brooks would have been able to do Blazing Saddles today?

Probably. A lot of the (usually conservative) people who go all over social media wailing about how it "couldn't be made today because it's un-PC/the SJWs/wokes!!!1!" clearly didn't understand the themes of the film.
If there's any reason why it wouldn't be made today, it'd be due to the fact that Westerns stopped being nearly as popular shortly after it came-out, and, for various reasons, studios are also seemingly more hesitant to produce a one-off film like that.

There's good reason why they ride off together in the limo...

[JayhawkCO]

And will Mel Brooks would have been able to do Blazing Saddles today?

Probably. A lot of the (usually conservative) people who go all over social media wailing about how it "couldn't be made today because it's un-PC/the SJWs/wokes!!!1!" clearly didn't understand the themes of the film.
If there's any reason why it wouldn't be made today, it'd be due to the fact that Westerns stopped being nearly as popular shortly after it came-out, and, for various reasons, studios are also seemingly more hesitant to produce a one-off film like that.

I'd argue that westerns are making a bit of a resurgence lately. Maybe themed a little differently, but still plenty of shows and movies about the "Wild West" have been released.