“Don’t be saucy with me, Bernaise!”
The huge laugh that line elicited from my audience clued me in to the fact that it’s been over 25 years since I first watched this as part of my Mel Brooks VHS collection and I just now got the joke.
Seeing this back-to-back with Saddles was illuminating. I’ve heard History referred to as the last great Mel Brooks film (I’d disagree since I love Spaceballs) and that it’s a ‘minor classic’ at best. While Saddles works brilliantly as a straightforward narrative, History is obviously a sketch film, which in turn is like an anthology film, and those are always hit-or-miss because the material is inherently hit-or-miss. There are certainly classic moments.
“These fifteen…oy…ten! Ten commandments!”
“Fuck the poor!”
“And you look like a bucket of shit!”
Even if you hate musicals, The Inquisition is a riotous good time. And it is indeed good to be the king. Yet I think there’s an argument to be made that the strongest segment (and the one deserving of a feature treatment) is the Roman Empire.
You care if it falls?
What?
The Roman Empire.
Fuck it!”
Had Brooks just made a 90-minute version of that, it probably would’ve been fabulous. The characters are likable, the visual gags and schtick are frequently hilarious, and it provides his regular stock company members (like DeLuise and Kahn) with ample opportunity to show their comic genius. The French Revolution sequence is the weakest, yet even then it’s mostly saved by Harvey Korman (brilliant as always) and some choice dialogue “Fell like a stone.”The hallmarks of classic Brooks are all here, most notably crowds responding in unison and characters breaking the fourth wall. The problem is that it all feels a little less edgy and sharp than in Blazing Saddles. Still, sometimes I fall asleep for the late-night double bills and I didn’t yawn once, so the damn thing still works despite being uneven.
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