Tendo City

Eegad, the original Producers is hilarious. I highly recommend renting it. Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel have great chemistry, and are both really funny in it.

For those who don't know, the Producers is a story about a Broadway producer and his accountant who figure out a loop-hole in which if they raise enough money and produce a show that they know will flop, they can keep the millions for themselves. So they choose a play called "Springtime for Hitler", written by a crazy nazi in Manhattan, and assign a transsexual hack for a director and a bum burned out on LSD for the starring role. Hilarity ensues.

This is even consistently funnier than History of the World (Part 1), although the latter still has the winning scene of the Spanish Inquisition musical number (don't you love Mel Brooks?).

I've also seen the remake, which was released a couple years ago. The original is better all around, but the remake has Will Ferrell in one of his few good roles as the crazy nazi author, and unexpectedly delivers better than Kenneth Mars of the original. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are also shoe-ins for the leading roles.

Anyway. Go rent "The Producers". In the mean time, I'm gonna be watching Blazing Saddles, another Brooks movie that's supposed to be great. Is it me, or is his old stuff much better? Spaceballs was good, but it was also a bit of a turning point, and while Robin Hood: Men In Tights was pretty funny, it was also a little too corny.

Alright, alright, that's the last tangent. Thread, off.

Watch out! Here comes the master race!

Mel Brooks is great. I never did see the original Producers, but it is definitely on my list. Blazing Saddles is one of my favorite older comedies.

DMiller Wrote:Mel Brooks is great. I never did see the original Producers, but it is definitely on my list. Blazing Saddles is one of my favorite older comedies.

<i>THE SHERIFF IS NEAR!!</i>

Actually I kinda consider a lot of those old movies to be kinda.... lame myself. I don't know, obvious puns you can see coming a mile away don't do it for me. Parodies OF those obvious puns are where it's at now.

DJ is too cool to enjoy old things!

DJ: Old movies in general, or old Mel Brooks movies?

Lolita had some pretty funny parts in it, despite it being a drama. Peter Sellers was hilarious. I've heard that Dr. Strangelove is also a great old comedy, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

I guess mainly those Mel Brooks ones. I actually found Men in Tights funnier than that older stuff, except the rap and hip hop jokes...

Mel's older stuff is so much better than more recent ones like Men in Tights.

Oh, kids these days!

Anyone know if High Anxiety is good? I'm gonna try to download "Get Smart" episodes, because I heard it's hilarious.

Quote:except the rap and hip hop jokes...

What about "lend me your ears"?

Eh... I dunno, I try to watch something like History of the World and I just groan through every joke... I mean I'd try not to sound cliche but "lame" is just the way I see it. It's the only word that I would use to describe it.

Some like it better, for my part, I'll pass on the puns and sight gags. Seriously, that's the sort of thing Disney's current crop of cartoons do all the time. Why would I suddenly enjoy it just because it's old live action?

Now Ren and Stimpy, THAT'S comedy.

I think that comedy, like technology, improves as mankind advances. Everything from the 50's is undeveloped primordial soup of comedy, a template from which today's great works can emerge (and our lackluster cash-ins can stink up the joint, but it can't all be good). The future will probably look back on the things we laughed at as uncultered and silly, and they would be right to! I bet their laughs will be greatly advanced!

Have you seen Young Frankenstein?

I don't know if I'd liken History of the World moments to old Disney cartoons. Maybe parts like Dom DeLuise as a fat, over-indulged Caesar, but not much else. There are some corny gags, but others tend to win me over (the black prisoner trying to win over the guards, him catching the eye of the horny queen, her choosing her royal assistants to the orgy, etc.). It's uneven, but it's good enough, and I think hits home more frequently to me than Men in Tights.

Ninja edit: We can definitely agree on Ren & Stimpy. Nothing beats creepy and decrepit and long-winded old men.

Also the disturbing guy with the piece of chicken on his head.

Funny you should mention those very jokes, as I actually thought those were good examples of not funny myself.

I was actually likening it to NEW disney cartoons by the way :D.

SJ: ... Okay now you have to die.

DJ: Sorry, but I dunno, those jokes just didn't DO anything for me. Some parts I'm just left scratching my head wondering what the joke is even supposed to be. Like, the slave dancing for his freedom. Where was the joke? I mean he mentioned 125th street, is that from something?

Young Frankenstein is the best.

Okay, I'll give you Young Frankenstein. For the most part, that has genuine comedy (though it too has a few insufferably bad puns dotted throughout it, also that "hills are alive with the sound of music" thing was kinda stupid).

Oh, DJ.

Aaaand it starts. Thank you and good night.

haha

Oh, Deej.

Quote:I've heard that Dr. Strangelove is also a great old comedy, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

You should really watch it as soon as possible. Most of the comedy is due to the genius of Peter Sellers, but you've got to give props to Stanley Kubrick too. I mean, a comedy about global nuclear annihilation at the height of the Cold War? That's pure genius.

Quote:I think that comedy, like technology, improves as mankind advances. Everything from the 50's is undeveloped primordial soup of comedy, a template from which today's great works can emerge

And yet, what were some of the funniest shows that were on TV when we grew up? They were the great works of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Friz Freleng. Most of which were made from 1930 to 1960.

How about the Princess Bride? That's got some good stuff too.


"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

And though it's not Mel Brooks, anyone here seen Army of Darkness? also, good stuff.

Yes, yes I have.

Dr. Strangelove is great. I watched it (for the first time) a few months ago... great film. :)

Sacred Jellybean Wrote:I'm gonna try to download "Get Smart" episodes, because I heard it's hilarious.

Get Smart is great. I watched it on Nick at Night when I was younger and thought it was hilarious back then. My cousin brought over the DVD set last Christmas and I found it just as funny now. Don Adams has a very distinct voice that just adds to the humor. FYI, he was also the voice of Inspector Gadget, which is why I think I became interested in Get Smart when I was younger.

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air

High hats and narrow collars
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time

Now, if you're blue
And you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits...


...PUHDUN AHNA RIIIIIIIZZZZZZZZ!!!!!11

<img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tape_measure.png">

Ah, we may have all done this with a tape measure, trying to keep it stable while as extended as possible before it collapses. Oh sure you may have called it something else but it meant the same thing. You were bored.

Commentary on male potency, or our insatiable need to invent weird things we have to do in defiance of things around us, or just us trying to do crazy things for no good reason? Who says it just has to be one?

My opinion is in concordance with Dark Jaguar on this one.

It seems to me the only thing compelling people to laugh at the old classics like "Blazing Saddles" is because they're supposed to laugh at it.

Dr. Strangelove is a good film, but the comedy is far too antiquated for me to fully enjoy

By the way, the best version of The Producers starred Larry David.

Can't say I agree with any of that. I laugh at old movies because they're funny, not because I'm "supposed to".

It's not just old movies. I do laugh at some old movies. Usually those that rely on wit and intelligence for the comedy. Also, as far as spoof movies go, I thought that "Airplane!" (It was called Flying High down here) was very good.

Having said that, I haven't seen the original version of The Producers. Which could very well be good. The premise alone is, of course, brilliant.

Airplane! is a hilarious movie.

I liked Naked Gun better than Airplane.

I liked'em equally (actually, I saw Naked Gun 33 1/3, not the original). Airplane 2, on the other hand, is a forced and groan-worthy piece of crap.

Unfortunately, I saw Blazing Saddles and wasn't as impressed. It had some pretty good moments, but overall, the Producers was much better. I think my favorite part in it was when the new sheriff pointed a gun at himself and used himself as a hostage to get out of the angry mob of white people.

Airplane 2 was in space, which is high tech, thus it's funnier. That's how it works!