Horror leads to hilarity in this monstrously funny take on the Mary Shelly classic.
Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American horror comedy film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The supporting cast includes Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman. Wilder and Brooks wrote the screenplay.
With Halloween just around the corner, what better way to celebrate the season than by re-visiting this classic portrayal of comedy genius? This film is a work of pure genius, inspired, funny, and quotable. It has some of the most memorable scenes ever put on film and non-stop gags enough to satisfy even the most demanding fans. It is without a doubt one of my favorite movies ever, and deservedly so, and a sterling example of pure wit in a context that gives it even more impact. We lost a real gem when Gene Wilder passed recently.
The film is an affectionate parody of the classic horror film genre, particularly the various adaptations of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein produced by Universal in the 1930s. Kenneth Strickfaden created most of the lab equipment used as props for the the1931 film Frankenstein. With more quotable lines than you can shake a schwanzenstucker at, this one never gets old; it just gets better with each viewing.
Young Frankenstein ranks No. 28 on Total Film magazine’s readers’ “List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time”. It also ranks high on other lists of that sort, scoring at No. 56 on Bravo TV’s list of the “100 Funniest Movies” and No. 13 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 funniest American movies. In 2003, it was deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the United States National Film Preservation Board and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry. On its 40th anniversary, Brooks considered it his most excellent (though not his funniest) film as a writer-director.
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