A former stand-up comic and writer on variety shows, Mel Brooks reached legendary status as an award-winning writer, actor, and director with hilariously irreverent spoofs on a number of classic Hollywood genres. Whether parodying Westerns, musicals, horror films, or history itself, Brooks brought a vulgar sense of humor to movies that turned off some, but nonetheless have become comedy classics. One of a few people to win an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy, Brooks undoubtedly left his distinct mark on entertainment. Here are six of the best Mel Brooks movies.
Following small screen success with the spoof spy series Get Smart, Brooks transitioned to film directing with the brazenly hilarious showbiz satire, The Producers. Originally conceived years before as a rather odd musical send up of Adolph Hitler, The Producers starred Gene Wilder as an honest, but ultimately corruptible accountant who tries to pull a once-successful Broadway producer, Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), back from the financial abyss. He suggests that Max recoup his losses by profiting from investor money left over from a flop, resulting in the tasteless musical Springtime for Hitler, which winds up having the exact opposite intended effect. Though a bit of a flop itself upon its release, The Producers built an audience over time and was of course the toast of Broadway decades later when Brooks turned the film into a Tony-winning phenomenon in 2001.More »
Bold, tasteless, and undeniably hilarious, Blazing Saddles was a spoof on an old Hollywood genre that appealed to a younger audience while incensing older generations for its vulgar, race-tinged humor. Once again, Brooks cast favored star Gene Wilder as a drunken gunslinger named The Waco Kid, who claims to have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille and helps a black sheriff (Cleavon Little) protect a hostile populace – all of whom are named Johnson – from a railroad taking over the town. Meanwhile, the conniving Hedley Lamarr (an always hilarious Harvey Korman) hopes the townspeople flee at the site of a black sheriff or lynch him in disgust; either way, the way will be paved for the new railroad. With over-the-top stereotypes of whites and blacks, Blazing Saddles pulls no punches in jabbing everyone, making it one of the greatest spoofs ever made.More »
Released the same year as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein was a brilliant, black-and-white parody of the 1930s Universal horror movies and ranks as one of the best movies directed by Brooks. Brooks was entirely behind the scenes for this parody of the Frankenstein movies, which starred Gene Wilder as the grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein who does his level best to deny his heritage, even down to pronouncing his name Frodrick Fronckensteen. He’s nonetheless lured to his grandfather’s castle where he meets bug-eyed helper Igor (Marty Feldman), luscious lab assistant Inga (Teri Garr), and imposing housekeeper Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman), whose very name scares the daylights out of horses. With help from Igor and Inga, Frankenstein reluctantly follows his grandfather's footsteps in reanimating a monster (Peter Boyle) that ultimately runs afoul of a blind hermit (Gene Hackman), a wooden-armed inspector (Kenneth Mars), and Frankenstein’s own sexually repressed fiancé (Madeline Kahn). Nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Young Frankenstein was a big hit at the box office and remained one of Brooks’ most popular movies.More »
A parody of such Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers as Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest, High Anxiety marked the beginning of the end of Brooks’ glory days as the Master of Spoof with this often funny, but rather uneven film. Brooks starred as Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke – obviously a take on Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill – a Harvard psychologist with a fear of heights who takes over as the administrator of the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, only to be pulled into a web of anxiety and accused of murder. Thorndyke tries to clear his name while maintaining a hold on his fragile psyche, and along the way runs into a colorful cast of characters that include a doctor into S&M (Harvey Korman), a nurse who thinks she’s a witch (Cloris Leachman), and the eccentric daughter (Madeline Kahn) of a patient. Though critics were divided, Hitchcock privately praised Brooks with a personal token of gratitude.More »
Drawing its comedy from both historical epics and biblical movies, History of the World, Part I was at times as brilliant as it was dull. For ever hilarious sequence, the centuries-spanning episodic satire had rather underwhelming moments that made for an uneven experience. Brooks himself starred as a multitude of characters in a loosely connected sequences covering all the major historical eras in human history. Highlights include the Stone Age, where ape men stand erect on their legs and elsewhere; the Old Testament, where Moses (Brooks) accidentally changes the laws of God by dropping one of the stone tablets bearing the 15 Commandments; Roman times, where he portrays the stand-up philosopher Comicus; the New Testament, where he played a waiter during the Last Supper; and the Spanish Inquisition, where he turned torture and torment into a vaudeville musical number. Some episodes are brilliant, while others are flat-out misses, which may well be why Brooks never tried to make Part II.More »
1. ‘The Producers’ – 1968
Following small screen success with the spoof spy series Get Smart, Brooks transitioned to film directing with the brazenly hilarious showbiz satire, The Producers. Originally conceived years before as a rather odd musical send up of Adolph Hitler, The Producers starred Gene Wilder as an honest, but ultimately corruptible accountant who tries to pull a once-successful Broadway producer, Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), back from the financial abyss. He suggests that Max recoup his losses by profiting from investor money left over from a flop, resulting in the tasteless musical Springtime for Hitler, which winds up having the exact opposite intended effect. Though a bit of a flop itself upon its release, The Producers built an audience over time and was of course the toast of Broadway decades later when Brooks turned the film into a Tony-winning phenomenon in 2001.More »
2. ‘Blazing Saddles’ – 1974
Bold, tasteless, and undeniably hilarious, Blazing Saddles was a spoof on an old Hollywood genre that appealed to a younger audience while incensing older generations for its vulgar, race-tinged humor. Once again, Brooks cast favored star Gene Wilder as a drunken gunslinger named The Waco Kid, who claims to have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille and helps a black sheriff (Cleavon Little) protect a hostile populace – all of whom are named Johnson – from a railroad taking over the town. Meanwhile, the conniving Hedley Lamarr (an always hilarious Harvey Korman) hopes the townspeople flee at the site of a black sheriff or lynch him in disgust; either way, the way will be paved for the new railroad. With over-the-top stereotypes of whites and blacks, Blazing Saddles pulls no punches in jabbing everyone, making it one of the greatest spoofs ever made.More »
3. ‘Young Frankenstein’ – 1974
Released the same year as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein was a brilliant, black-and-white parody of the 1930s Universal horror movies and ranks as one of the best movies directed by Brooks. Brooks was entirely behind the scenes for this parody of the Frankenstein movies, which starred Gene Wilder as the grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein who does his level best to deny his heritage, even down to pronouncing his name Frodrick Fronckensteen. He’s nonetheless lured to his grandfather’s castle where he meets bug-eyed helper Igor (Marty Feldman), luscious lab assistant Inga (Teri Garr), and imposing housekeeper Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman), whose very name scares the daylights out of horses. With help from Igor and Inga, Frankenstein reluctantly follows his grandfather's footsteps in reanimating a monster (Peter Boyle) that ultimately runs afoul of a blind hermit (Gene Hackman), a wooden-armed inspector (Kenneth Mars), and Frankenstein’s own sexually repressed fiancé (Madeline Kahn). Nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Young Frankenstein was a big hit at the box office and remained one of Brooks’ most popular movies.More »
4. ‘Silent Movie’ – 1976
While not as outrageous as Blazing Saddles or as cohesive as Young Frankenstein, Brooks’ spoof of the silent era was still a humorous examination of an age long gone. Featuring no dialogue and classic title cards, Silent Movie starred Brooks as a once-famous director who plans a comeback by reviving the glory days before talkies. Aided by two faithful, but bumbling assistants (Dom DeLuise and Marty Feldman), he wins support from a producer (Sid Caesar) while seeking to enlist the likes of Paul Newman, Liza Minelli, Burt Reynolds, and real-life spouse Anne Bancroft to star in his movie. He even seeks out famed mime Marcel Marceau, who ironically utters the film’s only line. Silent Movie featured a subplot involving a large corporation called Engulf & Devour taking over smaller production companies, a thinly-guised spoof of Gulf+Western consuming Paramount Pictures in the mid-1960s.More »5. ‘High Anxiety’ – 1977
A parody of such Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers as Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest, High Anxiety marked the beginning of the end of Brooks’ glory days as the Master of Spoof with this often funny, but rather uneven film. Brooks starred as Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke – obviously a take on Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill – a Harvard psychologist with a fear of heights who takes over as the administrator of the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, only to be pulled into a web of anxiety and accused of murder. Thorndyke tries to clear his name while maintaining a hold on his fragile psyche, and along the way runs into a colorful cast of characters that include a doctor into S&M (Harvey Korman), a nurse who thinks she’s a witch (Cloris Leachman), and the eccentric daughter (Madeline Kahn) of a patient. Though critics were divided, Hitchcock privately praised Brooks with a personal token of gratitude.More »
6. ‘History of the World, Part I’ – 1981
Drawing its comedy from both historical epics and biblical movies, History of the World, Part I was at times as brilliant as it was dull. For ever hilarious sequence, the centuries-spanning episodic satire had rather underwhelming moments that made for an uneven experience. Brooks himself starred as a multitude of characters in a loosely connected sequences covering all the major historical eras in human history. Highlights include the Stone Age, where ape men stand erect on their legs and elsewhere; the Old Testament, where Moses (Brooks) accidentally changes the laws of God by dropping one of the stone tablets bearing the 15 Commandments; Roman times, where he portrays the stand-up philosopher Comicus; the New Testament, where he played a waiter during the Last Supper; and the Spanish Inquisition, where he turned torture and torment into a vaudeville musical number. Some episodes are brilliant, while others are flat-out misses, which may well be why Brooks never tried to make Part II.More »
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