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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")

After 30 years, I finally got to see the entirety of Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I and I gotta say, I found most of it funny though I can understand why many critics were offended by much of it. There are quite a few scatological jokes from Dom DeLuise burping and farting in the Roman sequence to Harvey Korman's peeing in the French Revolution segment. And then there's Mel Brooks, who not only produced and directed this, but also single-handedly wrote it and stars in most of the sketches. Seeing him doing the Spanish Inquisition as a Busby Berkeley-Esther Williams number was perhaps the most irreverent thing he ever did especially when the nuns doff their uniforms to reveal their one-piece swimsuits and bathing caps! Gregory Hines made his film debut here and is a hoot whether doing his dance steps in order to keep him from trouble or making a giant joint to distract the Roman guards! Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman also contribute their funny selves to good effect and then there's longtime Brooks associate Sid Ceasar playing a cave man in the Stone Age segment also being his usual funny self. Really, all I'll say now is if you are a die-hard Brooks fan, I highly recommend History of the World, Part I.

I'm kind of surprised at some of the reviews of this film. Mainly the "very poor" and "putrid" ones. This is Mel Brooks having the time of his life. The marketplace scene is hilarious. "Plumbing! Pump s**t right out of your house! Plumbing!

It's a wild romp through early history, with a few side steps into vaudeville and Broadway. I disagree that this film is not a classic. There are enough funny lines to quote out of this film to keep the average frat house laughing through three or four kegs of Bud.

"Boy, when you die at the palace, you REALLY die at the palace!"

Madeline (The Queen): "What happens to the slaves?"

Queen's Maid: "If they're captured, they're hung."

Madeline (The Queen): "Not necessarily."

So I suggest that you take of the Jeffrey Lyons face, sit down with some chips and brews, and watch this movie if you haven't already done so. Slapstick? You bet. Silly? Of course. As I asked before. It's Mel Brooks. What do you expect????

9/10

Although it is aged around the edges, History of the World is one of my favorite comedies. Admittedly, I have a good 100 in my "favorites" list, but HotW is definitely in the top 25. It is pure enjoyment and while sometimes raucous, it is never raunchy. Tactless, but never dumbed down, and that makes for the best kind of comedy.

In true Brooks fashion, this work takes you from a parody of life to a satirical pop-culture vehicle. Unfortunately, the many late 1970's pop-culture references throughout the dialog is what dates this work. Otherwise, it would still be fresh, today.

Led by Mel Brooks's polished stylized direction, this work is not only hilarious, but is clever in its irony. It never takes itself too seriously, and delivers with every scene.

If you liked Wholly Moses, you will LOVE this!

It rates a 6.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.

There's some good laughs in the roman era part of the movie, but they fade away in the other parts. Mel Brooks is funny, the rest of the cast not as much. An okay parody.

This was actually a lot better than I expected. I'm more from a Monty Python humor background and some of the Mel Brooks humor is pretty campy and dated in a Marx Bros sense but it was still pretty darn good. It's hard not to like a guy who turns the Spanish Inquisition into a musical. I guess there's something for everyone to like (and be offended by).

Though it's not considered a classic like BLAZING SADDLES or YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, there are a lot of laughs to be found in Mel Brooks' HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I, a zany,if inconsistent look at Biblical times, the Stone Age, Ancient Rome, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Revolution as seen through Brooks' demented brain. The film is not as all encompassing as its title implies, but Mel gives his own twisted vision to these particular times in earth's history, which includes Mel himself in four different roles, including Moses and his own version of Louis XIV (It's Good to be the King). Mel gathers his usual nutty repertory company together and laughs are provided by Sid Ceasar (very funny as a caveman), Madeline Kahn and Dom DeLuise (hysterical as Cleopatra and Ceasar), Gregory Hines, Cloris Leachman, and Harvey Korman as Count De Money ("That's De Monay!!!). As always in his films, music is key and the Spanish Inquisition is presented here as a mammoth production number that is guaranteed to either amuse or offend,depending on your mood. Hard-core Brooks fans will love it, others be warned...there's something to offend everyone here.

The film concerns about history of the world in various parts, from the dawn of human being until the distant future in French Revolution and narrated by Orson Welles. The first part during the Stone age with a sympathetic cavemen(Sid Caesar, Ron Carey) inventing the music. The second about Roman Empire with a filthy emperor Nero(Don DeLuise) with flatulence,a lecherous empress(Madeleine Khan) a slave(Gregory Hines) and of course, Mel Brooks. The following , the Spanish Inquisition , again with Mel Brooks as Torquemada making a spectacular dances, including a beautiful swimmers. The third part about French Revolution with a lascivious Luis XVI(Brooks),a conspirator count of Monet(recently deceased Harvey Korman) and a gorgeous Mademoiselle Rimbaud(Pamela Stephenson).

Mel Brook's direction keeps things moving with laughs, he directed this sometimes hilarious, but mostly crude and bad taste spoof of history with ridiculous episodes, as how to test eunuchs or the lasciviousness of Luis XVI's court. The jokes come with machine-gun rapidly , though don't always work, there are so many of them that this comedy ends up with enoughs laughs for quite entertaining. It's a stupid movie but also funny and remains like a laugh-filled amusement. The movie hasn't the thematic unity of 'The producers, Blazing saddles and Young Frankestein', the Mel Brooks's best . The stars race around like maniacs and appear several famous uncredited, actors and directors, such as Hugh Hefner as Roman entrepreneur, Paul Mazursky as roman officer, Barry Levinson as column salesman, Art Metrano as Leonardo and John Hurt as Jesus in a bemusing sketch about the 'Last supper', among others. The film is classified 'PG', parents guide, as displays objectionable material, for occasional adult content, crude language and profanity. If it weren't in such bad taste and dirty humor , it would be perfect for the children.

History of the World Part I (man, I wish they had done a part II!) is one of my all-time favorite comedies. In fact, this is my favorite Mel Brooks film.

One of my favorite scenes is Mel Brooks as the King of France, playing chess with real people. He yells through a loudspeaker, Pawn jump Queen, Rook jump Queen, Bishop jump Queen...everybody JUMP Queen, (well you get the idea!) Then you see him on the very top of the pile. This gets me in stitches every time! In the same skit, Harvey Korman exclaims to the King, "you look like the pee (sic) boy." In which, Brooks says "and you look like a bucket of turd (sic)." Of course, Brooks is also playing the pee (sic) boy, which is why there is a resemblance.

The movie is a series of skits from the times of the caveman up to the French Revolution. The Roman Empire skit is also hilarious.

Brooks' comedies are brilliant and this is one I highly recommend. I believe that ratings should be subject to what the film is trying to accomplish. This film wants you to laugh and have fun, and that is exactly what I do every time I see it. This is a film I can enjoy over and over again. Rating 10 of 10 stars.

This may well be one of the worst movies ever made - surely the worst Mel Brooks movie. It starts out with masturbating monkeys and goes downhill from there. Nothing rises above the level of grade school potty humor. What a waste of a terrific cast! Mel Brooks was never known for subtlety, but in "Young Frankenstein", "Blazing Saddles" and especially "The Producers", there are many bits of brilliant adult satire to balance out the groaners. "History' is all groaners. You can actually feel your brain melting while watching this thing. You can almost detect the actors trying to rise above the material, without success. Skip it.

Marred only by overlength, this is one hilarious bit of cinema as Mel Brooks satirizes the stone age, the 10 Commandments, Rome, the Last Supper, the Inquisition, and Louie the 16th (sorry I couldn't get the name right). Of course, the stone age also happens to make fun of "2001 A Space Odyssey". Also funny is at the end with the whole "Jews In Space" bit. I love that stuff.

Personally I thought the best bits were set in Rome, what with the gags about Vestal Virgins, innuendo between the queen and the late Gregory Hines, the "Stand Up Philosopher", Ethiopia, getting the Roman guards high, and of course, the Last Supper. This is not to say the Inquisition Musical number is not worth a look.

"Jesus!" - Mel Brooks

"What?" - Jesus Christ

Sure, HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART I is rather juvenile in terms of comedy content and some of the jokes will likely offend more sensitive types, but it is too much fun for me to dismiss. I loved this movie in my teens. In my twenties now, I expected to find it silly and poorly put together, but I laughed more than I expected and I appreciated the performances more this time around. All of the actors seem to be having a great time, especially Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman.

Mel Brooks in full swing with a fast paced blast through significant historical time periods. Loosely held together by a cliche plot, this film is everything you can expect from a Brooks film.

You will learn nothing from this movie, but you will probably laugh.

This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite comedies of all time, coming as it does from Mel Brooks as it successfully skewers such movie staples as the big-budget epic, musicals and, of course, sequel-itis.

Mel (in my humble yet informed opinion) has never been in better form during the '80s as he was here: lashing out in full force as writer, director and actor against the stoic straightness of history with a sardonic smile and twisted wit.

He surrounds himself with a more-than-capable cast, including such mega-star comics as Caesar (whose caveman seemed to develop all of man's first inventions all by himself), Kahn (his eternal diva and a sassy diva at that), Greene (pompous, puffed-up and ready to pop), DeLuise (making slobbery a pure art form), Korman (Hedley Lamaar in royal French garb - and still as funny), and even such loyal stand-bys as Carter, Murray, Milligan and DeLuca offer able-bodied support.

But let's not forget Hines. In his first major motion picture role as Josephus, he shucks and jives, sand-dances and withstands the fiery dancing of Caledonia like a pro. Just an inkling of what his career had to offer later on, and a perfect calling-card for a future in show business.

And the jokes! There are some classic Mel bits here that have stood the test of time and will continue to do so. Such classic bits as "The Inquisition", Comicus' first gig at Caesar's Palace, the Caveman's critique of that cave painting, "Count duh money, count duh money!", that obscene French chess game, even the coming attractions offer a few smiles.

But how can anyone cite certain favorites? The whole movie is a grab bag of jokes, many off-color and sure to offend. As if Mel made "Blazing Saddles" to please everyone...yeah, right.

In the end, "History" was the passing of an era, since Mel has made fewer movies as "R"-rated, raunchy, raucous, dis-respectful and belly-laughable as this one. He's still good, mind you, but just watch this one and see if you don't agree: what a wonderful "World".

Ten stars and a true sense of "awww" for "History of the World, Part I". Just ask Mel, he'll tell you - it's good to be king.

The title of this movie is actually a joke about Sir Walter Raleigh. He wrote a book called "The Historie Of The World" that never had a second part. It's because he was kinda executed. Anyway, I liked this from the beginning with the caveman. It features cavemen learning how to make music by dropping stuff on their foot. I actually myself thought of a joke like that.

The Roman Empire segment is half of the film and that really is a weak point. I wanted to see it more evenly distributed. It's not as good as "Young Frankenstein", "Blazing Saddles" (my favorite) or "Spaceballs" but is still enjoyable. I laughed when they mentioned the Romans were crawling around and they literally were! I just love Mel Brooks' voice. As far as anthology movies go, this was quite enjoyable. ***

Criticizing humor seems to come easily for a lot of us non-practitioners. An undercurrent of disrespect accompanies so much scrutiny of the comedic arts, with critics holding even the best, brightest, and most accomplished funny folks to impossible standards (as a number of commenters have done on this thread).

Two thoughts: 1.) many assume comedy to be as effortless as legends such as Brooks make it seem; 2. An audience may feel disproportionate resentment towards a jester when 100% of jokes don't land 100% of the time. It's an impossible standard, and we rarely apply similar critical rigor to other artists.

Great comedy's very essence relies on doing the unexpected, on challenging people's cherished assumptions and dogma, on speaking truth to power, and skewering human "normalcy" from an outsider's perspective.

Exceptional comics take the most risks. In being innovative and in stretching their range, they may not feel as consistent or as easily pleasing as folks who repeat the same set night after night or who cater to the egos of their audience or their patrons, &c. But they're ultimately the smartest and the most satisfying, and they reward rewatching over an entire lifetime. Handed down along successive generations, even.

Mel Brooks is a powerhouse writer, actor, director, producer, satirist, activist, and historian. This is a classic comedy and a masterpiece for far more reasons than a missed joke here or there could possibly outweigh.

The film opens majestically à la "2001" with a vision of our gesticulating monkeys.When the title 'our forefathers' appeared, I laughed at both the punchline and the friendly jab to Stanley Kubrick No offense to "2001" fans but who doesn't skip the monkey parts?

Mel Brooks however can see the comedic subtext of the prehistoric world and with Sid Caesar as the star of the chapter, he provides a nice little series of sketches retelling the invention of fire, the first artist, the first critic ... some jokes inspired smiles, the first marriage bit was mildly funny when Tex Avery used it in "The First Bad Man", but that's Mel Brooks you know, he throws you one gag after another and the one that doesn't work is only a little low spot before a higher bump.

Now the film opened with a big joke, Mel Brooks wanted to make a big film, one so big that it would deal about the History of the World, and it would be a two-parter... I reckon his merit to have created the only film whose title is a joke itself. But I wish the film could hold up to that premise, "History of the World Part I" isn't exactly the comedic odyssey Orson Welles' voice-over prepares us to, in fact it's one epic cinematic muddle out of which some genuinely hilarious moments emerge and keep the joke-o-meter on a good track, which allows Mel Brooks to arrive safely at 'The End' without compromising his reputation as one of the most inventive and outrageous comics of his generation.

The problem is that the most inspired moments can be compacted in a half-hour format. The Roman part drags on for too long and Gregory Hines, as Josephus, does his best to prove how valuable he was but he's not given good material and can only indulge to the kind of token black man's shtick that gets quickly annoying. Sure Brooks never hid his penchant for distastefulness with his infamous 'rising below vulgarity' limit but there's a limit to which a gimmick can be used. Maybe the weakness of the Roman part is that the main characters Comicus (Brooks) and Josephus are entertainers and making laugh is part of their job; they're funny by status, not through their reactions to what befalls on them.

Take a film like "Life of Brian", the comedy works because everyone plays the part seriously and thus become unintentionally funny; even Brooks' previous films had funny situations happening to straight persons, but when the person is "funny" by plot requirement, it doesn't work. This is why Madeline Kahn as the Impress IS funny and grabs some of the rare laughs from the first part and this is why I laughed more at Dom DeLuise when he didn't utter a word (belches and farts don't count) than Brooks when he was playing his stand-up comic. I gather he didn't intend Comicus to be a top comedian but why would anyone waste five minutes with tiresome jokes to make a point when you can have one minute of sheer nonsense to make us laugh.

The Roman part left me with a frustrating impression that Brooks had the Emperor, the Eunuch and Chase scene in mind and asked the best of his inspiration to connect them all, which results in some scenes of relative emptiness: the trio tries to escape the Romans and sometimes, nothing much happens, during the Vestal sequence, they're all pretty to look at but there's no pay-off to that part, take the Anthrax Castle sequence in "Holy Grail" and you'll see the difference. That said, the Roman part ends with one terrific joke involving a cameo from Moses (his breaking-the-tablet bit was so good it's almost the film's signature) and a little nod to the last supper with Da Vinci making an unexpected cameo. I think it serves my point that Comicus was the funniest when he didn't even try.

After the 'Last Supper' gag, the film takes a new level of energy reaching its culminating point with the infamous 'Inquisition' song, a homage to Hollywood corny musicals with the horrific Torquemada pulling a Fred Astaire. That was the part to remind us that the creator of "Springtime for Hitler" and re-creator of "Puttin' on the Ritz" still had it. The song is catchy, the nun part irreverent and graciously inventive, and here you have less than ten minutes more worthy of your attention than the previous part. And after the musical interlude, we get to the last chapter: "The French Revolution".

The beginning struck me as one of these erotic dreams where you can fulfill any fantasy, "It's good to be the king" works so much a line it was almost self-referential, Brooks is the king of his own film and can do whatever he wants, for worse; the urination part (one joke was enough) or the chess part and for better: the peasant trapshooting and the poor Parisian sequences with Dickensian undertones. The part concludes with the kind of chaotic Deus Ex Machina that worked interestingly better than in "Blazing Saddles" (but that's my opinion) and it was fun having the main characters all joining at the end before the finale and the previews announcing a sequel that would never happen.

For all its flaws, the film is an interesting on an educational level for it picks the most pivotal times of history: the dawn of humanity, the Biblical Law, Antiquity, Medieval Ages that ended with the Inquisition and Modern times that ended with the French Revolution, and Brooks manages to squeeze the comedic juice from each pivotal period... though some gags turn rapidly acid. He still had his "Spaceballs" coming and the film worked better with a consistent plot, a linear narrative and character who didn't try to be funny but let the fun come to them.

I wouldn't call the film end-of-era for Brooks but obviously his best work was already history.

I had forgotten how funny this movie was. It has been a while since I last saw it. It feels like Mel Brook's films, such as, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles (both from 1974), or Space Balls (1987), for even younger people, get more respect and recognition then this film does. I can tell you here, right now, that this one deserves to be among the others. It is just as good, if not better. This film might not be in the caliber of Young Frankenstein (1974), which is almost perfect, but it can match up with the style and execution that made Mel Brook's famous.

When it comes to this film, Brook's sets his sights on world history. He takes us through a story, broken up into skits and sequences, highlighting man's journey from cavemen to the French Revolution. Along the way, he runs into a collection of some of the biggest names of the time from Hollywood. Sid Caesar, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman, just to name a few.

I think the problem that this film faces today, was the fact that it was way ahead of its time. The film seems to translate better in the 21st century. I think it needed some time to age. The humor and the comedy gimmicks seem so much more modern than 1981. There also is a catch, because of the timing the film came out. The 80s seems like a time in film history where, when watched today, some of the comedy may be too sensitive for some. Brook's pulled no punches with the comedy. He took aim at every aspect of the human existence, from culture to sex, from religion to race, from life to death. Nothing was off limits and some of that humor might not translate well to today. The majority of the humor does however.

The scale of the production seemed grander in style, because it is a combination of five or six stories, that help depict a satirized history of the world. At the center of it all is Mel Brooks, playing five different roles throughout history and directing them all at the same time. Surrounding Brooks is a treasure trove of comedy and acting giants. There is so much fun and laughs for you to absorb, plus the film is a nice 90 mins long, in a tightly pieced-together, gem of a package. He produced it on a grand, widescreen scale, so it rivaled the films that he makes fun of. The sets and the size of the production matches those films, that are seen in his comedic cross hairs. Enjoy a taste of comedy history, about the history of our world.

7.5 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.

You can admire Mel Brooks and his kind of humour (and I actually do), but History Of The World was such a disappointment! And I was so looking forward to it...

We see a couple of stages in history, like Moses and his 15... erm 10 Commandments (the best joke of the movie) and some scenes from the Roman era as well as the Spanish Inquisition.

Not enough (good) jokes, way too long, this is not the standard one would expect from Brooks. Let's just hope and pray Part II will indeed never come...

2/10.