Groucho Goes to War on False Pretenses

[microdot]

wait a minute, was herman cain cribbing this his foreign policy notes?

[AdognamedOp]

Funny.. and sad,.. how parody and real life diplomacy are almost indistinguishable these days.

[dynospectrum]

;)

[MissCodswallop]

"In behalf of the women of Freedonia, I have taken it upon myself to make one final effort to prevent war."

"...No kidding."

I love that line.

[SSArcher11]

1:00 and thereafter is my favorite humor line in movies.

"So, you refuse to shake hands with me, eh?"

[fitobcnfito]

Good critic that applies today as well as it did then.

Perfect, this is what goes on ;-O

And we go to war :-(

[Whozanerd]

Hawkeye wishes he were half the man Groucho is! lol. I think the only reason I started watching that show was the Marx-like punchlines.

[implicaverse]

Well, in the end, the ambassodor did refuse to shake Groucho's hand. That still puts this ahead of baby incubators of mass destruction or whatever excuses the US uses to go to war in real life.

[donrapp]

at 0.33 his hand was misbehaving.

[HAZIDEAD]

Mike, you are absolutely right. We all make assumptions and base our lives on what this that or the other will think, say, react etc --- before anything has even happened.

[Slim2J]

this so so freaking hilarious!

[md448]

this is awsom! the best documetary on 20th century diplomacy i have ever seen :)

[comprehensiveboy]

Why don't women dress like this anymore?

[xmen5k]

"I hold out my hand, and that hienna refuses to accept it!" HAHAHA!!!

[flapdoodle64]

This is a documentary.

[domkoehller0407]

Groucho has a Hawkeye Pierce aspect to him...:-)

[princely54]

haha -- pretty sure its the other way around. ;-)

[domkoehller0407]

True...love 'em both though :-)

[DoctorScuba]

@domkoehller0407 no, Hawkeye Pierce has a GROUCHO aspect to Him!

[Lockemeister]

@DoctorScuba The Marx Brothers were having a mini revival in the 70's. Alan Alda stole as much from Groucho as he possibly could. 

[Stiffman1]

So that's how we got in Iraq

[davidjadah]

@Stiffman1 and libya

[alun101]

skip it - lol

[Arsenic2Arnica]

in the Script Firefly is an Ammunition salesman and he sells the other team Ammo which is the reason he wants to go to war and Chicolini is the secretary of defense.

[Rawk4Life]

Anyone attempting to turn this scene into modern politics are fooling themselves. Appreciate the humor in this and please don't try to bring the Bush Administration into this because then it ruins the comedy of this scene.

[plunk08]

Agrees, you guys are silly!

[alun101]

i dunno -was just thinking how contemporary this personality clash=war really really is

[HeraldMB]

I think you can compare this film to any time in political history, Bush or otherwise. That's the whole point. :)

[DrPHILcast]

LOL

-"War would mean an prohibited increase in our taxes"

"I had an uncle that lived in Texas"

-"I'm talking about taxes, money Dollars"

"That's where he lived Dallas Texas"

"Doesn't want war either"

-"Either"

-"Either"

-"Either, let's skip it."

[nitzle]

Wow, it's really funny when people repeat what was said in the video. You are such noble people to provide transcripts for viewers like myself, who are incapable of remembering the dialogue.

[SpindashMCFC]

No problem.

[MagicTimeVideos]

@nitzle

This means WAR!!

[DoctorScuba]

That is only a Movie! In real Life, a Country would never go to War under False Pretences!

[Irisheddy]

@DoctorScuba unless they had WMD

[Baburote]

@DoctorScuba You would be amased to know how many wars and how much violense is caused by prestige and honor.

And both is full of falsehood...

TAHOJ

[fromthesidelines]

Remember what Groucho previously said about Freedonia going to war with Sylvania: "It's too late. I've already paid a month's rent on the battlefield". Comedy and politics are strange bedfellows indeed...their only hurdle is filing joint income tax returns.

[eppurs1muove]

"The Origin of Wars"

[NEOGLAUCA1]

Great!!!!

[jlassie]

He'll never get away with it, he'll never get away with it! He threatened to kill my daddy! Saddam must be stopped! scary parallel

[cutiepetutie11]

It's as if Bush patterned his foreign policy on this scene.

[LadyAdokenai]

somehow I wouldn't be surprised.

[ZahiraBellydancer]

You're missing the point. Take a hard look at what the facts are: the other country ALREADY invaded; that, in this film, IS an act of war. Amazing how this is always overlooked, whether in reality of fiction.

[HeraldMB]

Actually I was thinking that the other day. Everyone always focuses on how crazy or insulting Groucho is being, yet we forget Trentino was trying to take over all along!

[mikesyoutube]

Great point. In the early films, their characters were usually able to instantly size someone up and determine if they were torture-worthy. I think it's why Chico & Harpo torment Trentino, too, despite him being their employer!

[WSenator1]

Agreed. Great art remains immortal because it remains relevant, one way or another, to the present times. Think of "Coconuts" (inflated prices on land and housing), "Horse Feathers" (corruption in college athletics) and this film, "Duck Soup" (going to war on flimsy or sinister pretenses). To not be able to responsibly match up a work of art and the present day is irresponsible and pure madness.