Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

Mel Brooks's final directorial effort will undoubtedly draw comparisons to the spoof classic Young Frankenstein, but this is a very different beast. Ravaged upon release, I can't help but look back kindly on it for all the raw talent and silliness it contains. If you compare it to Brooks's earlier work, it's lacking, but it's very funny on its own merits, and Leslie Nielsen remains in impeccable form. It has an old fashioned appeal that harkens back to the golden age.

3 csárdás out of 5

Blazing Saddles (1974)

A classic that has persisted more than 50 years, this send-up of the Western genre is as irreverent today as ever. Only his third film at the time (following The Producers and The Twelve Chairs), and released the same year as Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks was on fire in the 1970s. The plot concerns a dead end little town being appointed its first black sheriff, Bart. He befriends the local drunk held in a jail cell as they plot a way to turn things around for both of them. The details are not as important as the brass balls sense of humor it carries throughout, which honestly feels quaint in some respects. It's a direct reaction to the 1950s, but the social commentary is sharp and never punches down. Most filmmakers wouldn't possess the nuance to attempt such a thing today, so it remains another capsule frozen in time. This is essentially a live-action cartoon, and like Monty Python, contains a holy grail of classic gags.

5 bean-fueled campfire scenes out of 5