Mel Brooks....as Hitler.....Rapping....

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Yeah, this is real.

[bluemeii]

Yeah this wasn't one of his better movies imo. Not because of that clip, it was just....meh.

[Cela]

Well... there you go.

[dav]

Sept 29, 2014 10:59:32 GMT -5 bluemeii said:

Yeah this wasn't one of his better movies imo. Not because of that clip, it was just....meh.

I actually really enjoyed it. Had some really funny moments and the opening number was grand. Rather underrated in my books. Not as rapid as Saddles or others but a good film.

[Deleted]

That video basically has nothing to do with the movie. If you saw this and this alone, you'd think Mel was playing Hitler.

And I almost hate it (but yet still love it) because he rehashes that old "Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi Party" line from THE PRODUCERS...

Sept 29, 2014 10:59:32 GMT -5 bluemeii said:

Yeah this wasn't one of his better movies imo. Not because of that clip, it was just....meh.

It's definitely a solid movie. You'd think it would be an extension of his "let's bash Nazis!" habit from other films and be much more slapstick than it is, but it's got a good sense of direction of it. Even more watchable because (a) he and Anne Bancroft are just very much a great duo (you see how much they adore each other - which is exactly what their entire marriage was), and (b) Charles Durning (who got an Oscar nod for this) was playing a really decent bad guy, versus the stereotypical Nazi bad guy.

Plus, this movie, as well as SILENT MOVIE and others, show just how much Mel Brooks loves old movies of the Golden Age. Even under the insanity of BLAZING SADDLES there are many a hint and nudge to his predecessors.

[bluemeii]

Guys don't get me wrong, didn't say it was bad...I just like the guys slapstick movies more than this is all.

Won't turn it off if it comes on TV but I'm not going to seek it out either. I will seek out his other movies like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles though. Those are more my speed when it comes to his films

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Better than Dracula:Dead and loving it.

Edit:
Why is there not one for Spaceballs!!!!!!?

[Fiddleford H. McGucket]

Mel Brooks once said of Hitler and the Nazi party, that he was going to continue to use them as the butt of jokes until he dies. He wants, or so he's said,  when anyone thinks of Hitler, Nazis, et al, to laugh. Even if it's not at HIS work, to laugh at the very premise of Nazis. 


He's said he'd call it a "Moral victory" at that point.

[Cyno]

While "To Be Or Not To Be" starred and was produced by Mel Brooks, he didn't direct it or write it. It was also a remake of a movie from the 40's with the same premise.

[Hawk Hart]

Sept 29, 2014 10:59:32 GMT -5 bluemeii said:

Yeah this wasn't one of his better movies imo. Not because of that clip, it was just....meh.

Which is sad because the Ernst Lubich original is f***ing brilliant.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2014 18:49:36 GMT -5 Fiddleford H. McGucket said:

Mel Brooks once said of Hitler and the Nazi party, that he was going to continue to use them as the butt of jokes until he dies. He wants, or so he's said,  when anyone thinks of Hitler, Nazis, et al, to laugh. Even if it's not at HIS work, to laugh at the very premise of Nazis. 

He's said he'd call it a "Moral victory" at that point.

He was one of the first people to actually succeed at that post-WW2, I think. And what added to the effectiveness was that he's Jewish......which just makes the laughes so much more fulfilling - the race Hitler sought to destroy was now the ones making the post-Nazi world laugh at him. The more we laugh, the less grip in reality his ideology would have.

He was doing that during the war, too. I remember a story he told about being in the trenches one night, and some troops singing (I think Americans, but could've been the Germans). Then suddenly he belted out a ridiculous yet well sung lyric.........a pause........and then polite applause from the German trenches.