History of the World, Part I (1981) was a Mel Brooks vehicle involving sketches parodying various historic periods, from the Stone Age to the Spanish Inquisition, featuring nearly every comedian in the business. To the infinite confusion of audiences, no Part II was intended.
Until 2022, when Part II appeared as a tv series on Hulu, again (mostly) produced, written, directed, and narrated by the 96 year old Mel Brooks. Many more historic eras are parodied, but I'm going to review only the Civil War.
Episode 1: 1865. In the waning days of the War, President Lincoln asks the drunken Ulysses S. Grant (Ike Barinholtz, below) to take charge of his son, Robert Todd (Nick Robinson): the 22-year old Harvard student has been begging to enlist, and now that the war is nearly over, he can do so safely. This is historically accurate: Robert Todd did serve on Grant's staff for several months in 1865. But he was a "dandy," and Lincoln was gay; both are closeted here.
Every soldier in Virginia has been ordered to deny Grant alcohol, so he decides to take RT on a "dangerous mission."
"I would follow you to the gates of Hell," RT says. Awww, how sweet.
"It's worse than that. We're going to West Virginia." Har, har.
Episode 2: In Rock Ridge, West Virginia, stylized as an Old West town out of Blazing Saddles, RT and Grant try to fit in because "They don't like our kind." He means Yankees, of course, but.... In a tavern, we get a shot of the two holding hands as they both look at the same menu. That's a queer code.
Their cover is blown when Grant tries to use Union currency, and his face is on the bill! Grant is on the $50 bill today, but of course he wasn't during the Civil War. "We hate Yankees!" The scene dissolves when a Red Sox fan starts to complain (the baseball team opposed to the New York Yankees).
The mob (led by Gemstones alum Scotty McArthur) leads them out to be hanged. Actually, West Virginia was almost entirely Union-occupied through the war.
Episode 3: Three expendable Union soldiers (top photo) are sent to rescue them. Lt. Henry Honeybeard (Tim Baltz), being white, is made their leader. The others are the black Mason Dixon (Tyler James Williams) and the Native American Mingoes (Zahn McClarnon, left). As they leave, we see two pairs of legs protruding from a tent (guys having sex, har har).
They are all dumb as a stump, and can't figure out which way West Virginia is. They end up the Underground Railroad, which is actually a subway run by Harriet Tubman, going the wrong direction.
More gay subtexts after the break
