Horse Feathers (1932)

The love of college sports is a near and dear tradition to many Americans hearts, seen traditionally from the late nineteenth century on to today. It is a form of good, clean, pure athletics that bring together many young people as well as alumni to large gatherings to cheer mightily for their beloved schools. But with this deep passion for sport comes the corrupt as well. This would be the subject the Marx Brothers would poke fun at in their 1932 hit comedy Horse Feathers. An overly satirized story of the fictional rivalry between two made up institutions named Huxley and Darwin (both named after major theorists of the evolution), even with the wacky antics of the brothers and the out of date look of the game of football to what it would become generations later, the film remains entertaining and current to what is seen in college sports today.

Horse Feathers takes us to the football rivalry between two colleges as they both try to win the big game at any cost, including the hiring of professional football players, all played to the antics of the Marx Brothers as they don different roles in pushing Huxley College to victory. Groucho plays the new president of the scholarly driven school, Prof. Wagstaff, when his son Frank, played by his brother Zeppo, encourages him to seek out pro football players to help win a game against their arch rivals Darwin. Unlucky for Huxley, Groucho mistakenly hires the wrong two men to play football, while Darwin hires the pro players. Wagstaff hires Baravelli (Chico), an iceman and bootlegger, and Pinky (Harpo), a dogcatcher and Baravelli's assistant, as the new help, and as it is discovered that there was a mishap our heroes get into all kinds of new mix ups as they try to sabotage Dawrin's new stars. The finale plays out with a wacky football game where almost anything goes, but with the help of all four brothers leading to a madcap victory for good ol' Huxley.

The Marx Brothers once again bring their "A" game to big screen, but for the first time producing an original work not based on a previously produced play of theirs, although with bits they have performed on stage before infused in there. The four actually play roles not named after their long standing stage selves, but they still embody everything that they have always done on screen before. Groucho, the wisecracking college president, Zeppo, once again the straight man as his son, Chico, the dirty bootlegger and man for hire, and Harpo, the wacky dogcatcher, all return great performances that we have seen in films past continuing to make us laugh as they try, fail, but ultimately somehow succeed in the end with their crazy plan. The film contains the usual Marx Brothers formula with bits with Groucho and Chico banter, Harpo antics and prop gags, musical numbers for Chico and Harpo individually, a comedic song by Groucho, and a romantic song by Zeppo. In what would seem to be the same stuff we have seen before the Brothers keep us laughing.

The film is remarkably current on the issues it pokes fun at. The film does deal with the then issue of Prohibition and bootlegging, which was a all too normal thing in those days which everyone knew about being a part of normal, everyday life. Obviously they saw it as silly, so it was easy for them to joke about it. The thing that we see in the movie then that is still dealt with today is the issue of college sports, betting, and amateur status of players in the game. For those not aware of the issue, college sport is to be a pure athletic form with no money to exchange hands between school and player to encourage playing for their team. This keeps all players in the amateur status. Through the years countless institutions have hired men to join their teams to bolster support for the college through winning athletic events. Unfortuanely it happens in some way all the time in college athletics up to this very day and will continue into the future. The Marx Brothers just took this unmentioned subject and made it the basis for their comedy and did so to a very satirical extent. It is remarkable how comedy can entertain yet be so poignant at the same time. But the ultimate goal was just to make a funny movie. Mission accomplished.

The film would be great success for the Marx Brothers and everyone involved. The brothers would continue to produce more comic gold for years, but Zeppo would only make one more film, while feeling like the one brother left out. Zeppo would finish his contract with Paramount Pictures and leave acting. Director Norman Z. McLeod would make a number of comedy pictures in years to come. Thelma Todd, who played the role of the seductive woman in Horse Feathers, being such a good looking comedic woman would find future success in other pictures as well before her mysterious death in 1935. The film did great business in 1932 with the box office, but would live on as one of the greatest comedies of all time, listed at #65 on AFI's list of top comedies. This would not be the only time the Brothers made the list as they would leave a grand legacy in the hearts of moviegoers and cinema for generations to come.