I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

Movies You've Already Seen But I'm Reviewing Them Anyway

Funny, talented man.

The Many Faces Of  Mel Brooks

Now, just for the record for you youngsters out there, I am speaking of the 86 year old maker of movies, not the 40 year old zombie apocalypse author. That is his son. Serious as a heart attack, the man who lectures on zombies, built his home to withstand a possible zombie assault, and is the author of several high selling books including World War Z coming soon to a theater near you and later on TV for me.

Raised by Mel, now fighting zombies.

Okay, back to Mel Brooks. Mel was (and I don't think has been bested yet) the king of comedy, of farces, of fart jokes and off-color humor. Even if you swear you've never seen one of his movies I'd bet a hundred dollars - no wait, that won't work I'm broke - I'd bet you that you've seen at least one of them. He's kind of sneaky that way too. He didn't have it easy growing up in Brooklyn. His dad died when he was little, and because of being smallish he was mercilessly picked on by other kids. One bright spot: he met Buddy Rich (any drummer could explain who that was) who also grew up there. Buddy taught him how to play the drums. Lucky son of a bitch. So his humor comes from his background, being a German Jew, a fatherless boy, and not the most popular of youths. He performed music for a while but soon moved to stand-up comedy and then on to movies. So... here are a couple of his 'gems' for your reviewing pleasure:

Blazing Saddles (1974): Who can NOT like this movie? It has everything - racism, fart jokes, chase scenes, double entendres, stars and upcoming stars, and a slew of memorable lines ("Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges." "Excuse me while I whip this out." "Where are the white women at?"). Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder played off each other like they'd been doing it all their lives. It was irreverent, tasteless, cartoonishly violent, had no real ending (that made sense anyway), and yet we absolutely loved it. Admit it, you did. C'mon, you really, really did. Stop hiding your face.

Young Frankenstein (1974): A brilliant piece of work about a worn-out story that Mel managed to make brand new. With a load of great stars, great lines ("God damn your eyes!" "He already did.") it actually faithfully followed the story line, just twisted it into a weird tale of a man and his monster. This is a highly recommended watch - you just can't beat this kind of storytelling/comedy and seeing it even today still makes me giggle like an idiot.

 History Of The World, Part I (1981): Okay, we see a bit of slippage here. What worked great in the 70's kind of wears off by this time. It follows the creation of man clear through the French revolution so if you think I'm detailing all of that out you're nuts. It ends with a trailer for a sequel (which thank goodness never happens). A lot of the same actors/actresses are used consistently in a lot of Mel's movies and  you'll find them here also. And a lot of similar jokes. And humor. And stuff. Truth to tell, this movie was hard to get through although there are some outright humorous gems to be found if you can stick it out.

Spaceballs (1987): You know the drill. Take the popular trend of the times (sci-fi) and mush elements together to create this, umm, interesting movie. When it came out the reaction was so-so (I didn't like it myself), but later it became a cult classic and now people think it's just hilarious. Maybe it just takes that long to get the jokes. 

Okay the plot (since I was actually asked to watch this even though I already did): A Druidian King asks a space dude and his doggy sidekick (parody of Luke/Han Solo and Chewbacca) to help him out in rescuing his daughter, Druidess Princess (read Jewish Princess) Vespa before she marries 'the last prince in the galaxy'. The dude, Captain Lone Starr agrees 'cause there's a price on his head and he needs the cash. The Captain and his sidekick Barf (yeah, I know) set out in... a Winnebago that flies through space. I think initially that's where I kind of started losing interest. Back to the plot: The Winnebago runs out of gas and crashes on a planet where they run into Yogurt (do I have to keep explaining who these characters parody? No? Thank you ever so much.). That's where Lone Starr learns about 'the power of The Schartz' (There you go Stacey - Ha!). And tries to sell us, the audience, Spaceballs merchandise. A lot. I mean really. For the rest of the movie. And so... stuff happens, battles are won, Vespa is captured anyway, the Death Star is Spaceball One (sigh), and the evil plot is, not to destroy planets, but to suck the air out of them (like this movie sucks the life out of me). Sorry about that. This movie is supposed to be hilarious, but to a person who thinks a zombie ripping off a person's face and throwing it on the ground is hilarious, this doesn't quite do it for me. Yes, I fully expect my yard to be TP'd and angry messages on my Facebook account. Anywho, just when you just can't take more parodies, slapstick humor, sight gags, or another familiar face humiliating himself/herself to be in this movie, a final battle ensues and the Captain has his money. To end the thing (and keep the Princess from the prince) Captain Lone Starr declares he is actually a prince himself and he marries her instead.  And Yogurt says to all (including us) "God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money". Oh please no. Wait, this was 1987, that didn't happen, but Tim Forston (who knows a lot more about this schtick than me) said there was an animated series that followed. And I missed it? Awww. Oy vey.

Okay this movie was funny - in a right in your face as obvious as it possibly can get kind of way. Which is Mel Brooks humor. He made a whole lot more stuff and was in a whole lot more stuff but I think this has worn me to the brink of madness so I'm just going to stop now.


Footnote: Tim Forston who, like I said knows a lot more about schtick than me, pointed out that I missed that the Winnebago was the same make and model of Dale's from The Walking Dead. D'oh!