All 11 Mel Brooks Movies Ranked — From Funny to Hilarious

Before he made classics like Blazing Saddles, Brooks was a pivotal comedy writer in the early world of television — including writing for the famed Sid Caesar. He paired with lifelong friend Carl Reiner to create genius works including The 2,000 Year Old Man, and Brooks co-created Get Smart, the spy spoof sitcom.

But Mel Brooks, who is 97, is most beloved for his films — almost all of them parodies of beloved movie genres, from silent movies to monster movies to Westerns. Here are all 11 Mel Brooks movies, ranked from entertaining to hilarious.

Notably, Life Stinks is not a parody. Though Mel Brooks directed and starred in the film, he doesn’t break the fourth wall or do any of his classic spoof style of humor. The movie was a flop, despite Brooks attempt at social commentary — something he did more successfully with Blazing Saddles.

In the film, Brooks plays a greedy businessman who bets one of his compatriots that he can live penniless on the streets for 30 days. If he succeeds, he’ll get to tear down a Los Angeles neighborhood.

It’s like Trading Places to a degree, but without the kinetic personality of Eddie Murphy. In Brooks’ defense, almost anybody would have a hard time making a funny comedy about homelessness.

Life Stinks doesn’t have many defenders, but Robin Hood: Men in Tights sure does. Still, it’s one of those erratic Brooks comedies. He’s being silly even by his standards.

There are some good jokes, and a few well-handled potshots at Kevin Costner’s turn as Robin Hood. However, for every good joke, a few miss the target.

Men in Tights is also notable for being the first film to feature Dave Chappelle. He plays Ahchoo, one of Robin’s Merry Men. And we love Cary Elwes in everything.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is Brooks’ most recent film, and brought together two of the most essential faces of parody films — to play Dracula, Brooks enlisted Leslie Nielsen, star of Zucker-Abrams-Zucker’s beloved Airplane! and Naked Gun films. The pairing of Brooks and Nielsen alone makes this worth watching.

Do the two ham it up? Indeed, those fangs chew some scenery. We aren’t quite loving it, but there are glimmers of good in the movie.

Also, this is as good a place as any to note that we’re only ranking the movies Brooks directed, not 1983’s To Be Or Not to Be, which he produced and starred in with the love of his life, Anne Bancroft.

Brooks personally is a big fan of The Twelve Chairs. After directing his first film, Brooks took a chance on directing… an adaptation of a Russian satire. The Twelve Chairs is an oft-adapted Russian novel from 1928, but in the Americas it is not a well-noted text. Perhaps that’s why The Twelve Chairs came and went in the blink of an eye.

The movie stars, among others, Dom DeLuise and Frank Langella. It has an impressive cast, and Brooks has a small role as well. He also changed the book’s narrative to make it less dark. Brooks wanted to let the audience leave on a high note.

We have not read the book, and can’t compare it as a text. But we have to give Brooks credit for trying to parody source material that was probably a mystery to large swaths of the audience.

Remember when The Artist won Best Picture? The Artist is a comedy about the silent film era, and the move to “talkies,” and was filmed like it was one of those movies.

Silent Movie did it first, and Brooks went even further in terms of replicating 1920s films. Of course, he also did the same goofy stuff he is synonymous with, which undercuts the verisimilitude.

Silent Movie is about a director in the 1970s who wants to make a silent movie. He’s parodying the film industry around him, and it’s not always subtle. Brooks plays “Mel Funn,” Marty Feldman plays “Marty Eggs,” and so on. Brooks’ wife Anne Bancroft cameos as herself, and Burt Reynolds is great as Burt Reynolds, in a shower scene, no less.

And Marcel Marceau has a speaking role, a classic Mel Brooks joke.

Sketch comedy is often broad, and also often hit-or-miss. Mel Brooks comedy i also often broad and often hit-or-miss, so it’s kind of surprising that Brooks only directed one sketch movie.

For History of the World, Part I, the name was part of the bit — the film features an assortment of sketches set during history. Brooks and his cast of characters get to play a few notable figures, and perform fun musical numbers.

The sketch nature of the film sevbes the shaggy nature of the project, and it’s fun to see Brooks swinging for the fences and enjoying some creative freedom after his most successful decade.

If there is a most overlooked Brooks movie, it’s High Anxiety. Brooks’ spoof of Alfred Hitchcock, especifically Vertigo, is the first Mel Brooks film that he stars in. He handles everything deftly.

The parody elements of High Anxiety are well-appointed, as with Silent Movie. What’s different is that the plot is, well, more of a plot. Thrillers are actually good fodder for spoofs, since they are inherently heightened. You throw a comedic twist on that, and it can provide a lot of comedic heft.

Brooks wisely surrounded himself with a strong supporting cast too. If you missed High Anxiety, give it a watch.

It all began here. The Producers was Brooks’ directorial debut, and while the film wasn’t very successful, it found new life as a Broadway musical, which was then turned into another film.

The Producers is about an unethical producer and accountant who realize they can make more money with a flop than a hit on Broadway. Enter: “Springtime for Hitler.” Brooks, a Jewish-American who fought in World War II, was always keen to joke about Nazis.

This was Brooks first collaboration with Gene Wilder, whom he met when Wilder appeared in a play with his wife, Anne Bancroft. Zero Mostel was also widely acclaimed, and Dick Shawn deserves a shout out for his performance as well.

As huge as Star Wars was, it’s a little odd that parodies of Star Wars have not been commonplace. Star Wars rip-offs are a dime a dozen, but Brooks recognizes sci-fi was a genre ripe for parody, and Spaceballs pretty much nailed it.

Spaceballs is goofy as all get out: Yogurt as a parody of Yoda? The Schwartz? But there are plenty of big laughs, from Ludicrous Speed to Rick Moranis is great as Dark Helmet. Bill Pullman and John Candy are delightful.

You can read 12 behind the scenes stories of Spaceballs here.

Mel Brooks’ 1974 was as good a year as any director has had. The top two films on this list both came out that year. Both are classic comedies. Both are funny and thoroughly enjoyable. The only question was which one would finish first, and which would finish second.

In the end,  we give Blazing Saddles the silver, but that is not faint praise. We have much more to say ahout the film, and in fact you can read 12 Blazing Saddles behind the scenes stories here.

Some people will say that “You couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today,” which is kind of an empty statement. You could, except for the fact it was already made. Yes, it’s crass and crude and vulgar. It’s also silly and dumb at times.

The humor is lowbrow, but the satire is strong. Brooks, with the help of Richard Pryor on the screenplay, crafted a quintessential ‘70s racial commentary, but it did not condescend, and it did not pull punches on the jokes. Having Gene Wilder in the cast next to Cleavon Little helped, and we shall shout out Madeline Kahn as well.

The winner, in the end, is Young Frankenstein. Wilder stars as a descendent of the doctor from the novel, who takes over the family castle — and also the family experiments.

The cast is star studded, from Kahn to Feldman to Terri Garr (with Wilder, above). And of course, we have to mention Peter Boyle, who plays the monster.

The comedy is not exactly subtle, but it’s subtler and stronger than that in many Mel Brooks movies. It’s also some masterful filmmaking — Young Frankenstein even used props from the old Universal films.

Here are 12 Young Frankenstein Behind the Scenes stories, mostly from Mel Brooks himself.

You might also like these behind the scenes stories of Airplane!, featuring Dracula: Dead and Loving It star Leslie Nielsen.

Main image: Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles. Warner Bros.

Editor’s Note: Corrects main image and credit.