Mel Brooks Best Movie. [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : Mel Brooks Best Movie.



Smokey
06-09-2007, 06:23 PM
I was surprised that he only directed 11 movies in his entire career. I Thought it be more.

Young Frankensrirn and Blazing Saddles probably are top contenders as his best movie, but IMO History of World Part I grab top honor as his “funniest” movie as he also spend alot time in front of camera.

By breaking the movie into historical time lines, he injected his comical views into each segment and moved on before it got stale. Orson Welles narrate the first segment (Dawn of Man), and Gregory Hines and Madeline Kahn make the Roman Empire segment as the most memorable and funniest.

http://www.avclub.com/content/files/images/Mel-Brooks-History-of-World.jpg

GMichael
06-10-2007, 03:00 AM
I vote for 1974. Both are classics in my book. But you're right. History 1 and Spaceballs rank right up there also.
I've got an idea. Let's watch them all again. Then decide.

thekid
06-10-2007, 03:53 AM
I guess my vote would be for Young Frakenstein but I think that is almost more Gene Wilder's movie than Mel's.

One of my favorite lines from a Mel Brooks movie was in History of the World- "Don't get saucy with me Count Bernaise" .... :)

PeruvianSkies
06-10-2007, 04:23 AM
I thought about this and my initial thought was either BLAZING SADDLES or YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, but then I started thinking about it more and more and realized that while both of those films are pitch-perfect parodies and have become classics of the comedy-genre and were both in many ways fresh, groundbreaking films of the 1970's, which really established Mel Brooks as a director to be taken serious (or as serious as you can with Brooks). My vote goes to HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART ONE.

My rationale is that while many of his other films are great, this one combines his knack for comedic timing and here he takes the traditional epic and skews the entire thing into a parady-fest that encompasses so much and is relentless in it's execution. SPACEBALLS comes close, but there are times where it becomes too narrow in it's focus since it is just a parody on STAR WARS. When I worked in a video store many years ago I remember a few customers looking for HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART TWO.....they obviously didn't get the joke.

Smokey
06-10-2007, 03:57 PM
Thanks GMichael, thekid and PS for comments. You guys seem to have trouble voting at first too :D

Gene Wilder seem to be synonymous with best of Brooks films and as thekid said, he made it more Gene Wilder's movie than Mel's. Richard Pryor was supposedly to star in two of his films (Blazing Saddles and History of World), but studio thought he might be too contravetial due to his drug problems. It would have been interesting to see what Pryor could have done with Brooks materials.

And I agree with you PS that Spaceballs probably is one of his “weaker” films.

jrhymeammo
06-10-2007, 05:38 PM
Damn Smokey, I'm kindda dissapointed that you didnt start a thread about mediocre movies I love.

Too easy........ I voted for High Anxiety.

JRA

Smokey
06-10-2007, 06:51 PM
Damn Smokey, I'm kindda dissapointed that you didnt start a thread about mediocre movies I love.

Well, I am not a mind reader :ciappa:

The scene in High Anxiety where Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra on the bus add more drama to pivotal scenes was a side splitter. Even Mel Brooks was trying hard not to crack up in that scene.

PeruvianSkies
06-10-2007, 08:38 PM
I don't think too many people can dispute that Mel Brooks has captured some of the funniest and memorable moments in parody form, especially in the film medium. Even some of his weaker films still have some huge laughs, but my choice was narrowed down to the film that I felt was relentless through it's entirety and didn't have too many poor moments. The rest of the films are still strong at times, maybe with the exception of DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT, but have moments where the momentum gets deflated a bit, I find myself feeling the same way during Woody Allen movies. An example that I can think of as far as comparison-sake would be the film SMALL TIME CROOKS by Allen....some REALLY funny moments, but the entire result is uneven and the super funny moments can't really keep the entire film afloat. Another thing that can be said of Mel Brooks is that he keeps his comedies to around 90-minutes, which is the perfect length for a comedy. Quite honestly anything longer than that gets tiring and a good comedy should be able to keep people laughing for 90-minutes, which by that point you should be exhausted from laughter. His one film YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN runs about 104 minutes and I think it tends to lose steam. Even those few extras minutes can be just enough to make a film seem lengthy and you begin to get restless with the material.

GMichael
06-11-2007, 05:17 AM
OK, did a little viewing over the weekend. I was able to narrow it down to 2. History Part Uno and B-Saddles. IMO History was funnier. The timing was great and the jokes just kept coming one after the other. I didn't have time to recover from one before another was splitting my side. But the poll does ask which was the best movie. And I feel that BS was a better movie. So, I cast my vote for BS, AND HP1.

Troy
06-11-2007, 06:41 AM
Young Fronkenshteen for me. Yeah, Blazing Saddles too, those 2 rise above all the rest. I'm a big, big fan of his earlier "12 Chairs" and especially the original "The Producers" too.

By the mid-70s he was repeating himself. "Silent Movie', "High Anxiety", "History of the World" all had funny scenes, but also lacked the focus and pin-point accuracy of his 2 greatest films. By then our expectations were much higher and he just couldn't live up to them.

Kam
06-19-2007, 01:40 PM
ahhh i missed this! doh!
my vote would have gone to Young Frankenstein. as much as i also do love blazing saddles, i think YF just slightly gets the nod... although i do go back and forth between the two. sometimes i lean towards BS, other times to YF. lately, i've been leaning towards YF.