My Favorite Movies: #19—Young Frankenstein

19. Young Frankenstein (1974) 
Genre: Comedy 

Director: Mel Brooks 
Writers: Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder 
Stars: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman 
Awards: 2 Oscar nominations—Adapted Screenplay, Sound 
Metacritic score: 80 
IMDB Ranking: n/a

Mel Brooks has made some of the funniest movies of all time—I'm confident that Blazing Saddles would appear on at least one friend's list of favorites—but for me, none of his movies is more clever, more creative, or more brilliantly filmed than Young Frankenstein.

Brooks takes the familiar horror story and twists it with just enough goofiness, silliness, and absurdity that you both take it seriously as well as laugh at the insanity of the whole thing. Gene Wilder, looking like a young, mad Einstein, is Frederick Frankenstein, a legitimate medical doctor who only wants to erase any memories of his infamous grandfather. He goes so far as to insist that his name be pronounced "Frahnk-en-steen."

But curiosity and the desire for power over life and death draw him back to his grandfather's castle in Transylvania ("Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania Station?"). There he discovers a bug-eyed crackpot minion, Igor (Marty Feldman, and pronounced "EYE-gore"),  a voluptuous young female assistant, Inga (Teri Garr at her most va-va-voomy), and the frightening Frau Blucher, played to the scenery-chewing pinnacle by Cloris Leachman.

The plot is identical to the classic original movie—Frederick studies his grandfather's notes, sews together pieces of corpses, uses an "Abby Normal" brain, then deals with the aftermath. The fun is in the new twists Brooks and crew puts into the film at every successive step.

After beginning an affair with Inga, Frederick's fiancee, played with madcap brilliance by Madeline Kahn, shows up at the castle. She ends up falling for the monster, however, which leads to a series of lewd and hilarious scenes. So many of the set pieces are comedy classics, such as "Igor, get the bags," "Puttin' on the Ritz," the blind hermit (an uncredited Gene Hackman), the angry villagers (led by Kenneth Mars, the local magistrate with prosthetic arm issues), "HE VAS MY BOYFRIEND!" and last but certainly not least, "Oooooooooooh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you!"

If you've seen the movie as many times as I have, each one of those references should have set you off in fits of laughter. If you've never seen Young Frankenstein, I feel sorry for you, because you haven't experienced one of the funniest films ever made. It is, like the Frankenstein story itself, a work of mad genius.