Writer: Robert Trachtenberg
Starring: Mel Brooks, Richard Benjamin, Andrew Bergman, Matthew Broderick, Michael Gruskoff, Buck Henry, Nathan Lane, Cloris Leachman, Barry Levinson, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Joan Rivers, Neil Simon, David Steinberg, Norman Steinberg, Susan Stroman, Tracey Ullman, Steven Weber
More info: IMDb
Plot: In 60-years in show business, he has earned more awards than any other living entertainer. A comedy giant of our time, Melvin Kaminsky developed his aggressively funny personality on the streets of Brooklyn, and the Catskill Mountains, before landing a writers job on the legendary "Your Show of Shows". The first "2000 Year Old Man" album, recorded with Carl Reiner in the early '60s, unleashed his wacky mind on the world. His brazen satirical film "The Producers" won the 1968 Oscar for best screenplay and such cult classics as "Blazing Saddles", "Young Frankenstein", and "High Anxiety" followed. Brooks has never participated in a biography before and requested that his friends not talk about him - until now - making this film a genuine first.
My rating: 9/10
Will I watch it again? YES!!!
I LOVE Mel Brooks. If all he ever made was BLAZING SADDLES (1974), he'd be remembered as a comedy genius but he also made THE PRODUCERS (1967), YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) among many other funny pictures but he was also a writer on Sid Caesar's TV shows in the 50s and GET SMART. Brooks was 88 at the time this was made and he's as spry as he was forty years ago. He's still a sharp as a tack and funny as shit. This near feature length documentary starts with Mel's birth and goes through his entire and remarkable career with current interviews (as well as vintage), loads of clips from shows and films he worked on and so much more. It's wonderful. The pacing is quick. I laughed and cried...but mostly laughed. Brooks is so delightful, he's contagious. He'll be 90 this June. I can't recommend this enough. It's currently on Netflix.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment