History of the World: Part I

source: History of the World: Part I

I had watched this as a kid, a popular but not highly-regarded Brooks effort. It is wildly uneven but, also, undeniably funny at times (even if most of the gags are, unsurprisingly, of the vulgar kind). Brooks managed to rope in Orson Welles to provide indifferent narration over his lampoon of various historical eras (the film's one-liners, too, read better than they play). Still, "The Stone Age" (featuring Sid Caesar) offers a nice parody of the "Dawn Of Man" sequence from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) – while the brief but hilarious "The Old Testament" sees Brooks himself as Moses accidentally lose a third of God's original 15 Commandments! "The Roman Empire" – the longest segment – features Brooks veterans Dom De Luise and Madeleine Kahn, the film's single best joke (the Senators' spontaneous reply, in unison, to a fellow members' concern over the plight of the city's poor), plus wonderful conclusion involving John Hurt as Jesus Christ. "The Spanish Inquistion" is, again, brief but surely one of the film's highlights with its tastelessly inspired depiction of this infamous period as a Busby Berkeley-ish production number (though Brooks' typical Jewish jokes seem baffling in this context). Just as Monty Python had done the definitive parody of the Roman Empire with LIFE OF BRIAN (1979), "The French Revolution" follows on from the "Carry On" gang's DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD (1966). The results are just as middling (involving the inevitable impersonation of the King by a commoner) – but highlighting two established presences in Brooks' films, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman. Easily the funniest bit from this segment is the King's outrageous shooting practice. Still, at the end of the day, Brooks can't avoid repeating himself: the "Walk This Way" gag from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) turns up here as well; Brooks' lecherous French king is virtually a copy of his Governor characterization in the Western spoof BLAZING SADDLES (1974); and the surreal nick-of-time escape at the very end, which also derives from the latter film.

I went to see this movie when it first came out hoping to find another great Brooks film such as my favorite- "Blazing Saddles." I remember sitting stone faced throughout waiting for it to get good and even being offended just a little bit. My girlfriend loves this movie so she got me to watch it and I must say 20 years has not changed my perception one bit as far as this film goes. I think I may have guffawed once or twice and apart from that sat through countless awkward moments and blown gags. I actually felt sorry for Mel in some scenes and found myself thinking I wasn't going to make it through, but alas, it is mercifully short which saves it from being among the absolute worst of all time. This movie marked the end of one of the greatest comedic filmmakers career, but I guess some people didn't realize it!

This may well be one of the worst movies ever made - surely the worst Mel Brooks movie. It starts out with masturbating monkeys and goes downhill from there. Nothing rises above the level of grade school potty humor. What a waste of a terrific cast! Mel Brooks was never known for subtlety, but in "Young Frankenstein", "Blazing Saddles" and especially "The Producers", there are many bits of brilliant adult satire to balance out the groaners. "History' is all groaners. You can actually feel your brain melting while watching this thing. You can almost detect the actors trying to rise above the material, without success. Skip it.

Classical comedy satire..Mel Brook's best film. Once you've seen this film, you will not forgot it. The punchlines keep rolling from the beginning of the film, and even past "the big ending". There is not much of a plot, but that is to be expected in a movie that contains a bunch of skits. If you like Monty Python, then you should love this movie. This movie is not for everyone, especially if you are easily offended. However the opening scene should tell you if you would have a problem watching the rest of the movie. This movie does currently rank in my top 10 comedies of all time.

A pity that a director like Mel Brooks, responsible for such classics like "The Producer", the one-two 1974 punch of "Young Frankenstein" and "Blading Saddles", and the less successful but still entertaining "High Anxiety" fell flat on his face with this clunker. While it starts out with the promising Orson Welles voice-over (spoofing his own "War of the Worlds" narration as a nifty in-joke) in the first segment (which also spoofs the ape men sequence from Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"), the rest quickly plummets in one un-funny after un-funny succession. Sid Caesar gives all he has for his short bit as the lead caveman (and granted, the entry works). Moses fails to deliver and whatever comic intent there is shatters just like his extra table of commandments. Only the Bea Arthur scene works in the Roman Empire segment -- even Madeline Kahn's presence can't save what is a badly written part -- and here the movie completely sinks into incoherence with unrelated "funny" scenes added as supposed hilarity, for example, when a man carries a very dated boom box and listens to "Funkytown". The Last Supper sequence is fairly descent and somewhat brings back "History..." a little luster, but the Spanish Inquisition, a segment obviously intended as a nod to Hollywood musicals from the 1930s, is quite arguably the worst sketch in the entire movie. The French Revolution begins well, bringing Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, and Andreas Katsoulas, all Brooks veterans, back on film in small but memorable parts, but not long after this segment begins that it goes down, down under and never bothers to recover itself. The fact that Mel Brooks also decided to play five roles here makes it the more irritating. One can only guess he did so due to his own star power (or maybe he believed he could do an Alec Guiness). His entry as the King in the last sequence is so cringe-inducing ["It's good to be the king!"] that it's a relief when that bad joke is over and THE END appears on the horizon with a title montage reminiscent of the all-caps title LAND OF THE GIANTS. I personally am glad of his success with his own revival of "The Producers." His recent appearance at the season finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" only cements his reputation even more as he spoofs his revival using Larry David, of all people as the lead, in order for it to flop. It only furthers to show he can make a fantastically funny visual story (or appear in one) when he chooses to, but this movie is only for die-hard fans.

This "movie" stinks. It stinks so bad that I am shocked and surprised that IMDb lists it as having more than 6 stars. Mel Brooks has definitely had his inspired moments and there is no question that he can be funny. But in this film he shows himself to be a man of incredibly bad taste and questionable judgment (or use those adjectives however you please, as they apply to everything and everyone in this film). My friend raved and raved about this movie and told me it was his favorite movie in the world. To shut him up I agreed to watch the DVD. What a mistake. I am sorry, but Mel took potshots at everybody and it was gross and unfunny. To think that Gregory Hines agreed to be a shuck 'n jive slave, to think that Orson Welles agreed to "narrate" this crap... boy, people must've been damn hungry, that's all I can say. Yeah, there were a couple laughs, all based on stupid jokes, wordplay jokes, sight gag jokes... so what? Was two hours of this stupidity supposed to be "fun"? I found it incredibly offensive when Mel says to someone during his "stand-up routine" for "Ceasar": "The little fag thought it was funny." Actually, Mel, the "little fag" didn't think it was funny. If he was laughing, it was because you were paying him to do so on cue. In fact the whole movie seemed like everything everybody did was because they knew they were going to get paid for it, not because they wanted to do it. This "film" is a waste of time. For people who are "raving" about it, rave on -- it's still a piece of sexist, racist, politically incorrect garbage that looks like outtakes from a racy TV variety show. Mel's done better; ignore this POS and you won't have to forgive him "for he knows not what" he's done.

You would think that after Mel Brooks made "The Producers" with its offensive "Springtime for Hitler," that he would have had enough. Unfortunately, not so. He continues his nonsense with this 1981 offensive film. I didn't enjoy his song of The Inquisition. This was utterly stupid and insulting to all people. Equally offensive is Gregory Hines acting Jewish to avoid persecution as a Christian. The writing is absolutely inane. We here lines such as sic transit Gloria and the response to that is: "I didn't know that Gloria was sick." The film tries to poke fun of the various aspects of history. Madeleine Kahn puts on her Brooklyn accent in force to play a French Queen. Cloris Leachman is totally ridiculous as Mme. De Farge. Imagine the writing- De Farge- Serving the Scum of Paris for Over 20 Years. Blanche Yurka must be turning over in her grave. Brooks should put his history anthologies to rest. They're becoming overly obnoxious.

While Mel Brooks seems best known for BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, HISTORY OF THE WORLD:PART 1 still is my favorite. Lots of hilarious moments in here. I continue to bust up whenever I watch it! "The Spanish Inquisition" turns out a little too corny, but at least its worth looking at for the effort. LOL. Anyways, be sure to watch the un-edited version and get ready to roll. ***

Mel Brooks' colorfully offensive spoof of history was lambasted by the critics upon its release, but time has been kind to it (and legions of fans now defend it). Large cast of game players from Madeline Kahn to Cloris Leachman, Sid Caesar to Brooks himself, work hard at making this gag-filled romp a rollicking spectacle, but Brooks' heavy-hand as a filmmaker causes an oppressiveness that is tough to shake off. The Prehistoric opener, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition are all brightly accomplished, but the cheap-looking Roman Empire section is hammy and dull, practically stopping the movie in its tracks. As with many of Brooks' films (particularly from this period), ninety-percent of the jokes are groaners and there's far too much shouting amongst the players (as if the world had gone deaf). Some big laughs do emerge from the morass, and it is admittedly one of Brooks' more ambitious efforts. *1/2 from ****