I managed to find this one on the Movies TV channel.Set in 1935, it is mostly told as a flashback. First to 1910 when Johnny was a kid selling newspapers on the street, then to the early 1930s as Johnny Kelly became Johnny Dangerously.Michael Keaton is just perfect as Johnny Kelly/Dangerously. As the film opens he is proprietor of a pet store, and a boy comes in and tries to walk out with a puppy under his jacket. Caught, Johnny sits him down and talks to him about what it means to take the criminal path through life. In early 1900s New York Johnny was a good and honest boy, but his Irish immigrant mom had a series of maladies. At one point, desperately needing money for a procedure, he gives in to a crime boss and earns $50 by using a folded newspaper to sneak a handgun into a gambling room, for a robbery.As Johnny does well, and eventually takes over for the retiring mob boss, the situation gets complicated when Johnny's younger brother, who he put through college and law school, decides to work for the D.A.'s office, intent to prosecute criminals, having no idea that his own brother is Johnny Dangerously.There is lots of goofy stuff, including nearby explosions that don't actually harm anyone, but they appear with scorched and tattered clothing, much like Roadrunner cartoons. Joe Piscopo is good as Danny Vermin, Johnny's rival. Lovely 30-something Marilu Henner lounge singer and is Johnny's love interest, Lil. Maureen Stapleton is his mother, Ma Kelly. And Griffin Dunne is his younger brother, Tommy Kelly.It was also fun to see former all-pro Chicago Bears player Dick Butkus as Arthur, one of the crime members.Just a silly by fun movie, not to be taken seriously.

Two people at the beginning of their film careers; director Amy Heckerling (who two years earlier directed the Cameron Crow penned "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") and Michael Keaton (in only his second leading role, after "Mr Mom" and a support role in his breakthrough film "Nightshift") come together with "Johnny Dangerously" to bring us a flighty, colourful and madcap send-up of gangster films of the 1930s. Johnny Kelly as a kid turned to crime (despite it would break his mother's heart if she knew), but in the order to pay for her medical bills he didn't see any other way since they were quite poor. So the years have past and he has become attached to it and a big player in the mob, where he would be known as Johnny Dangerously. The spoof might be hit and miss, but it always remains agreeably light-weight and Keaton just had a knack for comic timing. The wilily unrestrained material (stormed up by four writers -- well there you go) creates one gag after another, either visually, verbally or simply combining the two in a very cartoon-like manner. It really does have that old-fashion screwball mentality, but still some wit behind it and the conviction for fast moving, running gags. The silly dialogues are amusingly snappy (especially the lines from Dimitri; murdering the English language "This is fargan war!"), irony laced but with a dry sense. So many cracker lines fill the feature. Heckerling zesty direction goes hand-in-hand with the cheerful style and it's perfectly apt with the golden age period with its set designs, locations and costume work. Weird Al Yankovic chips in with the spiritedly illustrative title song, and the music score is a flavoursome effort of the era. Charmingly vibrant performances lend well with the likes of Peter Boyle, Griffin Dunne, Joe Piscopo, Danny Deviot (who's good fun), Maureen Stapleton (she's absolutely great!), Dom Deluise, Richard Dimitri and the sprightly redheaded siren Marilu Henner. Dom DeLuise and Ray Walston turn up in small comic cameos too. Pleasurably over-the-top entertainment.

Michael Keaton is "Johnny Dangerously" in this 1984 take-off on gangster movies. Maureen Stapleton plays his sickly mother, Griffin Dunne is his DA brother, Peter Boyle is his boss, and Marilu Henner is his girlfriend. Other stars include Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo.Keaton plays a pet store owner in the 1930s who catches a kid stealing a puppy and then tells him, in flashback, how he came to own the pet store. He turned to thievery at a young age to get his mother a pancreas operation ($49.95, special this week) and began working for a mob boss (Boyle). Johnny uses the last name "Dangerously" in the mobster world.There are some hilarious scenes in this film, and Stapleton is a riot as Johnny's foul-mouthed mother who needs every organ in her body replaced. Peter Boyle as Johnny's boss gives a very funny performance, as does Griffin Dunne, a straight arrow DA who won't "play ball" with crooked Burr (Danny De Vito).As Johnny's nemesis, Joe Piscopo is great. Richard Dimitri is a standout as Moronie, who tortures the English language - but you have to hear him do it rather than read about it. What makes it funny is that he does it all with an angry face.The movie gets a little tired toward the end, but it's well worth seeing, and Keaton is terrific as good boy/bad boy Johnny. For some reason, this film was underrated when it was released, and like Keaton's other gem, "Night Shift," you don't hear much about it today. With some performances and scenes that are real gems, you'll find "Johnny Dangerously" immensely enjoyable.

Reading over all the great quotes from this movie, I found myself laughing out loud and wondering why I had rated Johnny Dangerously so mediocre-ly after the last time I'd seen it a few years ago.Than I actually watched it again and remembered. Yes, this film has lots of memorable lines and a few funny scenes. But due to many dead spots and comedic bits that just don't click, it doesn't work as a consistently enjoyable whole.There's a tipping point for this kind of movie, a percentage of rapid fire jokes that have to work so that you can forget the ones that don't. Airplane succeeds, Airplane 2 doesn't. Johnny Dangerously comes close, but doesn't quite make it.I must admit, tho, it's still pretty farkin' enjoyable watching Michael Keaton hamming it up playing a role he was born to play.