You don't think going to the movie theater is going to be a dangerous enterprise, until you realize at the end of an hour and a half that your face is strained from smiling so frequently and laughing on a regular basis. The soreness of my face is a small price to pay for the joy of "The Muppet Movie". This delightful piece of Cinema from 1979 brings the Muppet team together for their first motion picture, and keeps all of the characters in line with their personalities and comes up with a storyline to connect them all.
I first saw "The Muppet Movie" at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood in 1979. I felt about it pretty much then the way I do now, it is a brilliant and clever application of puppetry to movie making and it delivers a heartfelt message to all of the dreamers out there. The biggest dreamer of all of course was Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets. Henson continues to inspire filmmakers and storytellers, and some of the innovations found in this movie are still around today.
It is possible that there has never been a more personable character than Kermit the Frog. As the leading man in the picture he is both thoughtful and a little fearful as he confronts the world around him in pursuit of his dreams. Kermit's sincerity is reflected by the circumstances he frequently finds himself in. One of the joys of this movie is the plethora of cameos by actors, comedians, and historical movie people, which populate the background. Bob Hope distributing ice cream, Edgar Bergen judging a small town beauty contest, and Richard Pryor selling balloons are all in this movie together. If you ever get stuck playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, remember that the Muppet Movie will let you connect a whole lot of people if you can just remember everyone who showed up in this movie.
The Paramount Theater was packed with families bringing small children to encounter The Muppets in a format that they probably haven't seen before. Based on the laughter and applause I heard, the mayhem created by the Muppets continues to be something that the young and old can share. It's probably a little nostalgic for people of my generation, but there's still plenty of things that are funny regardless of the time line. Statler and Waldorf heckling everybody is always funny. I think the joke with Carole Kane reappearing each time somebody uses the word "myth", and she acts as if they are saying Miss, is still viable. Maybe the Hare Krishna reference will seem a little out of date, since that religious group is not nearly as prominent as it was in the 1970s. I still laughed however at that recurring joke.
In addition to smiling I teared up occasionally, because this was one of the movies that my late wife and I attended together and loved passionately. The Muppets were one of the things that we shared both before and after we were married. When our kids came along we loved the chance to share that with them as well. As far as I'm concerned the world is a lesser place when there isn't a Muppet Movie on the horizon. Fortunately in 1979 the future would be ripe for these for these characters, and in 2024 we luck out again because they showed up here in the Paramount classic Summer Movie film series.
