Top 5 Mel Brooks Movies


Without a doubt, laughter is one of the most important elements to be able to extend life and health, and if you don’t believe it, ask the master and revolutionary of comedy, Mel Brooks, who turns 96 today.

Born on a day like today in 1926, Melvin James Kaminsky used humor since he was 14 years old for two goals: to save himself from bullying (his height of 1.65 did not help him much physically), and to carve his way to become one of the most outstanding film, television and stage comedians of all time. Although his certain rise and early street and small-event performances were cut short somewhat by his call-up to the American military during World War II, Mel also took advantage of that environment to become the focus of humor among the troops, parodying Nazi radio and serve as a presenter in various shows during (where he was an engineer in charge of deactivating land mines) and after the end of the conflict, both to his own troops and to captured Nazis.

Upon returning from the conflict and with his official name change to “Mel Brooks”, the comedian would begin to resume his career by appearing in various shows and nightclubs, also taking advantage of his musical knowledge as a drummer and pianist. By the early 1950s and having a certain reputation, Brooks would begin to write jokes, lines and some scripts for NBC, standing out for his humorous associations and later scripts together with Carl Reiner and Sid Caesar, whom he also accompanied as an actor with some what another aspiration

It would take 15 years for the legend of Brooks to see its origin with the creation of the legendary series “Get Smart”, or as we all know it in Latin America: “El Superagente 86”, staying in the taste of the audience until 1970 with 5 seasons. During that time Brooks would confirm to be the new and revolutionary current and figure of American humor, beginning his filmic path and winning an Oscar in his own debut as a screenwriter in 1967. The rest would be history…

Director, producer, screenwriter, actor and many, many cameos, Mel Brooks, still active, is one of the most influential comic artists in history, being an institution in parody, satire and black humor that right now could even be described as “incorrect”. A living legend, let’s remember the 5 Best Movies of him as a director – screenwriter, true classics of American comedy.

5 – The Twelve Chairs (1970)

After his impressive film debut in 1967, Brooks dedicated his work to rescuing certain elements of classic Hollywood humor to adapt or transform it to the satirical needs of his time, resulting from the effects of war and the Cold War. Note in this comedy set in Russia in the late 1920s, the influence or resemblance even to its “almost” contemporaries Monty Python, in an absurd odyssey for a former Russian aristocrat who, losing all his wealth, goes after a treasure trove of valuable jewels. hidden in one of the twelve chairs in his mother-in-law’s dining room. As a curious fact, it is not an original idea, since this comes from a 1962 Cuban film set during the revolution of that country

4 – Spaceballs (1987)

A parody of the world of Star Wars, which although a little late and a little too much, returned to the media plane a Brooks in all his excesses and gags with a literally “space” level. The film, although at a general level, can be considered plain and simple as “bad” (one of those guilty tastes par excellence), the charisma of certain actors (Rick Moranis and John Candy), along with certain sequences that continued to combine that classic humor with Mel’s physical acid gag, they made their footage a very entertaining experience that is even preserved in the annals as “The Parody of Star Wars” over many other physical and animation attempts over the years.

3 – Young Frankenstein (1974)

Perhaps his most famous comedy (but not his best), which marks the essence of a humor that is not suitable or suitable for all tastes, and that here takes advantage of all the products about Frankenstein to carry out a parodic and humorous amalgamation with certain narrative risks regarding inclusion, issues of couples and social behaviors. Likewise, this hilarious “horror adaptation” entails perhaps the most outstanding technical values ​​of his career, with phenomenal photography and production design that, above parody, make a perfect tribute to classic horror films. Brooks’s main and transgressive message: Didn’t those tapes have a certain halo of involuntary humor? Brooks just took it upon himself to blow it up

2 – The Producers (1967)

A filmic irruption that ironically became even comical by winning the best screenplay at the Oscars over Kubrick and his Space Odyssey and Pontecorvo and his Battle of Algiers. Deserved? Very questionable expected? No way. What gave him instant fame on the big screen was precisely his innovative comedic tone, those dialogues that were surprising for their incorrectness and of course the chemistry achieved with his actors, immediately giving rise to one of the most fleeting and humorous associations. prolific with a Gene Wilder at its climax. A film that achieved even more fame with its subsequent stage adaptations, The Producers remains Mel’s best film production, but not the one that makes you laugh the most…

1 – Blazing Saddles (1974) By Arquicruz

For the new generations, this film must be a roller coaster of mixed emotions since it has a somewhat absurd humor, but at the same time offensive and not correct. All the stereotypes there have been and have (in 1974) are presented in the most ridiculous and funny way in one of the genres most loved by Americans: the western. In short, his best-written, funniest, best-executed parody (directly speaking), but also the one that caused the most controversy (and causes) in the deconstruction of various social and even racial taboos, much of the transgressive genius of his script is due to the collaboration of a third factor: Richard Pryor, Brooks’s other comic partner and Wilder himself at the time

Tags: Blazing SaddlesSpaceballsThe ProducersTwelve ChairsYoung Frankenstein

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The Fett @El_Fett cinescopia.com

The most realistic and bastard film critic that can exist. Entity without mercy that has the compliment of transmitting its feelings and wisdom to mortals in the best venue on the seventh art. Cinephile at heart and crude critic by vocation. Alter ego of the Bachelor of Marketing and Public Relations Oscar M Rodríguez (FB) Follow me on twitter @El_Fett

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Top 5 Mel Brooks Movies