1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Young Frankenstein

#608- Young Frankenstein (1974)
Starring: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman
Directed by: Mel Brooks


Plot Summary: Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein, has just inherited his great-grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Frederick travels to inspect the property and is introduced to his hunchbacked servant Igor, his personal assistant Inga, and the mysterious housekeeper Frau Blucher. Though he has strayed away from his family's "legacy," Frederick becomes more intrigued by his grandfather's work, to the point where he wonders if he could perform the experiment correctly and re-animate the dead. The experiment proves to be a success, but thanks to a mishap with the brain chosen for the operation, the creation escapes the laboratory and wanders freely with an abnormal brain, and Frederick must get him back to the laboratory before it is revealed to the townsfolk that he is following in his grandfather's footsteps.


After spending over a year and reviewing 99 films, the time has come for a monumental post on this blog: my 100th movie review. Naturally, choosing a film worthy enough is difficult, even more so when it happens to fall during my Horror Movie month. At the end of the day, there was one film I found could live up to the hype of the 100th film I've discussed here: Young Frankenstein. Simply put, Young Frankenstein is the funniest film I have ever seen. The timing is perfect, the jokes work tremendously, the characters are all memorable, and it's one of my most quoted films. Not only that, it accurately pays tribute and mocks many of the elements of the classic Universal Monster movies.

Gene Wilder, one of my favorite actors of all-time, plays Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (though he pronounces it like Fronkensteen). Just look at the amount of emotion, expression, and delivery that Wilder exhibits in this film and you'll see why he's one of my absolute favorites. Somewhat playing the "straight man" to the comedy, his reactions to the ridiculous nature of his fellow characters is amazing and he can crack a good joke or two either through a punchline or through slapstick. Then there are moments where he can be very serious and darn near psychotic. The scene where he's creating the monster is very chilling as you can feel how desperate Frederick is to bring his creation to life.

One of the supporting characters that steal the show is Igor, played by Marty Feldman. Again, Feldman is the kind of actor who has a wide arrangement of comedic talent through both slapstick and punchlines. I'm also a fan of how he's able to break the fourth wall. His best bits are with Frederick (which he jokingly pronounces Froderick), and when Wilder and Feldman are able to work off one another, I'm always extremely entertained. They're the kind of duo that, being a stage actor, I would love to do a scene or two with one of my friends to see if we could have that level of timing and delivery.

Of course, a Frankenstein film would not be complete without the Monster, played by Peter Boyle. Personally, I recognize Boyle more as Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, and while he doesn't have Frank's rude vocabulary, the Monster does provide a lot of comedy in the form of expressions and reaction. One of the best scenes is the scene with the blind man, played by a young Gene Hackman, because it is a textbook example of how slapstick is supposed to work. Another comedic legend in the cast is Kenneth Mars as Inspector Kemp. Kemp's running gags include his thick accent and his prosthetic arm.

One issue I have with women in comedies is that I don't think a lot of their jokes work. Thankfully, Young Frankenstein has THREE outstanding and hilarious female performances. The first is Inga, played by Teri Garr, who is a sweet, but naive laboratory assistant that fits right in with Frederick and Igor (majority of the scenes revolve around this trio). The next is Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth, Frederick's self-absorbed, uptight fiancée, who offers a lot of humor in the fact that we have no idea why Frederick loves her, and if she even loves him back. Later in the film, she has a scene with the Monster I won't spoil because it's a scene that capitalizes on all of Elizabeth's established character traits and uses one very HUGE detail about the Monster to completely change her character. The final, and in my opinion, best female character in the film is Frau Blucher, played by the hilariously talented Cloris Leachman. Her cold demeanor, mysterious connection to the Frederick's grandfather, and a particularly hilarious running gag I won't spoil all make Frau just a fun character to see on-screen.

Along with the characters, Young Frankenstein is one of the only comedies I've seen where all the jokes worked. One thing that helps is that the narrative, from beginning to end, basically retells the story of the Boris Karloff Frankenstein film with tons of jokes to parody it inserted throughout. There's so many times where it breaks early conventions of how comedies should look and feel because of how grand and elaborate the sets are to re-create the iconic look of Frankenstein. Not to mention, Igor's "walk this way" joke (one of the best in the film) inspired the title of one of Aerosmith's biggest hits (I'm completely serious about that). The film holds a lasting legacy that should be appreciated by fans of both horror and comedy, in the same distinction that films like Ghostbusters, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Shaun of the Dead hold with moviegoers.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Films like Young Frankenstein remind me why Mel Brooks is one of my favorite filmmakers. It combines all the elements of Frankenstein that I love and adds charm and whit to create one of the greatest comedies in history. It's definitely worth owning in everyone's collection and just celebrated a 40th anniversary so go check it out immediately.

Young Frankenstein and movie images are copyrighted by 20th Century Fox