MovieChat Forums > The Heartbreak Kid (1972) Discussion > Father Ted (sitcom) Creators Chose This ...

Father Ted (sitcom) Creators Chose This Film as a Huge Inspiration...

posted 13 years ago by Bruce_Willys
3 replies | jump to latest

Had a special Father Ted Night in Uk on CH4 last week, and the writers of the show chose this film to round off the night, never heard of it other wise.

Have only watched first half so far, but pretty good, witty film, and Cybil is a cutie.

I guess the Charles Grodin character is similar to Father Ted himself in that he is seemingly trapped and is looking for escape. His pretences / lies and despatch of them are rather similar too.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tmjsykes 13 years ago

I'm another person who was introduced to the film thanks to the writers of Father Ted (which I encourage anyone in the US who hasn't seen it to check out).

I was maybe expecting something with more surreal humour, based on FT. I guess you are right that Ted is a *beep* like Lenny, but more of a deluded dreamer and definitely not as successful at manipulating people around him. It would be interesting to hear the writers' commentary about what they likes about Heartbreak Kid and what they took from it. I'm very glad they introduced it to me.

[–] voided-1 13 years ago

Yes. I'm a big fan of Father Ted and Graham Lineham's other sitcoms. I was interested to see how this compared. initially I couldn't detect a connection, but i began to see comparisons with the character of Lenny. I would say Lenny was more determined than Ted and ultimately less of a loser. Perhaps he had more integrity aswell.

"This sounds like a dialogue from our script!"