The Marxist Allen...

Speaking of Charlie Chaplin; anyone ever see The Great Dictator? It is so like a Mel Brooks' film, I'm convinced that he used it as a blueprint for his movies. Not a bad thing, because he puts his own personality into his movies, but surprising to me; Chaplin's movies were before my time. It's weird to watch it and have this inescapable feeling that Chaplin's ripping off Mel Brooks, instead of the other way around. "Herr Garbage", springs to mind. Chaplin made this movie in 1940, at the height of Hitler's power. That's pretty ballsy. I respect that. Chamberlain should have had such balls (maybe a comment on the P.M. by Chaplin?)

As for Groucho Marx, there's only one person funnier. Groucho owns the throw away punch line, often turning toward the audience. But, Woody Allen added philosophy and science and psychology that outstripped the gag. You can always think about the validity of the joke, when you finally stopped laughing. Chaplin makes us think (later years), Groucho makes us laugh, and Woody makes us laugh and think at the same moment we're blowing Pepsi out through our nostrils. At least, that's the way he used to write them.

I think all the posted comments are valid. I do think, however, that this is Woody Allen's most thorough comedy. Every line is a gag, and as one poster pointed out, it seems much more a tribute to Bob Hope's acidic style than perhaps to anyone elses (including Groucho). I also agree that this is not a Chaplinesque comedy. Chaplin had a way of blending the cruelest observational comedy that was brilliant in its hilarity with an absolutely heartbreaking humanity. I don't see that in Love and Death. What I see is a modern comedy masterpiece with more jokes per square inch than anything on the big screen since Some Like It Hot. I wish Woody Allen had tried making a silent movie. Perhaps then, the comparison to Chaplin would have been more valid. The last scene, where he's standing outside the window and says "I got screwed" might have been more effective in a silent movie without that hlarious line. Just a thought.