Top Ten Tuesday: Calling All Parodies!

Two new parodies open in theaters this weekend on Friday, May 21… MACGRUBER and SHREK FOREVER AFTER. Just as these two films are very different from each other, as are movie parodies, ranging in style and format, poking fun at anything and everything. In keeping with this week’s box office theme, We Are Movie Geeks has formulated our own list of the ten best parody movies. The films we’ve selected broadly encompass the widely varying genre of parodies, and while we certainly left out some good ones, it gives an idea of what we think of as being the exemplary examples.

Honorable Mention: UHF (1989)

I’ll admit, Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of public access television is not everyone’s cup-o-tea, but for truly devoted Movies Geeks, this is a modern classic of ridiculous comedy. Yankovic has already established himself as an international music star, which is saying a lot given he’s devoted his career to a less-than-mainstream genre, selling countless records of song parodies. So, it seems only natural that he took that stardom and translated it into a movie. From the Wheel of Fish to Philo’s Secrets of the Universe, from spoofs of well-known movies like INDIANA JONES and RAMBO to TV commercials for businesses like Spatula City, UHF has endless amounts of off-the-wall fun. The film featured a cast of comedians including Victoria Jackson and Fran Drescher, but also kicked off the career of Michael Richards, prior to his meteoric rise as Cosmos Kramer on SEINFELD and his catastrophic fall as a loose-lipped, short-tempered stand-up comic. UHF is often cheesy, often bizarre, bit always a good time!

10. HOT SHOTS! (1991)

HOT SHOTS took on the macho fly-boy genre, especially TOP GUN, but also FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER and NAVY SEALS (not to mention DANCES WITH WOLVES) in 1991. Charlie Sheen played the chiseled hero Topper Harley and he’s hilarious, always stern and stone-faced despite the outright daftness of everything going on around him. A favorite sequence has Sheen erotically feeding Valeria Golino grapes 9½ WEEKS-style and, in escalating passion, ends up cooking breakfast on her sizzling stomach. Sheen is great and he never breaks character or smirks to the camera to let us all know he’s in on the joke. Lloyd Bridges steals the show in every single scene he is in and I love the scene where he puts the cloth through his ears. HOT SHOTS primarily works on the basis that if it lobs enough of its jokes at us, at least some are going to stick and while the percentage that score isn’t quite at the level of AIRPLANE or THE NAKED GUN, HOT SHOTS is still a great parody.

09. SCARY MOVIE (2000)

An AIRPLANE-style parody of the ’90s resurgence of slasher movies, few spoofs are funnier or outrageously ballsy as SCARY MOVIE, the 2000 comedy directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. It starts as a scene-for-scene lampoon of the original SCREAM then borrows and skewers major plot points from I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE MATRIX and more. Watching SCARY MOVIE is akin to getting five jokes, puns, and one-liners, thrown at you per minute and most of them work. Kudos to Wayans for having the courage to present such un-PC, offensive material. No bodily function or substance was too disgusting to portray in SCARY MOVIE for the purpose of getting laughs and it’s surprising the MPAA was able to give him even an R rating (the three sequels have all been neutered at PG-13). SCARY MOVIE was the first starring role for Anna Faris and where she first honed her winning clueless persona. It’s Ms. Faris who’s the chief comedic virtue of the very funny SCARY MOVIE series.

08. THE NAKED GUN (1988)

THE NAKED GUN is all Leslie Nielsen’s show: with an unaccountable flair for the needlessly dramatic, his dunderheaded Lieutenant Frank Drebin holds all the absurdity together by treating everything as if it were a matter of life or death. Bingo! Based on characters from their short-lived television series “Police Squad!” THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD! (1988) was the first comedy franchise from brothers David and Jerry Zucker, spawning two sequels. THE NAKED GUN was a rapid-fire laugh machine full of corny gags, innuendos, tons of verbal jokes (“nice beaver”), O.J. Simpson, and Reggie Jackson trying to kill Queen Elizabeth (who stands up and does the wave at a California Angels fan). The endless jokes are mostly tasteless and juvenile but they come at such breakneck speed there’s barely time to catch your breath.

07. THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987)

Your first thought may be that this isn’t a parody, but the truth is THE PRINCESS BRIDE is actually a parody of romantic fairy tales. Here’s the catch… the movie ended up being so darn good it works as a straight comedy, often overshadowing the element of parody. Director Rob Reiner’s tale of true love, written by William Goldman and based upon his own book, follows poor farm hand Wesley (Cary Elwes) as he returns as the “Man in Black” to reclaim his Buttercup (Robin Wright) before she is forced to marry the evil Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). THE PRINCESS BRIDE is an epic story, filled with fun, adventure and plenty of unforgettable laughs. The cast consists of an enormous line-up of talent featuring Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Carol Kane and Andre the Giant. Easily one of the most quotable films of all time, THE PRINCESS BRIDE is a light-hearted and humorous love story that guys and gals can enjoy alike.

06. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)

“We’re knights of the Round Table, we dance whene’er we’re able. We do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impec-cable, We dine well here in Camelot, we eat ham and jam and Spam a lot.” This toe-tapping, musical interlude is just one example of the genius that is found in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. It’s the medieval send-up of Arthur “King of the Britons,” along with his Knights of the Round Table, quest for the Holy Grail. All the knights run into various perils such as the Knights Who Say “Ni!,” the 3-headed giant, and Tim the Enchanter. The heroes are lured to the Castle Anthrax by a faux grail beacon, followed by a battle to the death with the Rabbit of Caerbannog with the Holy Hand Grenade. Written by Python alum Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, this cult favorite is a cheeky bookend to 1981’s EXCALIBUR…” On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.”

05. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

So what would you do if your job sucked, your girlfriend just left you, and… oh yeah, the world has just been overrun by zombies? (If this sounds terribly familiar, assume this isn’t already your life.) If you’re Shaun, you do the obvious: grab a cricket bat and go to town on some old-fashioned, slow-moving zombies with your loyal yet ill-mannered best friend Ed, all in the name of saving the day and getting your girl back. Described as a “rom-zom-com,” or a “romantic comedy with zombies,” SHAUN OF THE DEAD pays tribute to the Romero classics, but adds it’s own light-hearted spin to the undead genre.

04. AIRPLANE! (1980)

“Does anyone here speak jive?” If not, don’t fret… there’s surely an elderly white woman on your plane that can translate, right? This is merely the beginning of the absurdly ridiculous comedy that occurs aboard AIRPLANE! The movie was co-written and co-directed by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker and has become one of the original classics of the parody genre. Featuring a cast of big names, including Lloyd bridges, Robert Stack and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, surely this film can be taken seriously. But, of course it can’t, it’s a silly comedy. And, don’t call me Shirley! That’s right. It also stars Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack, the man who gave birth to the quote eligible for the most abundantly overused award. AIRPLANE! Is a comedy that relies heavily on wordplay and puns, but the cast presents this low-brow style of comedy with such straight-faced seriousness that the humor becomes that much more hilarious. From confused pilots to passengers with drinking problems, AIRPLANE! Will have you laughing hysterically, and it’s not due to a lack of oxygen.

03. BLAZING SADDLES (1974)

Never has the wild, wild west seen such satire as Mel Brooks’ shoot’em up BLAZING SADDLES. The newly appointed black sheriff of Rock Ridge, much to the disconcerting Johnson townsfolk, is trying to stop the “bad guys” from driving a railroad right through their frontier town. Once in charge, Sheriff Bart faces the evil politician Hedy, “no, that’s Hedley” Lamaar who sends his henchman and gang of cowboys to Rock Ridge to “go a-ridin’ into town, a-whompin’ and a-whumpin’ every livin’ thing that moves within an inch of its life.” A lampoon of a Randolph Scott Western, BLAZING SADDLES is strewn with horses, Indians, barroom brawls, and an infamous “too much beans” farting scene around the campfire. Of course, Bart finds an ally in former gunslinger and current drunk, Jim, aka “The Waco Kid” and falls for the German assassin Lili von Shtupp who tries to seduce the sheriff with her, harrumph, schnitzengruben. From a time where screenplays, filled with racial slurs, didn’t know something called “political correctness,” Brooks made sure that every nationality was fair game to be made a mockery of and nothing raunchy was out of bounds. Good thing Brooks had final cut.

02. SPACEBALLS (1987)

Mel Brooks’ 1987 parody of science fiction flicks is remembered not necessarily as his best, but it certainly is one of his goofiest parodies, and one of his smartest. Besides lovingly ripping off the Star Wars franchise and a slew of other classic sci-fi movies (STAR TREK, ALIEN, 2001, PLANET OF THE APES), Brooks also takes a few well-deserved potshots at Hollywood’s fondness for unnecessary sequels and shameless merchandising. Dweeby Rick Moranis was comedy gold as Darth Vader wannabe Dark Helmet, while Bill Pullman camped it up as Lone Starr, a combination of the Luke Skywalker and Han Solo archetypes. With John Candy, Joan Rivers, and Brooks himself rounding out the cast, the “schwartz” was truly with this film, taking it from funny to hilarious at “ludicrous speed!”

01. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)

Here’s the formula for comedic success in the 70’s… put Mel Brooks in the director’s chair and cast Gene Wilder. That’s it! No wonder Mel Brooks did this more than once, but his best collaboration with Gene Wilder has to be YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Gene Wilder plays Dr. Frankenstein, oh… sorry, Dr. Fronkensteen. My mistake. He’s a scientist, but denies his lineage to the infamous scientist who created a monster, until he realizes he may be able to succeed where his predecessor failed. Assisted by Inga (Teri Garr) and Igor (Marty Feldman) he pursues his renewed calling. What results is a new Monster, played brilliantly by Peter Boyle, but the monster is far from perfect, thanks to the “Abby Normal” brain acquired by Igor. Brooks’ writing and the comedic timing of the cast is perfect throughout the film, yet another of the most quotable movies of all-time. Shot in black and white for mood, Brooks’ captures the visual essence of the early Universal monster flicks, giving the genre a hefty dose of comedy, delivered intravenously for sustained laughter.