Spaceballs (1987)

My Review

Mel Brooks’ creativity knows no bounds in his many film and television projects. A good example is “Spaceballs,” a parody of science fiction (and other) movies like “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Alien,” “Planet of the Apes,” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The original “Star Wars” trilogy takes up most the screenplay’s time, brilliantly written by Brooks, Ronny Graham, and Thomas Meehan. One scene involves “Alien” star John Hurt recreating the moment when the horrible little alien popped out of his stomach. “Not again!” he exclaimed. The monster then went into a song-and-dance number with a hat and cane, similar to Frankenstein’s monster in “Young Frankenstein.”

The cast includes Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham, John Hurt, Bill Pullman, John Candy, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, Rick Moranis, Dick Van Patten, Dom De Luise, Tim Russ, George Wyner, Michael Winslow, Jack Riley, Jim J. Bullock, Brenda Strong, and Phil Hartman. The watchable “Spaceballs” was successful in theatrical release for producer-director Mel Brooks, Brooksfilms, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.