Mel Brooks

Daily writing prompt

What are your top ten favorite movies?

The title pretty much gives it away. And depending on how you like Mel Brooks, I can tell whether you see me as a sort of low-brow slapstick type or a provocateur of subtlety. In the case of the first case, I have such a deal for you! We are producing this show and selling shares in the profits. I assure you it ain’t no amateur show! (The Producers)

Now, for you folks in the second case, welcome to my castle, and no, Igor’s hump did not just change sides. What hump? (Young Frankenstein)

My all-time favorite Mel Brooks film has to be Blazing Saddles. It was my entry point into the works of Mr. Brooks, and periodically, I need to revisit it. It’s not so subtle distortions of Frontier American life seem more realistic every year though. Gabby Johnson, the Town of Rock Ridge’s querulous drunk, is even enjoying a new political career in Washington. And Hedley Lamar’s thug army has indeed enlisted KKK and Nazi members.

Recalling the end of the movie, where the hero, Bart, and the Waco Kid, ride away in a limo, has seemed a better and better prospect every year. They were just heading nowhere in particular. That sounds pretty good to me.

****OK, not everyone is familiar with Blazing Saddles. But I assure you that I am not alone in appreciating this film. So, for you who are not here, here is a link to the Wikipedia page on it. No need to sit in splendid solitude while the rest of us laugh our idiot heads off:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazing_Saddles