Two Tars (1928)
10/10
Considered One of Laurel and Hardy's Funniest Short
28 May 2022
Laurel and Hardy improvised many of their takes. Laurel was also involved in editing the final movies, dictating what scenes should stay-and which should be cut. No finer example of their ad-libbing was in November 1928's "Two Tars." There are two set pieces making up what many cite as one of the funniest shorts the pair created. The first revolves around a gum ball machine, where two attractive woman can't get their gum out. Hardy, being the ever macho fix-it man, decides to shake the machine-breaking the glass with hundreds of balls of gum pouring all over the sidewalk.

Later, the women latch on to the tipsy Laurel and Hardy, who play sailors needing to get back to their ship. Road construction causes a momentary traffic jam. The impatient Laurel goes around the cars, resulting in a series of battle royals between the comics and the other drivers, each tearing the other's cars apart and throwing vegetables.

Film historian Glenn Mitchell wrote in his review of "Two Tars," "The civilized exchange of violence is a motif recurrent in their films but seldom executed with the skill, variety and careful construction demonstrated here. Some consider it their greatest work." The pair's biographer noted this film catapulted the two into the higher echelon of film comedians. "They had moved without fanfare into the ranks of Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon and Keaton." Nice company for a pair of actors who barely had seen their names lit on theater marquees before 1928.
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