Posted on 05/09/2014 7:05:49 AM PDT by rktman
There are plenty of lousy film comedies, but there are only two that I outright hate: "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." Both were released in 2006 when Hollywood's fury against George W. Bush had reached its peak, and both let the voters who re-elected him in 2004 have it with both barrels.
On its face you would think that Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" chose the exact same targets (rural Red Staters) to humiliate, but he didn't. With his masterpiece (that has just been released as a special 40th anniversary edition Bluray), Brooks managed to craft a hilarious comedy with a social message, and do it without coming off as a cold, mean-spirited Hollywood snob.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I met Cleavon on a number of occasion one of the nicest and humblest kinda guy ever, yes 53 far too young
This is why my husband and I have at least 500 movies on dvd. We fear the coming censorship.
Oy! The rumors I could tell you about Dom! Still, he was very funny and wrote some really good cookbooks, lol.
LOL!! I love that line.
I agree. I am always amazed when someone goes on and on about the “genius” of Mel Brooks’ facile, forced humor.
I see what you did there.
"Ditto?! Ditto, you provincial putz?!"
Love at First Bite is another hillarious, politically incorrect movie that you’d better grab.
Howard Johnson's 1 Flavor.
And then there's the church hymn...."There's no avoiding this conclusion.....our town is turning into......"
Agree that “Airplane” is one of the funniest movies ever.
Lighten up, Francis.
My very favorite movie.....I have my DVD and watch it every so often. The first time we ever showed it to our kids (they were adults by then) their jaws hit the floor but they all belly laughed through the entire movie. ‘Where da white wimmen at?’
I got a bootleg copy of Song of the South from an online source. (British or French version of it?) It also included an un-PC short that was actually made by Warner Bros, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs.
I have a book called Jim Korkis that mentions the SOTS controversy among other “Disney Secrets” (Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?) The foreward is written by Disney black animator Floyd Norman (who has spoken at a cartoon convention I go to) who doesn’t agree with all the fuss.
And of course Saturday Night Live’s cartoon feature, Sat Funhouse, did a “Disney’s Vault” bit that poked fun at the
conception that Walt was racist. It has Uncle Remus singing, “Zip a Dee Doo Dah, zip a dee ay. Negroes are inferior in every way.” It was making fun of the controversy (”Family Guy” also poked fun at the rumors of Walt being anti-Semitic in the “Road to the Multiverse” episode where Brian and Stewie land in a world where “everything is drawn by Disney”).
Brooks originally wanted Richard to play the Sheriff, but I don’t think it would have worked. Clevon was a much better choice, he was more of a classically-trained actor than a comedic actor, but that’s what made it work.
I saw this in the theater in February, 1974.
Two hours of non-stop laughing—so much you could hardly catch your breath.
It was the time of long gas lines, a cold winter, Watergate, pessism all around.
But for those two hours, all of that was forgotten.
I still laugh 40 years later at lines I can see coming a mile away....
I see what you did there.
****
Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.
We have a lot of old movies, too, but I’ve also started to collect TV westerns on DVD. The heroes were always strong, intelligent, and good with a gun - which is usually how they saved the day. (My favorite is “The Texan” with Rory Calhoun.) I reckon liberals will censor these old TV shows one day. Can’t have youngsters getting the notion that guns are good for keeping law and order.
Speaking of SNL, they did a “Mr. Mike” version of Uncle Remus....
Mr. Mike: [ outside ] I’ll just be a minute, driver.. [ hear door close, as he enters the log cabin ] Hey, Uncle Remus, how are you? Good to see you.
Uncle Remus: I’se mighty hpapy to make yo’ acquaintance, Mr. Mike. Y’all come in an’ make yo’self to home.
Mr. Mike: Here? Not likely. [ sits down ] Listen, I just dropped by to tell you one of my Least-Loved Bedtime Tales. It’s about your old buddy, Brer Rabbit.
Uncle Remus: Brer Rabbit? Why, ah loves dat floppy-eared rascal, Mr. Mike! An’ if ah knows Brer Rabbit, he’s a-cookin’ up some devilment, ain’t he?
Mr. Mike: He sure is, Uncle Remus. He’s off to trick somebody out of their chickens or something - God knows what - going down the road, hppity-hoppity, hippity-hoppity..
Uncle Remus: An’, an’ den he sees dis here Tarbaby, right, Mr. Mike? An’ Brer Rabbit, dat ole scalywag.. he done up an’ wallop him one an’ gits hisself all stuck in de tar, an’ den..
Mr. Mike: Excuse me. Excuse me, Uncle Remus. There is no Tarbaby. In my story, the Tarbaby was used to repair a pothole. No, you see, Brer Rabbit is going down the road, hippity-hoppity, hippity-hoppity, when he’s caught by Brer Fox and Brer Bear.
Uncle Remus: Oh, ah knows, Mr. Mike. An’ den they threaten to skin him alive but dat ole crafty rabbit, he say: “Skin me alive; do anything you want, but don’t throw me in de briar patch!” So dey throws him in de briar patch an’ he gits away! [ laughs ]
Mr. Mike: No, not quite, Uncle Remus. In my story, they respect his wishes and skin him alive. I mean, it’s all very amusing to talk about being skinned alive in some children’s book, but can you imagine it actually going down? Toward the end, when they were cutting the ears away from the side of the skull, he was screaming: “Throw me in the briar patchl throw me in the molten glass furnace; anything but this!”
Uncle Remus: Oh, dat’s just terrible, Mr. Mike. An’ den what happen?
Mr. Mike: He died and they ate him.
Uncle Remus: Dey ate Brer Rabbit?!! Oh, Lawdy!
Mr. Mike: Yeah, and sold his feet for lucky charms. The end.
Uncle Remus: “De end?!” But, but, Mr. Mike, what am de moral of your fable?
Mr. Mike: There’s no moral, Uncle Remus, just random acts of meaningless violence.
Uncle Remus: Ah doan think I likes dat. Ah doan thinks ah likes dat one bit.
Mr. Mike: [ getting up to leave ] Oh, by the way, I found this dead bluebird outside your shack. [ holds up bloody and decomposed dead bluebird ]
Uncle Remus: Why, Mr. Mike, it’s de bluebird of happiness!
Mr. Mike: Yeah, and from the looks of it, it’s been there two or three weeks. Put that on your shoulder, pal. [ puts dead bluebird on Uncle Remus’ shoulder, then exits the log cabin. Hear sound of car door opening. ] Regine’s, and step on it.
[ hear door closing and car driving away, as Uncle Remus stares despondently at the bluebird ]
[ Music Out: “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” ]
[ fade ]
“We’ve got to get all these people to the hospital.”
“The hospital? What is it?”
“It’s a big building full of patients.”
One of the Zucker Bros who did that also did An American Carol, a conservative leaning film inspired by A Christmas Carol. Pretty good, though critics of course hated it for daring to poke fun at the Left.
One bit had inept terrorists; another showed what would have happened if the Civil War hadn’t been fought (blacks still slaves—Gary Coleman was seen polishing “Michael Malone’s” car. One deleted bit had him tossing the sponge to another slave: “Yo, Barack! Catch!” ) “1968” was a musical number about professors stuck in the glory days of campus protestors.
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