@sukhisoo said:

@CelluloidFan said: Ha-ha. Sometimes Mel's just vulgar. From what I've seen, it's like there's a joke in each film to disturb me. Like "Pizza the Hutt" in Spaceballs, for example.

I remember watching that in the theater. When the stormtroopers (or whatever silly name they were called) were ordered to comb the desert, they used a giant comb. I groaned out loud at the bad pun. Then a black stormtrooper used humongous afro pick. I was like WTF???

Yeaaaah, I didn't care for Spaceballs. I liked the homage of Young Frankenstein, however.

I think the OP sums it up perfectly with the title, although I found the humour and pacing dipped significantly after about 40mins (the Gernan lady stage act). Overall it held up a fair bit better than The Producers in my opinion.

6/10

@Fergoose said:

I think the OP sums it up perfectly with the title, although I found the humour and pacing dipped significantly after about 40mins (the Gernan lady stage act). Overall it held up a fair bit better than The Producers in my opinion.

6/10

That character Lili Von Shtupp is a great parody of Marlene Dietrich, but if you aren't familiar with who that is or her song ("The Laziest Gal in Town" which the movie mocks as "I'm So Tired") then I can see how you wouldn't get the humor. Mel Brooks throws a lot of zingers which are throwbacks to classic vaudeville era songs & performers, and I bet a lot of that humor slips under the audience's radar. But if you catch the references it's like getting the inside jokes.

Other sneaky examples would be the line in Young Frankenstein "Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania station?" and the boy answers "Ya! Ya! Track Tventy Nine! Oh... you want a shine?" (all spoken in the rhythm of the lyrics "Pardon me boy, is that the Chatanooga Choo Choo? Yes Yes, Track Twenty Nine. Boy you can gimme a shine.")

I bet only 5% of the audience got that gag, or Lili Von Shtupp, or the entire Hollywood showtune spectacle at the end. As times move forward and audiences are even less in touch touch with early 20th century music & vaudeville, I'm sure that percentage will go down. In that respect it's a wonder that audiences get Mel Brooks at all these days, but something about his delivery makes things funny even if you aren't in on all the jokes. I'd like to think his movies will prove to be pretty timeless.