IMDb RATING
6.8/10
9.9K
YOUR RATING
A wily Roman slave schemes to earn his freedom by romantically uniting his master with a courtesan. But matters get complicated and he ends up dragging in his neighbors around him, leading t... Read allA wily Roman slave schemes to earn his freedom by romantically uniting his master with a courtesan. But matters get complicated and he ends up dragging in his neighbors around him, leading to chaos.A wily Roman slave schemes to earn his freedom by romantically uniting his master with a courtesan. But matters get complicated and he ends up dragging in his neighbors around him, leading to chaos.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile Buster Keaton often used a stunt double due to his illness, he improvised running into a tree branch and falling backwards onto the ground, much to the horror of director Richard Lester and crew.
- GoofsLycus disguised himself as a woman in a yellow gown, but the gown changes to white during the chase scene and remains white for the remainder of the film.
- Crazy creditsOne fresco in the closing titles depicts a Roman orgy, but one character raises the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) seal in protest. The MPAA was in charge of deciding whether the content of a feature was too obscene.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter (1982)
Featured review
A Half-Full Glass
"Forum" is one film adaptation of a Broadway musical that is a half-glass of water. On the half-full side we get to see Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford reprising their Broadway roles, and they're joined by a fine supporting cast including Phil Silvers as Lycus (ironically, he would star as Pseudolus in the 1972 Broadway revival) and Buster Keaton in his last film. But even though the film delivers the laughs and opens itself up well from its stage origins (let's face it. That climactic chase in the Broadway version is wonderful but it just wouldn't work on film at all). But what I can't forgive is how nearly three-quarters of Sondheim's outstanding score (his best I think) has been jettisoned to give us a too short running time of barely an hour and a half. And on top of that, why do *both* of Milos Gloriosus's numbers get kept, while Mostel's two best numbers from Broadway, "Pretty Little Picture" and "Free" (which is supposed to be the heart of the show) are gone (along with Gilford's "I'm Calm")? That, I do not understand at all. It's gotten to a point where I purposefully stop the film after Psuedolus falls out of the tree so I can then play Mostel's version of "Free" from the Broadway cast CD (which is where it would have belonged in the film). And it's too bad this wasn't a roadshow movie with an intermission because Mostel's funny Act One closer would have worked great there as well.
All in all it's worth having, but be prepared for your mood to shift from seeing the film as a half-full glass or a half-empty one.
All in all it's worth having, but be prepared for your mood to shift from seeing the film as a half-full glass or a half-empty one.
helpful•4313
- Eric-62-2
- Sep 2, 1999
- How long is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Toll trieben es die alten Römer
- Filming locations
- Samuel Bronston Studios, Madrid, Spain(as Bronston Studios, Madrid)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) officially released in India in English?
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