Hail, Hail Freedonia

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2000)

When I was a Social Studies teacher, I used to show this right before Easter break to show the kids what movies used to be like and to give them some sense of what the Marx Brothers madness was all about. The first time I showed it, I was more than a little surprised to see just how many of them laughed. I just thought it would be a little too dated for them, or not spicey enough. But there's something about Groucho's delievery. The insults are one thing but I think it's the fact that he's always taking upward swipes at some icon or person of priviledge that even now a teenager can get what he's all about.