Mel Brooks turns 100: a look back at the career of a parody legend

From The Producers to Frankenstein Junior, including The Sheriff is in Jail and The Mad Space Story, the filmmaker revolutionized American comedy with his irreverent humor and his parodies. A look back at a cult career.

“Comedy is the opposite of death” he likes to repeat. Like a mantra that guided his life and that sums up Mel Brooks and his work better than any speech.

Born June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn – just a few days after Marilyn Monroe – the future filmmaker first learned the drums from the legendary Buddy Rich before seeing his youth turned upside down by the Second World War. Enlisted in the American army, he participated in the Battle of the Ardennes. An experience which will undoubtedly explain his obsession with ridiculing death – and the Nazis – throughout his career. Mel Brooks celebrates his centenary today. Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony in his pocket, the author, director and actor has built a unique career, spanning a century of popular culture with parodies and irreverent humor.

His television debut

It is on the small screen that he will sharpen his pen. Before the cinema, the young Mel Brooks launched his career as a screenwriter in 1949 with The Admiral Broadway Revuethe first major musical revue on American television, broadcast on NBC. Alongside legends of the small screen like Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, the budding author learns the art of rhythm and gags. A comedy school that will serve him all his life.

The Producers (The Producers, 1967)

It’s difficult to make a more sensational entrance to the cinema. For his first film, Mel Brooks imagines two Broadway producers – played by Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder – who deliberately put on a catastrophic musical comedy called Hitler’s Spring in order to embezzle money. First feature film and first stroke of genius. A total provocation for the time. The film shocks, divides, but announces the end of polite cinema of the 1960s. Brooks wins the Oscar for best original screenplay and imposes his style: absurd, irreverent humor without any taboo.

The Sheriff is in jail (Blazing Saddles, 1974) and Frankenstein Junior (Young Frankenstein, 1974)

A few years later, he returned with a western parody, a fierce satire of racism: the film tells of the arrival of a black sheriff in a small western town. Classified as the funniest film of all time by the American Film Institute, has certainly shaken up all the norms and broken all the rules of American comedies of all time, its crazy farce with Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn, dynamites all the codes of the genre and makes fun of stupidity and prejudice. Behind the dirty jokes and absurd gags hides a harsh criticism of America. A huge success at the box office, the film was followed a few months later by a fake black and white horror film, which also became an absolute classic: Gene Wilder plays the grandson of the famous Doctor Frankenstein, determined to prove that he has nothing in common with his ancestor before also succumbing to the monstrous creation. A loving tribute to the fantasy films of the 1930s, Frankenstein Junior connects cult lines and unforgettable gags, from the neighing of horses to the musical number Puttin’ on the Ritz. The screenplay, co-written by Brooks and Wilder, was nominated for an Oscar.

The Great Thrill (High Anxiety, 1977)

After westerns and horror films, Mel Brooks is tackling another monument: Alfred Hitchcock. In front of his camera, he plays a psychiatrist accused of murder who suffers… from vertigo. The film multiplies the nods to Psychosis, The Birds, Cold sweats or even Rebeccawith a formidable sense of parody. Less popular than his previous films, this comedy nevertheless remains one of his most refined. Hitchcock himself loved it and sent the director a case of wine accompanied by a note: “A little testimony of my pleasure. Don’t worry.”

The Mad History of Space (Spaceballs, 1987)

This time, it’s space opera that’s in its clutches! Four years later Return of the JediMel Brooks laughs at the madness Star Wars. Initially a modest success in theaters, the film became a phenomenon thanks to VHS and established itself as a classic for an entire generation. Rick Moranis is irresistible as Dark Helmet, a miniature version of Darth Vader, while John Candy, Bill Pullman and Joan Rivers complete this gallery of absurd characters. Brooks himself plays President Skroob and Wise Man Yogurt. The comedy has become so cult that a sequel, entitled Spaceballs: The New Oneis expected next year with… Mel Brooks back in front of the camera, at over 100 years old.

The 1990s and the time of obsolescence

After a triumphant 1980s, Mel Brooks began the 1990s with more modest successes. His irreverent humor remains intact, but the audience has changed and the Brooks-style parodies seem less in tune with the times. However, the filmmaker continues to have fun by twisting the great myths of cinema and literature.

Sacred Robin Hood (Robin Hood: Men in Tights, 1993)

In the wake of Robin Hood, prince of thieves with Kevin Costner, the director draws his own crazy version. Cary Elwes plays a Robin Hood as clumsy as he is endearing, surrounded by a gallery of totally crazy characters. The film multiplies absurd gags, anachronisms and nods to Hollywood. Without reaching the cult status of his 1970s masterpieces, this comedy has become over the years a video club classic for an entire generation.

Dracula, dead and happy to be (Dracula: Dead and Loving It1995)

Two years later, Mel Brooks tackles vampire films and finds the hero of the saga Is there a cop…?Leslie Nielsen, as Count Dracula. The filmmaker parodies Bram Stoker’s novel as much as the gothic adaptations of Hammer and the Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola. Despite some hilarious sequences and a freewheeling Nielsen rating, the film was freshly received by critics and marked the end of Mel Brooks’ career as a director in the cinema. An outing in the form of a swan song for the master of parody.