It runs neck-and-neck with Young Frankenstein, but for me, Blazing Saddles is Mel Brooks’ greatest film. If there’s anyone out there who hasn’t seen this brilliant satire, here’s a bit of a synopsis: It’s 1874, and an expanding railroad operation…
In a career spanning nearly five decades, Gene Wilder helped redefine comedy. During the late 1960s and ’70s, he had a string of notable films, be it the title role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, his partnership with…
Spaceballs is another one of Brooks’ superb parodies, but one can’t help but think the timing was a bit off. Released in 1987, the Star Wars craze had largely run its course; the film might have done better at the…
Director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) has long been known as leading Hollywood historian, having written books on such luminaries as Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, and John Ford among others. For his latest project, Bogdanovich directs and…
Few will deny Richard Pryor’s place as one of stand up comedy’s true geniuses. As with many comedians who emerged both before and after him, Pryor was plagued by demons; demons that provided the source of some of his best…
I can’t remember the precise moment I became a Mel Brooks fan, but I believe I was around ten when I first heard the comedy album 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, thanks to my local library. I…
Blazing Saddles / High Anxiety / History of the World Part 1 / Robin Hood: Men with Tights / Silent Movie / Spaceballs / To Be or Not to Be / Twelve Chairs / Young Frankenstein 20th Century Fox |…