Mel Brooks

JP Liz V1

What are your thoughts on him? Has his movies aged well?

So this comedy genius will be 85 at the end of June - the chameleon is a comedian, director, actor, producer and writer.
When I see some of spoof/parody movies now on offer I appreciate how great Brooks as a filmmaker is.

krudler

extremely hit and miss, for every Blazing Saddles theres a Spaceballs (it sucks, gets over it).

oh look a circumcision joke, how does he come up with such fresh material? :pac:

mike65

Feck I though this was an obit thread, I was hoping the old gagmeister was dead! :pac:

As said very hit and miss but the hits are worth the misses. One should also remember that prior to becoming a feature film writer/actor/director he also served his time as a member of the brilliant "Your Show of Shows" team working for Sid Caesar in the 50s and on the Steve Allen Show in the 60s. Plus he has been the executive producer for some notable films that possibly wouldn't have got made without his input - Elephant Man, Frances, The Fly, My Favourite Year.

Dermo

Blazing Saddles is still my favourite movie of all time.

Mickeroo

He's pretty hit and miss but The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety were all pretty damn funny! Hell I even enjoyed Soaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights when they came out, but I was just an impressionable kid back then :P

Phony Scott

'Young Frankenstein' is his masterpiece. It's hilarious from start to finish and looks beautiful. A fine tribute to the James Whale classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd91A3Qcfkw

I love 'Blazing Saddles' as well though it runs out of gags athe end. Brilliant soundtrack too, which I happily own.

mike65 wrote: »

Plus he has been the executive producer for some notable films that possibly wouldn't have got made without his input - Elephant Man, Frances, The Fly, My Favourite Year.

Those two films hold more value for me than any of his later outout after the 70's. Everything seemed to go horribly wrong with 'History of the World Part 1'. I only laughed at the fifteen commandments joke and the rest was juvenile and incredibly crude (just not funny).

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

spaceballs is god damn awesome, as is men in tights but neither of them compare to blazing saddles. That's fresh and genuinely funny, spaceballs/tights were kinda.. the same film in different settings.

Morag

Shame he never made history of the world part II then again this would be hard to follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqgZnvfJ9Jg

Roar

I won't hear a bad word about Spaceballs! I know that movie by heart.

Ridley

I think you need see something like Spaceballs when you're younger then it can ride on nostalgia. Don't think it has aged particularly well.

Nowadays I'd choose Dracula: Dead and Loving It and Robin Hood over Spaceballs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24czSl30EmA

I'll have you know that's my knee you're straddling!

scoobyjack

I reckon Young Frankenstein is his best work too.

Mightn't have been such a classic without Gene Wilder's utterly insane acting though - couldn't have been a better actor for the part.

Halloween Jack

The producers hasnt got a mention yet? (edit - one small mention!)

Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles are fantastic films, but both are genre parody/spoof/homages.

The producers was an original, edgy and funny as hell idea, which was beautifully carried off.

Still reckon the overhead shot of the nazi chorus marching in swastika formation is genius.

Oh, and he's been rubbish for years

Mr. Presentable

He made some great films in the 1970s which couldn't get made after that when we all became PC and precious.

Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, High Anxiety and the overlooked Silent Movie were his pinnacle.

He also made a lot of crap in the 80s, but I believe that's because

a) His best jokes were no longer fresh

b) He couldn't say n****r any more

johnboysligo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAZhtT-dUyo

Roar

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

b) He couldn't say n****r any more

The sheriff is near!

Phony Scott

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

He also made a lot of crap in the 80s, but I believe that's because

a) His best jokes were no longer fresh

b) He couldn't say n****r any more

No. He made 'History of the World Part 1' after 'Life of Brian' was made by the Python's and became utterly irrelevant.

take everything

Mickeroo wrote: »

He's pretty hit and miss but The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety were all pretty damn funny! Hell I even enjoyed Soaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights when they came out, but I was just an impressionable kid back then :P

Same here- i remember watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights when i was a teenager and loving it. Watched it a couple of years ago and wondered how i could have found those lame jokes funny.
Mel Brooks is a funny man though.

JP Liz V1

BAFTA gave him fellowship award tonight

Tom Mann Centuria

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

BAFTA gave him fellowship award tonight

Young Frankenstein didn't resurrect anything as long dead as this thread.

Harry Palmr

Nothing less than fully deserved.

"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons"

Skerries

even his lesser spoof films far outstrip any of the more modern spoof films like those terrible "not another..." series of films

RobbingBandit

Loved Robin Hood Men in Tights, Spaceballs was great too.

mikhail

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Nothing less than fully deserved.

Actually, the line you quoted was ad-libbed by Gene Wilder. That's why Cleavon Little's reaction to it is so genuine.

Roar

I'm still hoping for Spaceballs 2 - Da Search For More Money.

Imagine the moichendising! Where da real money from da movie is made

cian68

Lil John saying 'in real life I'm very big' and Robin Hood saying 'I'll take your word for it' is fu*king funny. that is my entire defence of Men In Tights.

He did a 2 part special with Marc Marron's WTF. It's a great listen. He comes across as such a genuinely natural funny guy