Spaceballs

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Did you like this parody? I certainly did..It was very funny. Tell your opinions.



Typical Mel Brooks: for every genuinely funny joke, there are two or three which are nothing more than cheesy and cringe-inducing. A solid parody, however...definitely worth watching.



Abso-freakin'-lutely. It's a classic.

"Man, we ain't found sh*t!"
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I wouldn't say it's typical Mel Brooks. I'd say it's typical post-History of the World Part I Mel Brooks. Far from his heyday, the last few movies of his career are a very pale imitation of what he accomplished in the 1970s. I think you've overestimated that ratio, Commish. It's more like one mildly funny joke to every fifteen or twenty complete duds. Why bother?

I think the main problem Brooks ran into during the latter part of his career is that he had no real affinity for the subjects and genres he was parodying. I think it's clear from watching his masterpiece, Young Frankenstein, that he absolutely adored the classic Universal monster movies of the '30s. In Blazing Saddles you can tell he loves and knows the Western, and High Anxiety (though much more flawed) it was Hitchcock. By the time Spaceballs comes along, Brooks doesn't adore or hardly even know the Star Wars films or understand their popularity. He's making a parody of something he doesn't even 'get', and certainly doesn't love in the first place. How could that possibly be any good. The answer is evident to me in Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead & Loving It: it can't.

In the '80s and into the '90s Brooks was clearly overtaken by Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker. Airplane!, Top Secret! and the Naked Gun flicks far, far, FAR outpace Mel's latter filmography. Crap, there were better parodies in your average episode of "Tiny Toon Adventures" than anything Brooks did in Spaceballs, Men in Tights or Dead and Loving It.


This is how I'd grade Brooks' stuff...

The Producers, B+
The Twelve Chairs, B-
Blazing Saddles, B
Young Frankenstein, A+
Silent Movie, B-
High Anxiety, B-
History of the World Part I, B+
Spaceballs, C-
Life Stinks, D-
Robin Hood: Men in Tights, D+
Dracula: Dead & Loving It, D

Of course as always, your mileage may vary. I still consider Brooks a comic genius, and everything from "Your Show of Shows", "Caeser's Hour" and "Get Smart" up through History of the World demonstrate that bursting talent aptly. After that, he should have hung up his spurs, concentrated on his producing alone - which was impressive, including The Elephant Man, Frances and 84 Charing Cross Road.


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"Comedy is like when I cut my finger. Tragedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
- Mel Brooks



Originally posted by Holden Pike
I think you've overestimated that ratio, Commish. It's more like one mildly funny joke to every fifteen or twenty complete duds. Why bother?
If we're talking about Robin Hood: Men in Tights, then you're right (fifteen to twenty is generous in that instance)...but in the case of Spaceballs, I wouldn't be so harsh. Just my opinion.

Oh, and by the way: you can add that Brooks quote to your signature and select it to specifically attach to that post everytime (rather than the random signature generator). Ah, the wonders of geekdom.



By the time Spaceballs comes along, Brooks doesn't adore or hardly even know the Star Wars films or understand their popularity. He's making a parody of something he doesn't even 'get', and certainly doesn't love in the first place. How could that possibly be any good. The answer is evident to me in Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead & Loving It: it can't.
I'd say you're mostly right, Holden, especially about Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, but I agree with Chris in that I don't think Spaceballs deserves to be grouped in with Men in Tights or Dead & Loving It. Both of the latter were horrible false steps, way above and beyond Spaceballs in sheer suckiness.

Brooks may not have fully understood the Star Wars films, but I think he did understand their "package." And that was pretty much what he was spoofing, so it works for me.

And I cannot believe you gave Life Stinks so high a rating. If any film deserved a rousing "F," it's that movie. Christ.



Good to know that you guys are posting on my threads. I thought this movie was great. Considering its pretty much the only star wars parody i have seen. I have seen his other movies and think they are great. Movies are made to be entertaining! Sure people have there own opinions but please. I personally like Men in Tights. I loved Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddle. History of the World was great to.
Mel Brooks is good at what he does. He makes movies to entertain people and make them laugh. Even if it is a slight chuckle.



Mel Brooks...

I thought he was a guy once! Shoot me dead!

(No, sriously, he is a man who knows his stuff)
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21st century digital boy
I dunno, maybe it isn't Mel Brooks' best movie, but it's a film I loved when it came out, and I still watch a lot more than I'll ever watch Phantom Menace or Attack of The Clones....
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I'm not old, you're just 12.
I totally disagree with that. I liked Spaceballs more than AOTC as well. AOTC was a GOOD movie, but not one of my favorites.
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I absolutely love SPACEBALLS and never tire of watching it. It is a dead on parody of STAR WARS that provided consistent laughs throughout. I thin Rick Moranis stole the movie as Dark Helmet.