I mean, right? You guys aren't serious, are you? I'm so confused. maybe i'm missing a joke here. Isn't this just a terrible, terrible film?
I mean, right?
No, its great, actually.
"My own grandmother fought the Indians for 60 years then choked to death on lemon pie"
How can you not like Veronica Lake? If anything, at least she's easy on the eyes. I think Joel McCrea was very good in this film as well.
The only thing I didn't really like was the juvenile physical comedy elements which ranked at about the pie-in-your-face level of sophistication. The dialogue was quite fresh and witty, however.
Isn't this just a terrible, terrible film?
And why is that, exactly?
This is one of the greatest comedies ever filmed. What is so bad about it? It is wonderfully written, performed and shot. It contains layers of meaningful subtext. You apparently are missing the joke.
shareTake away the witty, literate script and the top calibre character actors and if all you have left is Joel McCrea, Sullivan's Travels would still be one of the greats. Sigh! Love that guy!
shareI didn't see this movie as a comedy.
shareno, you're really, really wrong.
This is one of the greatest, and funniest movies of all time. If you don't agree, move along.
Hm, don't agree that this movie is good, not at all. I never found myself laughing at this screwball comedy with the quick dialougue and lame physical comedy. At least, the message of the movie was good, but the fact that they so obviously stated it in the final scence made me want to hurl. It would have been much better had they let sullivan's revelation up to the viewer to interpret and not have him simply state it. Lame.
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I only wanted to add that anyone who can utter the line "Good day to you sir....I SAID GOOD DAY!" in a posting - a great movie line! - knows what good comedy is. And a very good day to you too, sir!
I could watch Joel McCrea in anything. Joel McCrea WITH Veronica Lake in her very best and funniest role, in a Preston Sturges comedy? This is heaven.
I had heard of Sullivan's Travels, but had never seen it, until I watched the last ten minutes on Turner Classics. What I saw was tremendous, not terrible--I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I am going to rent the DVD today, as soon as my crazy caravan of a day is over.
shareI didn't much care for the sudden dark twist in the final third of the movie, but it is still brilliant. I wonder who would play the leads if they did a remake set in the 21st century?
shareBen Affleck? Ben Stiller? Ben Dover? Or any other great actors of the 21st Century. Leave it alone.
Newman
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"I didn't much care for the sudden dark twist in the final third of the movie, but it is still brilliant."
It's the "sudden dark twist" that's what the story is leading up to. A man who wants to improve the world by exposing its problems doesn't really know what he's getting into -- as if "going underground" for a while could teach him what he needs to make an effective film on the subject of poverty. And then he discovers he's completely out of his depth.
It isn't clear which side of the issue Sturges is on, though one might assume that the butler speaks for Sturges when he recommends that Sullivan keep his nose out of such matters. Likewise, the question of whether the movie industry has any responsibility to address social problems, or should remain content to provide uncomplicated entertainment, is not fully addressed.
"Sullivan's Travels" is nevertheless a truly great film, a masterpice among Sturges' many masterpieces.
I love this post.
I saw the twist as the first time the film was really taking Sullivan's experiment seriously. I was loving the film up until then, and was willing to give it a pass for only 'scraping the surface'. He was always a hike and a phone call away from the cushy protection of his people and his wealth before, and just didn't have the will to truly explore the trouble he was looking for. It was only when he was forced to experience a true bind that he realized what his comedies had to offer those that faced hardships every day.
The twist redeems this film, but I was still left a little cold at the way Sullivan's status got him out of the hell he’d found himself in. It is his own words that state people like him don't get sent to places like this, and that is pretty much glazed over after his celebrated return. I guess after seeing how careful the rest of the film had been at addressing so many moral questions of society, that this too was setting us up for more discussion, but that never came.
Still a terrific film, one of my favorites.
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My favorites:
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I have been a blue collar worker most (cleaning lady) of my life, and teetered on the brink of actual poverty more than a few times. And the way I see the ending of the movie is mostly that what Sullivan realizes is that the socially conscious, serious, "important" films about the hardships of the common people are to a great extent merely virtue signalling among the elites. They are talking to each other, and the stories really do nothing for the benefit of those ordinary folks, rather exploit them as means of those elites showing how caring and good and understanding they are - but most times it's merely signalling to each other and hardly ever leads to anything which might show as something good in the lives of those poor people.
But when Sullivan makes those entertaining movies he does something directly for the poor people, he offers them what they need, a moment of relaxation and fun and a way to forget their hardships for a time. Which makes their lives more bearable.
And the people who talk about "mere entertainment" (often in condescending tones) are, whether they realize it or not, acting like patronizing jerks towards the majority of those people who need that escape from that part of reality the elite parts of society have never needed to deal with.
Why tamper with a wonderful movie? Oh, well. If you feel a remake is needed, I'd suggest Don DeWitt for Sullivan and Leigh Vittalone for The Girl.
shareI love Veronica Lake, and almost everything about Sullivan's Travels..but have to admit, the last 45 seconds of laughing pretty much almost killed it for me.
..and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burnin' coal..
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"It would have been much better had they let sullivan's revelation up to the viewer to interpret and not have him simply state it."
gee, elliottgone, i wish you had been around to advise preston sturges; then "sullivan's travels" would have been a masterpiece instead of 91 solid minutes of ham-fisted treacle! and what was preston sturges thinking of when he cast that hideous joel mccrea in the lead—surely ONE of the three stooges was available--
excuse me while i, er, "hurl"--
I actually agree that the movie didn't need the explicit explanation. I've also thought that "The Lady Eve" would have been an even more interesting film if Sturges had eliminated the segue to the race track and let the viewer decide if this English debutante was real. However, it's important to understand that these are observations from a modern perspective, after having seen many subtler films, no doubt made by directors trying to build on Sturges' genius. So my ultimate reaction to this quibble is "So what?" Sturges makes up for his lack of confidence in an audience that was expecting a fourth lunatic comedy from him with a thoroughly ahead-of-its-time "straight to action" opening, a snarky comparison between "Hollywood" black actors and his fabulous portrayal of a black church and his subversively unexpected turn in the plot that I doubt any first-timer ever sees coming.
shareThis movie is one of the most touching and moving flicks I have ever seen.
If this movie is terrible, I want to see more terrible movies.
Stealthman
"WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND THEY IS US"
POGO
How could a film as funny as this be considered terrible?
I think it is one of the best films ever made.
So, people like you, are responsible for the sudden drop of the IMDB-score.
For a long period a rating above 8.3, now recently 7.9.
Suddenly 265 scores with "1" ???!!!
This was a terrific film, with a fantastic message. Any one who says otherwise is just stirring the pot or has very poor taste.
shareLook at the "top thousand voters". I just did for The Best Years Of Our Lives, wondering why that had dropped. They had it rated a 6.9. My guess is a group of kids are trying to push their favorties higher and are rating anything toward the top a 1 whether they've seen it or not. People have little respect for art when they can't create on their own and we are now in the backlash of a generation who has to be entertained their way. It is the reason Hollywood is in the toilet.
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