Mel Brooks (Directed) Film By Film Thread

Yep.

 

I stand corrected, and feel much better.

 

Brooks obviously thought a lot of Wilder, I just watched an old Tonight Show with Brooks and J.Carson and brooks gives Wilder huge credit for the success of his films. Rare modesty from him eh?

 

Blazing Saddles (1974)

 

Mel said something like 'I realized that if I wanted to make people laugh, I needed Hitler. See what Happened to the 12 Chairs? No Hitler, no laughs. I put Hitler back in Blazing Saddles, I get laughs." I think he also said something about Jews in the US are funny vs. not in the US being unfunny.

 

"It's like Steam escaping!!"

 

I'd like to take a course on "authentic frontier gibberish".

 

That scene in the movie is just so funny.

 

"Making of" documentary, from 2001

Warning for Language

 

My favorite joke in the whole film (and Cleavon's too, apparently)

 

I think that Mel Brooks wrote funny dubbed-in dialogue for one of two US versions of the Italian Gladiator movie MY SON THE HERO(1963), but information on it is scarce.

 

This was mentioned in the biography I just finished, and I was thinking maybe he beat Woody Allen to the "Tiger Lily" punch. But has anyone actually seen the thing?

 

It absolutely baffles me how someone couldn't laugh at this movie. I just watched it yet again, and 90% of the jokes hit (as compared to a much lower batting average for Mel's latter-day efforts). I saw "Young Frankenstein" first (in a theater) because it was PG and I could get in! (I was 10.) I saw "Blazing Saddles" about 5 years later on pay TV, and even at 15 I was hardly prepared to understand any number of references in the film. I still loved it. At age 55, having seen everything from "Destry Rides Again" to "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song", I think I finally get it all, and it makes it even funnier.

 

Blazing Saddles remains )me of my favorite comedies of all time. Cleavon Little is perfect (a;though I don’t doubt Richard Pryor would have been great as well). As great as Gig Young might have been, Gene Wilder makes the role his own. All the classic western references really resonate as well which gives it another layer.

 

I tried finding a Gene Wilder interview where he talked about his role in Blazing Saddles, but couldn’t find one.

 

Looks like copyright issues have kept clips off of YouTube, but here's Marlene Dietrich's feature song from "Destry Rides Again".

 

More Marlene

 

The "Blazing Saddles" drinking game: Take a drink every time you spot an anachronism.

 

George Harrison's Lili Von Shtupp impression @2:12

 

I have quoted this more times than any other film line (including all the Marx's).

 

"He's killed more people than Cecille B. De Mille".

 

For me Harvey is the star of the show here ………… as with the other Mel film he's in coming up shortly.
His double act with Taggert [Slim Pickens who doesn't seem to get much of a mention] are the best scenes of the film IMO.
I just Love Harvey Korman.
Another ensemble cast here ......… as with YF.

 

I think of Slim Pickens as the prototype for what was done in “Airplane”. Get dramatic actors common to the genre being spoofed and voila - instant funny.