Mel Brooks is one of the most celebrated filmmakers working in the comedy genre, and most of his funniest movies — Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, etc. — have been spoofs. From his razor-sharp take on the whitewashing of western movies to his authentically black-and-white lampoon of the Universal Monsters franchise, no one makes parodies like Brooks.
It’s a shame that the parody genre seems to have faded into obscurity because Brooks (and the Zuckers and the National Lampoon) proved that spoofing existing stories can result in some of the funniest movies ever made. These are the most hilarious scenes from Brooks’ parodies.
10 Eating Beans Around A Campfire (Blazing Saddles)
On paper, a bunch of cowboys sitting around a campfire farting sounds like a needlessly crass bit going for cheap laughs. But Brooks makes it work because it’s a spot-on satire of westerns.
Countless westerns include scenes of cowboys eating beans without the flatulence. Logically, if a bunch of guys are eating nothing but beans, it is going to happen.
9 Robin Hood Accidentally Stabs The Sheriff (Robin Hood: Men In Tights)
Mel Brooks’ lampoon of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (and just about every other Robin Hood movie), Robin Hood: Men in Tights, isn’t his strongest movie, but it does have plenty of solid gags.
In the movie’s climactic sequence, Robin dramatically spares the Sheriff of Rottingham’s life. Then, Robin tries to put his sword back in its sheath, misses, and accidentally stabs the Sheriff.
8 Dark Helmet Watches The Current Scene In The Movie (Spaceballs)
In addition to being a spot-on spoof of the Star Wars saga, Spaceballs is also one of Mel Brooks’ most hilariously self-aware movies. In one scene, Dark Helmet’s admirals put on the VHS tape of the movie so they can see what happened.
He accidentally fast-forwards to the current scene in which Dark Helmet is watching the movie. It’s next-level meta, and Dark Helmet is just as baffled as the audience.
7 “Walk THIS Way.” (Young Frankenstein)
When Dr. Frederick Frankenstein first arrives in Transylvania, Igor meets him at the train station and says, “Walk this way.” Thinking he’s referring to the direction, Dr. Frankenstein follows him. Igor stops and says, “Walk THIS way,” meaning to walk like him. So, Dr. Frankenstein starts walking with a hunched back like Igor.
There’s plenty of slapstick in the movie, but the wordplay works just as well. Steven Tyler was inspired to write the Aerosmith hit “Walk This Way” by this classic scene.
6 Sheriff Bart Holds Himself At Gunpoint (Blazing Saddles)
In order to pave the way for a railroad, a Black sheriff is appointed to work in the town of Red Rock in Blazing Saddles. When Sheriff Bart first arrives in town, the racist townspeople are horrified.
Bart points out the absurdity of the townspeople’s prejudices by holding himself at gunpoint and threatening to shoot himself. Cleavon Little plays the scene beautifully.
5 The Psycho Shower Murder Spoof (High Anxiety)
Out of all Mel Brooks’ iconic spoofs, High Anxiety isn’t as well-known as, say, Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, but considering how difficult Hitchcock’s thrillers are to parody, Brooks nailed it.
No Hitchcock spoof would be complete without a reference to Psycho’s shower murder. In High Anxiety, instead of being stabbed to death in the shower, Brooks is beaten with a rolled-up newspaper.
4 Yummy Sound (Young Frankenstein)
What makes Young Frankenstein a pitch-perfect parody of Universal Monsters movies is the way it brings a ridiculous angle to the usually spooky tropes of those horror classics.
When the monster groans to life down in the secret underground lab, Dr. Frankenstein mistakes it for a “yummy sound.” He thinks Igor likes his dessert, but it’s actually a reanimated amalgamation of corpses about to wreak havoc.
3 John Hurt’s Cameo (Spaceballs)
For the most part, Spaceballs is a parody of Star Wars, but it includes references to other sci-fi classics, like Planet of the Apes and Ridley Scott’s Alien. John Hurt reprises his role as Kane from Alien in Spaceballs’ final scene.
Another xenomorph baby tears its way out of his chest as he sighs, “Oh, no, not again!” Then, in a hysterical homage to the classic Chuck Jones cartoon, the alien dons a straw boater, takes up a cane, and starts singing “Hello! Ma Baby.”
2 Puttin’ On The Ritz (Young Frankenstein)
Dr. Frankenstein reveals his monster to the scientific community in Young Frankenstein by performing “Puttin’ on the Ritz” with it.
The icing on top of this hysterical scenario is Peter Boyle’s delivery of the monster’s singing. When his creator calls on him to sing the chorus, the monster screeches with just the slightest suggestion of the intended rhythm.
1 The Final Battle Spills Onto The Studio Lot (Blazing Saddles)
Throughout its first couple of acts, Blazing Saddles deconstructs westerns by pointing out the ugly historical context that gets whitewashed by the genre’s classics. But in its final act, the movie breaks down the cinematic artifice entirely.
The final battle spills over onto the adjoining studio lot, culminating in a food fight with a bunch of other movie casts in the cafeteria. This anarchic sequence gleefully bulldozes the fourth wall.
source https://screenrant.com/most-hilarious-scenes-mel-brooks-comedy-movies-ranked/
0 comments: