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In light of Judd Apatow’s HBO documentary The 99-Year-Old Man, we discuss the films of Mel Brooks, which were to varying degrees formative on us (us being Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al).
Does the humor of, say, History of the World, Part I hold up? Does Blazing Saddles say anything substantial about race? Are we now in any position to see how cutting-edge it was to make fun of Hitler in The Producers? Do the more kiddie-friendly Spaceballs and Robin Hood, Men In Tights show that Mel is fundamentally not too different from Mad Magazine? What explains why Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety are legitimately coherent films and not just a series of gags? We talk about Mel as storyteller, as interpreter of others’ stories, as composer, social commentator, auteur, voice actor, and more.
Here’s the highly suspect video about actors that Mel had conflicts with.
Follow us @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck, @MarkLinsenmayer. It’s good to be the Al, who does not use social media.
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