Dangeous Comedy

 

 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, before his recent surge as supervillain Vulture in Spiderman: Homecoming, before his Academy Award nominated  role in Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue oif Ignorance, before his performance as Batman/Bruce Wayne in two Tim Burton helmed Batman movies, even before one his most profound dramatic roles as an addict in Clean and Sober (you've never heard of that one, I bet), Michael Keaton was a bonafide comedy actor.  

He started out as a stand-up comedian and sometimes actor until his breakthrough role as Henry "The Fonz" Winkler's foil in Night Shift.  Later appearing in Mr. Mom, Gung Ho, The Dream Team  and of course his bravura performance as the title character in Beetlejuice.

 

In between all of those was a send-up of gangster movies titled Johnny Dangerously.  I mentioned in my previous post, Bad Movies Rule that I had been searching Spotify for the title song to this movie, "This Is The Life" (by Weird Al Yankovic) and came across the Bad Movies Rule podcast.  One of the movies they spotlighted over the run of the podcast (still ongoing, by the way) was Johnny Dangerously, and I said I intended to start spotlighting some of the movies they covered.  

I saw this one in the theater when it first came out.  (I have about 10-15 years on those podcasters, so I was in my early 20's and thus got to see it first run.)  Keaton, for me, was one of the comedy stars I used to line up to see when new movies came out.  As with his contemporary, Robin Williams, Keaton graduated from a strictly comedic star into more dramatic roles, but I personally liked his comedy movies better.  Maybe Keaton wasn't as entirely unhinged as Williams (the aforementioned Beetlejuice being an exception) but he was still great as a comedic actor.  (Not to downplay the serious roles... I just like comedy better.)

 

The movie was directed by Amy Heckerling, the woman who also brought us Fast Times at Ridgemont High,  Cluless and two of the 3 Look Who's Talking movies (as director, she also produced the third one but wasn't director).

Johnny Dangerously (1984):

It;s 1935.  We know that because after the credits roll,  a little blurb at the bottom of the screen says "1935"  (which is promptly plowed off the screen by an oncoming car, just so you don't get the idea that this movie might be a serious drama...)

 

Johnny Kelly (Michael Keaton) runs a pet shop.  While he is busy feeding the dogs and cats, a young  kid enters the shop and trues to shoplift a puppy, but is caught,  Johnny begins to tell the kid about his life of crime all of which got it's start when Johnny, in need of a quick $50 to help his ailing mother (Maureen Stapleton), aids the Jocko Dundee (Peter Boyle) mob in raiding the casino of a rival Roman Moronie (Richard Dimitri).

Dimitri, as Moronie is one of the highlights of the movie. He mangles the English language at every turn (but only the curse words, thus managing to keep what would have potentially R rated movie safely in the PG-13 realm. Note: it's not entirely free of language of that kind, be forewarned.)

Examples:
"You ice-hole!"

"You lousy cork-soakers!"

"You fargin sneaky bastige!"

(any translation of that to harsher words is on your own time.)

Johnny manages to stay straight and narrow through his teenage years, but another need for money for his mother sends him to the Jocko Dundee mob full time.  He becomes the most charismatic and non-violent gangster to ever walk the face of the Earth.  Of course, everybody loves him.  And everybody, except his mother and his brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) (who must be the most non-obersvant two people on the face of the planet) knows that Johnny Kelly, local nightclub owner and Johnny Dangerously, gangster are one and the same. 

For the first part of the movie there is just Johnny and his pals having fun making Maronie's life hell as well as doing some typically gang-related stuff like running illegal gambling (and obviously, since this is supposed to be during Prohibition, dealing in alcohol, although they never really state that the alcohol in the movie is illegal.)

Into the mix comes a new gang member, a boyhood chum, Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo).  Danny gets some of the best lines in the movie.  

"You shouldn't hang me on a hook, Johnny.  My father hung me on a hook once.  Once!"

"You shouldn't grab me, Johnny.  My mother grabbed me once.  Once!"

"You shouldn't kick me in the balls.  My grandmother kicked me in the balls once... uhhng."

 

 

 

 

And my absolute favorite.  When he parks in a handicapped spot (Handicapped spot?  In the 30's?  OK...) a cohort tells him he is parked in one.

 

"I am handicapped.  I'm psychotic."

 

This being a typical movie of course there is a love interest.  A new singer shows up at the Dundee nightclub, Lil Sheridan (Marilu Henner). Things don't start out swimmingly for Johnny as his typical charm doesn't cut the mustard with Lil.  But of course, you know instinctively that that's going to change over the course of the film.

 

 

 

Things come to a head when Johnny's brother becomes the District Attorney (after Johnny has used his illegal activities money to put Tommy through law school, instead of joining a law firm that Johnny specifically sought out for him to join after graduation. Tommy intends to bring down the biggest crime organization of the city, Johnny Dangerously's mob. (Johnny became leader after Jocko decided to retire.) Of course, as stated before Tommy doesn't know that his brother and Johnny Dangerously are one and the same.

 

 

A plot hole shows up about this time.  Danny and Johnny were known to each other as kids, but it comes as a surprise, supposedly, when Danny "discovers" that Johnny Dangerously is Johnny Kelly, brother of the D.A. Tommy. (Shouldn't he have already known if they grew up together?  I mean even if they weren't exactly friends?)

My cohorts at Bad Movies Rule think the whole movie goes downhill in the last 1/3 of the movie, but I like it all the way through.  And that is mostly due to Joe Piscopo.  Even though Keaton is the star, ostensibly, Piscopo makes this movie rock.  It's too bad his career didn't really take off.  Most of his post Johnny Dangerously roles have been as bit players in TV shows. He did a couple of films (one of which may show up on this blog later, Dead Heat, in which he starred with Treat williams in a cop/zombie comedy).

Not that Keaton is not entirely without merit in this film.  He did better in Beetlejuice, and was really good in Night Shift, but I just think Piscopo outshines him here.

Well, that's all this time from the back seat of the Plymouth.  drive-safely, folks.  

Quiggy