There was a span of slightly over a decade (early seventies to early-mid eighties) when American comedy was outright fearless. As raunchy and envelope pushing as today’s Apatow-dominated cinema would try to pass itself off, you would be hard pressed to find anything like this released today. It’s not simply the subject matter, which is subversive enough (A man unsuccessful in his romantic conquests due to his overbearing mother tries in vain to kill her), but the outrageous moments within the film which constitute it as fearless. Today’s comedies are far too tame, or have some misguided notion that they need to take themselves more seriously. While they told fantastic stories, it was the daring and brash nature of their films which earn filmmakers such as Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, and Z.A.Z. team the status of comedic mavericks. When’s the last time you’ve heard a line within a movie as shocking as “These are from the cop I raped?” While there have been a few films here and there (the early Farrelly outings, ‘Dirty Work’, and the recent ‘Observe and Report’) which try to revive the spirit, this was a special time for comedy. Films such as this one, ‘Used Cars’, ‘Blazing Saddles’, ‘This is Spinal Tap’, and ‘The Bad News Bears’ each had moments of shocking brilliance within them. While not all of them are necessarily “great movies”, they are certainly fantastic and unique experiences.