
            The film is a parody of the historical spectacular film genre anthology, including the sword and sandal epic and the period costume drama subgenres. The four main segments consist of stories set during the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Revolution. Other intermediate skits include reenactments of the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Last Supper.The Stone AgeA group of cavemen (including Sid Caesar) depict the invention of fire, the first marriages, the first artist (which in turn gives rise to the first critic), and early attempts at comedy and music, by smashing each other's feet with rocks and thus creating an orchestra of screams (until performing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" at the end).The Old TestamentMoses (Mel Brooks) is shown coming down from Mount Sinai carrying three stone tablets after receiving the Law from God (the voice of an uncredited Carl Reiner). When announcing the giving of the reception of the law to the people, Moses proclaims, The Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen... (whereupon he drops one of the tablets, which promptly shatters) Oy... ten! TEN Commandments! For all to obey!The Roman EmpireComicus (Brooks again), a stand-up philosopher, is notified by his agent Swiftus (Ron Carey) that he has landed a gig at Caesar's palace. En route to the palace Comicus meets and falls in love with a Vestal Virgin named Miriam (Mary-Margaret Humes) and befriends an Ethiopian slave named Josephus (Gregory Hines). Josephus' life is spared when he is conscripted into the service of the Empress Nympho (Madeline Kahn). In ancient Roman culture, Miriam could have freed Josephus just by touching him, because she was a vestal virgin. Comicus' arrival at Caesar's palace was filmed at the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas.At the Palace, Emperor Nero (Dom DeLuise) gorges on food, ogles pretty maidens and waits to be entertained. Comicus forgets his audience and begins to crack insulting one-liners about the emperor's abundant body contours and corrupt ways. Josephus absentmindedly pours a jug of wine into Nero's lap and is ordered to fight Comicus to the death in a gladiatorial manner. They fight their way out of the palace, assisted in their escape by Miriam, Empress Nympho and a horse named Miracle.After Miriam helps Comicus, Josephus and Swiftus briefly find refuge in Empress Nympho's home, Josephus is "outed" among a row of eunuchs after "reacting" to a seductive dancer's performance, and the group is chased by Roman soldiers led by Marcus Vindictus (Shecky Greene). As the soldiers gain on the group's cart (pulled by Miracle), Josephus instructs them to pull over in a field and requests lots of papyrus. He takes "Roman Red" marijuana which is growing alongside the road and rolls it into the papyrus, forming a device he calls Mighty Joint, sets fire to it and mounts it to the back of their chariot, trailing smoke into the chasing army.The resulting smoke confuses and incapacitates the trailing Roman army. The escaping group then sets sail from the port to Judea. While waiting tables at a restaurant, Comicus blunders into a private room where the Last Supper is taking place, as Jesus is telling the apostles "One of you has betrayed me tonight". The Apostles are asking "Who?". Comicus says "JUDAS." Judas, startled, almost jumps out of his seat as Comicus replies "Do you want a beverage?", and interrupting Jesus (John Hurt) repeatedly (using his name as an expression for dismay or concern, right in front of him). Eventually, Leonardo da Vinci (Art Metrano) arrives to paint the groups portrait. Dissatisfied that he can only see the backs of half of their heads, he has them move to one side of the table and paints them with Comicus behind Jesus, holding a silver plate which doubles as a halo.The Spanish InquisitionThe Spanish Inquisition segment is performed in the style of a grandiose Busby Berkeley production. The segment is one long song-and-dance number featuring Brooks as the infamous Torquemada. The segment opens with a herald introducing Torquemada and making a play on his name, noting that despite the pleas for mercy from the condemned, that you "can't Torquemada anything" (talk him outta anything). Several instances of "comical" torture are shown including a spinning iron maiden and "water torture" re-imagined as an Esther Williams-style aquatic ballet with nuns. Jackie Mason and Ronny Graham have cameos in this scene as Jewish torture victims.The French RevolutionIn the tavern of Madame Defarge (Cloris Leachman) she incites a mob to plot the French Revolution. Meanwhile, King Louis of France (Brooks again) is warned by his advisors, Count de Monet (played by Harvey Korman and mistakenly called "Count da Money" by the king and others) and his associate Béarnaise (Andreas Voutsinas), that the peasants do not think he likes them a suspicion reinforced by the king's use of peasants as clay pigeons in a murderous (and humorous) game of skeet. A beautiful woman, Mademoiselle Rimbaud (Pamela Stephenson), asks King Louis to free her father, who has been imprisoned in the Bastille for 10 years because he said "the poor ain't so bad." He agrees to the pardon under the condition that she have sex with him that night, while threatening that should she refuse, her father will die. He then gives her 10 seconds to decide between "hump or death" and at the last second she agrees to "hump".De Monet manages to convince the king that the revolution is building and he needs to go into hiding, so they will need a stand-in to pretend to be him. Thus Jacques (also Brooks), the garçon de pisse (a.k.a. "piss-boy"), is chosen to impersonate the real king. Later that night, Mlle Rimbaud, unaware of the subterfuge, arrives and offers herself to the piss-boy who is dressed as the king. As she invites him to take her virginity, he pardons her father without requiring the sexual favors. After Mlle Rimbaud and her senile father (Spike Milligan) return from the prison, the peasants burst into the room and capture the piss-boy king and Mlle Rimbaud. They are taken to the guillotine for the crimes committed by the crown. When asked if he would like a blindfold or any last words, Jacques declines. However, when they test the guillotine, Jacques make a final request for Novocain. The executioner declares "there is no such thing known to medical science", to which Jacques replies "I'll wait". Just as Jacques is about to be beheaded Mlle Rimbaud muses that "only a miracle can save him now", and Josephus arrives in a cart pulled by Miracle, the horse from the film's Roman Empire segment. They all escape Paris, riding away in the cart. The last shot is of the party approaching a mountain carved with the words:THE END.Previews of coming attractionsThe end of the film presents a teaser trailer for History of the World, Part II, narrated by Brooks, which promises to include Hitler on Ice, a Viking funeral, and Jews in Space, a parody of Star Wars set to music (whose tune would later be recycled for the title song of Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights an actual, separate Brooks parody of sci-fi films would come along six years later, focusing primarily on Star Wars and including numerous Jewish jokes).Despite the preview, no sequel has been released, and the Part I of the films title is merely a historical joke. (The History of the World was a book about the ancient history of Greece and Rome, written by Sir Walter Raleigh while prisoner in the Tower of London; he had only managed to complete the first volume before being beheaded).
    

History of the World: Part I


            The award-winning actor and dancer Gregory Hines stars in this look at the life of extraordinary tap dancing legend Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. This is the story of an incredibly talented man who struggled with the demons of his past and the racism of his time, but still entertained millions with his unique and complex dance style. Starting with Robinson's funeral, including what looks like archival footage of the event, the film plays out the biography in a straightforward manner as a flashback, both in color and black-and-white.
In 1916, Robinson was a successful vaudeville performer and considered the finest tap dancer of his generation. At the peak of his career, he was the highest paid Black entertainer, but for all the joy he gave others, his life was anything but happy, there was a great deal of tragedy in himself.
    

Bojangles


            Love & dance in communist Russia.
    

White Nights


            
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            In Chicago, Illinois, undercover police detectives Danny Costanzo (Billy Crystal) and Ray Hughes (Gregory Hines) spot two criminals, Julio Gonzales (Jimmy Smits) and "Snake", (Joe Pantoliano) getting out of a parked Mercedes-Benz. Gonzales recognizes the officers, jumps back in the car, and drives off, leaving Snake holding an attaché case. Snake runs down the alley to his third floor apartment, as the officers chase him. They persuade Snake to invite them inside, but he refuses to hand over the briefcase. When he asks if they have a search warrant, the policemen warn him that he will be uncomfortably detained for as long as it takes them to do the paperwork. Reluctantly, Snake surrenders the attaché case, which is filled with $50,000 in cash. Ray asks if Snake has resumed dealing drugs, but he denies the accusation. When Danny searches the apartment, nothing turns up, and the officers cannot make an arrest. Danny goes out on Snake's balcony, and announces to nearby basketball players that Snake's apartment has poor locks, and $50,000 for the taking. Snake realizes he cannot protect his windfall, and punches Ray in the face. Danny and Ray arrest him for assaulting an officer.As they drive Snake to the police station, they discover that the money belongs to Julio Gonzales. They stop at a cemetery so Danny can attend his Aunt Rose's funeral, and he briefly says hello to his former wife Anna (Darlanne Fluegel). Later, at the station, Anna appears and tells Danny she is getting remarried to a dentist. As they talk, a lawyer delivers an envelope with a $40,000 inheritance check from Aunt Rose's estate. With the money, Danny imagines he and Ray will treat themselves to fancy dinners and better seats at Chicago Cubs baseball games. Soon, Captain Logan (Dan Hedaya) informs them that the unidentified man who jumped from a building the other day was actually a South Side police officer, Alan Jackson. He also mentions that Jackson drowned before his body was pushed off the structure, and orders the partners to investigate the crime.At first, Danny and Ray suggest that Snake lead them to Gonzales, but he refuses. However, when he collects his briefcase and money upon being released, Danny and Ray have withheld all but $5,000 of his cash. He can sue the police department, which will take months, so he is forced to cooperate. The partners outfit Snake with an electronic "wire," and watch him take possession of a corrugated box that is filled with Uzi machine guns. They follow him to a shipping vessel as he meets Gonzales. The partners expect to carry out an arrest, but are surrounded and captured by Gonzales's men. However, Gonzales believes Snake has betrayed him and has him killed. Suddenly, two of Gonzales's men, Frank (Steven Bauer) and Tony (Jonathan Gries), announce they are policemen. A gunfight ensues, but Gonzales escapes with a machine gun.As Frank and Tony give chase, they are angry that Danny and Ray have ruined months of undercover work. Gonzales eludes the undercover officers, but Danny and Ray find and arrest him. Later, the captain criticizes the partners for ruining an undercover investigation, and claims they needed to be rescued like a couple of rookies. He orders them to take vacation.Danny and Ray seek out the sunshine of Key West, Florida, where they meet some women, fish, roller skate, and watch the sunset. Danny convinces Ray to quit the force and open a bar. When they return to Chicago, they give the captain 30 days notice of their retirement. However, Capt. Logan announces that Gonzales is back on the street thanks to his lawyer. The partners are eager to apprehend Gonzales and return to work. They get a tip that he may be living with his girl friend at the El Camino apartments.As Ray and Danny drive to the location, they recognize Gonzales's Mercedes. Ray takes a can of red spray paint and creates a no-parking zone around the car, and it is towed. Soon, they have a standoff with four of Gonzales's men. After getting the upper hand, Danny and Ray search the apartment, but Gonzales escapes out the back door. A few floors down, Gonzales grabs a female neighbor, and uses her as a human shield. Gonzales escapes and drives off in their police car. Backup units transport the stranded partners to the station. Capt. Logan warns that the anticipation of retirement is turning them cautious, and caution will likely get them killed. He insists they work together with Frank and Tony to capture Gonzales.A police mechanic transforms Ray and Danny's abandoned cruiser into a yellow taxicab with bulletproof windows. Soon, the four officers are embroiled in a messy stakeout. Tony accidentally shoots Danny but his bulletproof vest saves him. Afterward, Frank and Tony gloat that they have captured one crook, Juan Martinez, while Ray and Danny have none. Danny recognizes Juan, and pulls him aside for further questioning. When Juan gives them an important tip involving Gonzales's upcoming shipment of drugs, they remove his handcuffs. They warn Tony and Frank that Juan is escaping.Meanwhile, the partners go to the airport, hoping to ambush Gonzales, but other officers are already on the scene with drug-sniffing dogs. A dog locates a packet of cocaine believed to be worth $3 million, and Frank and Tony get credit for capturing a suspect. Ray and Danny are irked that the captain is treating them as though their retirement is already in effect. As they leave the runway, a drug agent tells them that further tests reveal the drugs found are of inferior grade, and are likely a decoy.At customs, Gonzales meets with a Colombian priest and nun. When he sees Danny and Ray, he escapes in a limousine, leaving the nun and priest behind. Ray and Danny give the priest and nun a ride, and a chase ensues. Gonzales's limousine drives onto the elevated railroad tracks and the police taxicab barely misses crashing into an oncoming train. The chase continues until Gonzales's limousine stops for another oncoming train. Gonzales jumps out and disappears into the station just as the train upends his limousine.Back at the station, the partners apologize, saying they mistook the priest and nun to be cocaine smugglers for Gonzales. They cannot find drugs inside the ceramic souvenirs in their suitcases, and the nun and priest are released. Ray and Danny soon realize that the ceramic containers themselves are made of pressed cocaine, and tell the captain. Later, the partners harass Juan Martinez to get new information about Gonzales's whereabouts.On their stakeout, Gonzales arranges for a trash compactor truck to destroy their taxicab with them in it after they refuse to return the drugs in exchange for a bribe that would cover a mortgage for their Key West bar. The partners escape through the back window, only to discover that Gonzales is gone. The next day, they retrieve Gonzales's Mercedes from the impound yard, and drive around town looking for him. Anna appears at Danny's apartment to give him an insurance policy she found, and they fight about his inability to act like an adult.Gonzales kidnaps Anna after she leaves the apartment. He warns Danny that he will kill her unless the drugs are returned. Danny and Ray go to the station, where Ray uses a fake requisition form to take the cocaine from the evidence room. Frank and Tony arrive, sensing something is brewing, but Danny and Ray refuse to give them information.As Danny enters the Illinois State Building, Ray sneaks into the basement. He meets Juan Martinez impersonating a security guard. Juan leads Ray to a cage in which all the real guards have been locked up. Ray discovers the only way up is by the window-washing rig. Meanwhile, as Danny rides up in a glass elevator, Anna passes, descending in a second elevator. Danny opens a duffle bag and displays plastic bags of cocaine. Gonzales gives the signal for Anna's elevator to rise until it is level with Danny. Suddenly, Gonzales's associate opens fire on both elevators. Danny orders his wife to drop to the floor. He shoots the associate dead. Ray rappels inside the building's atrium with ropes. He sees Frank and Tony enter the lobby and orders them to get Gonzales. Danny's elevator door opens but Anna's remains shut. He orders her to climb out the top and jump over to his elevator but she is afraid to move. He throws bags of cocaine in the air, and Gonzales is frantic as they burst on the lobby floor. Danny catches Anna and they escape. Ray shoots his way past Gonzales's men and swings onto firm ground. The partners fire away at Gonzales and he goes down. Ray and Danny argue over who fired the fatal shot, but Gonzales pops up again. After another round of shooting, Gonzales collapses dead on a down escalator, and his bloody body lands on the lobby floor. Anna hugs Danny and smothers him with kisses.Danny and Ray agree that the people of Chicago deserve good protection and Frank and Tony could use more seasoning. At this, Danny turns to the rookies and asks if anyone wants to buy his bar.
    

Running Scared

The Cotton Club


            Little Bill is about a boy in a violent gang. He is the leader of it. His right hand man is named Noah Wilson. Noah is a "special" kid. Their gang is called 2PC. They get in a fight with a rival gang called the Fried Chicken, led by JDawg. JDawg kills Bill's mom (BBB). The rest of the series revolves around Bill and Noah getting payback. The most violent episode is the finale. Bill straps bombs to himself and goes into a bank. Noah robs the vault while Bill distracts. While holding up the bank Bill shoots everybody. Noah and Bill run out but Noah falls into a lake that Is near the bank. Bill jumps in and drags Noah out but then Bill remmembers he can't swim. Bill dies and Noah makes it away with the loot. Noah is running bit then gets hit by a car driven by Sam Collier. Noah looses consciousness and wakes up next to Bill. Bill somehow survived the lake incident. Noah is in a bathtub filled with Ranch dressing and his foot is chained to a wall. Bill is chained to a shower head. An audio recording tells then that one only one can survive. As the audio recording plays Noah's bathtub starts to fill higher and higher with Ranch. Noah cuts off his foot so he can escape. Bill is to scared to. Then he turns on the shower that Bill is chained to. Acid pours out on Bill and a door opens for Noah to go through. Noah enters a room with JDawg his worst enemy in it. An audio message plays that says they must put enough skin on a scale to get the door to open. JDawg cuts of his hand and puts it on the scale but it's not enough. Noah cuts off his hand and puts it on the scale. The door opens and they meet the man that imprisoned them. It was a man named Schnarwhal. Noah should've known when he saw the bathtub filled with ranch. Schnarwhal was Noah's father. JDawg and Noah attack him and bring him back to the bathroom and drown him in ranch. Noah and JDawg escape and walk outside. They are in a desert town and see a gunslinger. The gunslinger goes by the name Roland. Roland is looking for the man in black. Roland takes them to a cliff where an avalanche breaks out Roland has the opportunity two save the two boys dangling on a the side of the cliff but just stands and watches them fall. Roland runs away and finds the man in black. The man and black reveals himself to be BBB (Bills mom.) The show abruptly ends showing JDawg and Noah lying on the desert sand dead.This show is very violent. I would not let my 23 year old son watch it
    

Little Bill


            In the opening scenes, a high-profiler magnate named Christopher Van der Veer (Max Brown) partakes in a ground-breaking cerimony for a new building to be built in the South Bronx. That evening, Van der Veer, his cocaine-snorting wife, and bodyguard/limo driver drive through Manhattan to the Battery Park waterfront. While the three of them take strolls around the deserted park, they are stalked by a number of mysterious creatures (unseen except for point-of-view shots set a few feet off the ground and in a strange thermal-image color pattern). They are all killed one by one in rapid sucession by the unseen creatures.The next morning, NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) is assigned to solve the bizarre, violent murders. Executive Security, Van der Veer's client, prefers to blame the murders on terrorists, but knowing that the victim's bodyguard was a 300 pound Haitian with voodoo ties makes Wilson skeptical. At the crime scene, Wilson meets with Warren, his superior. With pressure to solve the case coming down from both the commissioner and mayor, Warren partners Wilson with criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora).Meanwhile a homeless man goes exploring an abandoned church in Charlotte Street, South Bronx, which was going to be demolished by Van der Veer along with the rest of the ruined buildings in the area, in order to build new apartment complexes, and is suddenly attacked and torn to pieces by another unseen monstrous being.Soon after that and while investigating the abandoned church, sounds of suffering lure Neff upstairs. Wilson follows her but doesn't hear the suffering, but once Neff is separated from him, he hears a wolf's howl. He goes up after Neff and drags her forcibly to safety. Soon after, a bridge worker is murdered by another unseen attacker.NY coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines) discovers non-human hairs on several mutilation victims and consults zoologist Ferguson (Tom Noonan). Ferguson immediately identifies the hairs as belonging to Canis lupus, also explaining that there are 40 existing subspecies and these particular hairs don't belong to any of them. Ferguson foreshadows his own death when he asks incredulously "What are you two trying to pin on the big bad (wolf)?". He compares wolves to Indians, giving Wilson his first real inspiration.Wilson finds Eddie Holt (Edward James Olmos), a militant Native activist he arrested some years ago for killing a conservative Indian or "apple" (a Native who is "red" -a true Native- on the outside but white on the inside). He claims he's a shapeshifter, which implicates him as the killer, and even goes so far as to threaten Wilson with carefully constructed dialogue. Feeling that the conversation is circumstantial and potentially dangerous, Wilson opts to let well alone and tail Eddie later that night on his own terms. While following animal clues Ferguson goes to Central Park, where the actual killer ambushes and kills him under a tunnel. Oblivious, Wilson spends the remainder of his night with Neff. In the following morning, a man in a jogging suit rides Ferguson's motorcycle right past Wilson as he leaves Rebecca's apartment. The man crashes, illustrating that he stole the motorcycle.Back at the police station, Whittington is the second person to foreshadow his own death when he says "If violence comes, I'm ready. I'm a dead shot, and a karate expert". He and Wilson stakeout the Bronx church armed with sniper rifles and sound equipment and after he almost blows his ears out by opening a beer can near the sound mic, an animal who appears to be a wolf ambushes and kills him. Meanwhile, Executive Security apprehends a "Götterdämmerung" terrorist cell in connection with the Van der Veer slaying.A traumatized Wilson escapes the church and finds himself at the Wigwam Bar, where Eddie Holt and his friends are drinking. The group of Natives reveal the true nature of the killer as Wolfen, the wolf spirit. They explain to Wilson that the Wolfen have extraordinary abilities and that they "might be gods". Eddie explains to Wilson that he can't fight the Wolfen, stating: "You don't have the eyes of the hunter, you have the eyes of the dead". The leader of the group, Old Indian, informs Wilson that Wolfen kills to protect its hunting ground. Wilson resolves to end his involvement in the Van der Veer case.In an alleyway, Neff, Wilson, and Warren are cornered by the wolfen superwolf pack. Warren tries to flee but is killed when a pack member severs his hand and then decapitates him in his car. Wilson and Neff flee and blow up Warren's car with a pack member in it. When he and Neff are cornered in Van der Veer's penthouse by the Wolfen pack led by its white alpha, Wilson smashes the model of the construction project that threatened their hunting ground, to communicate to them that the threat no longer exists and he and Neff are not enemies. The Wolfen consent, and just as the police barge in, vanish. Wilson claims the attack was made by terrorists.The story ends on the assumption that Götterdämmerung takes the fall for the serial murders. Wilson's voice is heard, explaining that the Wolfen will continue to prey on weak and isolated members of the human herd, as humans do to each other on social and economic scale. The Wolfen will continue to be invisible to humanity because of their nature; not that of spirits, but superior predators, who are higher on The Food Chain than men.
    

Gregory Hines

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