My Top 5 Mel Brooks Movies

Yesterday, the American Film Institute (AFI) bestowed legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks, a true comic genius, with their highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement award. I adore his films and they never fail to cheer me up.  Brooks is one of only 11 people in the world who can claim the ownership of the prestigious EGOT (winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) awards which is oh, so coveted by many, many people including 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan.   It’s always a treat watching Brooks give interviews because nobody and I mean nobody tells a story quite like him.  Take a look:

This got me thinking about some of my favorite Mel Brooks films.  Here they are (in no particular order):

Young Frankenstein (1974): If you’ve never seen this film, then you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Gene Wilder plays the grandson of Frankenstein (“It’s Frankensteen”) who returns to the homestead with assistants Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Teri Garr) and eventually recreates the legendary monster (Peter Boyle).  A black and white satirical homage to the monster flicks of the 1930s, the film also features great supporting performances from Cloris Leachman (her character, Frau Blucher is a highlight), Madeline Kahn and Gene Hackman (if you can recognize him).  The film has so many indelible moments, Wilder and Boyle performing their unforgettable song and dance routine on stage to Frankenstein questioning Igor about which brain they used to my favorite scene featuring a revolving secret door. It has me in stitches every time.

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Spaceballs (1987): “May the Schwartz be with you.” If you know what these words mean, then congratulations, you are a Mel Brooks fan! This parody of Star Wars features memorable characters like Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), Barf (John Candy), Han Solo stand-in Lone Starr (Bill Pullman)and Pizza the Hutt, spaceships that go at ‘ludicrous speed’ and Mel Brooks himself in a double role as President Skroob and Yogurt (the gold-dusted version of Yoda).  It’s all silly fun but Rick Moranis’ Dark Helmet stands out for me from the scenes of him playing with his action figures or when he's trying to watch the film to figure out what’s going to happen next and always fidgeting with his humongous helmet.   

 

History Of The World Part 1(1981): Folks, here’s a spoiler alert for you. There is no Part 2.  However, that is no deterrent for you not enjoying this cracker of a film which takes us through the Stone Age, the Roman Empire to the Spanish Inquisition (which comes with its own musical number) and the French Revolution.  We are shown glimpses of other important events, for instance, there were initially 15 commandants until Moses broke the other tablet.  The film contains many hilarious exchanges and dialogues like my personal favorites, ‘It’s good to be the king,’ ‘Oh, you are nuts. N-V-T-S, nuts!,’ and ‘Say when,’ ‘8:30’.  History of the World Part 1 has all of Brooks’ regular collaborators like Kahn, Leachman, Dom DeLuise and even actors like Gregory Hines in a prominent role and Orson Welles narrating the film.

Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993): This spoof of previous Robin Hood features served as an introduction to Mel Brooks for me when I was in school and prodded me to go back and look up his filmography.  There was a time when my friends and I knew all the dialogues to this and I’m sure if I say something like, ‘I have a MOLE?’, they’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.  Robin Hood, played by Cary Elwes, ‘can speak with an English accent’ and the Merry Men are also rappers in tights (hence the title).  You can spy a young Dave Chappelle as Ahchoo and some hysterical turns by Roger Rees as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Tracey Ullman as Latrine whose scenes together made me laugh so hard I cried.  

      The Producers (1968) and The Producers (2005): In any incarnation, this story is still comedic gold.  A Broadway producer (Zero Mostel) and his accountant (Gene Wilder) make the worst show in the history of the world, a musical on Hitler called Springtime for Hitler, knowing full well it will fail spectacularly and then take all the money to the bank.  But how then do little old ladies, a Swedish secretary named Ulla and a German playwright obsessed with his pet pigeons have to do with the film? You’ll have to see it to believe it.  Younger audiences of course know of The Producers because of the very successful production on Broadway with Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock and Matthew Broderick as Leo Bloom which was later turned back into a movie.  Brace yourselves as you’re in for a crazy, funny and diabolical ride of a movie in which anything goes.

HONORABLE MENTION: 

To Be Or Not To Be (1983): I don’t know why, but I adore this color remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 classic To Be or Not to Be.  Mel Brooks plays Federick Bronski, Polish actor who along with his wife, Anna Bronski (the sublime Anne Bancroft, also Brooks’ wife in real life) perform their revue show during World War II until the Nazis descend on Warsaw and they have to ‘act’ their way out of a tough situation.  Bronski fancies himself quite the actor and includes Hamlet’s famous soliloquy with the famous line, ‘To be or not to be…’ which receives an unwelcome interruption by Tim Matheson each time he tries to perform. This was one of the few times that Brooks and Bancroft acted together onscreen.  Veteran actor Charles Durning even received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Colonel Erhardt.

 

Blast from the Past: Big's 25th Anniversary

It’s hard to believe that 25 years ago, today on June 3, 1988, a little movie called Big released that made everyone, kids and adult alike want throw away abandon and go crazy in a toy store. The film was star Tom Hanks' second big success and director Penny Marshall became the first female ever direct a movie that grossed more than $100 million at the box office. That actually was a Jeopardy question once, I recall.

Can you imagine that Robert De Niro was also offered the role? I can’t visualize anyone but Tom Hanks and his infectious smile in the role of Josh Baskin, a 12-year-old who, while visiting an amusement park, isn't tall enough for the ride. Who hasn't experienced that heartache in front of friends you want to impress?  Depressed, he makes a wish at magic machine named ‘Zoltar’ and utters the famous words, ‘I wish I was big!’

Suddenly, he's an adult who has to get a job (albeit the coolest one), an apartment and navigate the tricky business of having a co-worker (Elizabeth Perkins) who's interested in him.  I remember watching the film as a young child with my cousins (all teenagers) at home on a VCR (remember those things?) and being so glad to be allowed to hang out with them.  It's one of my earliest movie memories and I recall the scenes in grown up Josh's apartment quite clearly.

And of course, who can forget the famous scene in FAO Schwartz with Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks banging out a melody on that giant piano?  Visiting FAO Schwartz held a special memory for me after the film as well. The movie is extremely nostalgia and bittersweet for me to watch.

There was great talent behind the screen as well.  Big was written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, sister of Steven Spielberg and produced by James L. Brooks.  The film obviously cemented Penny Marshall's craft after a successful acting career.  Big even made it onto Broadway in 1996 and was even nominated for Tonys for its actors and choreographer Susan Stroman.

25 years! And still going strong... have a look at the trailer for Big.  What do you most like about the film?

Movie Review: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

The last time Ayan Mukerji and Ranbir Kapoor got together, they produced the real and extra likable Wake Up Sid (a very different Dharma Productions film).  I remember being very impressed by the pair of them back in 2009.  This time as they are back for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, the real is missing her but instead we have great leads and supporting players who deliver some great moments of friendship, laughter and good times.

Naina (Deepika Padukone) is the stereotypical straitlaced girl in most films who is scholarly when she wears glasses and sheds her inhibitions once the glasses are off.  Kabir aka Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) is her opposite, who loves to experience life and wants to explore the world.  She is happy with who she is, where she is.  Meanwhile Bunny can't stay in one place for too long and is always longing for more adventures.

Yet these two meet on a trek to Manali which Naina tags along at the last minute to experience some fun and spontaneity in her life.  Also on the trip are Aditi (Kalki Koechlin) and Avi (Aditya Roy Kapur) who along with Bunny are best friends. Along the way, hijinks ensue, songs are sung and Naina and Bunny begin their journey of falling in love.

But of course, they must part only to meet again and realize what they really want. This obstacle doesn't make that much sense and seems forced in the screenplay only to be solved quite neatly in a sequence set in a palace wedding in Udaipur.  No, really! This is a Dharma Productions film, what did you expect? The majority of the songs are extremely pleasing to the eyes and ears and only 'Dilliwaali Girlfriend' seemed unnecessary.

Ranbir and Deepika's chemistry is crackling and their moments onscreen are hilarious and very endearing.  Ranbir is super charming (sigh) and absolutely effortless in any kind of scene one can throw at him. You'd fall in love with him too.  Deepika surprised me.  She really has improved film to film.  Kalki Koechlin also seems quite different in the film and I especially enjoyed how real and gritty the friendships between Avi, Aditi and Bunny felt.

This is where the true strength of the film lies and not in the romance it's marketed to be.  All in all, it's an enjoyable trip to the cinema especially if you're a Ranbir Kapoor fan which I'm guessing many people are.

PS-Kunal Roy Kapur has a small role in the film but he totally shines every moment he's onscreen.

Directed by Ayan Mukerji; Screenplay by Ayan Mukerji; Cinematography by V. Manikandan; Editing by Akiv Ali; Music by Pritam

Additional cast: Farooque Sheikh, Dolly Ahluwalia, Poorna Jagannathan

Rating: (an extra gold DVD for Ranbir)

Movie Review: Side Effects

Side Effects is dark, twisty and completely mesmerizing.  There's never a dull moment in it.  Director Steven Soderbergh's last few films have been quite in form and it's hard to accept the fact that this film might very well be his last big screen movie.  He hasn't ruled out television (see Behind the Candelabra) so we still have hope.

As the film opens, we get closer and closer to a nondescript building as we enter the apartment of a young couple, Emily (Rooney Mara) and Martin (Channing Tatum), to immerse ourselves into their troubled lives.  We get information about their lives through them and well-meaning outsiders who just want the best for them.  Martin is recently released from prison for insider trading and trying to get his life together again.  His wife, we're told and shown, is depressed.

After a failed suicide attempt, Emily is advised by the hospital psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Jude Law) to come in for therapy and on some medication.  Still she remains melancholy and in a decision that comes back to haunt major characters later, gets prescribed to a new and powerful drug Ablixa.  And then Emily while sleepwalking, a side effect of the drug, kills Martin and goes back to sleep.

Here's where the story picks up as the case heads to trial and Dr. Banks gets his life thrown upside down and later does his best to regroup and get back together again.  Those closeup and random throwaway shots that we get a glimpse of early in the film gain greater meaning as more and more information is revealed. An early shot of Emily glancing at her distorted reflection in the mirror by the bar says so much on so many levels.

Soderbergh does well to reveal each piece of the puzzle to us.  The only time I felt he faltered was at the obligatory flashback at the end of the film.  He handles the actors deftly and draws a fascinating performance out of Rooney Mara. She never picks uninteresting roles.  But eventually Jude Law, as the bewildered doctor, Channing Tatum, as the clueless husband and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the former psychiatrist are basically in supporting players to Mara's Emily.

This film has many Hitchcockian elements, a man wrongly accused, a scary sequence with a knife and several moments where the characters withhold information again and again which might frustrate some.  But this is a good thing, trust me, it makes it far interesting for us, the audience.  It also works well as a dark commentary of the dangers of anti-depressants and the reliance on medication that we as a society now have.

Side Effects didn't do well in its theatrical run but I have a feeling it will do better in this word of mouth format as it makes the DVD rounds.  Do it give a chance, you'll definitely be rewarded with a layered, thrilling drama.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Screenplay by Scott Z. Burns, Cinematography by Peter Andrews (Steven Soderbergh); Editing by Mary Ann Bernard; Music by Thomas Newman

Additional cast: Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd

Rating: