Friday, April 27 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

BLAZING SADDLES, 1974, Warner Bros., 93 min. Director Mel Brooks’ third film as director was his biggest hit to date and took his politically-incorrect humor (with a screenplay co-written by Richard Pryor) to new levels of profane, cosmic hilarity. A corrupt fatcat politician decides to appoint a black sheriff to cause havoc in a western town, but is surprised when new lawman, Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes a force to be reckoned with. Able support is supplied by Gene Wilder as The Waco Kid, Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtup, Harvey Korman as Hedley Lamarr, plus Brooks himself, Slim Pickens, John Hillerman, Alex Karras, David Huddleston and George Furth.

THE PRODUCERS, 1968, Rialto, 88 min. Mel Brook’s directorial debut is one of his finest. This outrageous look at two Broadway producers – conniving con man Zero Mostel and sheepish, going-along-for-the-ride Gene Wilder – deciding to get rich by selling shares in what they believe will be a guaranteed flop, is certainly one of the funniest comedies of the 1960’s. The pair’s production Springtime For Hitler inadvertently becomes a so-bad-it’s-good hit, and their grandiose designs on big time wealth comically crumble. Watch for Dick Shawn as acid-casualty actor, LSD, who becomes a surprise star as the jive-taking Fuehrer and Kenneth Mars as the humorless, ex-German soldier playwright.

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, 1983, Warner Bros., 98 min. Dir Harold Ramis. A comedy that has proved an influence not only on its own sequels but many other later pictures, from RV to, yes, even LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Chevy Chase takes his family on a cross country pilgrimage to famous theme park Walley World (owned by none other than Roy Walley, played by HAIL! THE CONQUERING HERO’s Eddie Bracken!). The dysfunctional bunch includes wife Beverly D’Angelo, Imogene Coca as Aunt Edna and Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron as the kids. Along the way they run into all kinds of catastrophes and obstacles, some of them people (Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie, John Candy, Eugene Levy). With Christie Brinkley as the seductive girl in the Ferrari.