A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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Sunday, May 8, 2022
JUDGE DRECK
JUDGE DREDD (1995)
dir: Danny Cannon
JUDGE DRECK
MAD # 338, August 1995
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
Frank Frazetta had done two jobs for MAD much earlier. They wanted to use him as one of the 'usual gang of idiots' and he was willing, but they could never agree on ownership of the original art.
Based on the British comics series, Judge Dredd takes place in the future world of Mega-City where all the police are also the judges, juries, and executioners, and Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is one of the law's most dedicated servants. He has been framed for murder by his brother Rico (Armand Assante). Fergie, the small-time hacker Judge Dredd arrests without trial (Rob Schneider) has a much larger part as the sidekick he's inadvertently stuck with..
Judge Dredd's partner is Judge Barbara Hershey (Diane Lane). The council that oversees them is led by Chief Justice Fargo (Max Von Sydow), who mentored Dredd as a young cadet. Judge Dredd now oversees cadets himself. Rico, who was a former judge, escapes from the penal colony and returns to Mega City, breaching the many security codes necessary, and goes on a murdering rampage. Judge Dredd is wrongfully arrested for that rampage.
”Contract With America” was Newt Gingrich's proposed Republican legislative agenda. Eric and Lyle Menendez were two brothers convicted of murdering their parents in the 90s
Hershey acts as defense for Dredd in his trial, apparently judges are allowed trials but citizens aren't. Fargo retires from the council. Griffin (Jurgen Prochnow) has replaced Fargo, and Rico demands The Janus Project, a dead cloning experiment, be revived, which would allow him to clone a whole army of vigilante judges. Meanwhile, Hershey still believes Dredd is innocent and with the aid of a cadet who specializes in photo analysis, finds out Judge Dredd and Rico were brothers as part of the Janus Project.
The shuttle where Judge Dredd and other arrestees including Fergie is shot down by a gang of cannibals who capture them. Not used in the parody is that Fargo, who also believed Dredd, shows up at the last minute to save him and tells him about the Janus Project before dying, arming Dredd with the information he needs when he returns to the city. Judge Dredd and Rico fight at end Rico's reign as well as his trying to take over the city with the Janus Project. Hershey fights Rico's assistant Dr. Hayden (Joan Chen).
When it's all over and Dredd's name is cleared, he has the chance to be promoted to a higher office, but continues his work as the judge he was. This movie is being compared to the O. J. Simpson trial. Pictured are Judge Lance Ito overseeing Marcia Clark and Robert Shapiro. Also in the foreground is witness Kato Kaelin.
A few issues later, in his Apollo 13 parody, Stan Hart stuck in an awkward joke where he regretted having covered this movie, which bombed. And a few issues after that, he took another shot at it, in one of Mad's parodies of the Oscars. In the category of "Worst Movie Based on a Comic Book", he nominated Judge Dredd, Tank Girl (another flop), and Batman Forever. He also made sure to note that all three comics were published in America by DC, just like Mad. (DC and corporate parent Warner Bros. had taken much tighter control of Mad after the death of publisher Bill Gaines in 1992.)
A few issues later, in his Apollo 13 parody, Stan Hart stuck in an awkward joke where he regretted having covered this movie, which bombed. And a few issues after that, he took another shot at it, in one of Mad's parodies of the Oscars. In the category of "Worst Movie Based on a Comic Book", he nominated Judge Dredd, Tank Girl (another flop), and Batman Forever. He also made sure to note that all three comics were published in America by DC, just like Mad. (DC and corporate parent Warner Bros. had taken much tighter control of Mad after the death of publisher Bill Gaines in 1992.)
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