The railroad's got to run through the town of Rock Ridge. How do you drive out the townfolk in order to steal their land? Send in the toughest gang you've got...and name a new sheriff who'll last about 24 hours. But that's not really the plot of Blazing Saddles, just the pretext. Once Mel Brooks' lunatic film many call his best gets started, logic is lost in a blizzard of gags, jokes, quips, puns, howlers, growlers and outrageous assaults upon good taste or any taste at all. Cleavon Little as the new lawman, Gene Wilder as the wacko Waco Kid, Brooks himself as a dim-witted politico and Madeline Kahn in her Marlene Dietrich send-up that earned an Academy Award nomination all give this sagebrush saga their lunatic best. And when Blazing Saddles can't contain itself at the finale, it just proves the Old West will never be the same!

Once Mel Brooks' lunatic film many call his best gets started, logic is lost in a blizzard of gags, jokes, quips, puns, howlers, growlers and outrageous assaults upon good taste or any taste at all.

John Travolta and Kirstie Alley return in this charming sequel to the $100 million box-office smash. Also starring the voices of Bruce Willis as Mikey, Rosanne Barr as his new baby sister and Mel Brooks as the voice of Mr. Toilet Man. Directed by Amy Hec

In this spoof of the Robin Hood story, Robin (Cary Elwes) returns after a long battle to discover that the good King (Patrick Stewart) has been exiled, and in his place the evil King John (Richard Lewis) rules with the help of the despicable Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees). Robin assembles a new band of merry men, including the Rabbi Tuckman (Mel Brooks), to unseat the bad King, and finds he has a friend in the palace with the lovely Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeth). Unfortunately her keeper, the haggard Broomhilde (Megan Cavanaugh), has installed a chastity belt on Marian to insure her virtue.

Vaudeville hodgepodge of variety numbers, based on Leonard Sillman's popular Broadway revue, which was springboard for much new talent. One of the writers was Mel Brooks.

Mel Brooks Departs Mr. Chow Restaurant

Nov. 8: NBC s Brian Williams talked to Mel Brooks backstage on Broadway on the eve of the opening of his new musical, Young Frankenstein. Watch the full interview.

If a comedy is to be made from the plight of the homeless, who have to scrape through their days returning deposit bottles and cleaning car windshields to get their daily bread as the rich get richer and more heartless, it may as well be Mel Brooks' Life Stinks. The trademark Brooks humor dominates this fable about a ruthless billionaire, Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), who wants to obliterate a poor section of Los Angeles and build a high-tech commercial center in its place. His only problem is that he owns only half the land needed for the construction, the other half belonging to equally ruthless billionaire Vance Craswell (Jeffrey Tambor), who has his own ideas for the land. The two try to buy each other out until, finally, a deal is struck: Craswell bets that Bolt cannot survive a month on the streets as a homeless man. If Bolt makes it, he gets the property. If he doesn't, Craswell gets it. Bolt agrees and, as a poor man, he begins to feel the pain of being uprooted and alone, even meeting a friendly homeles

A man discovers honoring one of his father's last wishes isn't as easy as he hoped in this broad comedy. Middle-aged Bernardo Puccini (Ezio Greggio) helps to care for his elderly father in Milan. One day, Bernardo's dad, who is in poor health, makes a request - before he dies, he'd like to spend some time with his American friend Jake Gordon, whom he met during the war. Bernardo dutifully flies to the United States to track Jake down and bring him to Italy for a reunion. Bernardo manages to find Jake (Mel Brooks), but discovers he's currently a patient in a mental institution and not very stable. Not wanting to disappoint his father, Bernardo smuggles Jake out of the hospital to bring him back to Italy, but Barbara (Julie Condra), Jake's doctor, gets wind of his scheme and follows them to Milan to bring Jake back home. Screw Loose (aka Svitati) marked something of a reunion for star Mel Brooks, co-star and director Ezio Greggio, and screenwriter Rudy De Luca; Greggio made his American acting debut in Brooks'

Kirk Wong directed this comedy actioner about mild-mannered, beleaguered hitman Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg), who very much wants to be liked. However, the naive Mel is being taken advantage of by both his girlfriends and associates (who cheat him out of his bonuses). Mel and his Odd Squad -- Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.), and Gump (Robin Dunne) -- work for Paris (Avery Brooks), head of an international crime cartel and a contractor for hit jobs. Mel's mistress Chantel (Lela Rochon), who views him as a meal ticket, lives rent-free in his house, misspends his money, and is continually thinking of ways to get more from him. Her latest scheme is concocting tales about overdue mortgage and car payments, but she really wants the money to run away with her lover Sergio. Mel and his team head into a big shootout to waste some rival mobsters. One person kills the electricity; the others don night-vision goggles. Melvin handles most of the action, including shootin