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There had been comedy teams in movies before, of course, and fast-paced dialogue, but the Road pictures introduced something new. The interplay between Groucho and Chico Marx, say, or George Burns and Gracie Allen, had an abstract, almost surreal quality. The witty repartee of 1930s screwball comedies like My Man Godfrey or Bringing Up Baby was too polished and stylized to be mistaken for anything but movie dialogue. Hope and Crosby seemed like ordinary guys — like Hope and Crosby, in fact — perfectly attuned to each other's thoughts, moods, obsessions and vulnerabilities.

—Richard Zoglin, in his essay on Road to Morocco for the National Film Registry

The Road to ... movies are a series of comedy films starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, usually with Dorothy Lamour. Each of the films is a parody of a particular film genre.

Road to Singapore (1940)
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
Road to Morocco (1942)
Road to Utopia (1946)
Road to Rio (1947)
Road to Bali (1952) -- The only one in color
The Road to Hong Kong (1962) -- with Joan Collins

The franchise inspired some other movies, including The Road to El Dorado.

Road to Morocco was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.

Road to Bali fell into the public domain because its copyright was not renewed in time once it lapsed. Watch it at Wikimedia Commons or the Internet Archive.

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Road To franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Bob Hope addressed remarks directly to the audience several times per movie.
- Aside Glance
The Cameo: Several, particularly in the last two films.
Dueling Stars Movie
Genre Savvy: Anybody who doesn't fall for the usual distraction.
Harpo Does Something Funny
Heterosexual Life Partners
Large Ham
- Ham-to-Ham Combat
Oscar Bait: Lampshaded and spoofed in many of the movies, notably in Road to Morocco.
Overly Polite Pals
Road Movie: the Trope Codifier
Running Gag: "Patty-cake, patty-cake..."
The Smurfette Principle: Roger Ebert called this trope "Dorothy Lamour Syndrome" after her role(s) in the franchise.
Universal Adaptor Cast
Vagabond Buddies
Vitriolic Best Buds
We Need a Distraction: That's what the "patty-cake" routine was for.

Individual movies provide examples, straight or parodied, of:

Road to Singapore

Early Installment Weirdness: Road to Singapore is a lot more subdued and conventional than the films that followed.
Medicine Show

Road to Zanzibar

Captured by Cannibals: In Road to Zanzibar, with the cannibals thinking Hope and Crosby are white gods... until, that is, the cannibals decide to test their divinity by having Hope get into a side-splittingly hilarious wrestling match with a gorilla.
Darkest Africa: Once again, from Road to Zanzibar. It uses all the standard Pulp Africa tropes and subverts the heck out of them.
Invisible Backup Band: Discussed Trope
Pardon My Klingon
Travel Montage

Road to Morocco

Tropes specific to Road to Morocco are listed on that work's page.

Road to Utopia

Cymbal-Banging Monkey
Drink Order: "Lemonade... in a dirty glass!"
The Gay Nineties
Greek Chorus: Humorist Robert Benchley.
Identical Grandson: Used to hilarious effect at the end of the picture. ("We adopted him.")
Logo Joke

Road to Rio

The Cavalry: They arrive just after the fact in Rio, although it's not for lack of trying.
MacGuffin

Road to Bali

Be Careful What You Wish For: Hope's magic flute in Bali, which backfires horribly when Crosby tries his hand at it.
The Cameo: Jane Russell, at the very end of the picture.

The Road to Hong Kong

Demoted to Extra: Dorothy Lamour, in The Road to Hong Kong. She actually wasn't going to appear in it at all after Crosby insisted on (and got) a younger female lead in Joan Collins, but Hope intervened to at least get her a cameo appearance.

References to the Road to series in other works:

Film

The Road to El Dorado
Spies Like Us
History of the World Part One The "Roman Empire" segment. Mel Brooks and others sing "We're off on the road to Judea!"
Ishtar

Music

They Might Be Giants song "Road Movie to Berlin"

Western Animation

Family Guy episodes "Road to Rhode Island", "Road to Europe", "Road to Rupert", "Road to Germany", and "Road to the Multiverse"
Taz-Mania episodes "Road To Tasmania", "Return Of The Road To Tasmania Strikes Back" and "Yet Another Road To Tasmania"
Duckman episode "Road to Dendron"
The TaleSpin episodes "For Whom the Bell Klangs" and "The Road to Macadamia"
The Legend of Tarzan episode "Tarzan and the Fugitives"
The ALFTales cartoon episode "The Aladdin Brothers"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{work|wppage=Road to ...}}
+{{Multiple Works Need Separate Pages}}<!-- Images for when somebody does this: Wikimedia Commons has "Category:Road to Singapore (film)" and "Category:Road to Bali (film)" -->
 [[File:image565441g_5546.jpg|frame]]
-{{quote|''There had been comedy teams in movies before, of course, and fast-paced dialogue, but the Road pictures introduced something new. The interplay between [[The Marx Brothers|Groucho and Chico Marx]], say, or [[George Burns]] and [[Gracie Allen]], had an abstract, almost surreal quality. The witty repartee of 1930s screwball comedies like ''[[My Man Godfrey]]'' or ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' was too polished and stylized to be mistaken for anything but movie dialogue. [[Bob Hope|Hope]] and [[Bing Crosby|Crosby]] seemed like ordinary guys — like Hope and Crosby, in fact — perfectly attuned to each other's thoughts, moods, obsessions and vulnerabilities.''|Richard Zoglin, in his essay on ''[[Road to Morocco]]'' for the [[National Film Registry]]}}
+{{quote|''There had been comedy teams in movies before, of course, and fast-paced dialogue, but the Road pictures introduced something new. The interplay between [[The Marx Brothers|Groucho and Chico Marx]], say, or [[The Burns and Allen Show|George Burns and Gracie Allen]], had an abstract, almost surreal quality. The witty repartee of 1930s screwball comedies like ''[[My Man Godfrey]]'' or ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' was too polished and stylized to be mistaken for anything but movie dialogue. [[Bob Hope|Hope]] and [[Bing Crosby|Crosby]] seemed like ordinary guys — [[Shaped Like Itself|like Hope and Crosby]], in fact — perfectly attuned to each other's thoughts, moods, obsessions and vulnerabilities.''|Richard Zoglin, in his essay on ''[[Road to Morocco]]'' for the [[National Film Registry]]}}
-The ''Road to ...'' movies are a series of comedy films starring [[Bob Hope]] and [[Bing Crosby]], usually with Dorothy Lamour. Each of the films is a parody of a particular film genre.
+The '''''Road to ...''''' movies are a series of comedy films starring [[Bob Hope]] and [[Bing Crosby]], usually with Dorothy Lamour. Each of the films is a parody of a particular film genre.
 * ''[[Road to Singapore]]'' (1940)
@@ Line 16: / Line 17: @@
 ''[[Road to Morocco]]'' was added to the [[National Film Registry]] in 1996.
+''Road to Bali'' fell into the public domain because its copyright was not renewed in time once it lapsed. Watch it at [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Road_To_Bali_(1952).webm Wikimedia Commons] or [https://archive.org/details/RoadToBali1952_201612 the Internet Archive].
 ----
+{{franchisetropes}}
-{{tropelist|This series provides examples, straight or parodied, of:}}
-== Tropes common to many or all entries in the franchise ==
-* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]:
-** In ''Morocco'', Hope's character gets his hands on a magic ring...
-** Hope's magic flute in ''Bali'', which backfires horribly when Crosby tries his hand at it.
 * [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Bob Hope addressed remarks directly to the audience several times per movie.
 ** [[Aside Glance]]
-** Possibly in ''Morocco'', they need to disguise themselves as locals, and Hope says something about, "No problem; [[Special Effects]] will take care of it." Then he calls out, "Hey, Special Effects!" and their clothing is immediately transformed into local garb.
 * [[The Cameo]]: Several, particularly in the last two films.
 * [[Dueling Stars Movie]]
@@ Line 40: / Line 39: @@
 * [[Vagabond Buddies]]
 * [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]
-* [[We Need a Distraction]]: And it almost always turned out to be the "patty-cake" routine
+* [[We Need a Distraction]]: That's what the "patty-cake" routine was for.
+{{tropelist|Individual movies provide examples, straight or parodied, of:}}
 == ''[[Road to Singapore]]'' ==
 * [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: ''Road to Singapore'' is a lot more subdued and conventional than the films that followed.
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 == ''[[Road to Morocco]]'' ==
-* [[Book Ends]]: ''Road to Morocco''.
+Tropes specific to ''[[Road to Morocco]]'' are listed on that work's page.
-* [[Hollywood Mirage]]
-* [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Puns]]
-{{quote|''"Like Webster's dictionary, we're Morocco bound"''}}
-* [[Literal Genie]]
-* [[No Party Like a Donner Party]]: [[Played for Laughs]]
-* [[Plot Armor]]
-* [[Setting-Off Song]]
-* [[Sneeze of Doom]]
-* [[Thirsty Desert]]
-* [[Title Theme Tune]]: "We're off on the road to Morocco..."
 == ''[[Road to Utopia]]'' ==
 * [[Cymbal-Banging Monkey]]
-* [[Drink Order]]
+* [[Drink Order]]: "Lemonade... in a dirty glass!"
 * [[The Gay Nineties]]
-* [[Greek Chorus]]: Humorist Robert Benchley, in ''Road to Utopia''.
+* [[Greek Chorus]]: Humorist Robert Benchley.
-* [[Identical Grandson]]: Used to hilarious effect at the end of ''Road to Utopia''. ("We adopted him.")
+* [[Identical Grandson]]: Used to hilarious effect at the end of the picture. ("We adopted him.")
 * [[Logo Joke]]
@@ Line 79: / Line 69: @@
 == ''[[Road to Bali]]'' ==
+* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: Hope's magic flute in ''Bali'', which backfires horribly when Crosby tries his hand at it.
+* [[The Cameo]]: [[Jane Russell]], at the very end of the picture.
 == ''[[The Road to Hong Kong]]'' ==
-* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Dorothy Lamour, in ''The Road to Hong Kong''. She actually wasn't going to appear in it at all after Crosby insisted on (and got) a younger female lead in Joan Collins, but Hope intervened to at least get her a [[The Cameo|cameo]] appearance.
+* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Dorothy Lamour, in ''The Road to Hong Kong''. She actually wasn't going to appear in it at all after Crosby insisted on (and got) a younger female lead in [[Joan Collins]], but Hope intervened to at least get her a [[The Cameo|cameo]] appearance.
 ----
+{{examples|References to the ''Road to'' series in other works:}}
+{{Fake heading|Film}}
-{{examples|References in other works:}}
-* ''[[Spies Like Us]]''
 * ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]''
+* ''[[Spies Like Us]]''
+* ''[[History of the World Part One]]'' The "Roman Empire" segment. Mel Brooks and others sing "We're off on the road to Judea!"
+* ''[[Ishtar]]''
+{{Fake heading|Music}}
+* [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]] song "Road Movie to Berlin"
+{{Fake heading|Western Animation}}
 * ''[[Family Guy]]'' episodes "Road to Rhode Island", "Road to Europe", "Road to Rupert", "Road to Germany", and "Road to the Multiverse"
 * ''[[Taz-Mania]]'' episodes "Road To Tasmania", "Return Of The Road To Tasmania Strikes Back" and "Yet Another Road To Tasmania"
 * ''[[Duckman]]'' episode "Road to Dendron"
-* The ''[[Tale Spin]]'' episodes "For Whom the Bell Klangs" and "The Road to Macadamia"
+* The ''[[TaleSpin]]'' episodes "For Whom the Bell Klangs" and "The Road to Macadamia"
 * ''[[The Legend of Tarzan]]'' episode "Tarzan and the Fugitives"
 * The ''[[ALF|ALFTales]]'' cartoon episode "The Aladdin Brothers"
-* [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]] song "Road Movie to Berlin"
-* ''[[History of the World Part One]]'' The "Roman Empire" segment. Mel Brooks and others sing "We're off on the road to Judea!"
-* ''[[Ishtar]]''
 {{reflist}}
-[[Category:Films of the 1960s]]
+[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
 [[Category:Film Series]]
 [[Category:Buddy Picture]]
-[[Category:Films of the 1940s]]
 [[Category:The Forties]]
+[[Category:Films of the 1940s]]
 [[Category:Films of the 1950s]]
-[[Category:Road To]]
+[[Category:Films of the 1960s]]
-[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
+[[Category:Comedy Films]]
+[[Category:Film]]
+[[Category:Black-and-white films]]