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Young Frankenstein (1974)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
Start here, because this is the one where the jokes and the filmmaking pull in the same direction. Brooks and Gene Wilder wrote it as a loving send-up of the 1930s Universal Frankenstein pictures, and Brooks shot it in black and white, a rarity in the 1970s, using lab equipment Kenneth Strickfaden built for the 1931 original. It looks like the real thing, which makes every gag hit harder.
You need no homework to enjoy it. Marty Feldman's Igor, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman and Peter Boyle's Monster tap-dancing through "Puttin' on the Ritz" are funny on sight, and the whole film is warmer and less abrasive than Brooks at his rowdiest.
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Blazing Saddles (1974)
7.7/10on IMDb
Released
The loudest, bravest and most quoted Brooks film, and in June 2026 the American Film Institute moved it to No. 1 on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list. The target is the Hollywood western and the racism baked into it: Cleavon Little plays Bart, a Black sheriff sent to a frontier town that wants him gone, with Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid. Richard Pryor is among the credited writers.
Go in knowing what it is. Racial slurs come thick and fast, aimed squarely at the bigots, and the satire of racism still bites. Its jokes about gay men and women have not aged as well, and the campfire scene is exactly as crude as its reputation. Watch it second, once Young Frankenstein has shown you the gentler Brooks.
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The Producers (1968)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
The 1967 original, not the 2005 movie of the Broadway musical. Brooks's debut won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and its premise is still one of the great comic setups: a failing Broadway producer and his nervous accountant oversell shares in a show built to flop, then pick the most tasteless musical they can find.
Zero Mostel's bellowing Max Bialystock and Gene Wilder's hysterical Leo Bloom are a perfect mismatch, and the "Springtime for Hitler" number is Brooks mocking Nazis with show tunes. It is a stagier, talkier film than what came later, which is why it sits third for a newcomer rather than first.
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Spaceballs (1987)
7.1/10on IMDb
Released
The easiest entry point for anyone raised on Star Wars, since the original trilogy is its main target, with swipes at Star Trek, Alien and Planet of the Apes. Rick Moranis's tiny, tantrum-prone Dark Helmet steals the film, John Candy is a half-dog sidekick, and Brooks plays both the sage Yogurt and the idiot President Skroob.
Its gags about merchandising are funnier knowing Brooks's deal with George Lucas was that no Spaceballs action figures be made. Reviews were mixed in 1987 and it became a cult favorite later. A sequel, Spaceballs: The New One, is due April 23, 2027, directed by Josh Greenbaum, so this is the one to catch up on now.
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High Anxiety (1977)
6.6/10on IMDb
Released
A parody aimed at Alfred Hitchcock, so it pays off in proportion to how many of his films you know. Brooks plays a psychiatrist with a crippling fear of heights who takes over an institute run by doctors shadier than their patients, and the gags lift whole sequences from Spellbound, Vertigo, Psycho and The Birds.
Watch at least Vertigo and Psycho first and it becomes one of his sharpest films, with Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman as the fearsome Nurse Diesel and Harvey Korman in support. The film is dedicated to Hitchcock, who left a private screening without a word and then sent Brooks a note of approval days later.
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Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
6.7/10on IMDb
Released
The friendliest late Brooks film, and a good pick for watching with teenagers. Its plot is loosely built on Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), so a vague memory of that film is all the prep you need, though Errol Flynn fans will catch the jokes aimed at his 1938 version too.
Cary Elwes plays Robin with a straight face that sells the silliness, and Dave Chappelle makes his film debut. Critics were mixed in 1993 and it has since built a cult following. The humor is broad and pun-heavy rather than sharp, which is why it ranks below the 1970s films, but between the Sherwood Forest rap and the singing Merry Men it is pure fun.
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Silent Movie (1976)
6.7/10on IMDb
Released
A real silent film made in 1976, with title cards and slapstick instead of dialogue, and the only spoken word in it is a resounding "Non!" from the mime Marcel Marceau. Brooks plays Mel Funn, a director trying to save a studio from takeover by the conglomerate Engulf & Devour by landing big stars for a silent picture.
The target is Hollywood itself, and the fun is in the cameos: Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Liza Minnelli, Anne Bancroft and Paul Newman all play themselves, with Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise as Funn's sidekicks. It is gentle, sight-gag comedy, so it suits viewers who love Buster Keaton more than those who came for Blazing Saddles.
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History of the World: Part I (1981)
6.8/10on IMDb
Released
A sketch movie rather than a story: segments set in the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition and the French Revolution, each narrated by Orson Welles. Brooks plays several roles, including Moses and the stand-up philosopher Comicus, and Gregory Hines makes his film debut.
The highs are as good as anything he made, especially the Inquisition staged as a splashy musical number, but the hit rate is uneven and many of the gags are crude for their own sake. Roger Ebert called it a rambling failure while Gene Siskel found plenty of laughs, and both views are fair. Dip in after you know which Brooks you like.
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The Twelve Chairs (1970)
6.4/10on IMDb
Released
The least-seen gem in the filmography, and the biggest surprise. It is not a parody at all but a period comedy adapted from Ilf and Petrov's 1928 Soviet novel: in 1927 Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a con man and a priest race each other to find jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs scattered by the revolution.
Ron Moody, Frank Langella and Dom DeLuise lead, Brooks pops up as the servant Tikon, and the film was shot mainly around Belgrade. It is closer to a melancholy fable than a gag machine, which makes it a poor first watch and a rewarding later one, once you want to see what Brooks could do when he slowed down.
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Life Stinks (1991)
5.9/10on IMDb
Released
One of the few Brooks comedies that is not a parody. Brooks plays Goddard Bolt, an arrogant billionaire who bets a rival developer that he can survive 30 days penniless on the streets of Los Angeles, with Lesley Ann Warren as the homeless woman he falls for.
It means well, and Roger Ebert called it a warmhearted comedy, but it was a critical and box-office flop, grossing about $4.1 million against a $13 million budget. The sentimental streak and the broad gags never quite fit together. Save it until you have seen his parodies and want the complete picture.
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Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
5.9/10on IMDb
Released
Brooks's last film as director, and the one to watch last. Leslie Nielsen plays the Count in a spoof aimed mostly at Bram Stoker's story by way of the 1931 Universal Dracula, with jabs at Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Brooks plays Van Helsing and Peter MacNicol is a game Renfield.
The pairing of Nielsen and Brooks sounds unbeatable, but critics were overwhelmingly negative and it lost money, grossing about $10.7 million on a $30 million budget. A handful of scenes land. Mostly it feels like Young Frankenstein's formula without the craft, so treat it as a completist's footnote.
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