"Mel Brooks Strikes Again, aka The Return of SPACEBALLS!" Topic

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May the Schwartz be with you!

That's amazing news.

I'll believe it when I see it in theaters. He's been hinting at a sequel for about 38 years…

Time to dig out the major helmet!
Opps I mean Dark Helmet.

I'll pass. Brooks did an amazing job with The Producers, but otherwise he has the humor of a badly brought up 12 year old. (Clearly mine is a minority opinion. Or there are a lot of people stuck at his level--but maybe that's the same thing.)

I just hope Mel has enuf of da Schwartz left to out longevity his way to the release date.

Looking forward to this one. Who's playing John Candy's MOG?

I'm with you Robert. After parting ways with Gene Wilder, the best that Brooks can do on his own is skit comedy and slapstick. Some fun scenes, but not a good movie.

Wilder was never credited with helping on the script for The Producers, but he must have had a lot of influence. As a team, they worked great on Young Frankenstein, and then again with Richard Prior on Blazing Saddles.

"Richard Prior on Blazing Saddles."

You mean Cleavon Little.
Richard Prior was supposed to play the sheriff but was in his heavy drug use stage of his life.

Richard Prior was on the writing team, but the studio insisted he not be cast in the part. The script is as brilliant as it is thanks to his contribuitons.

And Cleavon Little did a bang-up job in the role, possibly even an improved performance than Prior would have done.

Mel knows his audience.
But he also gets people to laugh at things that are serious, but still get them to rethink why these things are serious.

And it's a mistake to think that all of his humor is juvenile. A lot of it is based on allusion, parody, social beliefs, cultural foibles, and poking fun at pretentiousness. Consider the Roman Philosopher scene in History of the World (Part One)— is it crude language? Yes. But does it mock modern society, government and intellectual superiority? Yes. And is it funny? Absolutely.
Mel Brooks loves to go for the bizarre twist, and when he mocks something he does it often with a gentle humor— again, History of the World (Part One)— The Fifteen Commandments, the waiter at the Last Supper… hilarious.
And the stage musical of The Producers? Terrific (we got to see it on tour). You haven't laughed (and been embarrassed to do so) so much as at the Dancing Walkers sequence for the song "Along Came Bialy."

The man did a lot of movies beyond The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.
Silent Movie
High Anxiety
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
The Critic (animated short)
To Be or Not to Be (remake, but with Brooks's own twists).

And yes, his collaborations with Wilder were amazing, but I don't think it's fair to say he's lesser without him, or that he didn't have his own sense of originality.

And while Spaceballs may have the humor of a 12-year-old in it, one might consider that the Star Wars trilogy it mocks already has the 12-year-old as its perfect-fit audience (waves hand). By the time Spaceballs came out, that original 12-year-old was 22 (waves hand), so it wasn't as quite on target as it could have been. But it's got some good bits, and the funniest parts aren't actually crude— "They've gone plaid!" "Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em." "I'm my own best friend." "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate!" "Funny. She doesn't look Druish." And of course Yogurt's merchandizing bit.
Most of which humor would be lost on a 12-year-old (waves hand, probably). Even the crude bits are probably lost on a 12-year-old (a 15-year-old would get those jokes— waves hand in complete honesty).
It's a movie that's better than it deserves to be, but admittedly probably worse than it should have been.
In any case, nobody could do worse than Disney has done to Star Wars. They deserve the slam.

But it does seem that while Mel Brooks is along for the ride (and of course has to give his blessing and I suspect his opinion will get a lot of attention), he's not the writer, director, or producer this go around. That could be good, that could be bad. We'll just have to see.

If he makes you happy, Parz, go for it. If you're planning to lacture me until I agree share your taste, bring popcorn.

No, not at all. Just examining Mel Brooks's movies. I'm not wild about the cruder jokes, but one could say the same about Chaucer.

Enjoy what you enjoy. I just know that this film has got to be more fun than the Disney disasters. They deserve whatever mockery it brings!

When it comes to parody of SF, I'm more of a Galaxy Quest man myself— or Hitchhiker's Guide (the novels; the shows and films less so). But Brooks is always good for a laugh or two.