Comedy
Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? A: The fish. Much like that joke, comedy comes down to personal taste and what one finds funny or not. Some like their humour light and frothy and very generalised, while others like it to have an edge and go for a more twisted, darker humour. The motherlode of this genre can be scrolled below. Either way, we're sure there will be something for everybody in the subsections on the left.
Right: There's Something About Mary's hairdo...
Bustin' Loose (1981)
6.1/10
Director: Oz Scott
Starring: Richard Pryor, Cicely Tyson, George Coe, Robert Christian
Starring comic genius Richard Pryor, this raucous, light-hearted comedy is the entertaining tale of shifty ex-con Joe Braxton who after finding himsel... Read more
Pacific Banana (1981)
4.8/10
Director: John D Lamond
Starring: Graeme Blundell, Robin Stewart, Luan Peters, Deborah Gray, Alyson Best
Martin (Graeme Blundell) has got a little problem that keeps getting bigger all the time...and the girls will go to any lengths to help him stand up f... Read more
The Four Seasons (1981)
7.2/10
Director: Alan Alda
Starring: Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Jack Weston, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno
A film for all seasons. Alan Alda wrote, directed and stars in this witty, sophisticated comedy of three married couples whose ups and downs are chart... Read more
My Young Auntie (1981)
7/10
Director: Liu Chia-Liang
Starring: Liu Chia-Liang, Kara Hui, Hsiao Hou, Lung Wei Wang, Chia Hui Gordon Liu
A triumph of kung fu comedy with a female lead who knows how to kick butt, this Shaw Brothers classic sees Kara Hui marrying the dying patriarch of a... Read more
La Chevre ( The Goat ) (1981)
7.4/10
Director: Francis Veber
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Pedro Armendariz, Pierre Richard, Corynne Charbit
A classic French farce from Francis Veber, his first with comic duo Gerard Depardieu and Pierre Richard. Depardieu is the top private eye and Richard... Read more
Continental Divide (1981)
6.1/10
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: John Belushi, Blair Brown, Allen Goorwitz, Carlin Glynn
Ernie Souchak (John Belushi) is a hard-nosed Chicago journalist who has put his feet a little too close to the fire and now has the mob after him. Hi... Read more
Hoodwink (1981)
6.5/10
Director: Claude Whatham
Starring: Michael Caton, Max Cullen, Colin Friels, Wendy Hughes, Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis
Combining thrilling crime caper with unexpected romance, 'Hoodwink' tells the extraordinary story of Martin Stang (John Hargreaves), a cunning bank ro... Read more
The Mel Brooks Collection: Volume 1 - High Anxiety / Life Stinks / To Be or Not To Be / History of the World Part 1 (1981)
Director: Alan Johnson, Mel Brooks
Starring: Billy Barty, Ron Carey, Barbara Harris, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Lea...
Four classic films from comic genius Mel Brooks. 'High Anxiety' - Dr Robert Thorndyke is the newly appointed director of the psychoneurosis institute... Read more
The Cannonball Run (1981)
6.2/10
Director: Hal Needham
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore
Burt Reynolds leads a pack of wacky racers across the country in this road comedy that features zany stunts, loads of crashes and stars galore. With R... Read more
Caveman (1981)
5.7/10
Director: Carl Gottlieb
Starring: Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, John Matuszak
This stone-age spoof follows prehistoric Ringo Starr's adventures in One Zillion B.C. as a misfit who forms his own tribe, which is composed of outcas... Read more