The History of the World: Part 1

(1981) dir Mel Brooks w/Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Gregory Hines, Shecky Greene, Sid Caesar [92 min; DCP]

While we wait for the future of humanity to play itself out, Mel Brooks’ hysterically unhistorical ride from the Stone Age through the French Revolution provides a farcical look back at the folly of man. Casting himself in five roles and aided by the likes of Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman, Brooks steamrolls through the ages with his signature broad comedy, mocking everyone from Moses to Torquemada, leaving no tablet unturned in this expansive revisionist anthology.