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| BLAZING SADDLES (1974) |
Madeline Kahn spoofs the great Marlene Dietrich, Slim Pickens runs a railroad chain gang, Gene Wilder plays a drunken gunslinger and Cleavon Little stars as Rock Ridge’s new black sheriff.
Together, they make up the cast of the funniest, and one of the most socially conscious, screen comedies: Mel Brooks’ classic “Blazing Saddles.” This is Brooks at his side-splitting best, a movie that has no equals.
Brooks came close with “Young Frankenstein,” his black-and-white parody of the classic “Frankenstein” films. But “Blazing Saddles” is something different – a zany, no-holds-barred, non-stop, laugh-fest masterpiece.
Working from a script by five writers that included Brooks and Richard Pryor, “Blazing Saddles” finds the small Western town of Rock Ridge getting its first black sheriff. Brooks pokes fun at Western film conventions and uses his off-beat, crude humor to criticize racism.
Welcome to Top Five week at Sneak Prevue. Today’s edition: The Top Five Film Comedies.
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| CLEAVON LITTLE AS SHERIFF BART |
Here is a film that throws all kinds of jokes at the screen hoping something will click with viewers. In this case, nearly everything works in a fast-paced comedy that rarely slows down its breakneck pace.
Cleavon Little stars in a role originally meant for Richard Pryor. While Little is funny, you can only wonder what the film would have been like with Pryor in the lead. Gene Wilder takes the co-star slot and Brooks regulars Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman round out the cast.
Many people have criticized the film’s repeated and liberal use of the “n-word.” But by doing so, they miss one of the main points of “Blazing Saddles.” Brooks uses the “n-word” to highlight the dangers and absurdity of racism and other hateful beliefs.
“Blazing Saddles” is so screwy that, at one point, the film abruptly shifts its setting from a period Western to present-day Hollywood for a movie studio commissary pie fight. The film ends inside a theater where Little, Wilder and Korman sit in the audience and watch the ending on the big screen. This is inspired lunacy.
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| NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) |
“National Lampoon’s Animal House” slipped into theaters in late summer of 1978, emblazoned with the trademark and name recognition of National Lampoon – which at the time was a popular adult humor magazine.
“Animal House” spawned many imitations, but none that reached the depths, and the heights, of comedy that made this film about Delta Tau Chi Fraternity so incredibly funny.
John Belushi makes a memorable screen appearance as John “Bluto” Blutarsky – a Delta Tau Chi brother, a slob, a drunk and the source of many memorable scenes (the food fight and Peeping Tom scenes come quickly to mind).
John Landis directed the film right after the low-budget sketch film “Kentucky Fried Movie.” While Landis went on to big budget comedies like “The Blues Brothers,” he never again reached the level of hilarity he did with “Animal House.”
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| AIRPLANE! (1980) |
Following “Kentucky Fried Movie,” Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker joined forces again to write and direct this spoof of “Zero Hour” and other airborne disaster films.
Abraham and the Zuckers created a new brand of film comedy, one that featured well-known dramatic actors playing for laughs. Every comment and line is taken literally, resulting in a bizarre, absurdest sense of humor rarely depicted in films.
Don’t worry about the plot. It’s completely nonsense and simply an excuse for jokes that spoof “Saturday Night Fever,” “Airport 1975” and countless other films. Who can’t laugh when Leslie Nielsen repeatedly asks passengers to “Stop calling me Shirley?”
By the way, this film turned Nielsen from a dramatic actor into a comic star. Nielsen would later play Lt. Frank Drebin in David Zucker’s failed television series “Police Squad!” and the related hit film series “The Naked Gun.”
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| YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) |
Ten months after the release of “Blazing Saddles,” Mel Brooks returned to the screen with this send-up of Universal Pictures’ “Frankenstein” films. Brooks’ film was lovingly shot in black and white.
Gene Wilder, who co-wrote the screenplay with Brooks, stars as Frederick Frankenstein – or, as he says in the film, “it’s pronounced Fron-ken-steen” – who returns Transylvania after his grandfather’s death.
The high point of the film happens the night when Frederick unveils his creation, played by Peter Boyle, to the public. Together, Frederick and his creature sing and dance to the Irving Berlin classic “Putting on the Ritz.”
While it doesn’t reach the same level of zaniness the “Blazing Saddles” did, “Young Frankenstein” is inspired lunacy with great laughs, funny sight gags and wonderful comic performances. A classic.
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| THE KID (1921) |
Every film comic owes a large debt of gratitude to Charles Chaplin – who blazed the way for screen comedy with a consistently funny and well-made string of silent comedies in the late teens and early 1920s. They remain fresh today, nearly 100 years later.
Many film scholars point to “The Gold Rush” in 1925 or “Modern Times” in 1936 as Chaplin’s finest film. I prefer the sentimental comedy-drama of “The Kid” because it shows Chaplin’s amazing command of screen comedy.
The story finds Chaplin’s immortal, iconic character, The Tramp, adopting and caring for a baby boy left abandoned. Chaplin finds a lot of comedy in his efforts to care for the baby; the scene in which he creates a baby bottle is priceless.
You can catch the film in poor to middling quality on several public domain DVDs. I recommend buying the collector’s edition that was released a few years ago or streaming a high-quality version on your computer or TV through huluPLUS.
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
- “Blazing Saddles” is available on DVD and Blu-ray high definition disc for purchase or rental. Click here
to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon.com.
- “National Lampoon’s Animal House” is available on DVD and Blu-ray high definition disc for purchase or rental. Click here to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon.com. Click here to purchase the special edition DVD from Amazon.com.
- “Airplane!” is available on DVD and Blu-ray high definition disc for purchase or rental. Click here to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon.com. You also can stream the film to your computer or television through Netflix.
- “Young Frankenstein” is available on DVD and Blu-ray high definition disc for purchase or rental.Click here to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon.com. Click here to purchase the DVD from Amazon.com.
- “The Kid” is available on DVD for purchase or rental. Click here to purchase the special edition DVD from Amazon.com. You also can stream the film to your computer or television through huluPLUS.
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Sorry, Mr. C. I'm backtracking here, but you left out the very funniest movie I've ever seen. I laughed so hard I embarrassed myself, and at the time I saw it, I was in the deep blue dastardly pits. The Pink Panther was hilarious. I forget exactly where I saw it...the Joy, the Saenger or the Orpheum in the NOLA CBD...back when it was released in the early '60s, '63? '64? Granted, it was my first-ever encounter with Peter Sellers, which accounts for the deep impression it made.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of your list? I cried watching The Kid, and I don't mean tears of laughter.
Young Frankenstein WAS pretty funny, as were parts of Animal House, but Blazing Saddles? It must be a guy thing.
Peter Sellers was a treasure,no doubt. And "The Pink Panther" series is very funny indeed. Sellers is the perfect Clouseau, much better than Steve Martin. I personally found "The Pink Panther," the first one in the long series, to be OK. Blake Edwards was just finding his way with the film, which I believe was intended to be a caper movie. When Sellers' character walked away with the film, Edwards created a series featuring Clouseau.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is "A Shot in the Dark," a hilarious romp featuring Sellers as Clouseau investigating a murder. This is the only "Pink Panther" film not called "Pink Panther." The scene at the nudist colony is classic.
I stand by "Blazing Saddles" as the funniest film I've ever seen. It's tasteless, outrageous and just plain funny. Brooks has never been funnier.