Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Set in the 1930s, an honest, goodhearted man (Michael Keaton) is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.This was Amy Heckerling's follow-up to "Fast Times at Ridgmont High", and probably not the hard-hitting film people expected out of her. But too bad, because this is gem in its own right. Some have called the humor hit and miss (and that is not completely unfair), but the hits are particularly good. Keaton's Cagney impression is great.Michael Keaton in general was strong throughout the 1980s, and hopefully with his Oscar boost ("Birdman") people will start to re-appreciate his career. Lots of winners in there, and "Johnny Dangerously" is one of them.

This early 80's spoof is a spot-on parody of the old Warner Brother's gangster films and classic screwball comedies of the thirties. If you like those old classic films then you need to see this, you'll get all the gags and nonsensical plot details that make it so funny.Michael Keaton is great as the title character, channeling the long gone spirit of Jimmy Cagney with the same irresistible Irish charm; but it's the supporting actors who give the film its hysterical brilliance, from Joe Piscopo---wickedly sending up the kind of despicable, second-banana roles Humphrey Bogart used to play---to Richard Dimitri, whose wildly funny portrayal of the sociopathic, unintelligible, ethnic-looking gangster is a pitch-perfect illustration of the unspoken racism in those old films, to Maureen Stapleton, who utterly steals every scene she's in as the lazy, dotty, foul-mouthed 'Sweet Irish Mum' those old gangster characters were always so devoted to.It's one of the most perfect parodies of a film genre ever made, and it's still funny, 25 years later. Watch it.

I can't remember how many times I watched it. What I do remember is that after the first time I went to rewind it to re-watch, rather re-enjoy, it again. And ever since, I can't get enough of it.It's better than many of the cinematic parodies. I think it's smarter than any parody in the first place; where the whole matter shrinks into many gags and jokes about an available original. This time it's a movie of its own, and its comedy comes from spoofing a whole era of making movies, not certain ones.This cast was unerring. For me it's Michael Keaton's comic cornerstone and the gem of the necklace. This is Joe Piscopo best work in movies; he can be enjoyably memorable if it's all about this role only. Marilu Henner never looked sexier. Peter Boyle is always a star in his supporting role. Let alone Richard Dimitri the one who played the boss of the Indian mafia in America ! It forced me to save its director's name : Amy Heckerling, and its writers' as well : Harry Colomby and Jeff Harris since the first shot with the year written on the screen to be smashed by a car after a second ! Speaking of which, some moments were truly exceptional. I still savor ironies concern with cinematic stuff that used to be made in the old days such as : the image that ripples incomprehensibly whenever there is a flashback, the fireworks that go off whenever Johnny makes love, the running gag about the newspapers' seller who doesn't stop having melodramatic accidents, or the radio that gives only the news that the drama needs! Just look at the scene in which the surprise hits all of Johnny's gang while knowing that the DA is his brother; where the camera gives us the consecutive reactions even the dead guy's, to know well the wickedness of this comedy!Recall also how the brother got the Indian mobster by a conundrum, how the news transport – or transform – in jail…etc. Simply hilarity, special hilarity, doesn't stop in this movie. Did you notice how all the moral speech of the lead was just a poppycock all along since gangster Johnny is still, at the end, a pretty much gangster not a working man in a pet shop? It's a slap in the face of all the old moral movies, as if that preachment has no relation to reality and the fact is crime does pay. It is the movie's light satire and last sneer at the black and white's messages. In maybe the fifth watching I discovered some things like : how come Johnny's mother and brother go to cinema at the night of his execution??, or how Johnny's bullet, that saved his brother from dying at the movies in the nick of time, doesn't show at all in Piscopo's body later; he was so unharmed in the next shot !!, but HEY, so was Tom the cat in Tom & Jerry's numerous movies. It is all about having a nice time, Not thinking. However even thinking with this movie can't spoil it. Among me and my friends (Johnny Dangerously) is a classic of ours. It's a small gangster comedy; so creative, amusing and totally cartoonish. In fact it's great cartoon masquerading as live movie. It is not gross-out, aggressive or naked comedy. Believe it or not, they used to make these comedies "Once" !

As far as parody films go, there are few that are worth time and energy. but with a recent resurgence of horrid parodies such as Date Movie and The Comebacks, it is a breath of fresh air to come back and rediscover a truly funny farce like Johnny Dangerously.After his mother has no end of medical problems, little Johnny goes to work for the mob. What fallows is a series of gags, most of which work, there are, however, the occasional flops. But a foreign gangster who can't master the American language (profanity wise, at least), a rival gangster with a penchant for shooting his mouth off (...once!), a younger brother with the D.A. who is out to get Johhny Dangerously, and a hot young starlet hot for his affections have Johnny busy.And the viewer will be busy laughing, for the most part, as every gangster-movie cliché is skewered by a talented cast and decent writing.Not perfect by a long shot, but definitely good for a smile on a bad day.