Howdy, all my non-existent readers. I apologize for the lack of posts over the last month. Losing my job, hunting for a new job, gaining a new job, then getting used to the new job, which includes getting used to waking up at 4:30 a.m. and hitting snooze until 5:00 a.m…. that all takes up a lot more time than you might think. So I have not sat down and watched an episode of “Murder, She Wrote” for quite a while. Instead, I was comfort-watching “The Great Muppet Caper” while going through paperwork, and started wondering why more people don’t seem to know this movie as much as some of the other Muppet movies.
“The Great Muppet Caper” was shot in 1980 and released in 1981, just after the final season of “The Muppet Show”. It has that visual quality to the film that makes it seem like a 70s film, rather than the more flashy 80s films. I don’t know how else to describe it besides that. For those who don’t know the plot, Lady Holliday (the fabulous Diana Rigg) is a high-fashion designer whose jewels have been stolen in broad daylight, making headlines all over the world. Kermit the Frog and Fozzie the Bear, “identical twin” crack investigative reporters, go to London to interview Lady Holliday, along with Gonzo the Whatever, who is the intrepid photographer. Miss Piggy is Lady Holliday’s new secretary, and is mistaken for Lady Holliday by Kermit, and romance ensues. Complicating the matter is Nicky Holliday, Lady Holliday’s irresponsible brother, who is teaming up with 3 of the Holliday models to steal the jewels. In typical Muppet fashion, there are plenty of hijinks, running gags, and songs.
So, first off, I must admit that this is one of my favorite movies, so I am biased. I’ve watched it repeatedly growing up, as I suspect anyone born after the 80s would do with movies they like. (I’ll probably get around to reviewing “The Cat from Outer Space” one of these days, too) Therefore, part of my “love” for this film is possibly just nostalgic. I’m not gonna try to say it’s a forgotten masterpiece, or a cult classic, or blah blah blah. I just really like it. And I’ll try to explain why.
When looking up reviews for this film, I found that it received decent reviews, but as per usual, the critics found issues. “Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded three out of four stars, particularly singling out Miss Piggy for her ‘fabulous personality, a genuine star quality.’ However, he felt the film suffers ‘from a case of the we-know-we’re-cute-so-we-can-get-by-with-anything disease. The disease manifests itself in the script that forever interrupts itself with jokes about the movie we’re watching…I expect the screenwriters to try to write a seamless story. Anybody can interrupt the action of a movie for gratuitous remarks such as these, but it’s a very cheap laugh’.” (Taken from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Muppet_Caper)
I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Siskel, while acknowledging that he was the one with the actual job in this field, not me. The thing is, this interruption of the movie, with jokes about it being a movie, is very Muppet Show-esque. The Muppet Show’s premise was that it was simply a variety show where everything could and (often) did go wrong. So in the middle of skits and songs on the stage of the Muppet Theatre, there would often be things going wild and whacky, reminding the audience that the skits on the stage are only part of the whole show, and the off-stage events are just as entertaining. Examples? Gilda Radner tap-dancing while getting glued to the stage by Bunsen Honeydew’s glue. Muppets falling into holes on the stage floor. Peter Sellers and Muppets getting teleported all around the theatre. Fozzie trying to manage the theater’s stage after sending the stagehands home during the John Denver episode. And my goodness, of course the entirety of the “Stars of Stars Wars” episode! (If you don’t know about that episode, look it up on Disney+ immediately. I’ll wait.)
So, even with this frequent “wink, wink, nod, nod” with the audience, reminding them that they’re watching a movie, it doesn’t (for me at least) serve as a distraction. It becomes part of the story itself. Lady Holliday’s rant to Miss Piggy about her “irresponsible parasite” brother Nicky is an excellent example. She rants about how he is irresponsible, goes through money like water, never does his job, and always has a crooked bowtie. When Miss Piggy asks, “Why are you telling me all this?”, Lady Holliday gives my favorite line, “It’s plot exposition. It has to go somewhere.” The creators just skip over the longer option of working characterization of Nicky into the plot, and just gives you his whole backstory immediately, adding humor instead. (Side note, Diana Rigg and Charles Grodin are the absolute stars of this movie, who manage to make the absurdities of their characters seem believable in the plot.)
The same is true of the entire opening sequence, when Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo are in the hot air balloon, commenting on the opening credits by them in the air, and Gonzo wondering about plummeting to the ground, only to have Kermit tell him that “we need you for the movie.” This is shortly followed up by the opening number, with Kermit giving a short spiel to the audience about who their characters are in the movie and how great the movie will be. It basically introduces the audience to the zany world of the Muppets in the first 10 minutes. It just keeps going through the whole movie, like Peter Falk’s interpretation of Kermit’s life being shut down by Kermit telling him they’re making a movie there, and Miss Piggy being called out for overacting.
I feel like perhaps this movie encapsulates the Muppet Show the best. “A Muppet Movie” is about (supposedly) how the Muppets started. “Treasure Island,” “Christmas Carol” and “Wizard of Oz” are about retelling classic stories through the Muppets’ style of storytelling. “Muppets Take Manhattan” and “Muppets from Space” tell original stories that seem to remain in their respective worlds without trying to break the fourth wall. “Muppets” and “Muppets Most Wanted” focus on resurrecting the Muppets from the dust of nostalgia and showing how they can fit into today’s world. “The Great Muppet Caper” just parodies caper films and romance films relentlessly, reminding the audience that clearly this is a contrived plot, and they should just enjoy the absurdities.
Now, I am a dork, who grew up watching the likes of the Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello, who constantly lampooned tropes and stereotypes. So this sort of movie, plus the whole mystery investigation angle, just falls directly into my wheelhouse. I admit that unashamedly. It’s become kind of that comfort food-style movie for me. And I needed that this past month. So, if you haven’t watched it, just give it a try. You might enjoy it, you might not. Depends on who you are.
I’ll try to get back to semi-regularly posting, if life calms down a little bit. Until then, catch you on the flip side.
Random English Major Thoughts 