Mel Brooks names cinema’s only “perfect” movies: “They were like dreams come to life”
Perfection is arguably impossible to achieve in any walk of life, but knowing how highly Mel Brooks rates some of his contributions to the entertainment industry and some of the people he’s worked with, and with good reason, he’s allowed to throw the superlative around as much as he wants.
After all, you don’t spend more than 70 years working in film, television, and theatre as a writer, producer, director, and actor, winning dozens of awards along the way, without having your finger on the pulse of what audiences want to see, and who the best people are to bring it to them.
There’s also the fact that Brooks is rapidly closing in on turning 100 years old, which also means he’s been around the block and back enough times to know what’ll stand the test of time. Several of his films tick that box, and it might not even be biased for the picture’s chief creator to point to Blazing Saddles as the single funniest feature that’s ever been made.
Then again, it was Young Frankenstein that he called the only “perfect” entry in his filmography, with the legendary Gene Hackman earning the distinction of being the only “perfect” actor that he worked with, while he celebrated the Ritz brothers, the Marx brothers, and the Three Stooges as the epitome of comedic perfection.
That might lead you to believe that the EGOT-winning legend with more lifetime achievement awards than most would pat himself on the back and call several choice entries from his back catalogue the definition of onscreen perfection, but he didn’t. Instead, he pointed towards a highly specific, yet undeniably timeless, subgenre as the ultimate bastion of celluloid excellence.
Since there are ten to choose from between 1933’s Flying Down to Rio and 1949’s The Barkleys of Broadway, Brooks couldn’t even contemplate calling any one of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ musicals better than the rest when he views them as one perfect, cohesive whole that he’s been inspired by and infatuated with since they were first released.
“The Fred and Ginger films were, in my mind, always perfect romantic musical comedy movies,” he told Creative Screenwriting. “They were like dreams come to life. When you lived in a tenement in Brooklyn with linoleum floors and then would go to RKO Republic, and Fred and Ginger were gliding gracefully over big black and white tiles, you knew there had to be a better world somewhere.”
Even though comedy has always been his stock in trade, and he’s made a very nice living and incomparable career out of it, Brooks has always worn the influence of Astaire and Rogers on his sleeve, whether it’s through lavish backdrops, musical numbers, or the sense of fantastical whimsy that he’s always sought to emulate.
“I always wanted to salute that magical feeling in my own movies,” he admitted. “And, God dammit, I did!” It’s hard to disagree when the evidence is right there to back up his point, even if Fred and Ginger wouldn’t be caught dead farting around a campfire like the characters in Blazing Saddles, which still technically counts as a musical scene in its own flatulent way.
