Great cast--inspired for a magic comic hour
Added 1/18/2004
If you have a funnybone at all, you will delight in the first hour of this movie. John Candy is good, but he is surrounded by better in this movie. Sean Young and Richard Lewis start the movie popping with their zany playing off each other, then Jim Belushi gives a histrionic tour de force, made funnier by Cybil Shepherd's absolutely perfect reactions; many beyond droll. She is comedic perfection. These five actors make the dumbest dialogue sound like it was crafted by Preston Sturges. The director keeps the rhythm cracking along and laughs piling up. The movie does fall off at last but you don't mind by then. This movie got one star in my local tv guide; go figure. If the last thirty minutes would have matched the first hour, this would be a comic classic.
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For dachshund lovers...
Added 5/17/2002
It's right up there with The Ugly Dachshund & Mon Oncle Hulot for excellent doxie scene-stealing. Plus this has the extra premium of the lovely Sean Young. Yum.
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What is a comedy movie?
Added 6/11/2001
ONCE UPON A CRIME answered the question for me, "What is a comedy movie?" It is a movie that makes you laugh. The film is silly, has a contrived plot, uses stereotypes, is littered with cliches, and that's just for starters. Somehow, however, it makes you laugh a lot. That's comedy for me because I enjoy laughing. Candy and Belushi made me laugh at their gambling addictions. The French police made me laugh as they handled their rich American quarry. The film begins as a mystery of sorts. Forget about that end of the story. It is a comedy, not a mystery despite the hilarious suitcase full of body parts. Perhaps this hopelessly laughable movie is a new genre--mysterious comedy.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Once Upon A Crime
Added 3/31/2001
I'll Be the first one to admidt that this film is not for everybody. I Myself Just Can't seem to get enough of it.I saw this film when it was first released and thought ok, but about half a hear or so ago I Was looking threw a Bargin Basket and decided to buy it for it's five dollar price tag. A few weeks later I finnaly Started watching it and it seemed like I had sleep through it when I first veiwed it several years earlier. I could not get enough of this all star cast, John Candy, Cybill Shepperd, John Belushi, And Richard Lewis. Be Sure to look for Eugene Leavy's Great Cameo. Altough I CATION you that if you don't enjoy these stars or SCTV.then you may think this is a crime.
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DONT GET THIS
Added 1/7/2001
"once upon a crime" contained no acting, no comedy, and was very annoyoying to watch and i never wanna see it again
0 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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Not much of a comedy
Added 7/9/2008
I laughed three times. The script was extraordinarily weak. John Candy could not have been that bad an actor. Richard Lewis was, again, playing Woody Allen. John Belushi was trying to be his brother. And the butler did it! Pathetic.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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American tourists in France...need I say more?
Added 5/18/2007
Once Upon a Crime is one of the great comedic crime capers of the 1980's and early 1990's. The cast is comprised of many of the comedy heavyweights of the era, the plot is both plausible and silly, and twists abound.
The crime is the murder of rich, elderly Monte Carlo resident Madame Van Dugen. A cast of Americans get mixed up in the plot and all become suspects under the intense scrutiny of the police inspector, played by Giancarlo Giannini. Sean Young plays a jilted lover trying to make it on her own in Rome. Richard Lewis is an unemployed actor who is reluctantly paired with Young when they find Madame Van Dugen's missing dachshund, Napoleon. John Candy is a gambling addict willing to pay thousands for the dog as a present to his wife. Jim Belushi and Cybill Shepard play an unhappily married couple visiting Europe for business and pleasure.
George Hamilton is priceless as the local gigolo. Throughout the movie, the American tourists stumble over themselves, telling lies for no reason and digging themselves deeper in a hole with the French police inspector. In a stunning climax, the inspector gathers them all in one room and gets them to expose the truth about the night Madame Van Dugen was murdered.
Once Upon a Crime is a delicious comedy full of laughs. The movie should be celebrated for the cast performances and its homage to classic European crime capers.
5 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Among the Best Comedies!
Added 2/10/2007
This is one of the best comedies I've ever seen, and a personal favorite of mine.
The movie revolves around a series of events in France among a few American tourists. The French police are investigating a murder, and one American (James Belushi), finds his suitcase stuffed with the dead body. Each of the tourists becomes a suspect in the eyes of the incompetent French police, leading to hilarious situations. The mystery-cum-comedy works brilliantly!
Excellent comedy, highly recommended.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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