American Masters Review - Mel Brooks: Make a Noise

Mel Brooks may be short in physical stature but not in gumption and comedic prowess.  The height factor caused the young Brooks to search out the absurdities of life and lampoon them to get the attention he so craved by getting belly laughs out of those around him.  Fortunately, the comedy writer and performer encountered colleagues like Carl Reiner (Ocean’s Eleven) who was able to consistently push him into a creative corner so to take full advantage of his talents with the classic examples being the 2000 Year Old Manskits where no historical event was sacred or left unscathed.

Adolf Hitler and racism should not be funny but Mel Brooks was able to utilize humour to expose the follies of human nature with movies like Blazing Saddles (1974).  A driven individual he pursued Anne Bancroft (The Graduate) with a single-mindedness which is both admirable and spooky.  How could a man who revels in reading philosophy also be a forefather of the gross-out comedy by bringing to the big screen cowboys farting around a campfire while eating baked brown beans?  What is even more intriguing is how Brooks helped to nurture filmmakers polar opposite to himself by producing films like The Elephant Man (1980) and The Fly (1986).   A true student of human nature the shrewd filmmaker was able to wrangle an extra $300,000 to complete a picture before the unsuspecting studio executive comprehended what exactly had happened!

Mel Brooks: Make a Noiselike the subject of the documentary constantly reminds the viewer that life is a stage as behind scene images frequently appear as cutaways.  Mel Brooks who arrives by a speeding and weaving limousine starts off the proceedings by breaking out into song.  The interviews are candid with Brooks commanding the spotlight with no interest in letting it go.  However, despite this one cannot feel that the surface is only being scratched as like the Hollywood icon the documentary profiles the entertainment value rules the day.