If the “Scary Movie” series, or its offshoots ““ “Dance Movie,” “Epic Movie,” etc. ““ are any indication, parody in Hollywood has died a cruel, absurd death.
There is something nostalgic, then, about watching “Blazing Saddles” or “Spaceballs,” which is probably not the response Mel Brooks originally had in mind. The former is Brooks’ brilliant send-up of the Western genre, featuring his typically nonsensical wordplay, a man punching a horse, an Oscar-nominated theme song, Nazis, far too many people named Johnson and a legendary farting scene. The latter gives the same treatment to “Star Wars,” pitting Captain Lone Starr, his half-man half-dog sidekick Barfolomew and the power of the Schwartz against Pizza the Hutt and Dark Helmet, all for the love of one Princess Vespa. If you make it more than a few minutes through either of them without laughing, you’re thinking too hard.
“Blazing Saddles” plays at 8 p.m. and “Spaceball” at 10 p.m. at the Downtown Independent Theater on Friday, Nov. 12.
A still from “Blazing Saddles” Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures