History of the World: Part I (1981)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Divided in six segments ("The Stone Age"; "The Old Testament"; "The Roman Empire"; "The Spanish Inquisition"; "The French Revolution"; and "Previews of Coming Attractions"), "History of the World: Part I" is an uneven parody of historical moments, but still worthwhile watching. This film is written, directed and produced by Mel Brooks, who is also the lead actor performing five roles. It is also the debut of Gregory Hines, who died so young. Narrated by Orson Welles, the film has a great cast and cameo appearance of many famous people.Last but not the least, there is no sequel and Part I is another Mel Brook's joke, since Sir Walter Raleigh wrote The History of the World Volume 1 but was beheaded before writing the Volume 2. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A História do Mundo: Parte I" ("The History of the World: Part I")

Vulgar and wretchedly unfunny Brooks spoof. The only parts that made me laugh were Jews in Space and Hitler on Ice, which aren't even part of the movie.Wastes the talents of Brooks regulars, Korman, Kahn, Leachman, etc. A sad comedown for the talented and classy Madeline Kahn.Worse than Space Balls and Robin Hood Men in Tights, if that's possible, but better than Life Stinks, which is a complete disaster. Hard to believe this is the same talent who made The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, but then again, Brooks hasn't really been funny for 30 years.

From the dawn of man to the distant future, mankind's evolution (or lack thereof) is traced.I think this may possibly be Mel Brooks' best film. The humor is non-stop, and should be great for everyone. He revives the "walk this way" gag yet again, and even throws in some more subtle references. I really, really loved the vulgar Oedipus joke.I could question the historical accuracy, such as the cave paintings being in America rather than Europe, but since a dinosaur appears soon after, I figure they really did not care very much about this.Brooks has his cast of regulars ready here (Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn), and also Gregory Hines (in his screen debut), a welcome addition.

This is a series of sketches(and they're frankly quite hit and miss), detailing(well, spoofing) historical events(I have a feeling the Moses bit is what actually happened if The Old Testament wasn't a collection of poorly written, hateful fiction), starting at the dawn of man and ending with The French Revolution. Other than the longest portion, set in ancient Rome, there is no continuous plot, really. It's a nice satire, with plenty to laugh at, with silly stuff, cleverness, plays on words, smut, some slapstick, crude material, weirdness. We do get the, for the period mandatory, annoying "sassy black dude"(on the plus side, it makes fun of Christianity). This is quite sexually suggestive, and features some rather nice cleavage. It's *very* Jewish and Brooksian. There are a few ill-shot and/or –edited bits, though on the whole, it is put together well(in spite of the occasional obvious matte painting). The central musical number(about the Inquisition!) isn't half bad. There is a bunch of mild violence and disturbing content, and a moderate amount of strong language. I recommend this to any fan of Mel. 7/10