The Unearthly

(After Crow and Servo invent a very elaborate board game based on the movie, Joel gets wrapped up in reading the directions until Movie Sign, causing Servo to go stalking off)
Crow: Mister, can we have our ball back?

Arguably the best line in A Hard Day’s Night, starring—of course—the Beatles. It’s from the scene where the Mean Old Man in their train car turns off their radio, and bums the Beatles out (never a smart thing to do), and they do a number of funny things to piss him off, including somehow running alongside the outside of the train and yelling, “Can we have our ball back?” Very funny. A Hard Day’s Night, like Yellow Submarine, is full of hilarious one-liners. There are also funny little off-the-mark things like when, in the makeup room, Paul turns to the camera with a blow-dryer in his hand and yells, “Zap!”, or when John cuts the measuring tape and says, “I now declare this bridge open!” or when George says, “Well I was quite prepared for that eventuality,” or when Ringo goes to the London pub and pretty much bothers every other customer, or when John says, “Oh, he’s reading the Queen! That’s an in-joke you know,” and directly after that Paul yells, “Shazaam!” and promptly falls down, or when…


(At the end of the movie, Joel, the ‘bots, and the Mads talk like the Dead End Kids, see?)

Read my bit about the Dead End Kids in the Overdrawn at the Memory Bank section. Everybody actually did a really good job of sounding like them, despite the fact that they’re about twenty-years older than the kids were when they made the films (well, maybe not—you know how child stars are).


(Two people are walking into a house…somewhere)
Servo: What is this, Dog on a Hot Tin Roof?

Elizabeth Taylor. Paul Newman. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. What’s the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof, you ask? Well, just stayin’ on it, ah guess. Long as she can.


(The Nurse checks the dead man’s pulse)
Joel: Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.
(The Doctor is playing the organ)
Crow: I’m sorry, I can’t think of the ending.
Servo: And I can’t think of anything else!

My, there are a lot of Groucho Marx references in this episode. But, yes, they’re all Groucho Marx references. He, of course, is part of the Marx Brothers, and made a whole lot of classic comedies, including but not limited to: Monkey Business, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and (my personal favorite) Horse Feathers. Groucho was the leader of the pack, known for his greasepaint mustache and glasses—very irreverent and sarcastic. Harpo had a blonde fright wig, was called so because he played the harp, and never spoke. Chico spoke in a fake Italian accent, was called so because he “went after the chicks”, and usually played criminals. Zeppo was the straight man; the normal one. There was also another, Gummo, who never starred in their films, but was in their vaudeville act. Zeppo ultimately left the act and became an agent for many Hollywood stars, including Barbara Stanwyck.


(The Nurse is pressing switches.)
Servo: Up Up Up!

This is actually yelled by the Beatles on several occasions in Help!, particularly in the scene where mad scientists try to get the sacrificial ring off of Ringo, and use big machines to do so, but it only results in Ringo’s pants falling down. Help! was the Beatles’ second movie, and isn’t considered up to par with the masterpiece that is A Hard Day’s Night. John Lennon himself called the movie “crap” but of course at the time that he said it he was rather pissed off at everything. While it might not be considered as good as AHDN or Yellow Submarine, it is better than Magical Mystery Tour, you have to admit. I actually like Help! a lot—it’s funny, mindless fluff, which can be a good thing sometimes.


(The Weird Guy is complaining about the breakfast)
Crow: Don’t start with me, George.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Again. Starring Richard Burton as George, and Elizabeth Taylor as Martha. It was actually the first film for director Mike Nichols, who went on to make The Graduate. The cinematography was done by the great Maxwell Wexler, who’s actually referenced several times on “MST3K”.