The Curse of Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is renowned, rightfully so, as one of our great comedic film directors. In the 1970's Brooks and Allen were the only consistent directors of film comedy with an occasional inclusion from Elaine May and the works of Neil Simon.

Brooks' uproarious comedies tickled the public's fancy and most of his films turned a tidy profit. Brooks would repeatedly team with many of the same actors, obviously believing you don't mess with a good thing. Some of these actors include Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman.

There were three other actors that Brooks worked with more then once that deserve mention. They are Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise. Each actor filled with rich, comedic timing and talent many actors only dream of, and each who aspired to be more then a fine comedic actor and, like their mentor Mel Brooks, moved on to not only acting in but also directing (and usually writing/co-writing) their own film comedies.

Not surprisingly none of the films these actors directed were very well received and none came close to living up to the box office hits of Brooks. This only went to prove how difficult a task it is to pull off great film comedy and how easy Mel Brooks made it look. All three of these men had the ingredients to make their films work and each has at least some merit to speak of but one thing they forgot was the one thing that lacked in all of their films: the brilliance of Mel Brooks. They had the ingredients but couldn't make their projects mesh the way Brooks could.

Here is a brief look at Mel Brooks' stepchildren, or films that likely never would have been made without his inspiration and success.

"Hot Stuff" was Dom DeLuise's first and only attempt at directing a big screen comedy. DeLuise had previously worked with Brooks in "The 12 Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Young Frankenstein," and "Silent Movie" before branching out for his directorial debut. In it he plays a retiring police officer trying to break up a theft ring by setting up a business that acts as a fence for stolen goods. Jerry Reed and Suzanne Pleshette co-star in this pleasant but ultimately forgettable film that features a terrific chase scene that showed DeLuise had some potential as a director. The film ultimately failed at the box office in the summer of 1979, no doubt having been lost in the shuffle of bigger named films including "The Muppet Movie," "Breaking Away," "The Amityville Horror," "Alien" plus a re-release of the original "Jaws."

Marty Feldman, best known for his wild eyes, co-starred for Brooks in "Young Frankenstein" and "Silent Movie." Feldman's first attempt at directing a big screen comedy came in 1977 when he made (along with co-writing and co-starring) "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" co-starring the hunky Michael York and the voluptuous Ann-Margret. Feldman lampooned French Foreign Legion films of the past and came up with mixed results. The first half of the film is often hysterical but the latter half staggers as if Feldman and Co. simply ran out of ideas. The film was a minor hit.

Feldman went back to the director's chair one more time in 1980 with "In God We Tru$t," a comedic look at religion and televangelism. Once again Feldman also starred and co-wrote the film and despite some broad territory to lampoon with a strong supporting cast including Peter Boyle, Richard Pryor, Louise Lasser and Andy Kaufman, the film is a one joke idea stretched over 90 minutes. The film was both a critical and financial flop at the box office. Sadly, Feldman never got another opportunity to direct as he died unexpectedly at 48 in 1982 of a massive heart attack brought on by food poisoning while shooting the film "Yellowbeard." Oddly, Feldman died on his last day on the set and was preparing to shoot his on screen death. The scene was finished by a double.

Not surprisingly, Gene Wilder has had the most opportunities at directing. Wilder was arguably the best comedic actor of the 1970's and, after the amazing one-two punch that was "Blazing Saddles/Young Frankenstein," (not counting the brilliant The Producers) Wilder decided to give directing a try. While that was good for Wilder it was bad for film audiences all over as Wilder would never work again with Brooks, this despite a long persistent rumor from the mid-1970's to the early 1980's that the two were going to re-team for a comedic take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sadly we can only wonder what may have been.

Wilder's first attempt at directing (from his own script) was 1975's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," a sometimes uproarious look at the life of the forgotten brother of the famed detective. In no other film talked about here then this is the spirit of Mel Brooks more evident. Characters break out into song for no reason. Modern day devices are spotted in a period film. Vulgar humor reigns supreme. And yet Wilder misses the mark in a way Brooks hadn't at that time. Wilder does provide some gems of moments but they come few and far between. My favorite is when someone asks Wilder (as Sigi Holmes) about his famous detective brother and Sigi quickly corrects the man of his brother's name by stating, "His name is Sheer-luck." Wilder isn't able to carry the little moments like that for a full 90 minutes though. His story is needlessly confusing and convoluted for a spoof and the musical numbers are totally out of place. Still the film was the most successful of the Brooks knock offs despite mostly negative reviews.

Wilder next appeared on screen with Richard Pryor in the 1976 smash hit "Silver Streak" but failed to realize his true talent lied in front of the camera. In 1977 Wilder wrote and directed the period comedy "The World's Greatest Lover," the story of a Wisconsin baker who goes to Hollywood in search of the elusive dream of being the next Rudolf Valentino. The film had a couple of mild laughs but was a major step down from "Smarter Brother" and the film was a critical and financial flop.

The 1980's were no better for Wilder as a director. In 1984 he made "The Woman in Red," a minor comedy about a married man who becomes obsessed with a model and pursues her in hopes that she will be the perfect woman. The film introduced us to model Kelly LeBrock and was one of the first to receive the PG-13 rating but is otherwise forgettable. Wilder's then-wife, Gilda Radner, is reduced to a small supporting role playing the most unflattering character a husband could write for his wife. At the time of the release Wilder told critics that if the film wasn't a hit he was going to give up filmmaking and become a full time painter. He should have picked up his brushes.

In 1986 Wilder made his last film as director (and co-writer) starring in the horror/comedy "Haunted Honeymoon." This terrible film was the nadir of Wilder's directorial portfolio running a meager 79 minutes and featuring Dom DeLuise in drag (and eliciting not a single laugh). The film also steals a few bits from "Young Frankenstein" and its only funny moment comes from lampooning the classic scene in "Y.F." when Wilder is stealing the body and is approached by a police constable with Wilder having to use the corpse's dangling arm as if it's his own. Not surprisingly the film received disastrous reviews and bombed at the box office.

Why couldn't these three men pull off a project that couldn't be considered better then mediocre? Perhaps they were given more free reign then they should have or maybe they would have been better directors had they had better scripts to work with. Perhaps writing just wasn't there forte. Remember that Mel Brooks was not an actor and all of his talent was born in writing with directing to follow. DeLuise, Feldman and Wilder are actors by trade and not writers. Wilder did strike gold (and an Academy Award nomination) when he wrote "Young Frankenstein" but he also had Mel Brooks to guide him through the various re-writes (both received screen credit) before they achieved a filmable script. Nothing Wilder ever wrote after that came close to the brilliance of "Young Frankenstein."

When all is said and done these men will likely be best remembered for their work with Mel Brooks. Their collaborations with him were both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing as they created some of the best film comedies of the last 40 years and a curse because each thought they could emulate their mentor and discovered that writing and directing on their own wasn't quite as easy as they thought.