The French Mistake.
Throw out your hands! Stick out your tush! Hands on your hips. Give them a push! You'll be surprised. You're doing the French Mistake!
Posted on 05/09/2014 7:05:49 AM PDT by rktman
There are plenty of lousy film comedies, but there are only two that I outright hate: "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." Both were released in 2006 when Hollywood's fury against George W. Bush had reached its peak, and both let the voters who re-elected him in 2004 have it with both barrels.
On its face you would think that Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" chose the exact same targets (rural Red Staters) to humiliate, but he didn't. With his masterpiece (that has just been released as a special 40th anniversary edition Bluray), Brooks managed to craft a hilarious comedy with a social message, and do it without coming off as a cold, mean-spirited Hollywood snob.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
One of the Zucker Bros who did that also did An American Carol, a conservative leaning film inspired by A Christmas Carol. Pretty good, though critics of course hated it for daring to poke fun at the Left.
One bit had inept terrorists; another showed what would have happened if the Civil War hadn’t been fought (blacks still slaves—Gary Coleman was seen polishing “Michael Malone’s” car. One deleted bit had him tossing the sponge to another slave: “Yo, Barack! Catch!” ) “1968” was a musical number about professors stuck in the glory days of campus protestors.
Ah! Thanks, I remember Mr Mike but not that bit. He wrote the song Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals that starts off the film Gilda Live.
I’m about as far from overly serious as one can be but Blazing Saddles is simply not the greatest comedy that Hollywood ever produced. I actually study film and my husband is a film teacher so I have a long, long history of watching and analyzing comedies. It has some good jokes, wonderful actors, but its humor is really, really juvenile. It’s like sitting in a locker room with 15 pimply teenage boys.
Now, if you wanna talk about The Producers...
Song of the South.
Heartwarming film that I watched somewhere on the internet within the last couple of years.
Zippity doo dah, zippity aay wonderful feeling wonderful day...
What isn’t to like about it? I’ll tell you, black and white in peace and harmony that’s what.
We have the Western channel here and Me-TV which plays The Rifleman. Sometimes I watch The Rifleman on Saturday mornings and keep tabs on how many people Chuck Conners shoots before the first commercial break!
When I mentioned this to a relative of mine, he said that The Rifleman was originally condemned by critics for violence. Poor Mark must have been traumatized!
O’Donoghue was a huge part of SNL’s early success. Pretty much he wrote most of their classic skits.
IMHO, Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" is the best comedy Hollywood ever produced.
“And now for my next impression.......Jesse Owens.”
I bought a copy recently. Thought it might come under Censorship & DVD Burning by liberals.
My husband adores that movie! It’s always on in our home, lol.
Maybe my favorite of Billy Wilder’s comedies is Some Like It Hot. Watched it recently and was flabbergasted to hear Tony Curtis yell: “You can’t marry a guy! You ARE a guy!”
How times have changed...
The French Mistake.
Throw out your hands! Stick out your tush! Hands on your hips. Give them a push! You'll be surprised. You're doing the French Mistake!
I have to agree with you. I’ve always found Mel Brooks sophomoric, tedious, and almost embarrassingly crude. I don’t need sophisticated comedy — I love the “Airplane” and “Police Squad” movies — but that Borscht Belt vaudeville schtick of his just strikes me as dated.
You can see movies in which he appears on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).
I was never more surprised by anything than when I saw the Dom Deluise had a son. He was on 21 Jump Street back in the 80s, not a bad actor. I know some guys have beards, but I didn’t think Dom was even pretending to be heterosexual, therefore would not be married. I don’t know if his persona was an act, or what, but he was funny.
Dom was married a very long time. He had gay babysitters for his children. I knew one of them.
Reminds me of the scene in THE RULING CLASS with Peter O’Toole. At least the music is the same.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I have never cared for Blazing Saddles. I saw it when it opened. I like a few of the gags, and I loved Madeline Kahn; but I just didn't find the movie all that funny. The fart-fest is the film's most celebrated gag, and it is simply not funny to me. It's guys farting. So, what? I think Brooks is a funny man. I've seen him on talks shows and stuff and he's funny. But I don't think his funniness necessarily means he is a good filmmaker.
I agree that Young Frankenstein was Brooks' best and funniest film. Humor is subjective. I just don't get Blazing Saddles, I guess.
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