[Ninja Piper]

Quote:       Originally Posted by Cyrano

Wat a minute, Ninja Piper; Obama was in Spaceballs?

Where do you think they got the line?

[Ninja Piper]

Quote:       Originally Posted by thrillbilly

Mel Brooks is a genius...although I prefer "Blazing Saddles" to "Spaceballs". "where all the white women at?" YouTube - Blazing Saddles - KKK

Almost lost a $400 hand cart...

[ottawa rogue]

"somebody better go back and get a sh&tload of dimes"
that's my favorite mel brooks film, but i don't think he could get away with filming it today

[Cyrano]

Blazing Saddles is one of the funniest comedies ever filmed. No other movie has ever done such a delightful send-up of the Western genre. Mel Brooks' specialty is send-ups that pay tribute to their genres. But when it comes to Spaceballs, he never should have made the movie. If there was a Diamond Razzie for the worst movie ever made, Spaceballs would be a contender.

You see, you have to thoroughly understand a genre before you can make a loving parody of it. Brooks understands Westerns, horror movies, suspense and even to some degree action-adventure spy pictures of the James Bond/Flint/Jack Ryan type. But it is obvious he hasn't the first clue about science fiction. There has always been much more to the science fiction movie genre, from Jules Verne to the bug-eyed monster pictures of the 1950s, to exploratory/questioning films, to space opera, to first contact pictures, etc., than Brooks managed to capture.

He seems to think all science fiction is Star Wars, which it certainly is not. His parody of Lucas's space opera is neither clever nor good.Both Mad Magazine and the college students who did Hardware Wars as a student film project got it better than he did.

There is a reason Spaceballs was a box office flop: pure and simple, it stinks. It should not be mentioned in the same sentence as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Those are classics. Spaceballs is just cinematic garbage.

[Sandy Pockets]

Snotty beamed my twice last night.

[Big Dog]

The absolute BEST spoof of Star Wars I have seen is the one done on "Family Guy". Utterly hilarious, and the animation of the SW-specific stuff was superb!

[ottawa rogue]

y'know Cyrano, i don't know if he was parodying SF as a whole, i think he was going after the whole star wars thing, especially with the merchandising shot he took. men in tights was almost as bad, but not quite
I'll agree with you on Blazing Saddles, that was the film that introduced me to the warped genius that is Mel Brooks

[ottawa rogue]

you know that scene in young frankenstein wherre marty feldman shouts "Blucher!!" and the horses neigh in fear?
i finally figured out that joke thanks to a friend of my daughters who is from Germany.
Blucher literally translates as glue

[Cyrano]

Quote:       Originally Posted by ottawa rogue

you know that scene in young frankenstein wherre marty feldman shouts "Blucher!!" and the horses neigh in fear? i finally figured out that joke thanks to a friend of my daughters who is from Germany. Blucher literally translates as glue

NOW it makes sense! I thought the horses were just scared of Frau Blucher for some reason.

I think her best line in the movie was when she comes into the lab to find Inga and Victor in a warm sexual afterglow to tell the Herr Doktor his fiancee from America is about to arrive at the castle, and on her way out adds, "I suggest you put on a tie."

[Cyrano]

Quote:       Originally Posted by ottawa rogue

y'know Cyrano, i don't know if he was parodying SF as a whole, i think he was going after the whole star wars thing, especially with the merchandising shot he took. men in tights was almost as bad, but not quite I'll agree with you on Blazing Saddles, that was the film that introduced me to the warped genius that is Mel Brooks

Even if I accept your hypothesis, which I don't; Brooks himself claimed he was needling SF as a whole, it's still clear he did not understand the material or even the space opera genre. If you do not understand and love a genre or a movie, you cannot parody it effectively. Spaceballs is not even good parody. He had a similar problem with Dracula: Dead and Loving It. He didn't understand his material as well as he thought he did, and it shows.

Compare and contrast Spaceballs with the Mad Magazine parodies of Star Wars, and you will see what I mean. Mad got it. They did at least four parodies of the first two movies (New Hope and Empire), including a musical, and they are all funny; and this was before the first trilogy was even completed. I think Star Wars has the record for most parodies in Mad MAgazine, ahead even of Star Trek.

[ottawa rogue]

I didn't see that interview, looks like you're right then

don't feel bad about the blucher thing, i just found out about it last year.
Annika thought it was hilarious that i didn't know

[PAPA G]

I bet she gives good helmet

[big shrek]

Quote:       Originally Posted by PAPA G

I bet she gives good helmet

Good One

I'm gonna use that on the wife later...

although this will probably be the result