Steve Martin!

I watched Steve Martin's new show the other week or so ago and I just want to say that I like Steve Martin. He's so talented.

He's been doing it for over fifty years now which is amazing. So this article, albeit probably a short one because it's almost the end of the month and I haven't written in here yet so I gotta write something, will be a look back at 50 Years of Steve and I will select my favorite Steve memory.

Fifty Years of Steve

Before we start listing memories I have of seeing Steve Martin doing things in movies or TV and selecting my favorite one... we must first state a personal memory of mine which involves my maternal grandma.

In the late nineteen eighties, she said once, that she saw a film with Martin Stevens in it... and to this day... I cannot watch anything with Steve Martin in it and not at some point remember this.

Anytime I watch something with Steve in it, my grandma's eastern European voice will pop in my head at some point and say "Theese eez da won with MARTON STEEEVONS!"

Every. Single. Time.

Anyways, that's neither here nor there and only exists in my memories so my grandma's comments can't end up winning this article in the end so let's think of some more Martin Memories we all share.

Now, being in entertainment for 50+ years, I'm sure I'll forget a few of his best things and its possible I haven't seen the entire Steve Martin catalogue either so bare with me... Alright, so here are my topics for this article:

1. SNL
2. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
3. The Jerk
4. Only Murders in the Building

The best Steve Martin moment will be from these four topics.

 

SNL

It's odd to think that Steve Martin was never a cast member of SNL because so much of the early SNL (and let's face it... the best years of the program) were heavily marked by Steve Martin.

My all time favorite Steve Martin SNL Moment is his depiction of Georg Festrunk who along with his brother Jortuk (played by Dan Akroyd) are...

...Two Wild and Crazy Guys!!!

Similar to my Grandma, Georg is an eastern European, trying to make it in the Western World... and sometimes words, idioms, and phrases are jumbled as he and his brother learn the Ways of the West.

The funniest part of this scene, to me, is the "Sad Boogie to the Door" prior to the arrival of "The Foxes"... it's so funny. Even under duress and extreme sadness... Georg and Jortuk still manage to boogie and swing. It's so commendable of them. They are a hearty pair who are not defeated easily.

The costume designers really created something special in this. They look so silly, these two. It's the best.


Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is a very special film. I remember writing once that the theme of "Travel" always seems to work in story telling. Whether the characters have to make it down the Yellow Brick Road, or they have to make it to India to find Scriptures, or simply just have to make it home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family... travel always works in story telling.

Steve Martin is opposite John Candy in this film, which when this came out in 1987, it really reverberated in the Comedy World as these two heavyweights were forming a comedy tag team.... a Dream Team, even. Steve Martin and John Candy were that big back-then individually and to think they were combining forces together in a film was a big deal.

This movie isn't really about Travel though, and I think people should watch this if they haven't seen it already, so I don't want to spoil any of it... but this film only at the surface is about Travel... and as we peel away the layers we quickly find out that this film is about something much deeper than that. Oh yes, something much deeper.

I can't really pick a favorite scene without spoiling the film in the process, and I want younger people to watch it, so I won't go too much into Planes n' Trains at any great depth. It is a very funny film yet with some deeply touching moments woven into it.

I truly consider this as one of the greatest films of all time. It really is.


The Jerk

The Jerk is a young Martin Stevens... I mean Steve Martin... in his youth. He's playing a very silly man who lucks his way through life. It's not the usual Steve Martin here, who in most cases, is the "straight man" to a more outlandish comedy partner... here, Steve, is the outlandish one and... he's very very outlandish in The Jerk.

There's a scene in this that is very memorable to me... where Navin (the Jerk)... who as a youth was orphaned and adopted by a family of African Americans... hears some gangsters use the "N-word" and flies into a rage! He defends his adopted family's honor by proceeding to fight all the gangsters.

It's something you can only really write into a film as silly as this but it works. Even under the most silly of circumstances, Steve Martin, still manages to weave into the narrative some deeply touching moments... even very early on in his career.

In fact, the contrast between outrageousness yet still finding a way to create deeply-touching moments amidst the outrageousness seems to be a running theme. I'm really starting to notice this as I reflect on the works of Steve Martin.

Deeply touching moments carefully woven into a patch-work tapestry of nonsense.


Only Murders in the Building

To be honest, I saw the trio who star in this show (Martin, Martin, and Gomez) doing the rounds on the talk show circuit to promote the show... and I wasn't sold on it.

I mean, the two Martins are close to seventy and they are teaming up with a pop star to do some kind of mystery show? I didn't know what to expect, and to be frank, I didn't think it would be good.

...but I was not right. Not in the least. The show is really good.

I think I was going into it expecting something aimed at today's audience and the two Martins were going to try and be hip... and my mind was thinking like.... "Oh no... is Jiminy Glick going to be on this trying to hang with the youth of today in order to linger on in showbiz for a few more seconds... and Steve Martin is going to be a party, part n' parcel, to this utter foolery?"

...but that simply was not the case, at all.

It is a really fun show that is very well written... very well acted... and doesn't try to do too much... it doesn't try to be hip to today's soup-de-jours or to bite off more than it can chew. Only Murders is a fun, simple show that gets you hooked from the get-go. It's really really good.

Again, like Planes n' Trains... I won't go into depth or anything... as it's only been out since last October, I think. So, I just recommend people go watch it if they are interested in what it is about.

Like, it seems, with all of Steve Martin's stuff over the last fifty or more years... it is a very whacky little patch-work of a narrative yet with some very very touching moments woven into it. It belongs in the A-list of the Steve Martin Universe. One hundred percent.

....Oh and Nathan Lane is really good in this too. Really good.


Conclusion

So, what is my favorite Steve Martin moment?

I'd have to go with Planes n' Trains still. To me it's a masterpiece and it helps that I'm a big John Candy fan too. Steve Martin and John Candy in the same film? Oh yes, count me in!

So if any Steve Martin fans have come about in the younger generation from Only Murders.. please check out Planes, Trains, and Automobiles which is considered as the greatest piece of the Steve Martin universe.