Items11The creator’s order
  1. 1Young Frankenstein (1974)Young Frankenstein (1974) 8.0/10 on IMDbReleased Dec 15, 1974Start 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…0
  2. 2Blazing Saddles (1974)Blazing Saddles (1974) 7.7/10 on IMDbReleased Feb 7, 1974The 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…0
  3. 3The Producers (1968)The Producers (1968) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased Mar 18, 1968The 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…0
  4. 4Spaceballs (1987)Spaceballs (1987) 7.1/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 24, 1987The 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…0
  5. 5High Anxiety (1977)High Anxiety (1977) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased Dec 25, 1977A 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…0
  6. 6Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) 6.7/10 on IMDbReleased Jul 28, 1993The 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…0
  7. 7Silent Movie (1976)Silent Movie (1976) 6.7/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 17, 1976A 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…0
  8. 8History of the World: Part I (1981)History of the World: Part I (1981) 6.8/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 12, 1981A 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…0
  9. 9The Twelve Chairs (1970)The Twelve Chairs (1970) 6.4/10 on IMDbReleased Oct 28, 1970The 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…0
  10. 10Life Stinks (1991)Life Stinks (1991) 5.9/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 5, 1991One 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…0