Mel Brooks' 10 Most Hilarious Movie Scenes, Ranked

Summary

Mel Brooks’ parodies hit the mark by uncovering deep truths about human foibles.
His best movies maintain their satirical focus, while also conjuring great comedy out of thin air.
Brooks uses naturalistic dialogue and relatable humor to poke fun at historical events and movie genres.

For decades, Mel Brooks’ parody movies have delivered some hilarious scenes. Brooks has the impressive ability to aim right at the heart of his target. Whether he aims his satirical eye at Westerns, sci-fi movies, or even fascism, he always finds the funniest and most poignant angle. His comedy relies on slapstick, puns and the odd musical number, but most of the humor comes from the truth that he uncovers beneath layers of Hollywood artifice.

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The best Mel Brooks movies retain a keen focus on their subjects, like Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles, but Brooks can also conjure great comedy out of thin air. He has an ear for naturalistic dialogue and one-liners, so he can throw in a curveball every now and then to keep the audience on their toes. The funniest Mel Brooks scenes combine his satirical wit with this natural flair for relatable comedy.

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Mel Brooks is one of the most popular comedy filmmakers of all time, and his movies are overflowing with memorable one-liners and hilarious dialogue.

10 Along Came Bialy

The Producers (2005)

The Producers PG-13

Director Susan Stroman Release Date December 25, 2005

The 1967 version of The Producers was Mel Brooks’ debut feature, and a surprisingly big hit. He later turned it into a Broadway musical, which in turn was adapted into another movie. This makes The Producers a rare example of a musical remake of a movie, and the added show tunes offer plenty more laughs. “Along Came Bialy” is just one of many hilarious songs that make up the soundtrack.

“Along Came Bialy” is just one of many hilarious songs that make up the soundtrack.

“Opening Night” kicks things off in the best way possible, and “I Wanna Be A Producer” gives Matthew Broderick a chance to shine, but Nathan Lane has arguably the funniest song in The Producers with “Along Came Bialy”. The original movie doesn’t spell out how absurd it is that Max and Leo’s plan hinges on Max’s ability to seduce dozens of old women. With a chorus line of women tap dancing in their walking frames, the remake finally capitalizes on the comedic premise.

9 John Hurt’s Cameo

Spaceballs (1987)

Spaceballs Where to Watch

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Director Mel Brooks Release Date June 24, 1987 Cast John Candy , Daphne Zuniga , Mel Brooks , Rick Moranis , Bill Pullman

Spaceballs is a brilliant pastiche of Star Wars, but it also aims a few barbs at other classic sci-fi movies. In one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, John Hurt is forced to repeat what happened to his character in Ridley Scott’s Alien, as a chestburster erupts out of him during an ordinary scene in a diner. Hurt is only in one scene, but he gets one of the best quotes in Spaceballs – “Oh no, not again.”

Hurt is only in one scene, but he gets one of the
best quotes in

Spaceballs
– “Oh no, not again.”

This quote provides a link to Alien by bizarrely suggesting that Hurt’s character managed to survive the first time that an alien broke through his rib cage and scurried away. Mel Brooks then takes a sharp turn from parody toward outright nonsense, as the alien dons a straw hat to sing a show tune just like Michigan Q. Frog. The reasons for this are unclear, but it perfectly undercuts the tension and horror of the scene.

8 The Fight Spills Over Into The Studio Lot

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blazing Saddles Where to Watch

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Director Mel Brooks Release Date February 7, 1974 Cast Cleavon Little , gene wilder , Slim Pickens , Harvey Korman , Madeline Kahn , Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks loves to break the fourth wall. He wants to share some laughs with his audience, and it helps his style of parody for him to poke fun at the artificiality of the filmmaking process. The ending of Blazing Saddles delivers one of Brooks’ most sustained and most hilarious fourth wall breaks, as the climactic fight scene breaks free from the confines of the movie and spills over into the studio backlot.

Brooks uses the humble cream pie, a weapon of choice for clowns everywhere, to show just how bizarre the Western genre is.

The fight initially rumbles into a Fred Astaire-style musical on the next lot, but it keeps growing and moving until it devolves into a giant cream pie fight. Brooks uses the humble cream pie, a weapon of choice for clowns everywhere, to show just how bizarre the Western genre is. Blazing Saddles repeatedly draws attention to the fact that Western stars are seen as tough cowboys, but in reality they are nothing more than pampered Hollywood actors. They have more in common with clowns than gunslingers.

7 Puttin’ On The Ritz

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Young Frankenstein

Director Mel Brooks Release Date December 15, 1974 Cast Marty Feldman , Cloris Leachman , Madeline Kahn , Peter Boyle , gene wilder

Young Frankenstein is a brilliant horror spoof that constantly uses humor to deconstruct the phony tension of the genre. There’s a lot of build-up to Frankenstein’s creation of the monster, and once he rises from the laboratory table it’s a mystery how things will play out next. Rather than sticking to the dark story of Mary Shelley’s novel, Mel Brooks has his version of Frankenstein presenting the monster to the scientific community with a song and dance.

“Puttin’ on the Ritz”
is the perfect song choice for the scene, and the way that Peter Boyle’s shrieks it out has made it one of
Young Frankenstein
‘s best quotes.

“Puttin’ on the Ritz” is the perfect song choice for the scene, and the way that Peter Boyle’s shrieks it out has made it one of Young Frankenstein‘s best quotes. The other thing that helps the scene shine is the disconnect between the smooth performance of Frankenstein and the shambling mess of his monster. Frankenstein escalates very quickly from simple commands to a lively musical number, and the monster simply can’t keep up.

6 The Last Supper

History of the World, Part I (1981)

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Director Mel Brooks Release Date June 12, 1981 Cast Mel Brooks , Dom DeLuise , Madeline Kahn , Harvey Korman , Cloris Leachman , Ron Carey

Like almost any comedy anthology movie, History of the World, Part I suffers from an uneven pace and a few misses to go with the hits. However, the sections that work well are hard to resist, as the concept of the movie gives Mel Brook to lampoon the entire span of human history. One of the highlights features Brooks himself playing a pushy waiter at the last supper who just wants the disciples to agree on their order.

Typical of Brooks’ style, this scene uses naturalistic dialogue and relatable, everyday humor to make light of things which many people assign huge importance to.

Typical of Brooks’ style, this scene uses naturalistic dialogue and relatable, everyday humor to make light of things which many people assign huge importance to. After a muddled back-and-forth between Brooks and Jesus, Leonardo da Vinci enters to paint his famous portrait of the occasion. Again, Brooks likens the historical to the contemporary, as the disciples are forced to squeeze into an unnatural position like a group posing for a photo.

5 The Bridge Fight

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Director Mel Brooks Release Date July 28, 1993 Cast Cary Elwes , Richard Lewis , Roger Rees , Amy Yasbeck , Mark Blankfield , Dave Chappelle , Isaac Hayes , Megan Cavanagh

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Rather than skewering entire genres like some of his other movies, Mel Brooks uses Robin Hood: Men in Tights to zero in on Kevin Costner’s 1991 movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. There are some jokes aimed at adventure movies and medieval romance tales, but Costner himself is forced to cop a lot of gags. One of the funniest scenes in the movie gets a laugh out of the absurd ideals of chivalry and honor that exist in Robin Hood and similar folk stories.

One hilarious touch is that the music steps up an octave each time the sticks go down a size.

Robin fights Little John for the right to pass along a tiny bridge over a pathetic creek. The entire scene is reminiscent of Arthur’s duel with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but Brooks has his own ideas. Their dueling sticks repeatedly snap into smaller and smaller pieces, to emphasize how petty and childish their squabble is. One hilarious touch is that the music steps up an octave each time the sticks go down a size.