The Silence of the Hams

I like movie spoofs, but I had been avoiding this one under the impression that it was really bad. I had a lousy night and was looking for a stupid comedy movie to watch, so I finally gave this one a try.

I needn't have been avoiding it for so long. I actually did find it pretty funny. The really good spoof movies I think probably write a lot of gags, and then only put the best of them into the movie. The poorer ones put them all in. The worst put them all in, but the writers were so bad, none of the gags are funny. I'd put this in the middle category.

Despite the title, the movie is more of a spoof of Psycho, with some elements from Silence of the Lambs thrown in, and then some brief spoofy references to other movies.

There's a lot here that doesn't work. I didn't think any of the funny names were funny, but then funny names so rarely are. There are also some gags borrowed from other spoofs, but at least some of them still work. For example, in a shower scene taken from Psycho, the curtain is pulled back to reveal a small orchestra of string musicians. That's been in at least a couple of Mel Brooks' movies (and he has a cameo in this one). That gag is used twice in this film, as when a woman who has just stolen money from her boss is driving in her car and we hear dialog we've already heard running through her head (as in Psycho also). It turns out there's a car next to her, and the people are shouting the dialog through megaphones at her. Stupid, but amusing.

There's a ridiculous scene where the FBI hero shows up at an asylum, and when asked for his badge he produces a waffle. Surrealism is alive! The man asking for the badge was seemingly behind a door, with a little slot to look out of. As he opens this door, and the camera pulls back, we see the door guard is actually just holding a board in front of his face!

Another Psycho gag is when Martin Balsam falls backwards down a flight of stairs. As much as I like Psycho, that scene looked fairly goofy. Here, he falls down and since the stairs are actually being back-projected (or bluescreened), they turn around 360 degrees, and he also inexplicably falls through the sky as well. I found that amusing. When he finally hits the landing, he's stabbed by a knife, then a barbecue fork, and a number of other things including a dildo. That was just stupid.

So anyway, I feel this movie, while not great, is underrated. If you like movie spoofs, and you're familiar with Hitchcock's Psycho and Silence of the Lambs, I think it's likely you'll find some humor in it as I did.

This parody of several movies packs some amusing moments, such as Billy Zane flipping open his wallet to reveal a waffle and saying, "FBI have an appointment", and a humourous turn by Dom Deluise as a cannibal, which overall make this movie a decent turn worth a look. How long a look will depend on how much you enjoy slapstick comedy and one-liners. There are times it drags, and some of the jokes are corny, but overall the funny moments outweigh the not funny ones, so give this one a look if you're in the mood for a light laugh.

This movie runs too close to the vein of "Repossessed" inasmuch as the bad jokes nearly out number the good ones. Some of them are stolen from Benny Hill,Airplane and the Naked Guns while the rest of the movie relies heavily on prop jokes and sight gags. The only semi-appealing trait of the movie is how it is filled with numerous recognizable faces such as Lana Scwab from "Repossessed," John Landis, Bubba Smith, Nedra Volz, Peter DeLuise and Wilhelm Von Homburg,Vigo from "Ghostbusters 2." There's also some dead-on lookalikes for George Bush and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, Billy Zane is trying to be too much like Frank Drebin, even stealing his parking style of running into things, while walking around doing his role in a dull trance and jumping into his emotions. He does provide some comic relief as he shows he's more interested in the money than his girlfriend. She's played by Charlene Tilton in an unflattering hair-do and heavy make-up. She also seems to be allowing her figure to do her acting for her. In one of his last roles, Martin Balsam replays his famous scenes from "Psycho." He says,"I feel as if I've been here before." We all have. Larry Storch is stuck doing his old "F-Troop" slapstick as a big-mouth FBI klutz and Stuart Pankin is his haplessly unlucky superior. John Astin plays the "Psycho" sheriff as if he was really Gomez (don't forget to snap your fingers) and Dom DeLuise tries his hand at Hannibal Lecter becoming one of the few really funny characters in the movie as he creates some wierdly disorienting illusions. He does flub a line as he says "I'm off into the arms of Orpheus." I'm sure he meant the god of dreams, Morpheus, not the Thracian musician-prince. Also in the movie is Joanna Pacula,who's not attractive enough to be sexy, and Phyllis Diller as an annoyingly senile old bat pushing her coffee. Rip Taylor is her and Tilton's boss whose name has gone from Hardy to Laurel. One of the trully funny characters is Ezio Greggio, but he has no idea of what works and what doesn't as it seems as if he has thrown together a lot of different jokes. Some of the scenes work very well, but the last scene with the masks is embarrassing for the actors, Tilton even takes a moment to admit it. It brings down the entire movie and pretty much ruins what was already a dying parody.Still, I do like this movie enough to recommend it, but I don't think anyone has the mind to really like this movie.

Silence Of The Hams was brilliant. You know, I hate it when people try to analyze the movie, and try to pick out all the politically incorrect phrases and actions. SHUT... UP !!! And some people are saying "Uhh, it's not as good as Loaded Weapon 1". SO... WHAT !!! Does that mean that I have to like it less now ? Umm... No. This movie had so many clever and stupid jokes in it. It parodied several hit movies and I think this movie deserves more credit than it's getting. I mean, come on, how many movies do you know have a migit with an extendable arm, and Pavaroti ? Hmm ? Rent this movie now. I give this movie a 10 !!!

I can't think of another movie in which an actor replayed his most famous role...for laughs. Millions of people over several decades saw Martin Balsam as the Detective who Gets Killed on the Stairs in "Psycho" (1960). And here he was, 34 years later, playing his every scene from the original as a gag.

Unlike "Psycho" shower murder victim Janet Leigh, Balsam always refused to give interviews on his scenes in "Psycho," feeling it was given too much notice over his other films (he won the 1965 Oscar for "A Thousand Clowns.") I guess he was finally willing to revisit the detective -- for pay. Maybe it was revenge for Balsam to play the role in so bad a movie this time.

Yeah, "Silence of the Hams" is terrible, but as a film artifact, I find Balsam's appearance amazing. His physical appearance, too. He's a fair sight more elderly and frail in "Silence of the Hams" than he was in "Psycho," but he takes his staircase fall ("Again??!!") yet again with grace and humor. Intriguing: this was made by its star, Italian comedian Ezio Greggio, and Martin Balsam died in Italy about a year later. Balsam had appeared in many other Italian-made films. Was this film made in Italy?