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.
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!)
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.
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.
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).
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.
Seconded.
Young Frankenstein, but I’m boycotting the poll feature this time because credit is due to the entire ensemble, not just Terri Garr.
Yah, she still won’t answer my emails. Stupid protection order.
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…?”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Do you realize that it was written by Wilder? Granted everyone still thinks of it as a Books film.
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?
People do tend to label them with the names of the director and/or producer, rather than that of the screenwriter.
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 “niCLANG! work songs.”) But what knockers…
I know. I didn’t feel like getting into a to-do about hate speech. Anyway, the guy clearly says “nigger.”
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.