Young Frankenstein
A film that pays as much tribute as it does spoofs the genre it is taking on, Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy classic is certainly faithful to the Universal horror classics of the 1930s and in particular, James Whaleâs Frankenstein films that starred Boris Karloff. Brooks even goes so far as to utilize the same electrical equipment that was used on set in the 1931 version as well as its sequel, bringing a true sense of authenticity as well as the sneaking suspicion that the film is as much a legitimate sequel as it is a parody. As the original Frankensteinâs grandson, Gene Wilder (in the absolute prime of his career) brings plenty of his offbeat style including his hilarious shrieking hysterics to the part, as he becomes compelled to follow in his familyâs footsteps to using electricity to reanimate dead tissue and build his own monster. The film does suffer from taking a good 20 to 30 minutes to REALLY get going, as the setup for the story isnât nearly as rewarding as the payoff. In addition, much of the early scenes rely far too much on verbal puns in the dialogue which really arenât all that funny to begin with (though legend has it that the âwalk this wayâ bit helped inspire the Aerosmith song). However, once the Creature is brought to life (with the funny âyummy soundâ bit) things improve considerably, aided no doubt by Peter Boyle in the role, staying true to the template of performance style set by Karloff yet still bringing the physical humor to the ninth degree; Cloris Leachman as the housekeeper whose mere mention of her name makes horses whinny is strident and straight-laced enough to match up with the comedy style; Teri Garr (never sexier) as the lab assistant brings a cute, ditsy-blonde sensibility to the proceedings; Kenneth Mars as the police constable (with the Strangelove-inspired prosthetic hand) does well enough during his screen time; Madeline Kahn (one of the most beautiful funny ladies to ever live) as the doctorâs fiancĂ©e brings a lot of style and really takes off in the later scenes when her character gets âliberatedâ; and Gene Hackman (in one of the greatest cameos of all time) brings the house down as the Blindman who offers hospitality to the Creature but winds up burning and frightening the poor thing nearly to death. Only Marty Feldman, as the hunchback assistant Igor, seems a little self-indulgent at times, looking at the camera after saying something meant to be funny as if looking for the audienceâs reaction (a huge no-no in film comedy) and at other times doing a bad impression of Groucho Marx for the seemingly offbeat nature of it, a shame since this is the legendary British TV comicâs most notable film role. However, Brooks and Wilder do provide him with enough good bits (sedagive?) to pull him through the film. As stated, the film really starts rolling when the Creature is âbornâ, and almost never lets up at that point, with Wilder and Boyle doing a performance of âPuttin On The Ritzâ in front of an audience of scientists probably being the hilarious high point. Overall, while nowhere near the level of his grand masterpiece Blazing Saddles, still one of the funniest, and best made comedies Brooks has ever come up withâŠ
8/10