Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder star in Mel Brooks’ Oscar winning comedy The Producers. Scoring the Academy award for Best Original Screenplay, this one is a hoot from beginning to end. It also saw Wilder get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Mostel stars as Max Bialystock, a producer, who will do anything to make…
Tag: mel brooks
Get Smart (1965) – Aboard the Orient Express, Weekend Vampire, and Survival of the Fattest
Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) are Aboard the Orient Express. It seems a number of CONTROL couriers have been murdered on the iconic train trip and it is up to this pair of agents to find out what is going on. Written by Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret, this episode…
Get Smart (1965) – Our Man in Leotards, Too Many Chiefs, and My Nephew the Spy
Dick Donner directs another episode of Get Smart – Our Man in Leotards. With an original airdate of 20 November, 1965 the story was written by Mel Brooks and Gary Belkin. It seems a new drug is being held by CONTROL, one that paralyzes its victim. There is a plan to use it against the…
Get Smart (1965) – Mr. Big, Diplomat’s Daughter, and School Days
In the 1960s, spies were everywhere! They were in novels, comics, on the big screen, and had spread to television. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart debuted on 18 September, 1965 and introduced us to CONTROL’s agent 86, Maxwell Smart (Don Adams). Filled with goofy gadgets, like the shoe phone, Smart is…
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) – Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks skewers the legend of Robin Hood with his 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights. None of the versions created are safe, and Cary Elwes is perfectly cast as the iconic hero that from its opening moments takes shots at everything, nothing is safe. Using the classic tale of Robin of Locksley coming…
Spaceballs (1987) – Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is hit and miss with me, I love Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, but Spaceballs, no matter how quotable it is, and how much it delightfully skewers the Star Wars universe (with George Lucas’ blessing, and some special effects by ILM) has never done it for me. There are moments I like, but…
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) – Mel Brooks
It was going to happen sooner or later. I was going to come across the first of the parody/comedy films that sprang up around vampires as I continue to work my way through the highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies written by John Landis, and released through DK Canada. So it’s time to let Mel…
Young Frankenstein (1974) – Mel Brooks
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book has been very enjoyable so far, and I’m still at the beginning of the massive tome! It was with great joy that I settled in to watch Mel Brook’s homage and send-up of the Universal Frankenstein films. Gene Wilder headlines a laugh-infused cast, that is just a joy to watch,…
Blazing Saddles (1974) – Mel Brooks
The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book ‘s next recommendation for Monsieur Hulot, is Mel Brook’s comedic take on the western genre, that works on sight gags, physical comedy, and lots of great lines. However, there is also a slew of stereotypes and some less than acceptable language, although it’s very evident…
The Mind Reels 