Road to ...

Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour and Bing Crosby in Road to Bali (1952)
Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour
Bob Hope & Bing Crosby sing and dance during "Chicago Style" in Road to Bali (1952)
With Jane Russell in Road to Bali

Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music. The minimal plot often took a back seat to gags, many of them supposedly ad-libbed by Crosby and Hope during filming.

Films in the series

Each film is not simply a comedy, but a satire of some of the popular film genres of the day, including jungle, Arabian nights, Alaskan adventure, and high seas. The final film not only comes much later, but involves a newer genre; Hong Kong spoofs the spy films of the sixties.

In 1977, an eighth Road to... movie was planned, titled Road to the Fountain of Youth; however, Crosby died that year of a heart attack.[1]

In 1947, Astor Pictures released a compilation film of several of Crosby's Educational Pictures short subjects called The Road to Hollywood to evoke the series.

In Sweden, the first film was given the title Två glada sjömän går iland (Two Jolly Sailors Go Ashore), which led to the subsequent films in the series all being given a title beginning with Två glada sjömän ..., except for the last film, which was instead called Vägen till Hong Kong (a direct translation of the English title).

In the 1980s, Eric Idle wanted to make a "Road..." picture called The Road to Mars, but was so put off by the executive meddling done at Hollywood studios, that he decided to do it as a novel instead.

Ownership

The films have a complex ownership history.

Running gags

Rumor has it that, during the filming of ...Singapore, Dorothy Lamour said to the camera, "Hey fellas, I haven't had a line for ages!" From that time on, the scene was set for what was one of the most enduring franchises in the history of motion pictures.

Beginning with Road to Singapore the films also included in-joke references to other Hollywood actors and jabs at Paramount Pictures, the studio that released all the films except for The Road to Hong Kong. There are also frequent instances in which Bob Hope breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly, such as in Road to Bali, in which he says, "[Crosby]'s gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go out and get the popcorn."

Hope and Crosby would usually play some form of confidence men trying to make a lot of money, with Bing coming up with the ideas and Bob usually doing most of the dirty work.

When confronted by the villain, Hope and Crosby would use a "patty cake" routine before throwing punches, though this would sometimes not work, as in Road to Morocco: "That gag sure gets around, huh?" "Yeah, right back to US!" The only film in the series in which the routine was not used was in Road to Utopia.

Both characters would usually promise to not allow women to interfere with their plans, and both would immediately see a woman and forget that promise. Crosby would almost always get the girl, with the exceptions being in Road to Utopia and Road to Rio (although hypnosis was involved in the latter case).

Hope's character usually would have a nickname with which he would be referred to throughout the film, as in Road to Morocco, when he was called "Turkey", and Road to Zanzibar, in which he was called "Fearless".

Hope would also break the fourth wall continuously to over-act, often with an upbraiding from Crosby. Hope would then blame his overacting on his attempt to win an Oscar. In reality, Hope never won any Oscar for his work, although he did receive honorary Oscars. Later, when Hope was a regular Oscar host, he incorporated his "Oscar bait" whines into his monologues there.

Homages and other influence

References

  1. ↑ "The 'Road...' Films of Hope, Crosby and Lamour". h2g2. 2004-10-09. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  2. ↑ "BING magazine". BING magazine.
  3. ↑ "Elaine May in conversation with Mike Nichols". Film Comment. July–August 2006.
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