The American comedian is a perfect connoisseur of Andres Pajare's filmography and came to copy some 'gags' from one of his most popular films
Likely, the comedies that Andres Pajares starred in during the 1970s and 1980s have not survived well over time. However, those movies were enormously popular in their day.
Among the people who saw and enjoyed these films was Mel Brooks, Oscar winner for best original screenplay for 'The Producers and head of comedy classics such as 'Hot Saddles' or 'Little Frankenstein'. In the interview with Andres Pajares on the occasion of the documentary's release, the actor recalled in great detail how it was the moment in which he discovered that Mel Brooks was one of his biggest fans: We met in a hotel in Marbella. I was resting after making a film with producer Manuel Salvador: 'Makinavaja, the last chorizo. Then there was a gala dinner because Mel Brooks was going to release his movie about Robin Hood.
Andres Pajares refers to 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights', called in Spain 'The Crazy, crazy adventures of Robin Hood', a film released in 1993 in which Mel Brooks parodied 'Robin Hood, the Prince of Thieves, the successful film that Kevin Costner had starred in a couple of years earlier.
Andres Pajares continues his story: I got to my table and sat down. Then Manuel approached me and said: 'Come to dinner at my table, I'm with Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.' I approached his table and Manuel introduced him to me. When Mel Brooks saw me, he got up and hugged me. I have a photo that I can send you if you want (refers to the image that illustrates this article). The issue is that he hugged me and began to shout: 'Christopher Columbus! Christopher Columbus!' I was trying to tell him that he had just won the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival for 'Ay, Carmela!' but he only wanted to talk about 'Christopher Columbus, ex officio... discoverer', 'Magic Witches' and 'The Magic Garter Belt'.
This is how Andres Pajares discovered that Mel Brooks was a perfect connoisseur of his filmography, but the biggest surprise for the actor came when he saw 'The Crazy, Crazy Adventures of Robin Hood: Shortly after he was on a plane on his way to the film festival in Puerto Rico and put the movie. And, of course, all the gags from 'Christopher Columbus, by trade... discoverer' appear there. He could already like me... he Copied all the gags. But 'Oh, Carmela!' he had not seen her. Perhaps to this day, he has not yet seen her.
