Film Discussions #2 Melvin Kaminsky
A personal favorite of mine, although he is more widely known as Mel Brooks, a stage name he derived from his mother’s name of Brookman. Whereas I would love to type endlessly about his life, I will mainly focus on his films. However I do find it necessary to note that he was married to Anne Bancroft, star of 84 Charing Cross Road produced by Brooksfilms, Mel Brooks’ company, from 1964 until her passing in 2005. See, marriage does last . . . occasionally.
If you could read his resume’ (if you had the time) two things would specifically catch your attention. The first being that Mr. Brooks has won not only an Oscar (1), but also an Emmy (3), Grammy (3), and Tony (3) award (only 10 others have achieved this prestige including Liza Minelli and Audrey Hepburn). The second, his job titles are as follows: director, screenwriter, comedian, producer, actor, lyricist and composer. How’s that for marketability? Anyone who has seen a Mel Brooks film (aside from
Dracula: Dead and Loving It which I consider to be his mulligan) does not need to be told that he has a very specific brand of witty, sarcastic, slapstick, screwball, tacky, racial/religious/politically charged comedy, and no society is safe from his satire. So, let’s discuss a few of his movies, starting with one of my favorite films ever . . .
Blazing Saddles.
Released on February 7th 1974, a mere three days after the birth of my husband,
Blazing Saddles (written by Brooks, Richard Pryor and others) is by far Mel Brooks’ most offensive film, and possibly THE most offensive film, ever committed to celluloid. It is a rare talent indeed that can manage to offend nearly every race of human kind, and at the same time cast Madeline Kahn in a wonderful parody of Marlene Deitrich, As offensive and harsh as the movie’s plot and dialogue are, it still managed to rank number 6 on AFI’s Top 100 Comedies of All Time (two more Brooks movies are in the top 20 as well . . .) and remains, to this day one of the most controversial and quoted films ever. As a child (yes, I watched
Blazing Saddles as a child) I found it a bit confusing, but funny thanks mainly to the deputies dancing around, Cleavon Little and the rail workers singing a great Sinatra song, and of course, the camp fire scene, but it’s message was lost on me. That message is still lost on me, as I still see it as merely a comedy by circumstance, offensive to nearly all, and hilarious. Really, the only inoffensive character of the entire film was Sherriff Bart (Cleavon Little). Let’s face it, even the beloved “Waco Kid” was a raging alcoholic/pot head and even Lili Von Shtupp was a glorified hooker (forgive me Madeline, I love you!). That being said, this absolutely hilarious film was nominated for three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, awarded a spot on the National Film Preservation Board of the US, and won the award for Best Comedy for the Screen by the Writers’ Guild of America.
Briefly I will touch on another favorite Brooks film of mine,
High Anxiety, the entire length and breadth of which parodied nearly 20 of Alfred Hitchcock‘s films. Starring Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Ron Carey, the amazing Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, and Howard Morris.
After watching the movie and writing down notations of nods to Hitchcock movies, I found a very thorough list on wikipedia,
and I am going to share it with you . . .
Spellbound, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Tom Curtain, The Ring, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Suspicion, Notorious, Under Capricorn, Dial M For Murder, The Wrong Man, Frenzy, Family Plot, Rebecca, and The Lodger. It is a wonderful film as it manages to fit both parody and tribute in a tightly would neurotic package. It’s a somewhat lesser known Mel Brooks movie, if you have not watched it, I recommend that you do so.
