Sick Videos

Be prepared. It's the Boy Scouts motto and something every good traveler knows. As fall and winter approach and with them, cold and flu season, all good ants and busy beavers prepare by taking buckets of vitamin C, eating right, and bundling up. But the inevitable always happens.

A-choo. Cough, cough. Hacking cough, cough. Fever. A virus invades.

Suddenly, life on the couch ensues and the dismal reality of daytime TV comes clearly into focus. Time for videos.

This is the part of being prepared that so many people forget. Sick videos - videos to keep on hand for hours on the couch - should be a number of things: funny, entertaining, not too hard to grasp, not depressing and above all as long as possible.

After years of suffering at least one unintended extended weekend on the couch per cold and flu season, the video library at the author's abode sports numerous such flicks. To help those preparing for the cold and flu season, and thus augmenting the video library, here is a list of favorites guaranteed to keep any poor cold and flu victim at least mildly entertained:

The Princess Bride - Perhaps the ultimate quotable movie with some of the greatest one-liners ever, this is the perfect sick video. It moves. It's funny. It has Chris Sarrandon and a happy ending.

One, Two, Three - Not always known to members of generation X and younger, this madcap comedy features James Cagney as the head of the Coca-Cola bottling company plant in 1961 West Berlin. The plot involves the Russians, okay, Soviets, trying to steal the formula to Coca-Cola and one of the big-wig's daughters wreaking havoc. The dialogue is quick and witty. Black and white adds to the charm. Definitely a favorite.

1941 - not one of Steven Spielberg's better known films, but definitely the funniest, especially the director's cut. Pearl Harbor has just been bombed, the people of California are on edge, a Japanese submarine crew wants to see Hollywood, and a whole host of subplots keep this one rolling.

Operation Petticoat - Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, a pink submarine...this one works on all levels. Even the pig roast.

Young Frankenstein - At least one Mel Brooks movie had to make it. Why not the one where the producer was kicked off the set for laughing too loudly?

These are just the favorites. There are many more that would work:
For the ladies - Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice that proves that mothers from all cultures can and do embarrass their daughters. The 6 hour A & E production of "Pride and Prejudice" with Colin Firth as Mister Darcy is a whole day's worth of entertainment. Bridget Jones Diary and anything else that has a Jane Austen twist, title or that she wrote the book. - Persuasion, Clueless, Emma, etc.

For the guys - anything with Indiana Jones, or of the Star Wars variety, Clash of the Titans (the comic value is in the special effects), Slap Shot. Anything by Mel Brooks, the Three Stooges and most of the Marx Brothers is always worth having around.

Honorable mention goes to the movies that are funny but involve thinking. The Quiet Man, Casablanca (this is more of a heartsick sort of film, but it works anytime), One Fine Day, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the Thin Man series, Bull Durham - choices here are more for individual taste.

Movies to absolutely avoid when sick - Beaches, Terms of Endearment, An Affair to Remember, any production of La Boheme. The inevitable jump to something far more serious while feeling so rotten is bound to happen, so it's best to just avoid movies that involve anyone dying, unless those terminated are the bad guys.