Feb 6, 2020
Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and Peter Boyle as the monster. The supporting cast includes Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman. The screenplay was written by Wilder and Brooks.
The film is a parody of the classic horror film genre, in particular the various film adaptations of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein produced by Universal Pictures in the 1930s. Much of the lab equipment used as props was created by Kenneth Strickfaden for the 1931 film Frankenstein. To help evoke the atmosphere of the earlier films, Brooks shot the picture entirely in black and white, a rarity in the 1970s, and employed 1930s' style opening credits and scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and fades to black. The film also features a period score by Brooks' longtime composer John Morris.
A critical favorite and box office smash, Young Frankenstein ranks No. 28 on Total Film magazine's readers' "List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time", 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. It was later adapted by Brooks and Thomas Meehan as a stage musical.
On its 40th anniversary, Brooks considered it by far his finest (although not his funniest) film as a writer-director.
PODCAST NOTES:
Jason is joined by two (or is it three?) time FCAC Very Special Guest Star Jenny Pinzari to delve DEEP into 'Young Frankenstein', her college a capella career, her teenage tv habits, and more! (00:05), the Ovaltine scene between Cloris Leachman and Gene Wilder (3:00), 'Young Frankenstein' original 1974 trailer narrated by Mel Brooks (5:00), James Whale and the original Frankenstein movies (8:00), 'Airplane' and 'Zero Hour' clip comparisons (11:00), Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn train depot scene from 'Young Frankenstein' (16:00), Marty Feldman: Genius (18:00), 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith was named because of 'Young Frankenstein', clip from Gene Wilder's cameo in 'Bonnie and Clyde' (22:30), Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman "help with the bags" clip and Gene's continual breaking on-set (25:00), incredible Gene Wilder interview clip about his fame and success (26:30), Madeline Kahn and 'Flames' (29:00), 'Frau Blucher' apocryphal origin stories (31:30), Cloris Leachman is 93 and STILL working (32:00), Jenny's a capella life at Boston University (36:30), 'Sedagive' clip from 'Young Frankenstein (43:30), Madeline Kahn's incredible love scene with Frakenstein's monster (45:30), Blind Priest scene between Gene Hackman and Peter Boyle (50:00), Jenny and husband Adam's 90's song parody 'Interesting Girl' (53:00), Latch-Key TV: Shari Lewis & Lambchop and 'The Song That Never Ends' (60:00), 'Saved By The Bell' (61:00), Jenny went to mall dressed as Kelly Kapowski to see Mark-Paul Gosselear was appearing and signing autographs (63:00), Jenny's first boycrush was Jonathan Taylor-Thomas who got out of acting and went to like three Ivy League colleges (64:00), 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and David Boreanz and Sarah Michelle Gellar (67:30), ABC's 'TGIF' block of programming with 'Full House', 'Perfect Strangers', 'Family Matters', 'Step By Step', 'Hangin' With Mister Cooper', and 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch' and 'Dinosaurs' (70:00).