Malvís (Alfredo Landa) is sick of working like crazy for nothing. He'd rather become a bandit, that's much better, he's gonna be the fearful Fendetestas! He'll spread panic in the woods of his region. But there's a little problem: there aren't much people living in his region, everyone knows everyone and everyone is so poor, so is gonna be difficult that someone takes Malvís/Fendetestas too seriously.
This is a magic history, so funny, and full of situations that will make you laugh. It's also full of characters that belong to the Spanish idiosyncrasy: the strict priest, the Guardia Civil, the old devout women, the village idiot... there's even a lost soul wandering around the woods.
The great Alfredo Landa heads a cast that gathered together the best two generations of Spanish scene: from Fernando Rey to Encarna Paso, from Manuel Alexandre to María Isbert... A cast like that would be just unthinkable nowadays. "El Bosque Animado" was the first movie of José Luis Cuerda's trilogy of rural comedies (after this one he made the surreal "Amanece Que No Es Poco", and "Así En El Cielo Como En La Tierra". Those are movies so personal that stress the Spanish culture. The young directors should take note of films like "El Bosque Animado", instead of trying to be the new "enfant terrible" and imitating US worst cinema.
In this very late 60's irreverent, almost anarchic low-budget film, Brian De Palma defines more of his strange, given Hitchcock-like fascination of voyeurism, and attacks the issues of the day. The most prominent of which, both cringe-inducing and just plain funny, is when he focuses on the black-power movement (a black woman handing out fliers asking white people 'do you know what it's like to be black'), which is something that could only work for that time and place, not before or now.
But one of the key things to the interest in the film is 27 year old Robert De Niro (not his first or last film with the director), who plays this character who sits in a room looking out through his telescope at women in their rooms, setting up phony deals, and in the end basically throwing bombs. Those who have said that De Niro can't act and just is himself in every movie should see this movie, if only out of some minor curiosity. A couple of times in the film it's actually not funny, as when there's a disturbance in a black-power meeting (filmed in a grainer, rougher style than the rest of the film).
In the end it's capped off with a rambling monologue in an interview that tops De Niro's in King of Comedy. It's pretty obvious where De Palma's career would go after this, into slightly more mainstream Hollywood territory, but all of his trademarks are here; the dark, almost nail-biting comedy, the perfectly timed style of voyeurism, and interesting usage of locals. Think if De Palma and De Niro did a Monty Python film, only even more low-budget and in its New York way just as off-the-hinges, and you got Hi, Mom! It also contains an eccentric and funny soundtrack.
imdb comment
66岁的施密特先生(杰克•尼科尔森 Jack Nicholson 饰)退休赋闲在家,无所事事的生活让他颇感无聊。每天依旧7点起床,可是陪伴他的只是无聊的字谜游戏和令人生厌的妻子,施密特需要找点事来改变自己的生活,于是他打算资助一位坦桑尼亚的孤儿恩度古,并提笔给他写了第一封信。妻子的忽然离世让他的生活显得更加冷清,他曾至开始想念那个乏味的女人,可是就在这时,他在妻子的换衣间里找到妻子和另一个男人的情书。施密特决定独自驾车去旅行,他去了很多曾经生活过的地方,回忆当年感慨良多。在一时冲动亲吻一位有夫之妇之后,他慢慢的原谅了自己的妻子。女儿的婚姻比自己想像的更糟,平庸的丈夫和不可思议的家庭让他对女儿的未来愈加担忧,然而这一切都非他所能改变。旅途中他从未停止给恩度古写信,在信里,施密特详尽的描述着自己的生活和困惑。当施密特参加完女儿的婚礼,回到家时意外的收到恩度古的回信,看着那些简单的文字和恩度古充满童真的图画,施密特忽然泪如泉涌……
玛格丽特(弗吉尼亚·梅奥 Virginia Mayo 饰)是一名出身尊贵的公主,虽然过着衣食无忧富足奢侈的生活,但玛格丽特却并不感到快乐。因为她无法自由的去选择自己的感情,而是必须听从国王的安排。
一次偶然中,玛格丽特在一条商船上遇见了名为沙巴斯(鲍勃·霍普 Bob Hope 饰)的演员,此时,意外发生了。贪婪的铁驹船长(维克托·麦克拉格伦 Victor McLaglen 饰)劫持了商船,并且绑架了玛格丽特公主要求巨额赎金。为了救玛格丽特,沙巴斯不惜男扮女装,甚至嫁给了海盗羽毛头(沃尔特·布伦南 Walter Brennan 饰)。羽毛头早就不满铁驹船长的独裁统治,他命令沙巴斯去偷取藏宝图。
菲利普教授(罗宾·威廉姆斯 Robin Williams 饰)对研究工作的痴迷就像瘾君子沉溺毒品般,终日为了研究忙得不可开交,甚至因此已经错过了自己的两次结婚典礼。眼下第三次大婚的钟声已来到门外,菲利普的研究却出现了重大突破,毫无意外,他再一次因此错过了婚礼,留未婚妻莎拉(马西娅·盖伊·哈登 Marcia Gay Harden 饰)在教堂苦苦等候,怨言满腹。菲利普看着被他称为“飞天法宝”的新发明——一种绿色的胶状物质,能够克服地心引力,只需将它涂在任何物体上,那个物体就会腾空而起。不过这种物质也有个难以捉摸的特性,随时会捉弄一下使用它的人。为了追回被他气走的未婚妻,同时挽救即将关闭的学校,菲利普教授将飞天法宝涂在校篮球队员的球鞋上,结果球队大获全胜。然而同时,也招来了别有用心者对飞天法宝的觊觎……
Waldo and Irene have been living with Margit for the four years that they have been engaged. Margit has planned the wedding and the honeymoon - in fact, Margit plans everything down to what they will have for breakfast every day. The only problem is that Waldo is a milquetoast and Irene does not want to be married to a milquetoast. So she says she is in love with Charlie, a bohemian artist/producer who lives in a trailer behind Spike's Place. When Margit confronts Charlie about giving up Irene, Charlie sees that she is the one for him. To make everyone happy, Charlie will have to help Waldo get a backbone. Written by Tony Fontana {tony.fontana@spacebbs.com}
路易斯·温索普三世(丹·艾克罗伊德 Dan Aykroyd饰),一位功成名就的华尔街投资家。黑人比利·雷·瓦伦丁(艾迪·墨菲 Eddie Murphy饰),一个为了讨口饭吃而装扮成残废军人沿街乞讨的流浪汉。两个生活在天壤之别世界里的人,居然因为一次打赌而改变了他们的命运。路易斯在兰道夫莫蒂默公爵兄弟公司里工作,有着显赫的地位和优厚的待遇。比利在一次警察的追捕中误入上等俱乐部,遇见了路易斯。而路易斯将他交给了警察,目睹全过程的莫蒂默公爵兄弟对此事持有不同的观点,竟用打赌的方式将二人的身份和地位调换,一场荒诞不羁的命运互换随即上演。
本片荣获1984年第56届奥斯卡金像奖最佳歌曲提名,1984年第41届金球奖电影类-音乐喜剧类最佳影片提名及最佳男主角提名。