Line #5 Film/TheRunningJumpingAndStandingStillFilm


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0683.JPG]]
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3	''The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film'' is a 1959 short film co-directed by Creator/RichardLester and Creator/PeterSellers. The cast included Lester, Sellers, and Sellers's partner from ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', Creator/SpikeMilligan, who also co-wrote the script.
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5	Sellers, who was branching out from ''The Goon Show'' with parts in television and movies[[note]]In 1956, when commercial TV was only a few months old in Britain, Lester had directed a number of sketch shows starring Sellers and Milligan[[/note]] , came up with the idea to make his own short film. The film was shot over two consecutive Sundays and edited by Sellers and Lester in Sellers' house. It has no story but is a series of surreal comic short pieces featuring a group of wacky characters running around in a field and doing silly things.
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7	Although it was originally made basically on a lark, it was entered in film festivals and won awards, and proved surprisingly influential. The "wacky goofballs in a field" look bears obvious similarities to the later ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. Also, this film made Richard Lester known to Music/TheBeatles--Music/JohnLennon saw it--and got Lester the job of directing The Beatles in ''Film/AHardDaysNight''. Two members of the supporting cast of ''The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film'', Creator/NormanRossington and Creator/LeoMcKern, went on to appear in the Beatles films directed by Lester.
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9	!!Tropes:
10	* AnimalReactionShot: There's a brief glimpse of a cow stoically watching the surreal goings-on.
11	* AwesomeButImpractical: The violinist who puts his sheet music up on a stand a good fifty yards away, requiring him to use a telescope to read the sheet music.
12	* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: Parodied. After the hunter angers the athlete by shooting the athlete's shot put out of the sky, a duel is arranged. The judge of the duel gives the athlete a knife instead of a gun. The athlete plays along, though, and they both march off, turning at the signal in proper dueling style and shooting--the judge. And somehow the athlete's knife fired like a gun. The athlete looks at his smoking knife in astonishment.
13	* NoPlotNoProblem: Just a collection of surreal humor and gags, much like ''The Goon Show''.
14	* OverlyLongGag: The last joke takes a full minute. A left hand in the camera's extreme foreground gestures for a man far away on the horizon to approach. The man, who turns out to be the man tangled up in the ruined kite, approaches hesitantly, only for the hand in the foreground to beckon him on several times. Finally the man makes it to the camera's foreground. Then the other man's right hand, clad in a boxing glove, comes into frame and punches the kite man in the face.
15	* SilenceIsGolden: No doubt because Sellers and company only spent £70, and sound recording costs money.
16	* SurrealHumor: One of the first shots is of a woman (actually Sellers in drag) scrubbing the floor--except she's actually scrubbing a grassy field. Then there's the man (Milligan) who puts a record on a tree stump, places a phonograph needle on the record, and runs around in a circle to play the music[[note]]He's actually running the wrong way - clockwise. In order to play a record, which normally turns clockwise, he'd have to run anticlockwise. There are toy record-playing vehicles that can do this, but they don't work very well and they destroy the grooves in the process.[[/note]].
17	* TooDumbToLive: The multi-person kite-launching crew runs out at the end of a ''very'' long string, while another guy stands inside the kite's box. It all goes about as well as you might expect.
18	* TenPacesAndTurn: Usually when this happens, neither duellist is using a knife, and usually, they don't shoot the judge.

Context Film / TheRunningJumpingAndStandingStillFilm