![\"Mel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mel-Brooks-The-99-Year-Old-Man-Judd-Apatow-Michael-Bonfiglio-2026-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ HBO Max<\/p>\n
Mon 11 May 2026 18:45, UK <\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter how much a comedy movie makes people laugh; if it doesn\u2019t send the audience home with a smile on their face after the final gag, then the filmmakers have failed to stick the landing, which is something that Mel Brooks<\/a> has always been aware of.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the case with any film, really, regardless of genre. Countless near-perfect pictures have dropped the ball in the final moments<\/a>, while some otherwise forgettable flicks have at least redeemed themselves a little by concluding on a note that\u2019s got everyone talking once the credits start rolling.<\/p>\n As a lifelong devotee of rib-tickling, Brooks went out of his way to try to end his movies on a high, from The Producers\u2018 showing that even prison can\u2019t stop Zero Mostel from trying to scheme his way to success to Blazing Saddles finishing with its leads abandoning horseback to travel by limousine instead, the EGOT winner always tries to leave enough gas in the tank for one final flourish.<\/p>\n Even in his lesser films, Dracula: Dead and Loving It suggests that Leslie Nielsen\u2019s title character has survived being turned into a pile of ashes, while Life Stinks shows that Brooks\u2019 heartless Goddard Bolt<\/a> has learned his lesson. They aren\u2019t a patch on his previous heights, but it still showed his determination to add an exclamation mark before the lights came up.<\/p>\n As the writer and director of Young Frankenstein, the laugh-a-minute classic that he called the single funniest motion picture<\/a> to have ever existed, it wouldn\u2019t be unreasonable to assume that Mel Brooks\u2019 pick for the greatest final scene in comedy movie history would hail from something written and directed by Mel Brooks.<\/p>\n However, he wasn\u2019t willing to pat himself on the back to that extent, as much as he\u2019d no doubt love to, because as far as he\u2019s concerned, no finale in the genre\u2019s history can come close to the quip that concludes Billy Wilder\u2019s seminal 1959 caper, Some Like It Hot.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the final scene to end all final scenes in his arena of choice, the veteran didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cJack Lemmon, when he says, \u2018I\u2019m not a girl, I\u2019m a guy,’\u201d Brooks explained. \u201cHe confesses, and Joe E Brown says, \u2018Nobody\u2019s perfect.\u2019 He\u2019s still going to marry him!\u201d<\/p>\n Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/p>\n With 11 Academy Award nominations for screenwriting and three wins, it goes without saying that Wilder had a way with words. Some Like It Hot\u2018s last moment was the cherry on top of a timeless cake<\/a>, and in a film full of iconic moments and iconic performances, the \u2018Golden Age\u2019 crime comedy maintains those levels through to the very end.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Billy Wilder is a genius and came up with the perfect brief comic ending,\u201d Brooks concluded. \u201cThat\u2019s really skilful comedy writing: that\u2019s Billy Wilder.\u201d He\u2019s no slouch in the grand finale department himself, but even a decorated legend knows he can\u2019t hold a candle to an ending like that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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