Double Feature

Young Frankenstein

Perhaps the most beloved film from Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein lovingly skewers and pays homage to 1930s Universal’s horror film franchise. Wilder is the Baron’s great grandson, Cloris Leachman is notorious Frau Blucher, Madeline Kahn is Wilder’s uptight fiancée Elizabeth, Terri Garr is sweet Inga, Marty Feldman is hunchback Igor and Peter Boyle is unforgettable as the monster. Some of the most memorably hilarious scenes include Boyle’s encounter with a blind hermit (Gene Hackman) in the woods and Boyle’s literal roll in the hay with Kahn (which leaves her more than satisfied.) Wilder had come up with the idea for the film and convinced Brooks to collaborate. Brooks recalls: “Little by little, every night, Gene and I met at his bungalow at the Bel Air Hotel… we proceeded on a dark narrow twisting path to the eventual screenplay in which good sense and caution are thrown out the window and madness ensues.”  The movie was a smash hit, following on the heels of Brooks’ Blazing Saddles.

“Wilder’s hysteria seems perfectly natural… he delivers what Harpo promised.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

“Young Frankenstein is as funny as we expect a Mel Brooks comedy to be, but it’s more than that: It shows artistic growth and a more sure-handed control of the material by a director who once seemed willing to do literally anything for a laugh. It’s more confident and less breathless.” – Roger Ebert

The Producers (1967)

In a final bid at financial success, has-been Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) produces a purposefully abhorrent musical on the advice of accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), who thinks that one can make more money from a flop than a hit.