The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959)
½ — The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959)
Shot on a single reel of 16mm film over two weekends for virtually nothing, this eleven-minute short was essentially a home movie made by Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan for their own amusement, with Milligan's old friend Richard Lester drafted in to direct. Lester at this point had done some television work in Britain but was largely unknown as a filmmaker, and the short reads as a calling card rather than a commercial proposition. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film, which brought Lester to wider attention and led directly to his hiring on The Running Man and, more significantly, the Beatles pictures of the early 1960s. The comedy owes a clear debt to the anarchic, absurdist sensibility of The Goon Show, the radio programme Sellers and Milligan had made famous through the 1950s.
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959) is barely a film. Shot on what appears to be discarded film stock, the visuals are murky, poorly lit, and frequently out of focus, less "lo-fi charm" and more "did they record this on a potato?" The audio is actively hostile: a persistent, high-pitched feedback whine drones beneath every scene, making even the brief moments of attempted humor physically uncomfortable to sit through. At just 11 minutes, it feels interminable. What little content exists amounts to a string of disjointed sketches that mistake randomness for wit. Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan (talents capable of genuine brilliance elsewhere) meander through fields performing half-baked gags. There's no rhythm, no escalation, no payoff. The jokes don't land because they barely take off, they're ideas scribbled on a napkin. Yes, it spawned Richard Lester's later work with The Beatles, but that's like praising a mud puddle because it inspired a swimming pool. Some films age poorly; this one was aged upon release. A technically shoddy exercise that mistakes amateurism for avant-garde daring. Among the worst shorts I've ever watched and I've seen Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
Rating: ½ | Year: 1959 | Watched: 2026-03-12
Where to watch (US)
Stream: Criterion Channel
Physical: Amazon UK
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from United Kingdom: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) · Blue (1993)
More from the 1950s: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Letter from Siberia (1957) · Invaders from Mars (1953)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
