[5]

Three charlatan filmmakers try to save a studio from corporate takeover by uniting all of Hollywood’s biggest stars into one big movie — a silent one! And the title of this Mel Brooks yuk fest isn’t an empty boast — Silent Movie is indeed devoid of dialogue, though not without plenty of whacky sound effects and an energetic score by John Morris. At first, I thought the gaps between sight-gags would get on my nerves (I’m not a big Mel Brooks fan), but the cameo appearances by ’70s superstars perked me up. The most memorable ones are Burt Reynolds and James Caan. The filmmakers try to rope Reynolds into their project by surprising him in the shower. Caan’s sequence gets its comedy from a tricked out trailer that never stops bouncing. Other cameos include Liza Minnelli, Anne Bancroft, and Paul Newman. My favorite gag: When the studio execs are distracted by a beautiful woman, the table mysteriously rises…  With Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, Harold Gould, and Sid Caesar.