Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
My son’s ongoing education
Last week we feted him with The Man With Two Brains; tonight, Young Frankenstein.
What’s next? He’s seen all the Python movies. And Dr. Strangelove. Blazing Saddles, perhaps, or a Pink Panther movie?
D.
I am going to hunt down a copy of the Rocky Horror Picture Show for my girls.
But is it the same movie without a bunch of stoned teens and tweens in the audience/in front of the screen?
No, it isn’t.
How about High Anxiety? Or… The Pecos Kid (isn’t that the one w/ Gene Wilder & Harrison Ford?)
Ooh… The Last Remake of Beau Geste? Or Zorro, the Gay Blade?
The Frisco Kid! That’s it!
C’mere little chicken, I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to make you kosher…
The Last Remake of Beau Geste!
Yes, yes. I haven’t seen that in years. I’d forgotten about it.
Oh, it’s been ages since I’ve seen The Last Remake of Beau Geste. And I do like Frisco Kid quite a bit, too.
I can’t make up my mind about High Anxiety. It had its moments, but I think Brooks missed a lot of opportunities for satire.
Because a lot of HA (and, well, Brooks in general) isn’t really satire – it’s homage, with Brooks’ envy/worship/admiration shining through. He wants to be Hitchcock, but at the same time recognizes that his (Brooks’) milieu is, well, the fart joke. In Yiddish.
I’ve never thought of it that way — I think you’ve nailed it.
I was going to suggest High Anxiety, too. How about Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo or Radio Days? Not the same kind of humour as Mel Brooks.
I’m afraid I only like the older, pre-pedophilia Allen. Sleeper, Annie Hall, Bananas. I got fed up with him after a while — I think Manhattan was the turning point for me.