Why Mel Brooks is a pure Genuis and a great man (1 Viewer)

Saintman2884

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Its hard to talk about sensitive topics like the Holocaust and racism in America in the late 60's and early 70's and yet make great comedies about them both that dont offend a great deal of people. But yet Mel Brooks does it so damn well, he's probably one of the best comedians in this era and a very underrated director period. He made Blazing Saddles and Young FRankenstein and had some risque topics like racism, and politcal satire mixed in with them all, and yet no no one seemed offended by either one of them, in fact it was more funny then lets say offensive and it would be easy to get riled up in terms of both issues.

but Mel Brooks makes his own rules and he does it well to his audience, and yet it seems okay to do what he does and no one is offended.
Thats hard for a satirist to do and even a comedian to do, make people laugh and leave people not offended.

Hats off to you Mel Brooks, your a great person and a hell of a human being, keep making good movies like you have done all these years now, do what you do best.

You are a gem that sparkles, keep it up
 
At first read, I thought this said Mel Gibson. Not the thread I was expecting for sure.
 
blazing_saddles_200.jpg

Rhett, how many times have I told you to wash up after weekly cross burnings?

I saw "The Producers" at the Saenger a couple of years ago, and laughed my arse off. Then I rented the film (of the musical, not the original). Don't bother. It just works better on stage, and the direction was lame (Brooks didn't direct it).
 
Mel Brooks is a genius. I loved The Producers, both on the stage and the movie version. Of course, a play on stage is usually so much better than something done for film, but Nathan Lane is just so great. Blazing Saddles is one of my favorite movies.
 
that and he bagged Anne Bancroft :1luvu:

I haven't gotten a chance to see the play of The Producers or the new movie, but the original movie is a classic. I think I read somewhere that he's made more money off of the the resurrection of The Producers than all of his other things combined.
 
Brooks is brilliant. Unfortunately his recent film work is not even as close to as good as his older work. "Young Frankenstein" is one of my favorite films ever. (I won a radio contest a while back on a YF question, and the DJ and I spent 10 minutes going back and forth with our favorite quotes from the film. Almost every line in there is quotable! I took me three viewings before I found the funny in the line "Stay close to the candles, the staircase can be...treacherous." Hint: the candles are not lit.) And who can doubt the brilliance of a director who makes a film, "Silent Movie", where the only spoken line in the whole film is spoken by Marcel Marceau.

When I was in high school, my dear friend Coire (though his mom spelled it by his given spelling "Corey" on his tombstone) and I saw "Space Balls" seven times. That's the most I saw any film at the theatre. (True, five of those times were because *he* wanted to see it again, but I still loved it.) Though it was hardly "Blazing Saddles", which is too brilliant to express...and has no ending! (And was also the only film I ever remember seeing at a drive-in...my parent's took us.) I remember seeing it again in the early '80s and noticing a youngish John Hillerman (Higgins from "Magnum PI".) I was shocked to hear him speak in his native Texas accent....I thought he was actually British! I saw it a few weeks ago on cable, and they didn't even bleep out the n-word...I was shocked, yet elated. It's not the same with the bleeps. You couldn't make that film today, and that's sad. But few besides Brooks could have made it at all.

He's considering making the teased sequel to "History of the World Pt. 1", because so many people have contacted him wanting to see "Jews in Space."
I kind of want him to do so, but maybe it's better in the imagination.
 
He's considering making the teased sequel to "History of the World Pt. 1", because so many people have contacted him wanting to see "Jews in Space."
I kind of want him to do so, but maybe it's better in the imagination.

Don't forget "Hitler on Ice!"
 
At first read, I thought this said Mel Gibson. Not the thread I was expecting for sure.

I don't mean to hog here, but I just re-read this, and it reminded me of an exchange between my friend Tracey and me MANY years ago. She was talking about a movie we'd seen together, and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. So she discribed the film thusly: "The one with Mel Brooks and the black guy. You know, he's bad, he's tough, he wants to kill himself."

I finally realized she was talking about "Lethal Weapon" (the first one, which is why she couldn't butcher Danny Glover's name and call him Crispin...because she didn't know his name yet. But that's a funny thought: Mel Brooks and Crispin Glover in....anything!) She later referred to the Dirty Harry film "The Dead Pool" as "Red Pool of Fire." Don't know where she got that, but that's why I love her!
 

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