To Be or Not to Be (1983)

“If we don't make it through this, I forgive you for whatever happened between you and Lt. Sobinsky... but if we do, you're in a lot of trouble!”

            This version of To Be or Not to Be follows the same lines as the original with Carole Lombard and Jack Benny from 1940. Of course this being a Mel Brooks movie it is ten times sillier and crazy.

            Everything is pretty much the same as the original except Mel Brooks plays Fredrick Bronski instead of Josef Tura and Anne Bancroft plays Anna Bronski instead of Maria Tura. Fredrick is the “world famous actor in Poland.” Both actor and actress have egos too big for their head. Anna has an admirer in the audience named Lt. Andre Sobinski (Tim Matheson). She tells her male dresser Sasha to have him come back as Fredrick does his Hamlet scene. As soon as Fredrick starts Andre gets up. Fredrick is insulted and horrified that someone would dare get up in the middle of his scene but at the same time he gives one of his best performances.

            Andre just gushes over Anna when he meets her. He tells her how he enjoys flying planes. Of course it is a sexual joke and both Anna and Sasha are on the edge of their seats listening. Anna wants him to come back the following night but Andre tells her he has been called away to fly to England. While in England a man named Professor Siletski (Jose Ferrer) asks the soldiers if they have anything they want to send to their loved ones since he is returning to Poland. Andre gives the message “To be or not to be” to Siletski to give to Anna.

            That night Andre has parachuted into Poland to try to find Siletski before the professor can give a book of names to the Nazis. He finds Anna but is exhausted and she puts him in her bed.  Not long after she puts Andre to bed Anna is taken away by the Gestapo to see Siletski. The professor has turned against his people and is now working for the Nazis. He asks Anna what the message means if it is a coded message. She tells him it is a coded message from a young man and explains about Andre and her husband’s Hamlet scene. While Anna is away Fredrick comes back to find Andre in his bed. He says “to be or not to be” and Andre gets up in his sleep.

            Andre. Anna, Fredrick, and the theater troupe are able to hilariously fool the Nazis and escape to England.

            I cannot even begin to say how much I adore Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. I was just in awe of Bancroft she was such an amazing actress. I loved how with some of her lines she said them as if she was actually the character and totally believed in them. Even in her fifties by this time Bancroft looked beautiful and stunning I could not take my eyes off of her whenever she was in a scene. Brooks was a panic as always. One of the things I admire about him is how he made fun of the Jews so much and so mercilessly and he was Jewish himself. He did it tastefully though he never went over the top. Brooks and Bancroft were completely opposite from one another but they made an absolutely adorable couple. You can see right from the beginning how much they loved each other. This was the best story for the two of them to do together. I can imagine Jack Benny and Carole Lombard being happy with Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft recreating their famous movie roles.

            This version of To Be or Not to Be is much different from the original. Yes there are some scenes and lines that were verbatim from the original but they were all made and delivered in the style of their modern director and perfectly casted actors. It screams and shouts that it is a Mel Brooks film right from the beginning. Mel Brooks never remade films he always lovingly and tastefully parodied the films he loved himself. That is no different than with this movie, it is a tribute to one of the funniest classic comedy films ever made and a tribute to its fantastic director and starring actors. You will be laughing and having such a great time watching this movie. To Be or Not to Be needs to be seen by everyone who enjoys comedy films and Mel Brooks films.

 

High Anxiety (1977)

“Working? Hmm, working. Working is a big word. I'm a consultant. It's a fancy title for a part-time job.”

Usually when people “pay tribute” to the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock they try to mimic his filming style, his types of anti-heroes, his villains, his seductive blondes, etc, etc. I find they wind up sucking because the people who “pay tribute” try too hard one person that got a Hitchcock tribute right was Mel Brooks in his hilarious take on several of the director’s best films in his movie High Anxiety.

            The movie takes its main plot from Spellbound and Vertigo. Brooks plays Dr. Richard h. Thorndyke. He is assigned as the new head for the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous. He himself is a very, very nervous man he suffers from high anxiety. Dr. Thorndyke tries not to let it become known but an old professor of his lets it slip to Dr. Montague (Harvey Korman) who is insanely jealous that he was passed up for the job.

            Just like in every Hitchcock film Montague plans to destroy Thorndyke by making it seem like he committed a crime. Of course Thorndyke is innocent of the crime so he has to flee and stay one step ahead of everyone. And also of course there is a “seductive” (I say this quotation only because it is a hysterical seduction) blonde named Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn). She needs Thorndyke’s help to rescue her father from the Institute.

            I cannot even go into detail without giving away so many funny moments.

            Like a lot of Mel Brooks’ films his cast is incredible. Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman steal the whole movie they are so hysterical together. Leachman plays the creepy Nurse Diesel who likes to play rough bondage games with Dr. Montague (that is all that I will say about that!). Madeline Kahn was as always brilliant she was so funny. I loved how they stuck her in a blonde wig and made her the typical Hitchcock blonde. If you do not know that Hitchcock loved his blondes than you would be missing out on a great joke. I found it so odd with Kahn and Books paired up as the love interest because I see it as Mel Brooks was her boss since he directed her in a few of his films so the ending is always a bit weird for me.

            What makes Brooks’ Hitchcock tribute so great is that he made the tribute fun. Right at the beginning he literally lets the viewer know that the movie is a tribute to the Master of Suspense so we know that he will be taking from the great director’s films. I remember when I first watched High Anxiety a few years ago I did not get the jokes or really know what he was referencing but now that I do know the references I find Brooks to be a total genius and the movie one of his best. Right away we know that his main references are Spellbound and Vertigo then he throws in the shower scene from Psycho, mentions North By Northwest (“Meet in the north by northwest corner.”), and even has birds poop on him.

              Even the music is dramatic like a Hitchcock film. I cracked up with the running joke that every time the music got dramatic the characters looked up or made a comment on it. When Thorndyke comes out of the airport he comments "What a dramatic airport" because the music kicked in and shots were filmed to be dramatically funny. 

            Mel Brooks is just awesome. I find him to be a total genius in whatever he does. This is what real spoof movies are supposed to be like they are meant to be funny but respectable to what is being spoofed. You can tell just by watching High Anxiety that Brooks great respected and admired Hitchcock. I am biased in my opinion but absolutely see High Anxiety especially if you are big Alfred Hitchcock fan.

History of the World: Part 1



“Oh, you are nuts. N-V-T-S, nuts!”

Mel Brooks is the undisputed master of spoof movies. The man just knew how to make excellent comedy. History of the World Pt.1 clearly shows how the man is a true master of comedy. Brooks wrote, produced, directed, and played five different parts in this movie. He takes us through history from the dawn of early man to the cavemen and Vikings, through the Roman Empire to the Inquisition right to the French Revolution.

            My favorite parts of the movie are the Roman Empire and the French Revolution. But before these there are two good scenes. One scene is in the cavemen sequence. Orson Welles narrates the beginning and in the cavemen sequence he says “And of course, with the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth… the critic” and a caveman comes and pees in the wall painting haha. I am currently an Art History major and I love that joke because who is to say what is art and what is not. The other scene is Mel Brooks as Moses and God handing him the Commandments. Brooks comes out as Moses and says “The Lord, the Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen... [drops a tablet] Oy! Ten! Ten Commandments for all to obey!”

            The Roman Empire part is hilarious it contains some of my most favorite movies scenes. There are little jokes here and there like in all of Brooks’ movies to listen for and a lot of them are completely hysterical. The reason I find these part so funny is because of Madeline Kahn as the Empress Nympho. I cry laughing at the scene when she is being taken around town on her bed and she tells the soldiers carrying her “Could you please step on the same foot at the same time! My tits are falling off!” haha. Her character is looking for love and she saves Josephus a black slave excellently played by Gregory Hines. I also cry laughing with the scene when Empress Nympho has to pick a date for the midnight orgy and has the soldiers do a quick time march! Dom DeLuise is a panic as Emperor Nero especially when he pulls things out of his rear end and says “Wash this!” There are so many great scenes in the Roman Empire part that will have you rolling on the floor laughing.

                              

  

 

            The French Revolution part is so wrong yet so good in so many ways. Harvey Korman plays Count de Monet and is constantly telling people that his name is not “count de money.” Mel Brooks as King Louis XVI proclaims “It’s good to be the King” whenever he comes across a pretty lady. Cloris Leachman is so hysterical (what I find so funny about her as an actress is she started out as a serious actress and over her many years of acting just became a comedic actress. She was in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and I could not believe it was her acting in a serious role!). She plays an old French lady leading a group of rebellious people named Madame Defarge. She says “We are so poor we don’t even have our own language just this stupid accent” and someone in the crowd says “We all sound like Maurice Chevailer.”

                                 

            There are so many things in History of the World that only Mel Brooks can get away with such as singing about The Inquisition and executing Jews while he is a Jew himself. No one has ever been able to make a half as decent a spoof movie as Mel Brooks made. Today we have those God awful spoof movies like Meet the Spartans or Epic Movie or Vampires Suck. Those come nowhere near as being spoof movies in any sense they are just annoying. What Brooks does is he takes some points of history or westerns (Blazzing Saddles) or movies (High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein) and respectfully makes them funny. His subtle humor is the best and it’s a shame that no one today wants to see that humor, nowadays is just thrown in our face. Like all of Brooks’ movies, History of the World Pt. 1 is smart and hilarious without going over the top.

            It should be warned that Brooks is what I like to call an equal opportunity offender. But then again if you did not have a sense of humor you would not be watching anything Mel Brooks.