Fire Sale

This movie was definitely overlooked as a classic. Strange, yes; bizzare, oh yes! but funny if you have a strange sense of humor. Monty Python and Benny Hill fans may like the strange and off-beat humor of this movie, other humor fans may be wondering what this is about. The secret is that what you see is what you get: what you see on the screen is what this movie is about. This is a disfunctional family before the term became fashionable. I loved the characters' goofiness, and the way that the actors portrayed them. Alan Arkin, Vincent Gardenia, and Rob Reiner were the "stars" of this movie, but they wouldn't have gone anywhere without the supporting cast of characters. Uncle Sherman, Marian, Ruthie,and of course, Captain F#@k, rounded out the chaacters. Not getting into the plot of the movie (which there was none, really) : there was no stoy plot or character arc - it was just fun and goofy comedy. I just wish it was offered on VHS or DVD!

Everyone to his own taste. Leonard Maltin is a wonderful critic, but this time I disagree with him. A friend of mine showed me a tape he made of this movie in 1979. I could not stop laughing. Sometimes a movie doesn't have to have a message when it's being funny (Ace Ventura, as a case in point). The stars of this movie are comedy giants, but the supporting cast is just as funny. Richard Libertini steals the movie as a house painter cum psychiatrist. Alex Rocco as a clothing salesman is hilarious. I have an old VHS tape of this movie that I made off HBO. I would love to see this movie released on DVD. If there is any good reason why this movie is not being released I'd like to hear it. I've showed the tape to my kids, and they went crazy for it. I think the time has come to let the world enjoy this laugh riot. I'm surprised that cable hasn't shown it either instead of the same tired retreads over and over. Let's hear it for comedy that isn't pretty.

From the second the movie starts in the dark w/ the (noise) of a blowdryer, warming up the cold toilet seat, till the very end I loved this movie. I'm sorry that I've never seen it on TV or in the video stores. The comedy just kept on coming and coming. Here it is 1999 and I seen it in 1977, it's my favorite comedy of all times. I only wish that I could share it with my family now.

Like many of the previous reviewers, I only ever saw this movie once, and that was a long, long time ago (again like them). But even though I was only a teenager, where for me the world of the US East Coast Jews may as well have been on another planet, what gags I did understand (and I realized that there were many, many gags that I didn't!) were exceptionally funny. Leonard_M - loosen up a little. The movie IS funny.

After reading the positive comments here and seeing the 1 star rating on my digital cable guide, I decided to give it a chance (plus, I'm a big Alan Arkin fan after seeing him in 'Catch-22', 'Glengarry Glen Ross', and 'Little Murders'). And I have to say that it's not as bad as it's made out to be. It's actually really really funny--if you have a certain sense of humor. I was dying with laughter during the scene where Arkin and Rob Reiner started fighting on the father's bed--on top of the father! There were other good scenes: the kids throwing the rocks through the windows, Arkin approaching the basketball player on the court, the crazy Jewish mother throughout the whole movie, "Keep Out Putz!" written on the office door and the scene with the comatose dad and the insurance guys. I could go on because I really liked this movie. The only thing that kinda bugged was Rob Reiner's attacks, but eh. What are you gonna do?

I think that you have to enjoy a certain type of humor to find this movie funny. During the whole thing I found myself drawing parallels to my favorite sitcom, Arrested Development. Crazy dysfunctional family? Check. Adopting a kid of a completely different race for personal gain? Check. Buring down a business for money? Check. (Episode 2 of Season 1--Top Banana!) Multiple story lines that culminate into one big finale? Yup. And there was even a big wacky ending involving all the family members. Both are very slapstick-y comedies with both dry and over the top jokes. If you love that kind of humor, then you'll really like Fire Sale. If you're more into standard comedies, then you'll probably become very easily annoyed and change the channel.

I'd love to see a cheap DVD of this movie out in a letterbox format. I remember Fox Movie Channel used to run some kind of promo trailer/short documentary before showing it, so I'd love to see that as well. Plus, some of the scenes are very dark. I'm not sure if this is the print of the movie or Arkin's intention, but it would be nice to see this movie remastered and released in the future, but that probably won't happen. A girl can dream though!