Comments on: Don’t Be Stupid, Be A Smarty, Come And Join The Nazi Party

By: triticale

triticale — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:50:39 +0000

But there is something called taste, which beckons us not to descend everywhere a muse bids us go.

The Chicago Reader's brief listing for Blazing Saddles (my favorite Brooks work) proclaims that it offers "something to offend everyone in the audience".

By: Jerry Kindall

Jerry Kindall — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:18:31 +0000

I’m not terribly surprised he could sing and dance like that. A lot of actors have musical talent (Hugh Laurie is another one). I don’t really know that much about him, except that he often overacts hammily in Torchwood. However, it doesn’t look to me like him at all. Of course, changing a person’s hair color or style often makes them look unlike themselves to me, since that’s a major part of how I recognize people.

By: Dean Esmay

Dean Esmay — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 10:29:08 +0000

By the way, one of the best films in my personal library is Triumph of the Will. I happen to know that JRogge has seen it too.

It's patently obvious to me that Mel Brooks saw it too. And that just makes it funnier.

By: Dean Esmay

Dean Esmay — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 10:10:13 +0000

Well I initially thought he looked just like Tom Cruise with a bleach job and contact lenses.

But I knew it was not Tom Cruise. So I was driven crazy: "I know that guy, but where do I know that guy from?? Who is that???"

Jerry, did you think that Barrowman could sing and dance like that? :-)

By: Jerry Kindall

Jerry Kindall — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 08:59:36 +0000

That does not look like Barrowman at all to me — I cannot for the life of me imagine how you recognized him, Dean.

By: Dean Esmay

Dean Esmay — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 08:11:56 +0000

Ron: Like you, in my youth I was known to engage in random acts of thespianism. I competed at the state level in Illinois among High School drama kids, and I've done community theater too. I gave it up but I learned a lot about drama and fiction in the process.

You're right about one thing: mocking and satire are not always the best way to respond to evil. I said that, but, I was being too glib.

But it can be a good response. I imagine that a Hitler would be far more upset at being portrayed as a bumbling clown than he would be if portrayed as satanic. He would rather have been portrayed as an evil king than as a buffoon.

Still, what was he but a punk loser who rose to power by telling people what they wanted to hear?

By: Ronald Coleman

Ronald Coleman — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:27:03 +0000

I like Nathan Lane, too, though watching him always annoys me because I'm quite sure that as an actor (which I have not been since college days) I could absolutely do what he does (and maybe a little more manfully, too, Dean!). In fact remind me to tell you the story one day of that moment where I was almost -- almost -- suggested as a replacement for him in the Broadway show when Lane left it!

No, really! It was a fleeting moment... but I digress.

I can't get past the idea that this show launches on the idea of Nazism being a laughing matter. It just isn't, even though "Springtime for Hitler" is funny. But there is something called taste, which beckons us not to descend everywhere a muse bids us go.

Dean, you wrote, "Evil is not best confronted with outrage. Evil is best confronted with mocking and derision." I don't think mocking and derision would have done anyone in the Warsaw Ghetto or Treblinka any good. You don't even really believe what you wrote -- you don't apply it to Iraq war, even. Of course, it posits a false dichotomy: Outrage has its place but as a way to "confront" evil it is decidedly minor-league. Evil is best confronted by commitment to fight for good, I would say. Mocking and derision may very well be part of the arsenal of that fight (as may outrage at some stage).

But this is just an enterntainment! Okay, then tell me you disagree with my point about good taste. De gustibus non est disputandum. But don't call throwing moral sensibilities to the wind and enjoying a good belly laugh about how "silly" genocide and mass murder a "confrontation with evil," guys. It's more like an accomodation.

By: csteinmayer

csteinmayer — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:09:05 +0000

I saw the stage show, and it was much better than the movie version of the same. It had a better energy to it. The movie I thought was dull compared. But liked both just the same. Brooks is and shall remain brilliant.

By: Roland Dodds

Roland Dodds — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:18:29 +0000

I LOVE Nathan Lane, and I may be the only straight Mexican man who does. I also enjoyed this movie, even though it is not one of his best.

By: Dean Esmay

Dean Esmay — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:39:20 +0000

Martin: Well you still won a well-deserved 1,000 points. ;-)

Barrowman’s got a quite beautiful tenor voice on him, doesn’t he? I never would have suspected. Plus he can dance!