# What is the greatest Mel Brooks movie, and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946 "2009-11-09T21:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/21 "2009-11-09T23:01:33Z")
Ah, to be a Satchmo sandwich between Madeline and Terri. Not so much now that Madeline has left us, but it’s my fantasy, let me enjoy it. Plus YF has Kenny Mars as Inspector Kemp, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher, (whinny), and Gene Hackman as the Blind Hermit. How could this movie have NOT been good? Well, I’m sure there’s any number of ways. But it didn’t. It’s Brooks’ best movie ever. I’ll be in my bunk. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/22 "2009-11-09T23:24:41Z")
_Young Frankenstein_ (Fronkensteen!) is simply the perfect movie. Not once did they put a foot wrong (cf: the lousy ending in the otherwise hilarious _Saddles_). In addition to being a very funny parody of the '30s Universal monster movies, it is also a very loving homage to that same genre, even to using the actual laboratory (pronounced lab-BOR-a-tory, of course!) equipment from the original films. Magnificent! Best scene? _“Put. Ze candle. Beck!”_ (Take a look at _Son of Frankenstein_ sometime, and check out Lionel Atwill’s Prefect of Police. Kenneth Mars’ version was surprisingly close to the original - and here you thought he was going waaaay over the top!) ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/23 "2009-11-09T23:41:30Z")
Love _Blazing Saddles_, love _High Anxiety_, but the only answer is _Young Frankenstein_. It’s simply perfect. Best redubbing for purposes of television standards ever in the history of ever: Inga: He vould have an enormous Schwanzstucker. –became– Inga: He vould have an enormous personality. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/24 "2009-11-10T00:01:30Z")
_Young Frankenstein_, because, like _Blazing Saddles_, it’s more than just a direct parody, it’s a great comedy movie in itself. I also have a soft spot for his post-_Get Smart_ TV, like _When Things Were Rotten_ and _The Nutt House_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/25 "2009-11-10T00:18:56Z")
**Young Frankenstein**. It’s his most fully realized film – good from start to finish. **The Producers** is close, though more with the musical reworking than the actual movie, which doesn’t really work all that well. Brooks was still learning how to direct, and wasn’t strong enough to rein in Zero Mostel. The ending of **Blazing Saddles** weakens it. **The Twelve Chairs** is underrated, but not top notch (though with one of Brooks’s best songs). ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/26 "2009-11-10T00:27:46Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Too much Gene Wilder in _Young Frankenstein_. These words together, in this order, make no sense. Combining the words in this way actually removes meaning from some of them. YF was my obvious answer. Marty, Gene, Peter, Madeline, Cloris, Terri, egads what a phenomenal cast. I still murmur “Taffeta sweetheart.” sometimes when giving a hug. Blazing saddles is close second. When Mel stopped working with Gene things fell apart. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/27 "2009-11-10T00:28:40Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Young Frankenstein I would have named anyway, but mentioning Teri Garr, that just cemented it. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/28 "2009-11-10T00:32:42Z")
Young Frankenstein, but I’m boycotting the poll feature this time because credit is due to the entire ensemble, not just Terri Garr. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/29 "2009-11-10T00:34:21Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Young Frankenstein I would have named anyway, but mentioning Teri Garr, that just cemented it. Yah, she still won’t answer my emails. Stupid protection order. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/30 "2009-11-10T00:38:47Z")
Tough choice between _Young Fronkensteen_ and _The Producers_. Both are superb as comedies, but I’m giving it to the former for being a more artistically done _film_, as well as for having more quotable lines. Apart from those two masterpieces, I’m actually not a huge Brooks fan, although when I rented _Blazing Saddles_ a couple of years ago, I enjoyed it _a lot_ more than I remember doing when I saw it on the big screen back when it was new. ETA: Why the Gilligan reference? Shouldn’t the “miscellaneous” option begin “Would you believe…?” ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/31 "2009-11-10T00:45:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Brooks was still learning how to direct, and wasn’t strong enough to rein in Zero Mostel. And Zero needed to be reined in exactly why? Still my fave movie ever. Just thinking about Zero’s hair pasted across his forehead makes me giggle. “Let’s play the Rape of Lucretia. You be Lucretia, and I’ll be Rape.” Dick Shawn was never funnier. His onstage freakout is simply one of the funniest scenes ever made. “Where’s my Joey? Where’s my little Goebbels?” I’m peein myself over here. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/32 "2009-11-10T00:52:48Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Too much Gene Wilder in _Young Frankenstein_. 😕 Okay, I checked with Aslan, Noam Chomsky, and the ghost of William Buckley, and they all aglreed that those words, in that order, don’t make goddamn bit of sense. ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/33 "2009-11-10T01:02:32Z")
> [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](#): > > I’ve gotta go with _Blazing Saddles_ - not only outright funny as hell for almost the entire movie, but amazingly subversive in its racial commentary, considering it was a studio movie, made by a middle-aged Jew. > > And this quote is 32 flavors of awesome, for an elitist liberal such as myself who grew up in an ass-backward hick farming town: > > > [@](#): > > > > You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons. I was really torn, but this post, and that Waco Kid quote, decided it for me - **Blazing Saddles** wins. I don’t think you could make that movie today, which is a shame. **Young Frankenstein** comes in a close second, followed by **The Producers**. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/34 "2009-11-10T01:11:08Z")
Tough choice, between _Young Frankenstein_, _Blazing Saddles_, and _The Producers_, but I voted for \*Young Frankenstein \*because it holds together better–it has a better plot driving the gags along. Not a tough choice to rule out \*Dracula, Dead and Loving It \*or _Robin Hood: Men in Tights_, which right now share one vote between the two of them. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/35 "2009-11-10T01:26:21Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Too much Gene Wilder in _Young Frankenstein_. Do you realize that it was _written by_ Wilder? Granted everyone still thinks of it as a Books film. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/36 "2009-11-10T01:31:31Z")
I haven’t voted yet, but I’m torn about selecting _Blazing Saddles_. It’s an excellent film, but having got its ass kicked in the “Best Western of All Time” category by _Rustler’s Rhapsody_, I’m not sure I could vote for it in good conscience. Did _Young Frankenstein_ ever get its ass kicked in the “Best Monster Movie of All Time” category? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/37 "2009-11-10T01:33:05Z")
> [@Threadkiller](#): > > Do you realize that it was _written by_ Wilder? Granted everyone still thinks of it as a B[r]ooks film. People do tend to label them with the names of the director and/or producer, rather than that of the screenwriter. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/38 "2009-11-10T02:10:37Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Young Frankenstein I would have named anyway, but mentioning Teri Garr, that just cemented it. Yyyyyeah, that’s what did it for me. I was going for The Producers, because it’s brilliant, or Blazing Saddles, because of the theme song and that I recognized the singer as Frankie Laine (“Rawhide”) instantly. (Note to Skald: It’s not “Negro love songs,” it’s “ni_CLANG!_ work songs.”) But what knockers… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/39 "2009-11-10T02:12:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Yyyyyeah, that’s what did it for me. I was going for The Producers, because it’s brilliant, or Blazing Saddles, because of the theme song and that I recognized the singer as Frankie Laine (“Rawhide”) instantly. (Note to Skald: It’s not “Negro love songs,” it’s “ni_CLANG!_ work songs.”) I know. I didn’t feel like getting into a to-do about hate speech. Anyway, the guy clearly says “nigger.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946/40 "2009-11-10T02:16:04Z")
Which you can say. I had to combine two lines. On the set of _Doctor Strangelove_ James Earl Jones asked Slim Pickens about working with John Wayne. “Well, I never saw that man do anything that was not ALL MAN or ALL WHITE.” Jones chose to take it in the spirit was offered. Which is good, since he coulda taken out that roper with a single punch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-mel-brooks-movie-and-why/516946.md?page=3)