The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Anyone who complains about the Star Wars prequels ruining their childhood, and the franchise, has obviously never seen this infamous holiday special, made with as little money and care as possible (or so it would seem). While not directly about Christmas, it IS about a major holiday and was first shown in November of 1978 in America, which certainly gives it a prime holiday spot, on the run up to both Thanksgiving and Christmas. And when I mention when it was first shown I should also mention that it has never been shown again. If George Lucas could nuke the entire planet from orbit just to ensure that this would be wiped from existence ("it's the only way to be sure") then I suspect he would.

The slim plot concerns Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew back in the Wookiee costume) trying to get back to his family in order to celebrate a major holiday, Life Day. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is helping him. That's really all you need to know. Oh, well, I guess I should also mention that Chewbacca's family (wife Malla, father Itchy and son Lumpy) are somehow nightmare creations compared to good ol' Chewie, and guest stars make an appearance (Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Bea Arthur) in between small moments that feature Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), C3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2D2 (Kenny Baker).

I don't know where to begin when it comes to expressing my reaction to this. Imagine that you saw Star Wars at the age of 8. But you saw it while ill, and under the influence of too much cough medicine. And there was also a strange music video featuring Diahann Carroll spliced in. Then hit yourself over the head 50 times with an old VHS BIG box of either of the Ewoks movies. Watch some episodes of The Golden Girls. And repeat. If you can still tell fantasy from reality then perhaps use some intense hallucinogenics. You'll be close.

Everyone involved looks embarrassed, and rightfully so, and for a holiday special this certainly isn't any fun. Director Steve Binder seems to have no idea what he's doing, despite (or perhaps because of) the input from 5 different writers. The only legitimate point of interest here, aside from the warped comedy value of watching a young Harrison Ford die a little every time the camera points at him while a young Mark Hamill continues to act beautifully naive throughout the whole experience, is the first appearance, in cartoon form, of Boba Fett, bounty hunter extraordinaire.

Honestly, however bizarre you might think this will be . . . . . . . . . . . . it's a LOT worse. The fact that nobody ever considered stopping this before it was transmitted is perhaps the most damning evidence available to prove just how many drugs were still being hoovered up by folks in showbusiness at the end of the 1970s.

3/10

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Munchies (1987)

Gremlins. What a modern classic, eh. You can tell that it's a modern classic thanks to a number of things. There are all of the positive reviews to read. There are the many fond memories you can hear from people who first saw the film in their early teens. And there are the numerous films that came along afterwards and tried to copy the formula. Films like Critters, Ghoulies, Hobgoblins and Beasties (which is about as rare as a very rare thing indeed). Oh, and Munchies. Munchies isn't really the worst offender, but it feels like it. The creatures all have slightly crazy personalities, supposedly amusing voices and they multiply when they get themselves chopped up.

Harvey Korman gets to embarrass himself not once, but twice, taking on the dual roles of the decent Simon Watterman, a man who discovers the first "munchie", and his twin brother, the dastardly Cecil. Cecil causes problems, of course, when he finds out that something is happening that could be good news for his brother so he comes up with a plan which leads to some chaos and destruction. Simon's son, Paul (Charlie Stratton), and his girlfriend, Cindy (Nadine Van der Velde), end up trying their hardest to fix everything, but it will be easier said than done when the munchies start causing havoc.

There are times when I look at a movie review or plot description that I'm writing and I just struggle to get everything as I want it. Those times often see my just staring at a blank screen or page for a while until inspiration strikes and I can put things across in the best way possible. This isn't one of those times. I just looked over the above description and decided that while it wasn't perfect it would do. And that's exactly what the makers of this film must have been thinking while filming every scene.

It's not an absolutely terrible film, it's just an absolutely slapdash film. A film in which every corner has been cut and little thought has been given to actually making it all more fun. Tina Hirsch directs with the emphasis on forward momentum and a sense of fun, as opposed to anything requiring any attention to detail or logic, and the script by Lance Smith is a heap of nonsense. Thankfully, I quite enjoy nonsense now and again (as people familiar with my taste may already know) and so I enjoyed this a little bit more than most people would.

The acting from all involved isn't as bad as you might expect it to be. Harvey Korman is always fun, to some degree, and his performance as Cecil is amusingly over the top. Charlie Stratton and Nadine Van der Velde are both okay, but a bit bland. Charlie Phillips and Hardy Rawls ham things up as, respectively, Eddie and Big Ed, two law enforcement officials thrown into the middle of the situation. Alix Elias is quite funny, even if I kept wondering how Carol Kane would have done with the role, and it's always good to see Robert Picardo pop up in a very small role. The worst acting actually comes from the puppets, who never look convincing in the slightest and then make everything worse with the many attempts at funny one-liners (the biggest problem = they're just not funny).

Made on a small budget, this absolutely revels in its cheapness. Fans of schlock will find some minor entertainment value, as I did, but everyone else will find thousands of worthier films to prioritise ahead of this.

4/10

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High Anxiety (1977)

It's another top class spoof from Mel Brooks, this time taking aim at the movies of Alfred Hitchcock, and while I enjoyed many individual moments (the riff on The Birds is juvenile but also damn funny) I didn't feel that the whole thing worked as well as it could, or should, have.

The biggest plot developments, and indeed the title itself, are derived from Vertigo - the film that, despite stiff competition, just edges ahead of the pack to remain Hitchcock's finest hour. Mel Brooks plays Richard H. Thorndyke, a man who is appointed as the new administrator for the Psychoneurotic Institute For The Very Very Nervous. There's something not quite right at the institute, something that Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) and Dr. Charles Montague (Harvey Korman) seem to be covering up. Maybe it's to do with a patient named Arthur Brisbane (Albert Whitlock), a man kept there despite him being in fine physical and mental health according to his daughter, Victoria (Madeline Kahn).

Written by Brooks, as well as Ron Clark, Barry Levinson and Rudy De Luca, the film lacks the gag quotient of, say, Blazing Saddles while the references to the original movies aren't always as immediately recognisable as they are in Young Frankenstein. Having said that, there are plenty of details and little touches that will please fans of Hitchcock even if they aren't always played for laughs.

The performances are all pretty good, in line with the material, but the best moments come from the fantastic Cloris Leachman and the equally fantastic Harvey Korman. In fact, the very best moments feature both stars bouncing off one another and wringing the maximum amount of laughs from each line.

Okay, so comparing this movie to Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein is probably quite unfair because they are two of the best spoofs ever made so I should make it clear that High Anxiety certainly rewards attentive viewers and will undoubtedly be a film that I return to now and again for some guaranteed chuckles.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mel-Brooks-Collection-DVD/dp/B000AM6NCM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348995965&sr=8-2

History Of The World: Part 1 (1981)

History can often be a dull, dry subject. So any movie covering the history of the world is something that you may approach with some trepidation. Knowing that the movie is written and directed by Mel Brooks, however, puts a very different spin on things.

Taking potshots at a few different chapters in history, from the days of the caveman to the days of the Roman Empire and from The Spanish Inquisition to the French Revolution, we get the usual scattershot approach. Gags of all varieties fly thick and fast and if you find yourself groaning at one then don't worry because another, that you'll probably laugh at, will be along within a couple of minutes.

The cast are all superb, and many of them will be familiar to anyone who has already enjoyed other movies from Mr. Brooks. The writer-director himself takes on a number of roles, Gregory Hines really enjoys himself in his first cinematic outing, Dom DeLuise and Madeline Kahn are as much fun as they usually are and more laughs are delivered by Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Spike Milligan, Pamela Stephenson, Sid Caesar and Shecky Greene.

A lot of the jokes are obvious, but not necessarily less funny because of it, and it's quite reassuring to actually see the old "walk this way" gag. There are so many little treats throughout that it's hard to select favourite moments to mention in this review but the undeniable highlight for me, however, was seeing The Spanish Inquisition given the glossy, Hollywood, musical number treatment (with absolutely wonderful and hilarious lyrics AND a catchy melody).

It's sad to think that modern audiences may only know Brooks for such films as Robin Hood: Men In Tights and Dracula: Dead And Loving It when his work in the 70s and early 80s contains moments of sheer brilliance to set it on a par with any other classics that you can think of. This movie may not be one of his very best but it's full of enough intelligence and wit to make you glad that you gave it a watch.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Of-The-World-Part/dp/B000BPND4O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334859558&sr=8-1