Spaceballs (1987)
Directed by Mel Brooks
When the nefarious Dark Helmet hatches a plan to snatch Princess Vespa and steal her planet's air, space-bum-for-hire Lone Starr and his clueless sidekick fly to the rescue. Along the way, they meet Yogurt, who puts Lone Starr wise to the power of "The Schwartz." Can he master it in time to save the day?
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14 films that influenced Spaceballs
What critics say influenced Spaceballs
Maybe Brooks's 1987 spoof of Star Wars came too long after the mania that inspired it to be truly effective, because I remember sitting in the theater as a teenager, laughing intermittently but mostly thinking, What is this shit?
A pr�cis of the film's plot is not necessary: Suffice it to say that there are a passel of jokes -- one coming roughly every 20 seconds -- made at the expense of "Alien," the "Star Trek" movies and the "Star Wars" films, with the latter taking the brunt of the attack.
Brooks and co-screenwriters Thomas Meehan and Ronny Graham hew fairly closely to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back in their plotting.
Brooks's Star Wars parody isn't particularly sophisticated, but older kids and teens should have fun with the goofy humor.
Brooks' Star Wars spoof employs the familiar scattergun approach, featuring gags old and new, something borrowed and something blue.
This send-up of all the Star Wars movies abounds with typical Airplane-type visual gags and humor.
The main premise of the film (both its plot and characters) is mostly influenced by George Lucas’s sci-fi trilogy “Star Wars,” but Brooks borrows from the likes of nearly every popular sci-fi franchise, including “Star Trek,” “Aliens,” “Planet of the Apes,” and even the not-so-science-fiction tale “The Wizard of Oz.” Brooks includes a good collection of quality gags throughout, but it’s Moranis’ crowd-pleasing re-creation of Darth Vader that ultimately wins in the film’s internal battle for absolute absurdity.
A pr�cis of the film's plot is not necessary: Suffice it to say that there are a passel of jokes -- one coming roughly every 20 seconds -- made at the expense of "Alien," the "Star Trek" movies and the "Star Wars" films, with the latter taking the brunt of the attack.
Then rewind a little to Brooks' Spaceballs, and see how all the signs were there: the strained humor, the lame Star Trek references, the downright painful puns.
In addition to Star Wars, Brooks and company take potshots at Star Trek, Transformers (as in Howard Korder's 1985 off-Broadway space spoof "Episode 26," there's a kind of "Heavenly Hoover" involved in the climax), Alien, Max Headroom, and The Wizard of Oz.
And the movie's most memorable gag pays tribute to both the Alien series and the classic Chuck Jones cartoon "One Froggy Evening."
In addition to Star Wars, Brooks and company take potshots at Star Trek, Transformers (as in Howard Korder's 1985 off-Broadway space spoof "Episode 26," there's a kind of "Heavenly Hoover" involved in the climax), Alien, Max Headroom, and The Wizard of Oz.
The main premise of the film (both its plot and characters) is mostly influenced by George Lucas’s sci-fi trilogy “Star Wars,” but Brooks borrows from the likes of nearly every popular sci-fi franchise, including “Star Trek,” “Aliens,” “Planet of the Apes,” and even the not-so-science-fiction tale “The Wizard of Oz.” Brooks includes a good collection of quality gags throughout, but it’s Moranis’ crowd-pleasing re-creation of Darth Vader that ultimately wins in the film’s internal battle for absolute absurdity.
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Silent Movie ('76) still sports some of the old touch, but it's dismaying to see the man behind The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein churning out such a flabby whoopy-cushion as Spaceballs (1987).
He’s turned Frankenstein’s monster into a song-and-dance man (“Young Frankenstein”), capitalized on the tight-wearing pansies of fairy tales (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”), and even revealed the West for its extreme political incorrectness (“Blazing Saddles”).
Even so, it's hard not to compare Spaceballs unfavorably to Brooks' earlier, more deliriously cutting films (The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles).
1.85:1, 1080p (MPEG-4); English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Stereo, French 5.1 DTS, Spanish DD 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1, German 5.1 DTS, Italian 5.1 DTS, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1 DTS, Hungarian DD 5.1; BD-50 Neither the audacity of Mel Brooks' perpetually relevant Blazing Saddles nor the movie-love that manifested itself in his uncanny genre parodies Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety inhabit Brooks' Spaceballs, a spoof tailored to the undiscriminating palate of preteens and people who can't resist a joke at the expense of Star Wars hobbyists.
Neither the audacity of Mel Brooks' perpetually relevant Blazing Saddles nor the movie-love that manifested itself in his uncanny genre parodies Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety inhabit Brooks' Spaceballs, a spoof tailored to the undiscriminating palate of preteens and people who can't resist a joke at the expense of Star Wars hobbyists.
There's none of Mel Brooks' usual vulgarity (like the farting cowboys in Blazing Saddles) so you can take the kids with you to see this one.
He’s turned Frankenstein’s monster into a song-and-dance man (“Young Frankenstein”), capitalized on the tight-wearing pansies of fairy tales (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”), and even revealed the West for its extreme political incorrectness (“Blazing Saddles”).
Even so, it's hard not to compare Spaceballs unfavorably to Brooks' earlier, more deliriously cutting films (The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles).
1.85:1, 1080p (MPEG-4); English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Stereo, French 5.1 DTS, Spanish DD 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1, German 5.1 DTS, Italian 5.1 DTS, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1 DTS, Hungarian DD 5.1; BD-50 Neither the audacity of Mel Brooks' perpetually relevant Blazing Saddles nor the movie-love that manifested itself in his uncanny genre parodies Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety inhabit Brooks' Spaceballs, a spoof tailored to the undiscriminating palate of preteens and people who can't resist a joke at the expense of Star Wars hobbyists.
Neither the audacity of Mel Brooks' perpetually relevant Blazing Saddles nor the movie-love that manifested itself in his uncanny genre parodies Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety inhabit Brooks' Spaceballs, a spoof tailored to the undiscriminating palate of preteens and people who can't resist a joke at the expense of Star Wars hobbyists.
Though not on a par with Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs has enough sparkling moments to somehow wind up more than the sum of its jokes: while it may not inspire love, it's pretty darn hard not to like it.
I don’t doubt this is the case for many fans of the best Brooks films—how many kids of the seventies saw Blazing Saddles before laying eyes on a real western, or Young Frankenstein before the bride of same?
Brooks's first features, " The Producers " (1968) and " The Twelve Chairs ," told original stories.
Even so, it's hard not to compare Spaceballs unfavorably to Brooks' earlier, more deliriously cutting films (The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles).
But, when you go back to classics like "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" or even "Spaceballs", it's a whole different story.
In his other role, of President Skroob, leader of Spaceballs, the planet -- to whom he gives a pert little "Monsieur Verdoux" moustache -- Brooks has a couple of almost-passable scenes, like the one in which he tries, with disastrous results, to have himself beamed up -- "Star Trek"-style -- into the next room.
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In addition to Star Wars, Brooks and company take potshots at Star Trek, Transformers (as in Howard Korder's 1985 off-Broadway space spoof "Episode 26," there's a kind of "Heavenly Hoover" involved in the climax), Alien, Max Headroom, and The Wizard of Oz.
As a hagiography for Brooks, it's promisingly passive-aggressive (he's portrayed as a teddy bear with a gargantuan ego), yet it touts when it should lament the overqualified crew of Spaceballs, including the production designer of Doctor Zhivago, Alfred Hitchcock's storyboard artist, ILM's Peter Donen, and still others.