HORSE FEATHERS (1932) **1/2 The Marx Brothers are smarter than anyone else, obviously, and so it should come as no surprise that their foray into higher education finds its ultimate expression in football. Groucho even pioneers an activist approach to coaching that would serve Woody Hayes nearly half a century later. Thelma Todd is wonderful as the experienced ingénue, and the recipient of a glorious trilogy of serenades. I have to say that Chico even beats Harpo, for once. Perhaps more importantly, Groucho busts out a song that must have inspired a different one of the same title by the Ramones. The musical events mess with the film's momentum, though, and not just because of the brothers' radical sense of meter. Woody Hayes, Ramones...I think that people love the Marx Brothers, and their influence is so pervasive (though not enough for my liking), not only because they're so funny, but because they're so courageous. Their humour is rarely without a butt, in fact sometimes it is a butt, but the butt is always deserving, and the target's always hit unless the point was to miss it, in which case both events occur. So it's an ethical means of scapegoating, one in which the goat really is the goat, or worse. Hence, obviously, the title Horse Feathers. Maybe this one never rises to the illustrious levels of which the brothers were capable, but it's very entertaining, and rife bait for wanton speculation regarding the finitude of multitudinous reality, and lack thereof. Illegal chariot in motion, gratefully.
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