The Addams Family

Plot synopsis:
Gomez Addams laments the 25-year absence of his brother Fester, who disappeared after the two had a falling-out. Gomez's lawyer Tully Alford owes money to loan shark Abigail Craven, and notices that her son Gordon closely resembles Fester. Tully proposes that Gordon pose as Fester to infiltrate the Addams household and find the hidden vault where they keep their vast riches. Tully and his wife Margaret attend a séance at the Addams home led by Grandmama in which the family tries to contact Fester's spirit. Gordon arrives, posing as Fester, while Abigail poses as psychiatrist Dr. Pinder-Schloss and tells the family that Fester had been lost in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 25 years.
Gomez, overjoyed to have Fester back, takes him to the family vault to view home movies from their childhood. Gordon learns the reason for the brothers' falling-out: Gomez was jealous of Fester's success with women, and wooed the conjoined twins Flora and Fauna Amor away from him out of envy. Gomez starts to suspect that "Fester" is an impostor when he is unable to recall important details about their past. Gordon attempts to return to the vault, but is unable to get past a booby trap. Gomez's wife Morticia reminds "Fester" of the importance of family amongst the Addamses and of their vengeance against those who cross them. Fearing that the family is getting wise to their con, Abigail (under the guise of Dr. Pinder-Schloss) convinces Gomez that his suspicions are due to displacement.
Gordon grows closer to the Addams family, particularly the children Wednesday and Pugsley, whom he helps to prepare a swordplay sequence for a school play. The Addamses throw a large party with their extended family and friends to celebrate Fester's return, during which Abigail plans to break into the vault. Wednesday overhears Abigail and Gordon discussing their scheme, and escapes them by hiding in the family cemetery. Tully learns that Fester, as the eldest brother, is the executor of the Addams estate and therefore technically owns the entire property. With the help of the Addamses' neighbor Judge George Womack, who Gomez has repeatedly angered by hitting golf balls at his house, Tully procures a restraining order against the family, banning them from the estate. Gomez attempts to fight the order in court, but Judge Womack rules against him out of spite.
While Abigail, Gordon, and Tully try repeatedly and unsuccessfully to get past the booby trap blocking access to the vault, the Addams family is forced to move into a motel and find jobs. Morticia tries her hand as a preschool teacher, Wednesday and Pugsley sell toxic lemonade, and Thing—the family's animate disembodied hand—becomes a courier. Gomez, despondent, sinks into depression and lethargy.
Morticia returns to the Addams home to confront Fester and is captured by Abigail and Tully, who torture her in an attempt to learn how to access the vault. Thing observes this and informs Gomez using Morse code, who gathers the family and rushes to Morticia's rescue. Abigail threatens Morticia's life if Gomez does not surrender the family fortune. Fed up with his mother's behavior and constant berating, Gordon turns against Abigail. Using a magical book which projects its contents into reality, he unleashes a hurricane in the house, which strikes his own head with lightning and launches Tully and Abigail out of a window and into open graves dug for them by Wednesday and Pugsley.
Gordon turns out to actually have been Fester all along, having suffered amnesia after being lost in the Bermuda Triangle and turning up in Miami, where Abigail had taken him in. The lightning strike has restored his memory and he is enthusiastically welcomed back into the Addams household. With the family whole again, Morticia informs Gomez that she is pregnant.

Tags: comedy, horror, gothic

Review:
Gomez was rich, happily married, dripping with Old World charm, had loving children, kind relatives, a devoted butler, lived in a great house, and the whole family did everything THEIR way, convention be damned!He made wild, passionate love to his wife (and could turn his libido on and off like a light...yet all Morticia had to do was speak French!), and instead of drinking with the boys, he'd unwind with either yoga, juggling Indian clubs, bouncing on his trampoline, or blowing up his train set.
The coffee table with bundles of $100 bills in the drawer ("Petty cash, my good man!"), Lurch's Basso Profundo groan, the Butler's Chime that shook the entire house (with the pull cord a full-sized hangman's noose), the torture chamber turned into a "play room", the quirky decor of the house and the family taking in the moon while others took in the sun.Gomez and Morticia were the first TV sitcom couple to have an implied sex life (a rather kinky one at that!), and the whole family was healthy and happy...if rather detached from established norms.
'The Addams Family' was one of my favourite TV shows growing up because of it's overall weirdness, which appealed to my sick sensibilities having been raised on a diet of Mad magazine and Hammer horror movies, and because it was genuinely funny.
(Try and track down the ahead of its time comic western 'Evil Roy Slade' for another wonderful Astin performance.) The chemistry between Astin and on-screen wife Morticia (the lovely Carolyn Jones) is smoldering AND hilarious, and the two are backed up by a fine supporting cast, especially former child star Jackie Coogan as the bizarre but lovable Uncle Fester.Forget the hit and miss movies, these are the original and still the best Addams family.
John Astin and Carolyn Jones brought the Charles Addams cartoons to life in this excellent counter-cultural '60s show.
If you pay attention to the dialogue it's subversive on many levels which may be why ABC cancelled it after 2 years of great success.Carolyn Jones is gothically georgeous with a great sing-songy voice that brings the dialogue to life, and a figure perfect enough to fit into that black widow dress.
I myself grew up in an abusive disfunctional environment like many Americans, and this show was one of my respites as a kid because I knew Gomez and Morticia would never get mad at me or each other.This show carried that je-ne-sais-quoi that a lot of '60s culture did, and there's nothing today that even comes close.
There were alot of subtle things in the script you had to look for, like when Lurch always has whatever is requested on hand, Gomez' numerous Shakespeare references, and how they have to turn off the cave echo with a switch.I finally saw the Addams' Family movie and it doesn't measure up to the original in any way.
Father Gomez (John Astin) clears his throat with a sword, mother Morticia (Carolyn Jones) owns several carnivorous plants, and servant Lurch (Ted Cassidy) somberly replies "You rang?" whenever someone rings the bell.
They go through their everyday lives (uh, lives?) doing the sorts of things that most people do, just differently (to say the least).Among other things, "The Addams Family" was actually better than "The Munsters" (it was cleverer and not so silly).
This show perfected the genre of "looking at the world from the opposite side of the lense."Innovative, without a doubt--the one-liners, sight gags, catch phrases!Carolyn Jones and John Astin were the consummate performers in every way--the sex appeal, the humor, the acting ability, their natural chemistry.You just couldn't help but feel sorry for Lurch though.
Led by John Astin and Carolyn Jones, the group included the two aforementioned performers as the parents to two creepy youngsters and the odd voices of reason to various other family members.
John Astin was incredibly zany as the good natured, yet macabrely devoted husband Gomez, and the lovely Carolyn Jones played the sexily Gothic Morticia.
I only know that I much preferred the Addams's as it was just a little more sinister, and like most other teenage boys I was completely in love with Morticia.Jackie Coogan was great as the irrepressible Uncle Fester, causing massive explosions and coming up with weird, inconceivable experiments week after week.Then there were the children of the union, Wednesday and Pugsley.
Wednesday was a cute little bag of nuts, her mother in the making, but Pugsley was a reminder to me of the boy who used to chase me home from school when I was about six!Then there was Ted Cassidy as Lurch with his darkly deep "You Rang?" voice, who also had his hand play the part of "Thing" when he was not on camera.
When the concept of converting these ink doodles into a live action television program took place, the timing coincided with another "odd" family who also arrived on our Television doorsteps that same season: "The Munsters." In a way, that was a disservice to both programs, since the common traits they shared made them a constant comparison.
Personally, though I don't believe they are in the same league.Where "The Munsters" went for the slapstick schtick nearly every time, "The Addams Family" used more wordplay and more clever, witty attempts to bring a laugh.
But at the root, at the heart, at the altogether ooky core of the story was this one, great, huge love between Gomez and Morticia and the love they shared for all of the people in their lives.
John Astin and Carolyn Jones were incredible, and for my money, are still the sexiest couple in TV history.Though it was often played for laughs, as when the matriarch uttered a word in French and Gomez couldn't resist kissing up her arm, it was very palpable, in the pet names they called each other, in the way they tangoed or in how the pair chatted in each other's company.
Indeed members of the Addams family to a person / it and, thing were so secure in themselves they oftebn felt it was the people of normal society who were weird and, that was the core of its comedic genius.
The Addams family said and, did those things that we all think of doing and, want to do if we were free of our conformist shackles of what makes a pretty house, a nice car, a beautiful gardenm, well adjusted children.
And who but John Astin could capture the multifaceted personality of Gomez Addams, and actually show all facets equally?A huge mistake I made was going into this show (which only happened recently, as a matter of fact) expecting some semblance of the '90s Anjelica Huston/Raul Julia movies.
The addams family is a great show, but should not be viewed as a sitcom, rather a social commentary on times that are well and truly over!.
That series ran from September 24,1964 until May 12, 1966."The Addams Family" starred John Astin and Carolyn Jones was on ABC-TV and ran for two seasons,producing 65 episodes,all in black and white from September 18, 1964 and ending its run on April 8, 1966.
First off,actors John Astin and Carolyn Jones brought Charles Addams' cartoon characters to life in this series in which they brought there own qualities to the characters they portrayed.
John Astin brought his Zen Yogi Buddhism and his Shakespeare while Carolyn Jones was just gothically gorgeous with her knitting and great looks not to mention a great sing-songy voice that brings the dialogue to life,and a perfect figure to fit brilliantly into that black widow dress.
Astin's character was Gomez Addams,a successfully wealthy tycoon who was happily married,dripping with Old World charm, was very devoted to his loving kids and was very loving to them,kind relatives(who were strange at times),a devoted butler,and the whole family did everything there way,including times where Gomez had the knack to blowing up train sets in his house and other weird stuff!
Then,you have the children Wednesday and Pugsley(played with perfection by Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring)who were always into something or another,and also the butler Lurch(Ted Cassidy)with his Basso Profundo groan every time Mr. and Mrs. Addams would pulled the chime that shook the entire house(with a pull cord a full sized hangman's noose)when he would answer,"You rang?" There were other little touches that the show had,which was something that its rival "The Munsters" never had....The coffee table with bundles of $100 bills in the drawer,the torture chamber turned into a play room for the children and for Uncle Fester,the quirky decor of the house and family taking in the moon while others took in the sun.
Also there was times when Morticia and Gomez had a implied sex life(and the first sitcom couple to do that...which you would never seen that on other sitcoms during the 1960's)which was rather kinky and outrageously funny.Then there was the unpredictable Uncle Fester(Jackie Coogan)who was always experimenting on different things,and was the strangest character of them all,but in perspective,Jackie Coogan brought that role to life and the results are absolutely brilliant to what he did with the character.
Then,there was the Grandmother or Grand ma-ma,and the strangest characters imaginable...Thing(which was a hand inside a box that delivered the family mail),and not to mention Cousin Itt(a relative of Morticia's with lots of hairy features)who would speak and communicate with unmentionable terms,and by the way,what would Cousin Itt be like without all that hair?
However,the musical theme by composer Vic Mizzy was brilliant on all levels,since Mizzy was a jazz composer who went big with many of the TV-themes of its era including "Green Acres",and several theatrical features starring Don Knotts from the mid-1960's and composed themes for several Saturday Morning cartoons.However,when The Addams Family went off the air in 1966,network executives in charge of children's programming for NBC brought them back in 1973 for their own Saturday Morning cartoon show featuring the voices of Carolyn Jones,Jackie Coogan,and Ted Cassidy from the original series (minus John Astin who would return in the 1990's for a second animated version that was part of ABC's Saturday Morning schedule)which also ran for two seasons from 1973-1975..
One of the things that WAS as good as it used to be was the wonderfully funny and intelligent television series 'The Addams Family'.
The Addams family is a shining beacon of sophistication, good manners, humorous tolerance, hospitality and love.Cancel the cable and buy these dvds, you'll be much happier..
Carolyn Jones was a great Morticia Addams, Ted Cassidy was a great Lurch, and so forth.
The original cartoons were single-joke frames, but the series developed a tight group of complimentary characters, among other things vindicating the comedic promise of former kid actor Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester..
Astin as Gomez, Carolyn as Morticia, Coogan as Fester, I could go on and on about TV's most unusual family and their orchestrated toy train wrecks, odd meals and even odder household pets.
The cast are superb and perfectly suited to their characters, you won't find a better Gomez or Morticia than John Astin and Carolyn Jones, and Jackie Coogan is born for Fester.
What I do know is that a show this offbeat and creative would never get aired on network TV today, and even if it did, the minute it got successful the network suits would start tinkering with it and ruin it.The Addams' are portrayed as a close knit and happy family - in fact they rarely have contact with outsiders other than the children attending school.
There have been many remakes, some of them rather really bad like the new colored series, some of them too much overly goth-styled, yes: goth-decadently made movies like the one from the early nineties, where Morticia suddenly speaks a superb french when in the original, she is lovingly American, a true good American, unlike maybe the majority of "normal", "civile" people, as well as Gomez is.This is the only real, true thing.
John Astin headed up the cast as 'Gomez Addams', whose idea of fun is watching toy trains crash.
'The Addams Family' debuted on U.S. television at the same time as 'The Munsters', but this is my favourite.
Although I liked both shows immensely, I prefer the Addams Family and always have, mainly because Herman Munster was so imbecilic whereas Gomez Addams had class and character -- traits associated with eccentric Victorian buildings.
The Munsters, on the other hand, showed off their cobwebs, applied dust with a sifter, and even tarnished the silver.The Addams Family relished in pain and torture applied to their bodies, and loved explosions and a good train wreck.
When I watched these shows as a kid, I guess I'd just rather be like Gomez Addams than Herman Munster..
The chemistry between gomez and morticia is infectious to say the least and the other characters make the program complete, the jokes are funny and the set in black and white makes it better as this adds to the "weirdness" of it all.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY is one of the few shows from the 1960's that I actually like.
Like The Munsters though it only ran two seasons The Addams Family stayed forever in syndication.
Everybody in this family would have trouble fitting in.The nuclear family unit was Gomez Addams wife Morticia aka Tish, and their children Pugsley and Wednesday.
Astin looked like he was having one great old time as Gomez, the most charmingly ghoulish man you'll ever meet.
Nothing like seeing Gomez courting Morticia especially when Carolyn Jones spoke French at him.
In the history of the show we never saw her feet.Uncle Fester who lived with them was played by Jackie Coogan who was forever puttering away in his workshop inventing things he thought that every family of ghouls should have.
Each character gives off his/her own brand of uniqueness and charm, like Gomez's clearing his throat with a sword to Morticia letting off steam as her way of smoking, and from Uncle Fester's lying in a bed of nails to Lurch's towerly presence.A fun classic show that is great for the whole family.Grade B+.
-The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons.
These jokes still hold up and they are genuinely funny.One thing that I genuinely like about this show is that with these strange oddities, the Addams Family are happy with it and act like its normal.
The best one, strangely, is Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams.
This is the Addams Family, a clever and very funny show about a close-knit family of affluent oddballs(according to the "normal" people who visit their home!)who just want to be happy and do their thing(so to speak!) whether that be moon bathing, bobbing for crabs on their favorite holiday(Halloween of course!) or romps in the swamps(backyard variety)this series is one that can be viewed as a clever satire about what is considered normal versus weird, sane versus insane, scary versus comedic, all in a very funny package of two seasons and 64 episodes.A shame this was canceled after only two years, but then it would have gone to color, and perhaps some of the atmosphere that the beautiful black & white filming gave us would have been lost.Fans would not mind paying a personal visit to this wonderful home on 000 Cemetery Ridge!.
in a strange way) all the time.The acting is actually pretty good for 1960's television (lets just say I've seen a couple of episodes of 60's television and the acting was crap) John Astin as Gomez, Carolyn Jones as Morticia and Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester are the best performers.
I know where good and bad CGI comes from but I really want to know how they did that.So if you want to see a sitcom of which the humour still holds up to this day then the Addams Family is certainly worth a look.
Classic Television Series: The Addams Family..
The main problem I have with this show is the fact that Gomez and Morticia seemed more to be charicatures while the Munsters reminded me of a regular family despite their ghoulish appearance.
Well, The Addams Family were also a lovely family.Like the Munsters, they were weird and ugly but in a way this series taught us one thing; never judge people by appearance.
And just like The Munsters, the Addams Family were totally innocent.
No bad language, fighting or heartbreak-just fun and games.I did think The Munsters was a better series but I didn't half enjoy the Addams Family.Uncle Fester was a bit creepy though for my young eyes, a lot creepier than Lurch..
If it HAD been done faithfully to the feel of Addam's cartoons it would have been more of a series of short 'skits' rather than story lines and also it would have been far darker humor which would have landed it in the late night TV time slot --  then it might well have made its point----- As things tend to go in our culture, it seems as though this show is fairly forgotten, and "The Munsters" ( their rival at the time) have become an American Pop culture institution------ they were very funny but they also were not derivative of a high class idea like the original "The Addam's Family" was,so they could go just about anywhere with the dialogue and visual humor -- also the writing was alot more TVish and the casting was perfect.
While I liked "The Munsters" better, I will always have a soft spot for "The Addams Family.".
The jokes became repetitive after a while: The Addams did not fit in America in the 60's and were regarded as strange and even scary, but many times they were much better in character than the "normal" people.
The Addams had a rival family, another ghoulish clan- "The Munsters" who were on the rival network NBC, but both shows were actually being watched by the same demographic and both shows lasted the same amount of time, 3 seasons from '64 to '66.