Rate the Mel Brooks Movies

[Flick James]

Instead of a poll, I thought it might be more interesting to rate his body of work, as I've seen every film he's ever made, and I imagine many members have seen a good number of them. Below is his entire list of films that he has directed/written, listed in order of my own preference from most to least favorite. I thought rating would be more fun than a poll because it's so difficult (for me at least) to pick two or three favorites when I love so many of them. I'm looking forward to responses. You can just leave out the ones you haven't seen.

1) Young Frankenstein (1974) - will always be my favorite, but there are so many that come very close
2) Blazing Saddles (1974) - will probably be number one for most
3) The Producers (1968) - This and the next two are more like a 3-way tie
4) High Anxiety (1977) - Great even if you're not a big Hitchcock fan, even better if you are
5) History of the World, Part 1 (1981) - So much variety in this one it's impossible to get bored
6) Silent Movie (1976) - Not his best known, but a great movie
7) Spaceballs (1987) - You can't go wrong with this classic
8) Life Stinks (1991) - Not his greatest, but I do like it better than the rest below
9) The Twelve Chairs (1970) - I have seen it, but it's been a while and I remember liking it, but don't remember enough to rate it higher
10) Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) - Now we start getting to the ones I'm not too fond of. A few good bits, but Mel is well past his prime on this one
11) Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) - Sorry, didn't care for this one. Probably seemed like a good idea Leslie Neilsen in a Mel Brooks movie, but ended up not working for me. But I still tip my cap to Mr. Brooks, always.

[JaseSF]

1) Young Frankenstein - great film, very funny. Great stuff from Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle.
2) High Anxiety- the Hitchcock parody. Lots of fun.
3) Blazing Saddles- really solid and frequently funny.
4) History of the World, Part 1 - some clever bits, some really funny.
5) Spaceballs - fun Star Wars parody. Gets perhaps a bit too silly at times.
6) Life Stinks - I enjoyed it much than I expected I would but was still slightly disappointed.
7) Robin Hood, Men in Tights - yeah can't recall much about this only I recall it being very silly but not that funny.

That's all I've seen so far.

[bob]

1 Blazing Saddles
2 Robin Hood: Men in Tights
3 Young Frankenstein
4 High Anxiety
5 Spaceballs
6 Dracula: Dead and Loving It
7 The Producers  - I hated this, I didn't laugh once

I haven't seen the rest.....yet

[Kaseykockroach]

Blazing Saddles
The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Silent Movie
High Anxiety
History of the World, Part 1
Spaceballs
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Dracula: Dead and Loving It

[Hammock Rider]

Blazing Saddles
History of the World, Part 1
Young Frankenstein
The Producers
Space Balls
Robin Hood Men in Tights
Life Stinks
That Dracula One

[Jack]

1)  Spaceballs - absolutely hilarious parody of Star Wars.
2)  Young Frankenstein - though it makes it impossible for me to take the original movies seriously now, this not only was quite funny but the characters were very engaging as well.
3)  Blazing Saddles - I can barely remember this one.  It started out funny but got old really quick.
LAST)  History of the World.  Watched as much as I could take, it was painfully un-funny to me.

[tracy]

The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Spaceballs
Robin Hood Men in Tights
High Anxiety
Silent Movie

[The Burgomaster]

Inoticed there's not much love in here for TO BE OR NOT TO BE, which got some critical acclaim and Oscar nominations.  I haven't seen it yet, but it's in my Netflix queue.

My favorites are YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and BLAZING SADDLES.  Most of his others are pretty interchangeable in 3rd place and beyond.

[voltron]

Not too familiar with Brooks' films, but Dracula...was quite painful. My girlfriend and I discussed walking out on it, but we stayed anyway. 

[Flick James]

Not too familiar with Brooks' films, but Dracula...was quite painful. My girlfriend and I discussed walking out on it, but we stayed anyway. 

Sorry to hear about that. Even if end up not liking Mel Brooks movies, that one is NOT an indicator of his body of work.

Do you like the old Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff kind of horror movies? If so, you should definitely check out Young Frankenstein. In my opinion, it is arguably the best horror spoof ever made.

[The Burgomaster]

Not too familiar with Brooks' films, but Dracula...was quite painful. My girlfriend and I discussed walking out on it, but we stayed anyway. 

Sorry to hear about that. Even if end up not liking Mel Brooks movies, that one is NOT an indicator of his body of work.

Do you like the old Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff kind of horror movies? If so, you should definitely check out Young Frankenstein. In my opinion, it is arguably the best horror spoof ever made.

I saw YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN about 3 or 4 times in the theater and numerous times since then.  I agree with you.  I cannot think of a better horror spoof.

[voltron]

Not too familiar with Brooks' films, but Dracula...was quite painful. My girlfriend and I discussed walking out on it, but we stayed anyway. 

Sorry to hear about that. Even if end up not liking Mel Brooks movies, that one is NOT an indicator of his body of work.

Do you like the old Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff kind of horror movies? If so, you should definitely check out Young Frankenstein. In my opinion, it is arguably the best horror spoof ever made.

I did see Spaceballs back in the day, ehhh...really didn't do too much for me even back then when I was an impressionable kid. I do enjoy the old Bela and Boris films so I will keep Young Frankenstein in mind, thx.

[Flick James]

Not too familiar with Brooks' films, but Dracula...was quite painful. My girlfriend and I discussed walking out on it, but we stayed anyway. 

Sorry to hear about that. Even if end up not liking Mel Brooks movies, that one is NOT an indicator of his body of work.

Do you like the old Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff kind of horror movies? If so, you should definitely check out Young Frankenstein. In my opinion, it is arguably the best horror spoof ever made.

I did see Spaceballs back in the day, ehhh...really didn't do too much for me even back then when I was an impressionable kid. I do enjoy the old Bela and Boris films so I will keep Young Frankenstein in mind, thx.

Perfectly fair. I like Spaceballs, but I realize that this was past Brooks' prime, and not in the same company as films like Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Slient Movie, or High Anxiety, the stuff he did in the 70s. Keep in mind that the talent he worked with in those films were of a much different caliber as well. I mean, Gean Wilder, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Richard Pryor, Dom Deluise, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Peter Boyle? Not that he didn't have some talented people in his later movies, but compared to the pool of talent he worked with in the 70's they're not even in the same league.

I'd say give Young Frankenstein a try and see where it goes.

[Rev. Powell]

I'd rank the ones I've seen this way:

EXCELLENT

1. The Producers
2. Young Frankenstein
3. Blazing Saddles

SPOTTY BUT GOOD

4. History of the World

OK

5. Spaceballs

REALLY, REALLY BAD

6. Robin Hood: Men in Tights

[66Crush]

Number One is always gonna be "Blazzing Saddles" I friggin' love that movie. It couldn't be made today without people calling it racist (even though it shows that racist are idiots). I think it's a great example of taking the most taboo subjects and just making them out and out hillarious! You gotta love that campfire scene. The whole cast is amazing and Mel Brooks really out did himself. "Young Frankenstein" is great too, but it ranks 2nd to "BS!"