I preferred Broadcast News, although technically that was the product of yet another Brooks (James L., in this case).
Anyway, I’m not sure exactly why I didn’t like it. I like Albert Brooks, and I like Julie Hagerty, but their characters were repellent. Nothing stuck out as particularly amusing, apparently, in that I can’t remember anything about the film except a vague sense of ennui.
In short, Vacation is still the best road trip of the 80s, and if I had to choose an actual Albert Brooks film, I’d go with Defending Your Life.
And Blazing Saddles is amazing. Nothing against Young Frankenstein, but it just doesn’t have the same zip. Or Count Basie.
In closing, someone ought to create another poll: Mel Brooks, Albert Brooks, or James L. Brooks?
Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are his two most popular movies. They were going to corner most of the votes no matter how you sliced it. But we do get a better idea of how the other Brooks films are viewed with a little more choice than just Spaceballs and HotW,p1.
Setting aside my bizarre nostalgia for History of the World, I’d have to say that Blazzing Saddles is my favorite. It’s not his best film (though it’s up there), but it’s definitely my favorite.
Huh. I was wondering how To Be or Not to Be didn’t make it onto the list, and I surmised (correctly) that maybe he didn’t direct it. Never realized that before.
I wouldn’t have voted for it (it’s a solid middle among his films) but it was odd seeing it omitted, though now I understand.
Edit: An interesting method for a forum poll would be one that has you rank the choices vs. each other and weights the result accordingly. 1 vote for Silent Movie vs. 0 for Dracula: Dead and Loving It doesn’t quite convey the gulf.
Rank them in order of preference, or rate them from 1-5/1-10, etc. It gives us a better overall idea, but then, you could just look them up on Rotten Tomatoes or some such movie ranking site. I didn’t list these even though I looked them up just for my own edification, mostly so it wouldn’t influence people, but since this has run a while:
Ranked by the critics (“Tomatometer”, fresh vs. rotten)
Young Frankenstein: 94
The Producers: 93
The Twelve Chairs: 92
Blazing Saddles: 89
Silent Movie: 89
High Anxiety: 74
History of the World, Part 1: 62
Spaceballs: 54
Robin Hood: Men in Tights: 48
Life Stinks: 20
Dracula: Dead and Loving It: 9
Ranked by Audiences
Young Frankenstein: 91
Blazing Saddles: 89
The Producers: 82
History of the World, Part 1: 80
Spaceballs: 80
Robin Hood: Men in Tights: 79
High Anxiety: 66
Silent Movie: 65
The Twelve Chairs: 62
Dracula: Dead and Loving It: 52
Life Stinks: 44
Blazing Saddles was genius and great at showing the hypocrisy and bigotry in current America - but in a gentle and hilarious way. That movie should be mandatory viewing for eveyone in this country.
