Mel Brooks, who turned 100 in June, has never before curated a series of his favorite films for public screening — until now. Starting September 3, the American Cinematheque is running “Programmed by Mel Brooks: 100 Years at the Movies,” a 20-film retrospective spanning nearly nine decades of cinema history, playing across three Los Angeles theaters through November 12.
The lineup, which the Los Angeles Times reported in an exclusive preview, was assembled by Brooks himself over several days and communicated to the Cinematheque through his assistant, according to the paper. American Cinematheque Director of Programming Chris Lemaire told the Times that Brooks provided little explanation for his choices, but the pattern is telling: the oldest film was released when Brooks was 4 years old, and the newest arrived when he was 93. Brooks grew up in Brooklyn and watched movies at a neighborhood theater in the 1930s, a formative habit that appears woven through the selections.
The series opens September 3 with Charlie Chaplin's *City Lights* at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Lemaire said Brooks wanted to open with a Chaplin picture, calling *City Lights* the appropriate choice, per the Times. From there the lineup jumps between comedy, drama and international cinema, including Federico Fellini's *I Vitelloni* — the lineup's lone foreign-language entry — screening September 5, also at the Aero.
A List Heavy on American Classics, With Personal Touches
Despite the Fellini pick, the Times reports the lineup is overwhelmingly American in makeup. Brooks included his own work too: *The Twelve Chairs*, his 1970 comedy based on a Russian novel, closes the series November 12 at the Egyptian Theatre. That film, along with *Down and Out in Beverly Hills* — screening October 6 at the Los Feliz 3 — lacks a readily available digital restoration, according to the Times' reporting.
Brooks is known primarily as the director behind *The Producers*, *Blazing Saddles* and *Young Frankenstein*, but his selections lean into range beyond his comedic legacy. He included Charlie Chaplin's *City Lights*, the Marx Brothers' *A Night at the Opera* (screening October 20 at the Los Feliz 3), and dramas like *Schindler's List*, set for October 18 at the Egyptian, and *The Miracle Worker*, playing September 23 at the Los Feliz 3. He also picked *Jojo Rabbit* (October 16, Los Feliz 3), *Dances with Wolves* (October 11, Egyptian) and *Dolemite Is My Name* (October 22, Los Feliz 3), among others.
Brooks's appreciation for dramatic filmmaking has roots beyond fandom. In 1979 he founded the production company Brooksfilm specifically to back non-comedic projects, serving as executive producer on David Lynch's 1980 drama *The Elephant Man* — a film that earned eight Academy Award nominations, according to background reporting from The Vintage News. That same film is scheduled for September 9 at the Aero Theatre as part of the retrospective.
Full Schedule Across Three Historic Theaters
The series unfolds across the Aero, the Egyptian and the Los Feliz 3. Additional dates include *The Grapes of Wrath* (September 6, Aero), *Shane* (September 20, Los Feliz 3), *This Is Spinal Tap* (September 19, Los Feliz 3), *Top Hat* (October 10, Aero), *When Harry Met Sally…* (September 4, Aero), *Double Indemnity* (October 17, Egyptian), *Broadway Melody of 1940* (October 24, Los Feliz 3), *Ed Wood* (October 25, Egyptian) and *Psycho*, closing out Halloween week on October 31 at the Egyptian.
Lemaire said the Cinematheque wanted to do something different and interesting to mark Brooks's centennial, according to the Times, and it was the organization that first approached Brooks about programming a series of his favorite films — and that chose the eventual screening order. Brooks is not expected to appear in person at any of the screenings, but he is far from a stranger to these theaters: he has appeared at American Cinematheque venues about a dozen times over the years, and the organization has screened his own films regularly for decades. The retrospective builds on the Cinematheque's existing practice of inviting filmmakers and guests to choose prints for its Sunday Print Edition series.
In a statement relayed to the Times, Brooks said it was wonderful compiling a list of all these marvelous movies for American Cinematheque, adding that the exercise reminded him why he first fell in love with the art of film.
A Centennial Year Full of Honors
The retrospective lands amid a broader wave of recognition for Brooks in his 100th year. In June, the American Film Institute reorganized its “100 Years… 100 Laughs” list and named Brooks's 1974 film *Blazing Saddles* the funniest American movie ever made, moving it from sixth place to No. 1, according to Parade. Brooks remains the only filmmaker with three movies in the list's top 15 — *Blazing Saddles*, *The Producers* at No. 11 and *Young Frankenstein* at No. 13 — per BroadwayWorld, which also reported that Brooks arranged for his personal career archives to be placed for reservation and cataloging at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York, ahead of his birthday.
The American Cinematheque itself has a deep Los Angeles history that makes it a fitting host for the tribute. Founded in 1984 by director Sydney Pollack along with Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams, the nonprofit operates as a year-round film festival, as LAist has detailed. Its Egyptian Theatre, built in 1922, reopened in November 2023 after a $70 million restoration led by Netflix, which bought the Hollywood landmark in 2020 and partners with the Cinematheque on weekend repertory programming. The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica dates back even further — it was built in 1939 by aviation pioneer Donald Douglas as a 24-hour movie house for workers at the nearby Douglas Aircraft Company.
The organization has also been expanding. In 2025 it partnered with the Village Directors Circle to take over programming of the historic 1931 Westwood Village Theatre, currently undergoing a $25 million restoration targeted for a 2027 reopening — a project Hoodline has followed as part of the Westwood cinema comeback. That expansion sits alongside other recent moves in the local theater world, including the anticipated October reopening of the nearby Bruin Theater and a spring closure of the Egyptian itself for technical upgrades — both developments that underscore how central these historic venues remain to Los Angeles moviegoing as Brooks's centennial tribute unfolds this fall.
