Ranking the Films of Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is on the Mount Rushmore of comedy filmmakers, without question. Any one of his classics would have immortalized him, but he’s done for more than that, and that’s not even counting his other iconic work, including a personal favorite in the various 2000 Year Old Man albums he did with Carl Reiner. This week, a two part documentary tribute from Judd Apatow hit in Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (which I loved). Truly, any fan of his owes it to themselves to watch the doc. It’s hilarious and insightful in equal measure. Both parts of the documentary have now debuted on HBO, so in honor of that, I’m putting down on (virtual) paper my ranking of one of my favorite filmmakers of all time.

When I reviewed the documentary (here), I spoke about Brooks like so:

I was raised on the movies of Mel Brooks, as well as his 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums. The soundtrack of laughter in my home and car as a child was Brooks. So, it goes without saying that I know the films, the comedy, and the stories of Brooks very well. As such, I didn’t find any great revelations within the new two part documentary Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man. What I did find, however, was a wonderfully loving portrait of the man from Judd Apatow.

Below, you can see how I stack up Brooks’ career behind the camera. The one-two punch of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein is an all-timer just on their own, and they’re 1A/1B here for me. Then, you have another classic in The Producers to give him a top three that few can even think to match. That doesn’t even take into account the fun of Spaceballs, the comedic experimentations of High Anxiety and Silent Movie, or the enjoyable silliness of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He’s a comedy god, plain and simple, so this list is just going from stone cold classics to, at worst, fun comedies. Long live Mel Brooks!

Here now is my ranking of the films of Mel Brooks. Behold:

11. Dracula: Dead and Loving It

10. Life Stinks

9. The Twelve Chairs

8. History of the World, Part 1

7. Robin Hood: Men in Tights

6. Silent Movie

5. Spaceballs

4. High Anxiety

3. The Producers

2. Blazing Saddles

1. Young Frankenstein

What are your favorite Mel Brooks movies? Let us know!