PodBill Just what I expected

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Mike King The classic show "The Honeymooners" has influenced TV series from "The Flintstones," to "The King Of Queens." Jackie Gleason's larger-than-life size, larger-than-life personality, and loud expressions ("Bang! Zoom!"), carried the show, as lead character Ralph Kramden. Given the nickname "The Great One" by none other than Orson Welles, Jackie certainly deserved that title. His best friend Ed Norton, played by Art Carney, was the perfect best friend to suffer Ralph's temper tantrums, and come back for more. Speaking of suffering, his long-suffering wife Alice was played to perfection by Audrey Meadows. Nicely rounding out the quartet was Trixie Norton, Ed's understanding wife, played by Joyce Randolph. One of my favorite episodes was "Better Living Through TV," originally broadcast on November 12, 1955. That's the episode where Ralph does a live commercial as the Chef of the Future, with Ed as the Chef of the Past. Another favorite episode is "Alice and the Blonde," which was originally broadcast on June 2, 1956. Ralph comes home from work to find no dinner on the table, and Alice all dolled up. Alice: "I'll go fix my lipstick. I won't be gone long, Killer. I call you Killer, 'cause you slay me." Ralph: "And I'm calling Bellevue, 'cause you're nuts!" The timeless humor of all the episodes remain as fresh today, as when they were originally broadcast.

Fred Dear Honeymooners fans: I am a student of the Classic 39, and I have researched the names of the actors and actresses who played in all episodes, but I cannot find the name of the actress who played Rita Wedemeyer, Bert's lovely and vivacious wife. Frank Behrens played Bert, and he is the only one listed on IMDb's episode-by-episode breakdown of the Classic 39 for that particular episode, which is called Ralph and the Blonde.I am guessing that the actress who played Rita was about 25 at the time that episode was filmed in 1955, which would make her about 75 today.Can anybody find out? Thanks.

schappe1 Jackie Gleason is one of the greatest talents in the history of American show business. His comic takes and blowhard act has produced so many professional and amateur imitators that none even has to question who or what you are imitating. Art Carney is one of America's greatest character actors. He created the greatest side-kick anyone ever had, a character with so many quirks you could probably build a show around him. Together they make one of the greatest comedy teams ever. But what makes this work is Audrey Meadows as Alice. When the Honeymooners first began, Ralph's wife was played by Pert Kelton, a battle ax of an actress who is just the kind of wife Ralph Cramden would wind up with in real life. The original skits were really comic 'fly on the wall' looks at the arguments the loudest neighbors in the neighborhood keep having. They were amusing enough to keep the skits going but there wasn't enough of a counterpoint to Ralph. His battles with Alice resembled Ralph's later battles with Alice's mother, (which Kelton came back, more appropriately, to play in the 60's series). When Gleason moved to CBS in 1952, Kelton was unavailable for health reasons and Gleason had to find a new Alice. Audrey Meadows, a glamour girl who worked with all the top comedians of television's golden era, decided she wanted the job. The now-famous story is that Jackie turned her down because he couldn't picture Meadows as Ralph Kramden's proletarian wife. Audrey had a friend photograph her in her kitchen just after she woke up and had the photo sent to Jackie, who immediately declared the woman in the picture to be 'his Alice' and demanded to know who the actress was. When he found out, Audrey had the job and 'The Honeymooners' became a TV classic.Meadows offered something Kelton didn't: a CONTRAST to Ralph, rather than a fellow gladiator. She was not only attractive, (if not allowed to be glamorous), but she was intelligent and non-abrasive, even if she had the strength to stand up to Ralph and give as good as she got in the battles. More than that, it became obvious why Ralph was such a dreamer and a blowhard. How did a guy like him ever get a woman like Alice to love him and marry him?He spends all his time either promoting himself and trying to be 'The King of the Castle' or scheming to become rich and important. It's the only way he knew to be big enough to deserve Alice. What he didn't know is that Alice offered him that rarity, unconditional love. Ralph didn't have to be a 'big man' to please her. He just had to be Ralph. He finds that out at the end of every episode but forgets it again in time for the next show, because if he didn't, they'd have no plot. Strengthened by this theme, the writes got more and more ambitious and The Honeymooners did stories of increasingly greater length, eventually taking up the whole show. Ralph Cramden became Gleason's most popular character because he was so human. He had much more dimension that Reggie Van Gleason, The Poor Soul, Charley Bratton or Joe the Bartender, as entertaining as they were. This in turn, led to the Classic 39, which became the flagship for the series and kept 'The Honeymooners' alive for decades after most of the Golden Age of Television had faded from memory.

BlackJack_B The Honeymooners will be something that I'll watch whenever it's on. Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph deliver superb chemistry in this stellar production.Gleason had full control of this show, and it wouldn't be anything as mythic if someone else was the boss. Despite all the restrictions of the 50's, The Honeymooners are still way more funnier than today's sitcoms and still bear innumerable viewings. The talent of the 50's knew how to entertain.Gleason plays Ralph Kramden, a bus driver in New York who lives in a tacky apartment in Bensonhurst with his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows). They have their neighbours Ed Norton (Art Carney) who works in sanitation and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph), a former burlesque entertainer. A lot of the episodes dealt with regular life, as well as occasional get-rich schemes planned by Ralph. The belly-laughs and roll-in-the couch hilarity comes from the great chemistry between Ralph and either Ed or Alice. In the Ralph/Ed situations, Ed's goofiness and looseness always clashed with Ralph's temper and impatienceness. Who couldn't forget all the different ways Ed could agitate Ralph until he was told to leave.Ralph/Alice was even better, for a reason. Although these two loved each other very much, they had some helacious arguments. Alice would take shots at him with jokes about his weight until Ralph threatened to "give her a shot, right in the kisser. To the moon, Alice". But we know Ralph would never hurt his wife, he loved her too much and would always make amends to her at the end. Alice always accepted the apology and said "I Love You, Ralph"! He'd always reply "Baby, You're The Greatest!" and the episode would end with them embracing. I was always clapping, smiling, or even in tears after that, it was so poignant. Let's see today's sitcoms show us some "poignancy".All the episodes are great; my favorite is the one where Ralph goes on a game show called "The $99,000 Answer" and he chooses "Popular Music" then has three days to prepare. He buys a piano and sheet music in hopes of winning it all. He gets Ed to play the songs while he guess them. However, Ed always starts his songs with a snippet of Stephen Foster's "Swannee River" as a warm-up, yet Ralph thinks it's some mindless music that Ed came up with. He goes on the show and they ask him "Who composed Swannee River?" Ralph goes completely white; he doesn't know. They play the music for him and it's the song Ed plays at the beginning of all the songs he played on the piano. Ralph then answers "Ed Norton?" That's what comedy is and should be! Bravo!