Blazing Saddles vs Young Frankenstein

Pretty sure you snobs on ILX will vote Young Frankenstein

It's a better film but not as funny

gabbsnob

I'm hopeful for the correct result, yes

DM has set the poll up, now ILXors go do that voodoo that you do so WEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

it's Blazing Saddles in terms of laughs per second which is all i care about

it's not all i care about but i've gotta go

it's Blazing Saddles full stop

I did get a copy of BS for the tp, the kids watched it and enjoyed it very much.

YF would be a good 'next one', it does have more in common with the orig WWonka film sez me.

"Have you ever seen such cruelty?"

Frankenstein is both better AND funnier than Saddles.

History of the World, Part One and Silent Movie are funnier than either, tho.

Former is debatable, latter is horseshit

Former post and latter post that is. I like "Silent Movie" but "History of the World, Part One" is pretty bad.

oh, Eric

YF

It is, but it's also funny.

Funny is not debatable. Luckily, in the case of Frankenstein vs. Saddles, both quality and funniness favor the former.

low-quality comedies are not funny, EV-ER

Pretty sure we did the Mel Brooks poll

Don't think so

YF is more consistent in every way, but BS has the highest highs.

otm

Frankenstein is both better AND funnier than Saddles.

Frankenstein is just such a perfect genre parody. Saddles is funny, but it's so much more scattershot, like a precursor to Airplane, almost.

BS has the highest highs

Can only think of two TBH -- the campfire symphony and Dom DeLuise hissing "Watch me faggots."

Uhhhhhhhhhh, no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMK6lzmSk2o

Oh, and the horse getting punched.

fart scene is the lowest point, for it to be so consistently referenced is bewildering

Kinda agree, but rather a lot of people find farting funny

That scene was why I put of seeing it. Particulary my mates were all "a haha hahaaaaaa fart!" about it.

It broke, uh, barriers, I suppose.

It's an oasis when surrounded by horribly executed, awkwardly staged Looney Tunes rips.

Well it isn't true but horribly executed, awkwardly staged Looney Tunes rips still sounds like a good time to me

Huh, looks like I reviewed this one back in the day.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/blazing-saddles/1049

(Apparently I was on the beat.)

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/the-mel-brooks-collection/904

Back in the day?

Really?

hmm, 30 years after the day, but hey.

Yeah, back in the day when I used to write reviews.

(fair enough)

_Frankenstein is both better AND funnier than Saddles._

Frankenstein is just such a perfect genre parody. Saddles is funny, but it's so much more scattershot, like a precursor to Airplane, almost.

I think Airplane way more consistent, tho.

these movies are both such a huge part of my comedy DNA that it pains me to vote against either of them, but when i look into my heart i gotta go with Blazing Saddles

ditto!

you never forget your first movie where a bunch of clowns curse their way through a cliched plot.

Blazing Saddles is kind of the best. For a scathing takedown of racism, I sure knew a lot of racists in Florida who liked it :/

well it has lots of swearing, farting, and mincing idiots who get beat up

i do wonder how much fondness I'd have for it if I didn't first see it as a kid. While I had a little nostalgic buzz for the genre during the first fifteen minutes of Your Highness, I haven't actually watched the rest of that yet.

Yeah, part of the problem may be that I first saw BS too late and saw YF at just the right age.

also these movies are full of babes: http://ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=76670

Blazing Saddles, but obv both are great.

maybe after this we should just poll the rest as 'third best Mel Brooks movie'

Not really, 'cos "The Producers" is his best film

can't say you're wrong so fair enough

Gotta be the Producers (actually that might the best, crappy musical version not-withstanding).

What else do we have?

"High Anxiety", Producers, Life Stinks (heard it was terrible, saw it, it's not), um I think I saw "History" but got bored: It was a long time ago)

Oh yeah, "Silent Movie" I liked...

and that 'interview' show he did with Alan Yentob was something else!

Oh, "High Anxiety"

"But, Professor, it is really nece.."

"It IS nece! I know what is nece. Don't tell me what is nece, I tell YOU what is nece!"

I'm sure we have a rank thread somewhere, but

YF
Producers
Silent Movie
History
Saddles
Anxiety
the rest
Dracula Dead and Loving It

"The Twelve Chairs"... have I seen this? I don't think I have, you know.

Great film!

xpost same joke in "Blazing Saddles", "Are you crazy? Cant you see that man is a Ni?"

Still, props to Mel Brooks, his Governor was a brilliant take-off of George Bush Jr, years ahead!

"Twelve Chairs" was his first, and rarely shown.

2nd!

wwh1st?

Twelve has maybe my all-time favorite MB line: "I hate people I don't like." (Not much on the page, but said by Andreas Voutsinas, total gold.)

I have to think about this for a while

I quote "Blazing Saddles" constantly so I will probably end up voting that, but I definitely see the argument for "Young Frankenstein" as a more consistent movie (total aside: I was also one of the weird kids who didn't understand why the farting was so funny; I lost my shit at "WE DON'T NEED NO STEENKING BADGES!" and "Candygram for Mr. Mungo!")

Yes, I quote "Blazing Saddles" constantly too, but "The Producers" even more ('I'm wearing a cardboard belt' is a particular favourite)

rather a lot of people find farting funny

You guys do know it was the first farting scene in the history of Hollywood, right? (Warner Bros, at least)

Anyway, I saw both of these in theatrical re-releases when I was about 16, and shared Eric's mystification w/ Saddles. The I saw even more old westerns and got more of it. I honestly don't think Pryor would've worked entirely as Bart, unless they let him write/improv even more of the role.

Peter Boyle's speech at the end of YF is lovely.

I do agree that these two plus The Producers (which is barely directed) are the only Mel films that can approach the 2000 Year Old Man records.

I tried to watch "The Producers" when I was really not at all in a headspace to enjoy/get it and it came across almost as badly as "History of the World, Part One" aside from the "Springtime for Hitler" scene; I should really try watching it again.

BS just makes me laugh more though I do like to offer ppl a coffee in imitation of Gene Hackman's voice and ask, "Espresso?" 'The Producers' is hilarious. I was working on a TV show once and standing in line at the catering truck for lunch next to Kenneth Mars (RIP) and though I was usually inclined not to fawn over actors or importune them in any way, I paid him a compliment for 'The Producers'.

lucky you, dan, i started to watch the fucking remake and i don't think i'll ever recover

you guys know he did a Broadway musical of Young Frankenstein too, right? Almost universally panned as a cash-in.

ha yeah I had heard that that was terribad

I'd forgotten "To be or not to be" That was OK too.

Oh no it wasn't.

Kenneth Mars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EIZsR5SIU0

He also had the temerity to remake 'To Be or Not to Be.'

Unforgivable

He didn't direct "To Be or Not to Be" though, did he?

Well, I liked it.

My dad was involved in putting together a panto for the Polish Embassy, and asked me if I had any ideas for a musical number that would be suitable.

Suffice to say, it went down a storm!

there is REALLY no latter day Mel Brooks cash-in more awful and embarrassing than the Spaceballs animated series, even moreso because he was heavily involved in it

Brooks still came off sharp and funny as an interviewee/improviser on the recent HBO thing with Dick Cavett, but as a writer he's clearly lost it

He didn't direct "To Be or Not to Be" though, did he?

No but he produced it

This is SO hard. As said above, these films are both such a part of my personal take on comedy, its like choosing between parents.

Because I'm a sucker for interesting juxtaposition, I have to go with YF - its like the Seven Stooges in formal evening wear.

Plus the rooftop scene where Dr. Frankenstein is luring the monster back to the castle with the violin + french horn just slays me. Every. Single. Time.

the Spaceballs animated series

I had not heard about this and I wish to reclaim my ignorance.

i seriously wish i could unsee it

The seven being - Wilder, Feldman, Boyle, Leachman, Kahn, Garr, and Kenneth Mars (Inspector Kemp). Just an absolute murders' row.

Although, as a duo, Wilder and Little are even better than Wilder and Feldman. By a hair.

Wilder, Leachman and Garr are the only living members of that YF ensemble left, right?

I was really sad when Marty Feldman left England for the states, he was my favourite comedian at the time. Apart from Young Frankenstein, I never saw anything he did since!

And, twoo, Madeline Kahn is in Blazing Saddles, too.

Damnit. This is hard.

Wilder, Leachman and Garr are the only living members of that YF ensemble left, right?

I believe you're correct.

Feldman is one of the highlights of Silent Movie

Bernadette Peters is two of the highlights of Silent Movie.

I only remember Brooks as Yoda being funny in Spaceballs. Hence the last MB film I've seen to date.

Marty Feldman's post-YF career highlight was dropping and shattering an Oscar at the Academy Awards! (a feather in anyone's cap)

Spaceballs was responsible for my crush on Daphne Zuniga, which managed to survive almost 4 seasons of Melrose Place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSbqYsQtzY

put
the
candle
back

Bernadette Peters is two of the highlights of Silent Movie.

― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Friday, January 13, 2012 10:27 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

seriously, my jaw dropped when i saw her in that movie

gotta have big lungs for Broadway

xpost yeah, but he (Feldman) had a BBC series (probably wiped now)..

I've seen quite a few clips from it. Not sure how funny it is now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn9dDaJjjE4

Huh: http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/blucher.asp

lol that's almost a "viking at sleep" level of misunderstanding of a simple joke

that is incredible

from the horse's mouth!

...Other than that, the only thing I cut was another "Blucher" and another whinny. [Whenever the name of Frau Blucher, played by Cloris Leachman, is mentioned, horses whinny and thunder cracks.] I thought we had enough. Before we started shooting, someone told me "blucher" means glue, so that's why I had the horses whinny. I'm not sure if that's true.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/1844/

oh wow snopes droppin the ball on including that

of course, since that interview was 30 years later, it's possible Mel misremembers his own joke.

Young Frankenstein for me, the scene with the blind guy is one of the funniest things I've ever seen IMO.

Regardless, "blucher" does not mean glue, so intent aside the joke doesn't work as a language gag. Clever if it did, but as some other site noted "Do the words der Klebstoff or der Leim sound even remotely similar?"

I still use the "where wolf?" joke all the time. Also, "put ze candle BACK." Also:"sedagive."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7Dyy00WL8

Yeah, I have used sedagive this week?

Boyle's Oliver Hardy takes while Hackman is torturing him are priceless

you know, the more examples of awesome shit in YF come in this thread, the worse I feel about just immediately voting for Saddles.

Picking Saddles for me is very "but football in the groin had a football in the groin"

Boyle's Oliver Hardy takes while Hackman is torturing him are priceless

That split-second pause after his thumb gets set on fire is gold.

what hump?

The shot-for-shot homages to the Universal Frankenstein pictures are things of beauty. Also, Teri Garr.

srsly teri garr

blazing saddles by a country mile

BS is more clownish and daring. YF has more structure and flow. They're both funny as hell. More of YF has stuck in my mind, especially the 'Putting on the Ritz' scene which makes me grin like a maniac. I voted YF.

I love madeline kahn so hard.

think bs is one of the funniest films of all time and find to yf to be almost completely lol-less

*horses neigh*

when i was like 12 i thought YF was too quiet and slow to be hilarious but i think i wised up by like 14

yf is clever, it's a 'good parody' but clever doesn't = lols

yeah Blazing Saddles by frickin miles. certainly in the Top 5 funniest films ever made surely?

not even sound films

not even cowboy films tbh

how the hell can you watch Young Frankenstein and not crack up constantly

"Roll roll, roll in ze hay!"
"Put. The candle. Back."
"PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ"
etc etc etc etc it's a fuckin hilarious movie

among western comedies of the Nixon years I prefer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065051/

HE
VAS
MY
BOYFRIEND!

^^^ OTM

I may have talked myself out of voting Blazing Saddles

I love both of these movies so much (High Anxiety, too)

Yeah, I'd frankly rather watch High Anxiety than either of these most days, mostly because I'd rather see Hitchcock parodied than Universal horror movies, most of which weren't reaaaaallly all that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9K9wiH2Lko

High Anxiety is second-rate because Hitchcock is funny on his own (usually). Mel's Sinatra spoof is the best scene.

I like how people are bringing up like every one of the 5 jokes this movie contains

they're still not that funny btw

"Here's your newspaper!"

"Nice grouping"

gonna watch YF, liveblog each joke

every one of the 5 jokes this movie contains

Accuracy, plz. Blazing Saddles has 3 jokes.

keep it up, iatee, and someday you might convince me that YF is unfunny because you didn't laugh.

here I will prepare a spreadsheet for you to fill out
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

xp

is there any audience that could really watch YF and laugh more than BS? other than an army of 500 dr morbiuses in a room.

Gustibus disputandum and all that. If you like YS's style of humor better, you may find BS jokes all over the place. I mean, I love both of these movies and I voted BS but I know lots of ppl more likely to watch YF. No biggy, really.

Also, "Candygram for Mongo!"

^ not funny

"Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!"

Whoever pointed out upthread that BS is a precursor to the relentless style of juvenile humor that ended up giving us 'Airplane' is right. As a kid Mongo punching the horse (something I find a little disturbing now) never failed to leave me in stitches.

the first 2 Universal Frankenstein films are great, wtf you talkinbout whoever said otherwise

"The first 2 Universal Frankenstein films" hardly comprises "most Universal horror films." Not by a long shot.

And YF principally parodies, uh, the first 2 Universal Frankenstein films (Mars as Lionel Atwill the major element from the third).

Saddles offers one of the more naturalistic portrayals of a politician in Mel's Gov. Lepetomane.
(the other fart joke, an academic one)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7tOWoDVQLU

iatee, give a little love to Hackman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd91A3Qcfkw

And I mean, come on, according to youtube this is the funniest movie line ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZybFl_pfMk&feature=related

(I don't know which one, exactly, either)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0MuLxolXwQ

only loser in this thread is anyone trying to convince people that one of these movies is bad

Shark Attack 3 just wanted it more.

When a torture victim in History of the World, Part I's extended "Spanish Inquisition" musical number—probably the best sequence Brooks ever wrote or directed, the centerpiece of the only underrated film in a predominately overrated catalog

Jesus GOD, Eric!

In that order.

The "Spanish Inquisition" number violates the first rule of comedy, that you don't show actual instruments and methods of torture within the proscenium.

eric is dropping so many crazy pills itt that i'm just not even gonna start

he admits he is anti-comedy, so

Both hilarious, it's hard to decide. Think most discourse has been covered above ... I'll throw in for Blazing Saddles for being my first Brooks film, though Frankenstein had some pretty standout scenes, like Puttin on the Ritz.

"A riot is an ugly thing- und I think it is chust about time we had one!"

The moment at :55 in this clip kills me every single time, without fail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On73aHpgdSQ

I love YF, and yeah, it's probably more consistent, but I have to go with Saddles.

Surprised no one has mentioned yet that the "walk this way" bit was the inspiration for the Aerosmith song:

The song was inspired from an oft-spoken line and gag ("Walk this way") from the Mel Brooks movie, Young Frankenstein, which the band saw during a late-night showing while taking a break and trying to record a song for their third album, Toys in the Attic. The song, at the time, had music but no lyrics thus far.

Frankenstein is both better AND funnier than Saddles.

― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Friday, January 13, 2012 7:29 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM ... you Schwantzstuckers!

a laurel...and hearty handshake

frankenshtein

I can see both sides (Eric H not included as a 'side'), and I agree with them, but like others I must go with BS just for the sheer number of gags that have stuck with me. Interestingly, my friend was a big YF fan and decided to watch BS but turned it off at the farting scene (probably always my least favourite in the picture tbh).

But it's got "Chewing gum, eh? Did you bring enough for everybody?"

Saddles offers one of the more naturalistic portrayals of a politician in Mel's Gov. Lepetomane.

<3 this :D

Voted YF

otm

YF is so tight it would work well as a radio play. Blazing Saddles, less so.

I hadn't realised I actually owned a copy of BS on DVD.

So I watched the extras.

The 'deleted scenes' were rightfully out, one was actually funny, and one had Mel Brooks arrive in RockRidge and 5 mins 'mugging', so fair play to him for dropping it in retrospect. (apparently, they were added back in for the TV version!)

Also, they had a TV pilot for a proposed TV adaptation. Which was not funny 'enough' clearly, still had some satirical bite (the sherrif's horse 'Whitey' for example) - probably too much for the times, and nobody from the film at all (no mention in the credits either). The Cleavon Little part was played by someone that suggested how Richard Pryor would have played it - more menace, less 'likeble' definitely.

The 'deleted scenes' were rightfully out, one was actually funny, and one had Mel Brooks arrive in RockRidge and 5 mins 'mugging', so fair play to him for dropping it in retrospect. (apparently, they were added back in for the TV version!)

I remember these well, as I'd seen this so many times on TV. "Spanish balloons?" "Right on!" always gave me a chuckle. Also "Damn unions are strangling the west!"

And as late as 1987-88, the TV edit still covered up the fart noises with horse whinnying.

Also, the one line had to be cut in order to get an R, rather than an X, rating:

Lily Von Shtupp: So, is it twue how you people are gifted? Oh, it's twue! It's twue, it's twue!

Bart: You're sucking on my arm.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

no loser in this poll, but BLAZING SADDLES takes the laurel (and hearty handshake) for working comedy magic with genuinely hazardous material. there's righteous anger boiling just beneath the surface, and some of the most sharply observed stuff on "race in america" to be found anywhere in cinema period.

RIP Cleavon Little

cleavon little is amazing but the movie, even as a kid(!), seemed a little too cheap.

i saw yf on its initial theatrical run, it was magic then and my repeat viewing a few years ago confirmed that

going to vote for Young Frankenstein, love that it's in black and white

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I didn't even see this but Blazing Saddles all the way imo. :/

^ this. I actually thought YF would win, but only by a handful of votes.

For once, glad to be a non-silent member of the silent majority.

I just got a 4DVD box set off ebay, £3.50 inc delivery!

YF, SM, 2Box2B and HA.

That's ridiculous.

Looking forward to showing the kids YF. And SMov.

Well done on winning, btw.

"Saddles" was on over the weekend, forgot this bit:

http://www.morethings.com/fan/blazing_saddles/blazing-saddles-250.jpg

On Friday, we watched "Young Frankenstein", and it was better than I remembered.

Kids loved it (kids! They're not exactly kids now. What do i call them? Girls, I guess..)

Funnily enough (or, actually, not ..), I went to the 'extras/deleted scenes', the first one was the 'reading of the will' and I thought: "This isn't funny at all!"

Reading imdb, apparently they enjoyed making the movie so much, they wrote additional scenes and carried on..

Anyways, when they put the whole movie together, it looked painfully unfunny and they were almost going to write it off as a failure, until someone decided to ruthlessly prune it down to 'only the sufficiently funny' bits, and found they had a great movie there after all!

Did anyone else check out more of the deleted scenes than I did?

After High Anxiety, Mel always skipped that last step.

calking a dude by his first name when shit gets reheated

This picture from Alison Martino's Vintage Los Angeles shows the infamous Daisy Club on Rodeo Drive. Check out the parsons in this picture. pic.twitter.com/ioyDIQQH2H

— Laraine Newman (@larainenewman) June 8, 2020

Perhaps I was too harsh on Saddles.

The other day I thought about the line I've repurposed for my current display name and it made me giggle all day

Lamar: Qualifications?
Bart: Stampeding cattle.
Lamar: Thats not much of a qualification.
Bart: Through The Vatican.
Lamar: Kinky.

...

FX is taking a roll in ze hay, a roll, roll, roll in ze hay with Very Young Frankenstein, a prequel series based on Mel Brooks’ classic 1974 comedy, featuring a slightly older but still kinda young Frankenstein. But before we get too concerned about 52-year-old comedies that could or could not be made today, we should note that the series got its spark of life from the braintrust behind What We Do In The Shadows, including Stefani Robinson, Taika Waititi, and Garrett Basch. Robinson wrote the pilot, which Waititi directed, and of course, its executive produced by Mel Brooks, who is spending much of his 99th year on Earth making follow-ups to his decades-old classics.