The Comic

The Comic (1969)

A funny new motion picture that tells Hollywood like it was!

An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitter tone about his fate, and takes us through his fame, as he ruins it with womanizing and drink, and his fall, as a lonely, bitter old man unable to reconcile his life's disappointments. The movie is based loosely on the life of Buster Keaton.

Date of release
1969-11-19
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 35m
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Director
Carl Reiner

Casting

Interesting facts

The Comic is a 1969 American Pathécolor comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Carl Reiner. It stars Dick Van Dyke as Billy Bright, Michele Lee as Bright's love interest, and Reiner himself and Mickey Rooney as Bright's friends and colleagues. Reiner wrote the screenplay with Aaron Ruben; it was inspired by the end of silent film era and, in part, by the life of silent film superstar Buster Keaton.

Production

In his autobiography, Carl Reiner said that he wrote the film as a vehicle for Van Dyke, who had often expressed the wish on the set of their TV show The Dick Van Dyke Show that he had been working at the same time as comedy legends such as his hero Stan Laurel.

Reiner loosely patterned the story of Bright's career downfall on the real-life travails of a number of early film actors, primarily Buster Keaton, who likewise saw his Hollywood success falter as filmgoers' tastes changed and he fell into alcoholism.

Some details parallel the experiences of silent comedians Harry Langdon and Harold Lloyd, as well as the film's co-star Mickey Rooney.

Van Dyke said in a 2025 interview he would go out with the crew with a 16mm camera and "look for things to do." He continued, "If a fire engine went by, I jumped on it. We had reams of footage that unfortunately disappeared. Just fun things we did out in public." To give the footage a vintage appearance, Van Dyke said the crew took all the film out in his backyard and dragged it over the grass.

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