Mel Brooks has enjoyed a successful career that most people can only drool over. He is well-known for his work as a writer during the 1950 -60’s TV hey-day, with shows like “Get Smart” under his belt. He also did his share of performing, most notably alongside Carl Reiner in the infamous “2,000 Year Old Man” sketches. But then he made his foray into feature film directing with 1968’s “The Producers” and 1970’s “The Twelve Chairs.” But his most famous work was yet to come. The project that would firmly cement his name in households across the country? “Blazing Saddles.” That’s right, “Blazing Saddles.” In 1974, I went to see “Blazing Saddles” not really knowing what to expect. I was really too young at the time to see it, but sneaking into theatres was a talent I had as a child. Looking back, I wonder if this was actually the film that changed my life, or at least how I view it. Not a film that could be called a typical western, it was of course a comedy… but it was much more than that.

It was a fast-paced satire, full of in your face innuendos making fun of sex, race, politics, etc… It was, at the time, one of the most politically incorrect films I had ever seen. And to this day I love politically incorrect humor. I still believe that political correctness was simply created in order to give the country’s bored and ‘less than intelligent’ citizens something to believe in.

“Blazing Saddles” tells the story of Bart (Cleavon Little), who becomes the West’s first black sheriff when the town of Rock Ridge’s lawman is killed. Of course, none of the townspeople (oddly enough, all named ‘Johnson’) are very happy with this particular course of events. Bart teams up with The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), a drunken gunfighter, to battle the corrupt government trying to rid the town of its inhabitants so a railroad can go through. The villains in this little plot are Governor William J. LePetomaine (Mel Brooks) and his assistant Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). Oh, and did I mention it’s a musical?

Everything about “Blazing Saddles” flies in the face of those with a more conservative taste for their humor. The jokes come fast and furious, the ‘N’ word is used quite liberally throughout the film, and lines like, “Excuse me while I whip this out” are par for the course. The humor is at times seems childish, but there was a method to Brooks’ madness. As much as the film appeared to be racially intolerant, it was in fact making statements on the stupidity of racism. It just takes an intelligent mind to recognize it. What’s interesting to me is that the film was not only pushing the envelope back in 1974 (much in the way that Trey Parker and Matt Stone do today with “South Park”), the blow isn’t softened at all 30 years later. There are jokes in the film that you still couldn’t get away with today.

I’ve always loved Brooks’ work and still consider “Young Frankenstein” and “Spaceballs” to be comedy classics. Some of his later films lacked the punch of his earlier work, a couple I even thought were really bad, but there were still moment of genius to be found. Of late, Brooks’ has found a new niche, that of Broadway producer. His stage production of “The Producers” was a major hit, and I understand more are on the way.

There are a lot of his movies that I thought were going to be lost to newer audiences, many of them seldom heard of today. One of my absolute favorites was "Silent Movie", which stars Brooks as a filmmaker on a mission to create a new masterpiece and bring back the silent film. As the title suggests, it in itself is a silent movie complete with dialogue cards. It follows Brooks, Dom DeLuise and Marty Feldman as they shop their project around Hollywood and are stopped at every turn. Not one word is spoken throughout the entire film… well… with the exception of one. And the person who utters that one word is what makes it so darn funny, so I won’t ruin the surprise here.

"The History of the World, Part 1" is another one that bordered on brilliance. It brought unto the world a memorable song about the Spanish Inquisition and gave us the promise of a "Part 2" that would have given us "Jews in Space" and "Hitler on Ice", had it ever actually been produced.

To date, only a few of Brooks' film have been made available on DVD. You could get Special Editions of "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein", and "History of the World, Part 1." You could even find "Spaceballs" in a couple of different editions, but beyond that… most just sat on the list. But now, thanks to the fine folks over at 20th Century Fox, you can finally own a 'near definitive' collection of Brooks' movies in one 8-disc set. I say 'near definitive', because it does not include every Mel Brooks film there is, BUT… it does include FIVE movies never before available. "High Anxiety", "Robin Hood: Men in Tights", "Silent Movie", "To Be Or Not To Be", and "The Twelve Chairs" are brought together in this one set, along with "Blazing Saddles", "Young Frankenstein" and "History of the World, Part 1". So even if you already own these titles, the set is still worth it for the other five.

You won’t find "Spaceballs", "This is Life", or "Dracula: Dead and Loving It." The hysterically funny "Spaceballs" was released by a different studio, and in the case of the latter two… we're probably better off.

Most of the discs in the set do not have any extra features, and the ones that do are for the films that are already released, but offer substantially less than then their earlier Special Edition counterparts. But when you have this many great films packed together in one set, who has time to watch extra features?

The "Mel Brooks Collection" is a must own DVD set… period.

Blazing Saddles
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little
Extras: 55-minute interview with Mel Brooks, Theatrical trailer, Cast biographies, Production notes
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1), English Mono

High Anxiety
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring: Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Tim Conway, Cloris Leachman
Extras: None
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), English Stereo

History of the World: Part 1
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Extras: Theatrical Trailer
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1), English Mono

Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring: Cary Elwes
Extras: HBO Special: "Robin Hood: Men in Tights: The Legend Had it Coming"
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound

Silent Movie
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring: Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman
Extras: None
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), English Stereo

To Be Or Not To Be
Directed by:
Starring: Mel Brooks
Extras: Making of Featurette, Character profiles: Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), English Stereo

The Twelve Chairs
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring:
Extras: None
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), English Stereo

Young Frankenstein
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Teri Garr,
Extras: Director's commentary, Documentary: "Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein", Trailers: Showrama trailer, trailer A, trailer B, international trailer, re-release trailer, TV spots, Deleted scenes, Mexican interviews, Outtakes, Production photographs
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), English Stereo

Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 4/4/2006
Region 1

We'll give the Mel Brooks Collection an A.