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- DirectorMel BrooksStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanAn American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.THE quintessential parody, matching the brilliance that is Mel Books with the phenomenal talents of Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Gene Hackman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Liam Dunn and Kenneth Mars. This is an annual favorite on Halloween, but is so funny, it could be watched on any month with 31 days and remain funny for decades to come. Unbelievable perfection in artwork, direction and presentation. The greatest parody film of all time.
- DirectorDean ParisotStarsTim AllenSigourney WeaverAlan RickmanThe alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.Never was there a more perfect time for Writer David Howard to intersect with a tremendous comedic cast including leads Tim Allyn, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Tony Schalhoub making light of the real historic plight of the careers and cast of Star Trek. Brilliantly written, directed by Dean Parisot and acted by the entire cast and crew. A must see at least annually.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksMadeline KahnCloris LeachmanA psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.This is the film Hitchcock might have eventually made if Mel Brooks haden't. He worked on the screenplay with Brooks to prove he actually had a keen sense of humor. It makes light of all of Hitcocks great mystries, North by Northwest, Spellbound, Vertigo, Psycho and the Birds. This is one of the best parodies of all time. Like Blazing Saddels and Young Frankenstein, it proved Brooks could make light of anything that included a woman screaming. Brooks teams with fellow Blazzing Saddles cast members Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn along with Dick Van Patten, Barry Levinson and Ron Carry to create a masterpiece.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsCleavon LittleGene WilderSlim PickensIn order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.After Bob Hope did fantastic films like Pale Face and Son of Paleface, Brooks came along and made light of the entire movie industry and everything in it....he's a genius. This film pokes at racism, the old west, human stupidity and included one of the greatest all star casts of all time including Brooks, Harvy Korman, Madeline Kahn, Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Alex Karris, Dom DeLuise, Slim Pickins, David Huddleston, John Hullerman, George Furth, Robin Hilton and Liam Dunn. On the funny scale of 1-10, "Saddles" scores a 27.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksJohn CandyRick MoranisA star-pilot for hire and his trusty sidekick must come to the rescue of a princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs.Mel Brooks is a genius and one could easily place every one of his parodies at the top of the comedy list and never be sorry. Space Balls took on Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien all at once. Brooks first chance to work with Daphine Zuniga, Rick Moranis, John Candy and Bill Pulllman, but then add Joan Rivers in the (C3PO-like) roll of Dot Matrix, which people under age 35 might not even get anymore. This is one of the best movies of all time; and could have been #1 were it not for the fact that Brooks actually made even better films.
- DirectorKeenen Ivory WayansStarsAnna FarisJon AbrahamsMarlon WayansA year after disposing of the body of a man they accidentally killed, a group of dumb teenagers are stalked by a bumbling serial killer.The first of four Scary Movie Parodies, all pretty funny because they clearly point out the stupidity of the horror movie genre. I don't waste my money ever watching a slasher film, but I'll find a Scary movie to gladly laugh at the stupidity of them. Keenen Ivory Wayans is a brilliant and funny man, gets the parody genre and while he isn't Mel Brooks yet, he didn't have Dick Van Dyke as a friend in the beginning to help him. Nevertheless, one would hope Wayans continues to expand his abilities as a comedic director - when will we see a Sci Fi entry from him? He may be getting pushed to do "race" related rolls, but this guy could have tackled any great comedic sci-fi parody and nailed it. We need to see him do more outside the box that his handlers are squeezing him into.
- DirectorDavid S. WardStarsKelsey GrammerLauren HollyRob SchneiderLt. Cmdr. Tom Dodge is assigned as Captain to the USS Stingray, an old diesel driven submarine that has seen better days.Campy tribute to an original parody called Operation Petticoat, a different Story but still wonderfully funny. Lauren Holly, Kelsey Grammer and Rob Schnider, Bruce Dern, Kevin H. Macy, Rip Torn, Harland Williams, Duane Martin and many others absolutely get it in delivering in every scene. The script is almost predictable but works. People don't often realize how much of great film making in a comedy genre is more than just a great script and direction. Comedy is the poor step child of drama and yet far more difficult to master. But in Down Periscope you really have a complete team; great chemistry from every part of the cast and crew. Do that and the viewer feels the sea rolling and floor tipping during the dive. Director David Ward gets every bit of talent out of his cast and technical crew in this film that never gets old.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsCary GrantTony CurtisJoan O'BrienDuring World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.Start with a cast that included Tony Curtis and Cary Grant...then add a pink submarine that becomes a big target of the Japanese Navy and you have the film that lead to the creation of other great Navy based comedies of the era TV series McHale's Navy (Tim Conway and Earnest Borgnine, 1960's) was in part a take-off of the "jokes on the Navy genre." Great supporting performance by character actors such as Gavin McCleod, Dick Sargent, a young Marion Ross, Joan O'Brien and Dena Merrill. Top that off with a mid life romance between seabee mechanic Arthur O'Connell and equally skilled wrench lugging Virginia Gregg and you have the makings of a film that everyone should see at least once. Carry Grant and Tony Curtis just had a way of working on screen in comedic rolls that was to be eclipsed by non. While Operation Petticoat doesn't specifically make fun of any film per se, it made good fun of the Navy at a time when America was between great wars and could laugh a little at itself.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsCary ElwesRichard LewisRoger ReesA spoof of Robin Hood in general, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) in particular.Mel Brooks wrote and directed this phenomenal laugh-a-thon that poked fun at the contemporary and recently released Kevin Costner-Morgan Freeman film "Robin Hood". Cary Elwes teams with Amy Yasbeck as Maid Marian, Richard Lewis as John of England, Roger Reese as the Sheriff of Nottingham, one of my favorite actresses Tracy Ullman, Dave Chappell as Achoo, Dom DeLuise in the mocking of the Godfather Movies, Megan Cavenaugh as Boomhilde, Dick Van Patten as the Abbot, Mark Blankfield as Blinkin and Eric Alan Kramer as Little John. Brooks took the Costner fielm and simply ripped it on every level. As Hood arrives back in England with Achoo, they discover his estate is being hauled off (repossessed) leaving long blind servant Blinkin exposed while sitting on the lou, fondling a braille version of a Playboy foldout. It just gets funnier from there, but the film also takes pot shots at McCauley Culkin's Home Alone films and of course the Godfather as previously mentioned.
- DirectorBarry SonnenfeldStarsTommy Lee JonesWill SmithLinda FiorentinoJames, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.Barry Sonnenfeld Directed this brilliant poke more than parody at then recent space invasion films like Independence Day, The basic premise is that there have been aliens from outer space here all along and the galaxy is always about to explode. The Only thing keeping humanity sane is that most don't know the aliens are here living among us. Enter Will Smith who is recruited by Sr. Partner Tommy Lee Jones to help keep track of the many wild and varied creatures from other worlds. Rip Torn is is simple and perfectly benign "it is what it is" kind of boss. The film pokes fun at what it means to "have the right stuff" and takes you on a ride from beginning to relatively short end. Linda Fiorentino is the female sexual attraction for Smith, while Vincent Denofrio turns in a masterful performance as an intergalactic roach wearing an Egger robe. Is there anything hilariously successful in the last two+ decades that doesn't include Tony Shalhoub in a key character role?
- DirectorDavid ZuckerStarsLeslie NielsenPriscilla PresleyO.J. SimpsonIncompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.Another David Zucker Film. Why does a man so talented have take second chair to Mel Brooks. Zucker has too, but lets face it, he's a close second. Leslie Nielson is a genius. Priscilla Presley turned in a masterful performance and O.J. Simpson was beloved by everyone back then, not so much only a few years and two sequels later. He murdered Nicole Brown his second wife and Ron Goldman her friend within months of the release of the third film in the series.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsLeslie NielsenMel BrooksPeter MacNicolMel Brooks' parody of the classic vampire story and its famous film adaptations.Another Mel Brooks poke at the Horror Film worls and the then ascending craze over Vampires. Neilson turns in a phenomenal performance with the cast that again included the beautiful Amy Yasbeck and the brilliantly pathetic Peter MacNicol. Steven Weber who with Yasbeck became aquainted on the TV Show Wings that also included Tony Shalhoub, enters the cast as Johnathan Harker. Harvey Korman also rejoins the Brooks Troupe as John Seward ...making Dracula his 4th Brooks film. If only Brooks had been allowed to shot this film in black and white. Decolorizing might work, but it would have been better if it looked more like Young Frankenstein.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksGregory HinesDom DeLuiseMel Brooks brings his one-of-a-kind comic touch to the history of mankind covering events from the Old Testament to the French Revolution in a series of episodic comedy vignettes.Mel Brooks takes us on a World Wind tour of the ancient middle east, Rome, the middle ages and the French Revolution. What we learn from a cast that includes Donald Sutherland, Madeline Kahn, Gregory Hines, Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Harvy Korman and Sid Ceaser is that "It's good to be the king!" This is again every bit as funny at times as any other Mel Brooks parody. Does it belong above Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail? NO! Nothing does! Although the list above is in order 2-15, I am saving the very best for last or is it the middle, I'm confused. It's good to be the list maker.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsRobert HaysJulie HagertyLeslie NielsenAfter the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.Julie Hagerty and Robert Hayes along with Leslie Nielson headline a great cast and substantial number of cameos in a parody of the earlier 1970's film Airport. In the 70's the American Culture was getting used to the jet setting world that was connecting the far reaches of the globe and forcing us to accept that the world had gotten very small, both in distance and in the way complete strangers are flung together. Directors: Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker who all appear in cameo roles as well, capture the essence of how humans behave when thrust together in confined spaces and under difficult potentially life ending circumstances... and they make us laugh our asses off while they do this. How do these guys take second place to Mel Brooks, and yet they do. I think it is because with Brooks, there is an air of believability to his scenes, like the Rabbi Tuckman performing circumcisions with a tiny guillotine or Blinken falling out of a tree, regaining his sight and then bumping into a tree and losing it again. In airplane you believe the great late Lloyd Bridges as he attempts to talk the airplane down with a PST victim pilot at the helm.
- DirectorTerry GilliamTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseEric IdleKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.One of the best Parody Films of all time and probably belongs #1 on this list ahead of everything else, but can we really make a British comedy #1? Since this film came out, we all ask what the "air speed of a Barn Swallow" is, ask the neighbors "...to bring out your dead" and when we are wounded mortally say, "...it's just a scratch." Monty Python. Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Jones were brilliant not only as actors, but as writers. This was more of a troupe production and it set the stage for these career jesters to such an extent that one need only see them in any screen production and it has instant credibility as a comedy. Cleese eventually portrays in later film Rat Race the Venetian Owner Sheldon Adleson and he pokes fun the Casino Magnet who had skinned the hides of 53 Las Vegas Contractors out of $100s of millions of payments when he first built his famed resort. Cleese has on rare occasions done serious roles and he is a great actor, but we love him in Python and anytime he's poking fun at something serious on the big screen. Same with Idle, Jones and Chapmann. Grail pokes fun at the stupidity fo making a quest for a mythical cup that doesn't exist (Christ exists, just not the cup), at the Templar knights and the Arthurian legends. Anytime a bloke pokes fun at his own family of Britons, its worth a good belly laugh!
- DirectorJim AbrahamsStarsCharlie SheenCary ElwesValeria GolinoA parody of Top Gun (1986) in which a talented but unstable fighter pilot must overcome the ghosts of his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers.Who better to take on Rambo and Top Gun than the rebellious Charlie Sheen. Paired with him were love interest Valerie Golino and future 2-1/2 men co star John Cryer (was any actor ever more aptly named?) Loyd Bridges who made a habit of playing eccentric characters in parody movies late in his career is one of the reasons those films work. Some of us may have grown up with him in Sea Hunt, but remember him for these films because he makes us laugh. Jim Abrahams directed and wrote the film. Again the same great names keep popping up on this best parody film list.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsStarsCharlie SheenLloyd BridgesValeria Golino"Rambo" parody in which Topper Harley leads a rescue team into Iraq to save Iraqi war prisoners and all of their previous rescue teams.We pick up again on Rambo, but introduce the themes of then current events such as the Gulf War and all the evil villains of the real world stage. Perhaps one of the things I love about films like this is that that allow us to look at very serious villains and reduce them to the little characters they really are. Richard Crenna and Rowan Atkinson are great contributors to the play and we get an early introduction to the giant loveable Ryan Stiles.
- DirectorEdgar WrightStarsSimon PeggNick FrostKate AshfieldThe uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.How do you pick between Shawn of the Dead, Director Edger Wright, and a brilliantly funny cast that included Simon Frost in the Lead, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield as the love interest and equally easy on your eyes Lucy Davis. The story is very British in its adaptation of the world Zombie Apocalypse and how the dry-witted, stiff-upper-lipped British would handle the situation where their world is coming apart by the hungry dead. Perhaps it is one of the best parody movies ever because I lived with, learned from and grew to love the British people when blessed to work as a Mormon Missionary for two years back in the early 70's. This film captures the complete essence of what it means to be British. I can see why they persevered and won the very serious and critical Battle of Britain at the onset of WWII. The British are a wonderful lot and this film proves them to be self effacing and wonderful at the same time.
- DirectorRuben FleischerStarsJesse EisenbergEmma StoneWoody HarrelsonA shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting bruiser in search of the last Twinkie and a pair of sisters striving to get to an amusement park join forces in a trek across a zombie-filled America.This is a far more biting and harsh view of the Zombie Apocalypse, staring Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and includes one of the best cameo films of all time with Bill Murray. This film is a little rough around the edges, but it works as the small troupe of survivors make their way across the country, "double tapping" the dead all along the way.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBob HopeJane RussellRobert ArmstrongCalamity Jane is dispatched to find out who's smuggling rifles to the Indians, and winds up married to a hapless correspondence-school dentist as part of her cover.Perhaps there should be half a dozen Bob Hope films on this list. The Son of Paleface is equally funny. If none of you have ever seen the film he did with Virginia Mayo called "The Princess and the Pirate, you simply haven't seen great writing acting and directing of laughers. Paleface tracks Hope as an easter educated cowardly type and poorly trained Dentist, "Painless Potter" as he stumbles and bumbles his way to hero status in the old west. His gun site scene was a precursor for similar gag (the Pestle in the Vessel) in a Danny Kay film, the Court Jester made nearly 10 years later. Hope of course hopes to win the heart of Jane Russel (Calamity Jane) and eventually he does get the girl. He created the "Son of Paleface" about a decade later. Hope really was a genius and this is one of the funniest films of all time, pokes fun at the west in a precursor to Brooks masterpiece Blazing Saddles.
- DirectorDavid ButlerSidney LanfieldStarsBob HopeVirginia MayoWalter BrennanA cowardly actor and a runaway princess are voyaging on a ship that is captured by a notorious pirate who recently buried his treasure on a secretly mapped island.Hilarious, incredible cast, could have appeared anywhere on this list. Poked great fun at Errol Flin Movies of the late 30's and 40's. Had Pirates of the Caribbean been made back then this film would have been Mel Brooks answer. Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, Walter Slezak, Victor McLagen and even a special guest appearance by a crooner in the end who actually gets the girl. Eddie Murphy learned a great deal of his presentation styles from Hope and you can see Hope in Murphy when you watch films like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsZero MostelGene WilderDick ShawnA stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.The remake was good, but the original is better. Both were good but you just cannot out perform Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder and Dick Shawn. Lee Merideth and Kenneth Mars also fill out this crew in a film that makes light of Hitler in a way that doesn't make us think Brooks is laughing bat the Holocaust. Perhaps only Brooks could produce such a film, but the fact is he again achieves success by belittling that which had barely a generation earlier nearly reshaped the world stage in the name of the Third Reich. Everything about the story and direction works, and again, the film reminds us that often great stage and film work comes as much because the team producing it has great chemistry as the sum of its parts. The remake was actually pretty goos, but what does that say about the original which was even better and justifiably located on our top 25 list.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsMike MyersElizabeth HurleyMichael YorkA world-class playboy and part-time secret agent from the 1960s emerges after thirty years in a cryogenic state to battle with his nemesis Dr. Evil.Mike Meyers reprisal of all the Bond rols of the 1960's and then some, sprinkled to death with tributes to Laughin and bad British Dentistry. But the story-lines as campy as they may be, make great fun of James Bond, Emma Peel, whomever you want to identify from the Spy and Sheets era of films. The beautiful Elizabeth Hurley, obnoxious Seth Green and dry-witted Michael York contribute to the cast and chemistry. It is not a beautiful or technically believable film, but then neither were the early Bond films so there you go. If it an evening of laughs you want, Powers delivers in all three films.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJack NicholsonPierce BrosnanSarah Jessica ParkerEarth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.One of the greatest political commentaries of all times and a great cast, Michael J Fox, Pierce Brosnan, Jack Nicholson (2 roles) Michael Short, Annett Benning, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Danny Divito, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lukas Haas, Jack Black, this was a 90's who's who in Hollywood. It made fun of everything Vegas (where I live) and even more fun of Washington (where the little minded people live). It poked fun at the films Independence Day and War of the Worlds; and an earlier Parody that rounds out our top 25 of all time that can be arranged in ANY order...Dr. Strangelove. Mars attacks even pokes fun (and this is my personal favorite part) at really twangy country western music that makes the green headed alien brains explode. My wife loves that music and as soon as she hits #61 on SiriusXM Radio I feel my head begin to warble inside.
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (520K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.Proof that even one of the greatest film makers of all time, Stanley Kubrick, could produce one of the master piece dark comedies of the century, a film that took on the Cold War, the standoff between the Old Soviet Empire and America, the possible futility of trusting in technology and the MAD philosophy (Mutual Assured Destruction). Peter Sellers is the scene stealer in his portrayal and reprisal of a variety of roles within the film. Slim Pickens plays the captain of a B52 crew that is destined to drop a nuclear bomb on a Russian target. George C. Scott and a young James Earl Jones, Tracy Reed are early stars. Keenan Wynn makes the film with his low-profile dry wit and bull candor. This is one of the best films ever made that parody's a political theme. It is a must see even if for nothing more than to laugh at Slim Pickens and watch the brilliant and lovable Peter Sellers in key rolls.