As the story goes, Gene Wilder‘s agent, Mike Medavoy, approached him with the idea of doing a movie combining his talents with Marty Feldman and Peter Boyle. Wilder considered this and thought they could actually make for a great collaboration. “What made you think of that combination?” Wilder asked his agent. Medavoy, in what Wilder calls a moment of “wonderful artistic basis,” replied, “Because I now represent you, Marty and Peter.” Sometimes this is how classics get made and yesterday was its 35th birthday!
Obviously, Medavoy’s proposal became just the right project for the three of them to combine their talents. They had a treatment of a satire on the Frankenstein story, and now all they needed was a director. Wilder – who first worked with Mel Brooks on The Producers – just finished working with him again on Blazing Saddles and passed the idea along. Brooks agreed to helm the picture on one condition: he would co-write. Young Frankenstein, as we know it, was born and it resulted in an two Oscar nominations including Wilder and Brooks’s screenplay.
There’s no business like funny business and for a while, Mel Brooks was running a well-oiled machine. Between 1968 and 1974 he helmed three comedic classics that started with The Producers, followed shortly after by Blazing Saddles and then, of course Young Frankenstein. Three gems, his best; three all-time great comedies that have stared the test of time right in the face and still made it giggle. Seriously, Mel Brooks knows his comedy. But you will notice something else from this list. They all featured Gene Wilder.
Wilder, both literally and figuratively in this movie, is a mad genius. He’s had two collaborations in his career that stand above all others; the movies with Richard Pryor and those with Brooks. His performance in The Producers makes it quite clear to anyone who previously had any doubts: he is from another planet. In Young Frankenstein, his cool, witty demeanor almost immediately gives way to the raging mad man lurking inside. To separate himself from his ancestry, Wilder’s scientist resorts to an alternative pronunciation of his name… “Fron kon steen” rather than Frankenstein (to which Marty Feldman’s Igor responds saying it’s actually pronounced “eye-gor”). Frankenstein is so adamant about dismissing the efforts of his great grandfather Victor, that he screams at the top of his lungs, “I AM A SCIENTIST! Not a philosopher! You have more of a chance reanimating this scalpel than you have mending a broken nervous system… MY GRANDFATHER’S WORK WAS DOO DOO!”
The Producers was a box office failure (though it clearly had its fans) but Blazing Saddles was a box-office smash, hauling in $119 million domestically. Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder were hot and Young Frankenstein benefit from the good will and the film broke through for an $86 million dollar run. Unfortunately for Columbia Pictures, they turned down the film not wanting to make a black-and-white feature. Brooks remained steadfast and took the film to 20th Century Fox, which agreed it to go with Brooks’s vision. Shooting the film in black-and-white was of paramount importance to them, but also joked about in the trailer as Brooks’s voice over reads, “In black-and-white… no offense.” As for the nature of the film, this isn’t just a very funny film, it’s a well-manicured movie technically. Solid story structure, beautifully shot and designed, it also managed a nomination for Best Sound. John Morris’s great score is probably best remembered these days as the sound queue for the dramatic prairie dog.
Perhaps the most famous sequence in Young Frankenstein is the dynamic duet between Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle’s (supposedly) reformed monster: a rendition of Fred Astaire’s “Putting on the Ritz” number in Blue Skies. Amazingly enough, this sequence almost never made it into the movie because Brooks wasn’t sure it would work. After arguing fervently about it with Wilder, Brooks relented, realizing how important a scene it was to the actor and knowing that same passion would ensure it wouldn’t cheapen or undermine the film.
Brooks and company of course are dealing in the absurd but everything in Young Frankenstein was well considered, thought out, discussed. They were making a very unique film, a spoof, yes, but a movie every bit as concerned with story and structure as the original classic. Watch a movie like Young Frankenstein and then watch a movie like Meet the Spartans. You probably already know the difference between the two.
I already mentioned Gene Wilder’s work but Marty Feldman was always the reason I loved this movie. You look at Feldman and try not to laugh. Just go ahead and try. Feldman, that wonderful British comedian who could make his eyes pop out like Ronny Cox’s when he was deprived of oxygen in Total Recall, steals the movie. Wilder has said Feldman’s Igor is the “heart and soul” of the picture. This is a movie with one strange heartbeat.
Then there is the late Peter Boyle. He doesn’t get a lot of dialogue in this movie but his imposing yet innocent qualities, not to mention his sound comedic chops make him irreplaceable. I was first introduced to Boyle as the mob boss in Johnny Dangerously. Only later did I find Young Frankenstein. He’s been a key part of my lift since. There are certain characters and actors that for one reason or another stay with you. Boyle is one of those guys, rest his soul.
Teri Garr is both funny and sexy in a part originally offered to the great Madeline Kahn. Kahn had other ideas though and elected play the part of Frankenstein’s fiance, Elizabeth, instead. Cloris Leachman and the inimitable Kenneth Marrs (playing Police Inspector hans Wilhelm Frederich Kemp) both provide terrific support. And we can’t forget Gene Hackman, in a very funny cameo, parodying the blind man who gave Frankenstein’s monster some soup. The soup in this version ends up somewhere else.
Brooks and Wilder have said the cast and crew had so much fun making the movie they started making up new scenes to shoot. They didn’t want to go home.
In 2007 a stage musical adaptation premiered. After The Producers adaptation was such a success, I think this gave Brooks an excuse to revisit one of the best times and artistic achievements of his life. Unfortunately it didn’t fare too well. However, I can understand the temptation.
The ending of Young Frankenstein teases darkness but this is a movie that has to have it all. Frankenstein’s monster is met with a much happier fate than the 1931 film. He gains intellect and a more sophisticated verbal palette. What does Wilder’s mad scientist gain, Teri Garr’s Inga wonders. How about an enormous schwanzstucker. In 1974, after the success of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Wilder and Brooks had the biggest schwanzstucker in the comedic world. They’ve both attested it to be the best film they’ve left behind. It’s hard to argue.
If you haven’t seen this classic you absolutely must. If you have, you know what I’m talking about. Share your thoughts and memories below.
