EPMC #9: Young Frankenstein

[Heradel]

Sorry it's late, life occurred.
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Young Frankenstein



Young Frankenstein is a 1974 comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star. The screenplay was written by Brooks and Wilder. —Wikipedia

Links:
Amazon: $12.99
Netflix
IMDB

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For next week, classification.
North by Northwest

North by Northwest (1959) is a suspense film starring Cary Grant, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and produced at MGM. The movie's world premiere took place in the San Sebastian International Film Festival. North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across America by agents of a mysterious organization who want to stop his interference in their plans to smuggle out some microfilm (a classic MacGuffin). —Wikipedia

Links:
Amazon: $5.84 (plus $2.98 shipping, no copies from amazon proper.
Netflix
IMDB

[shwankie]

Okay, is there anyone who *doesn't* like this movie? It's a permanent favorite on my list. Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, and Madelaine Kahn is pretty much all you need to know before watching it.

[stePH]

Okay, is there anyone who *doesn't* like this movie? It's a permanent favorite on my list. Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, and Madelaine Kahn is pretty much all you need to know before watching it.

I haven't seen it in almost forever, and am not even certain that I've seen the whole movie.  So I really couldn't say.  But it is from the period during which Mel Brooks was still making funny movies.

[Ocicat]

I loved this movie when I was a kid.  Only ever saw it the once, when it was originally in theaters.  For weeks afterwards I was spouting lines from the film and trying to make my eyes bug out like Marty Feldman's. 

So, I just watched it on DVD with my housemate.  She'd never seen it.  It was... kind of embarrassing, actually.  I don't think the film really aged well, unless you're a huge fan of the movies it's parodying.  From an adult viewpoint, most the jokes seemed kind of obvious and not so funny, with occasional bits of pure brilliance thrown in there.  It defiantly suffered from being over hyped in my memory, and (for my housemate) by me. 

Marty Feldman's eyes are still awesome though.

[birdless]

Okay, is there anyone who *doesn't* like this movie? It's a permanent favorite on my list. Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, and Madelaine Kahn is pretty much all you need to know before watching it.

I haven't seen it in almost forever, and am not even certain that I've seen the whole movie.  So I really couldn't say.  But it is from the period during which Mel Brooks was still making funny movies.

I'm just relieved I'm not the only one. I know for a fact I've never seen the movie uninterrupted from start to finish. I've probably seen it all in bits and pieces, but not consecutively and usually with a space of at least months between this piece and that bit.

I remember funny parts.... I need to watch the whole thing, though.

[Bdoomed]

*insert boundless love for this movie here*

[wintermute]

But it is from the period during which Mel Brooks was still making funny movies.

More than that; it's from his finest year.

In 1974, he made both this movie and Blazing Saddles, IMHO his two finest works.

[Russell Nash]

I picked up a Mel Brooks box set and this was the first one I put in.  I was prepared for it to have suffered, but it was still great.  Frankenstein's monster during "Putting on the Ritz" is just a classic.

[stePH]

I know for a fact I've never seen the movie uninterrupted from start to finish. I've probably seen it all in bits and pieces, but not consecutively and usually with a space of at least months between this piece and that bit.

IOW, this movie is to you as Casablanca is to me 

[Bdoomed]

i recently saw the broadway version of this movie when i went to NY.  It is great, well worth seeing, and a lot like the movie.

More than that; it's from his finest year.

In 1974, he made both this movie and Blazing Saddles, IMHO his two finest works.

ditto, i love these movies!

[birdless]

Not to threadjack, but for me, Blazing Saddles is funnier with a group of people. Is that true for anyone else? If so, is that true for Young Frankenstein?

[Bdoomed]

most things are funnier with a group of people, laughter is a social thing

I get no kick, from champaigne! (oooOOooooo)
mere alchohol doesn't thrill me at all!
so why should it be true (OOOOOOoooooo)
that I get a belt out of you?

[jrderego]

Not to threadjack, but for me, Blazing Saddles is funnier with a group of people. Is that true for anyone else? If so, is that true for Young Frankenstein?

The Producers is, in my experience, the best one to watch in a group. That movie elicits peels of laughter from everyone, and it only gets louder and more uncontrollable as the film goes on. Zero Mostel is absolutely, without a doubt, the funniest man ever to live (if judged by this film alone).

My favorite lines -

"Sit down! I am the author, you are the audience, I OUTRANK YOU!"

Leo: Mrs. Cathcart 20%, Mrs. Biddlecomb 20%, Mrs. Alma Wentworth 100% -
Max: How many percent can we sell?
Leo: you can only sell 100% of anything Max -
Max: How much did we sell of Springtime for Hitler?
Leo: 22,000 %

"Look at me, I'm wearing a cardboard belt! THAT'S RIGHT, IF YOU'VE GOT IT FLAUNT IT BABY! FLAUNT IT!"

"I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!"

"CHURCHILL?! CHURCHILL? He couldn't even say Nazi, he said "naaazuuuu" we weren't naaazuuu we were Nazi's! And a painter? Now Hitler! There was a painter, he could paint a whole apartment in one afternoon! TWO COATS!"

Roger De Bris - And you are Mister Bloom I presume... sorry for the pun.
Leo - (to Max) What pun?
Max - (hissing) Shut up! He thinks he's witty!

Roger De Bris - Did you know, I never knew that the Third Reich meant Germany. I mean it's just drenched with historical goodies like that!

Roger De Bris: Wait! This is a decision that could effect my entire life! I shall have to think about it. [pauses for one second] I'll do it!

[birdless]

Not to threadjack, but for me, Blazing Saddles is funnier with a group of people. Is that true for anyone else? If so, is that true for Young Frankenstein?

The Producers is, in my experience, the best one to watch in a group. That movie elicits peels of laughter from everyone, and it only gets louder and more uncontrollable as the film goes on. Zero Mostel is absolutely, without a doubt, the funniest man ever to live (if judged by this film alone).

My favorite lines -

"Sit down! I am the author, you are the audience, I OUTRANK YOU!"

Leo: Mrs. Cathcart 20%, Mrs. Biddlecomb 20%, Mrs. Alma Wentworth 100% -
Max: How many percent can we sell?
Leo: you can only sell 100% of anything Max -
Max: How much did we sell of Springtime for Hitler?
Leo: 22,000 %

"Look at me, I'm wearing a cardboard belt! THAT'S RIGHT, IF YOU'VE GOT IT FLAUNT IT BABY! FLAUNT IT!"

"I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!"

"CHURCHILL?! CHURCHILL? He couldn't even say Nazi, he said "naaazuuuu" we weren't naaazuuu we were Nazi's! And a painter? Now Hitler! There was a painter, he could paint a whole apartment in one afternoon! TWO COATS!"

Roger De Bris - And you are Mister Bloom I presume... sorry for the pun.
Leo - (to Max) What pun?
Max - (hissing) Shut up! He thinks he's witty!

Roger De Bris - Did you know, I never knew that the Third Reich meant Germany. I mean it's just drenched with historical goodies like that!

Roger De Bris: Wait! This is a decision that could effect my entire life! I shall have to think about it. [pauses for one second] I'll do it!

Okay, now I have to confirm that The Producers is on my NetFlix queue... I think it's there... it needs to be!

[jrderego]

Not to threadjack, but for me, Blazing Saddles is funnier with a group of people. Is that true for anyone else? If so, is that true for Young Frankenstein?

The Producers is, in my experience, the best one to watch in a group. That movie elicits peels of laughter from everyone, and it only gets louder and more uncontrollable as the film goes on. Zero Mostel is absolutely, without a doubt, the funniest man ever to live (if judged by this film alone).

My favorite lines -

"Sit down! I am the author, you are the audience, I OUTRANK YOU!"

Leo: Mrs. Cathcart 20%, Mrs. Biddlecomb 20%, Mrs. Alma Wentworth 100% -
Max: How many percent can we sell?
Leo: you can only sell 100% of anything Max -
Max: How much did we sell of Springtime for Hitler?
Leo: 22,000 %

"Look at me, I'm wearing a cardboard belt! THAT'S RIGHT, IF YOU'VE GOT IT FLAUNT IT BABY! FLAUNT IT!"

"I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!"

"CHURCHILL?! CHURCHILL? He couldn't even say Nazi, he said "naaazuuuu" we weren't naaazuuu we were Nazi's! And a painter? Now Hitler! There was a painter, he could paint a whole apartment in one afternoon! TWO COATS!"

Roger De Bris - And you are Mister Bloom I presume... sorry for the pun.
Leo - (to Max) What pun?
Max - (hissing) Shut up! He thinks he's witty!

Roger De Bris - Did you know, I never knew that the Third Reich meant Germany. I mean it's just drenched with historical goodies like that!

Roger De Bris: Wait! This is a decision that could effect my entire life! I shall have to think about it. [pauses for one second] I'll do it!

Okay, now I have to confirm that The Producers is on my NetFlix queue... I think it's there... it needs to be!

Make sure you get the 1968 original, the musical one from a couple of years ago is dreadful (even though Mel wrote that too).

[birdless]

Oo. Thanks for making the distinction.

[jrderego]

Oo. Thanks for making the distinction.

No problem. Seriously, The Producers is one of a handful of films that literally makes me laugh until I'm cross eyed and dizzy every time I watch it, and I've seen it probably 200 times.

[stePH]

Make sure you get the 1968 original, the musical one from a couple of years ago is dreadful (even though Mel wrote that too).

I do recommend the season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Mel Brooks casts Larry David as Max for the stage version.  I think it was the fourth or fifth season.  (It starts with Ben Stiller as Leo, but Larry David being Larry David pisses Stiller off to the point where he walks away from the show, and David Schwimmer takes over the role.  The season culminates on opening night.)

[wakela]

Speaking of Mel, I caught History of the World the other day on TV.  Well, part of it.  I remember when it came out I was in eighth grade and everyone thought it was hilarious.  When I saw it on TV recently it was pretty slow.  It's like Mel put pauses in the movie after the jokes for the audience to laugh.  But watching it by myself when no one was laughing just made it quiet and awkward.  Maybe I was watching the wrong parts.

I am 100% with you guys about Young Frank, The Producers, and Blazing Saddles. 

Where are de white women at?

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Great movie; I'm in the "aged well" camp... but I can certainly understand the other POV.

Tastes in comedy have shifted so much in the last years, it's nearly impossible to avoid the "dated" criticism.  Modern comedy revolves around sarcasm, vicious satire, pop-culture reference, self-reference, and hip meta-humor.  And jokes about bodily functions, of course.  The pure slapstick and broad, campy style of older comedies can seem corny and obvious to jaded modern viewers.

I blame Bill Murray.

Really, look at Ghostbusters.  I was (insert young, impressionable age here), and most of my friends went and saw it, and thought it was a great thriller.  Only a few people realized it was funny, and peer pressure from the more clued-in kids eventually brought the rest of the crowd around.  Murray's clueless, hipster, cool guy/doofus persona became the gold-standard of what we looked for in a comedy hero.  We didn't want the classic straightman/fool duo (Abbott & Costello, or Laurel & Hardy), and we didn't want the sympathetic clown (Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin).  We wanted a guy who really believed he was cool, wisecracking and slouching his way through an adventure, winking at us through the fourth wall the whole time.

[birdless]

Tastes in comedy have shifted so much in the last years…

Not to derail, but a quick question: are the comedy stylings of comedy duo Tim and Eric a generational thing or are they as stupid and unfunny as I think they are? If it's a generational thing, it's the first time I've found myself on the "old" side of the culture gap.

[Bdoomed]

Tastes in comedy have shifted so much in the last years…

Not to derail, but a quick question: are the comedy stylings of comedy duo Tim and Eric a generational thing or are they as stupid and unfunny as I think they are? If it's a generational thing, it's the first time I've found myself on the "old" side of the culture gap.

haha shows on adult swim are largely geared towards those who are completely and utterly schwasted.  I chuckled at the "paid for by voter prop 216"
its not a generational thing, its just the fact that you aren't blazzed out of your mind at 3 in the morning, by which point you'd be beyond delerious and would probably laugh at your pinky.

[stePH]

Not to derail, but a quick question: are the comedy stylings of comedy duo Tim and Eric a generational thing or are they as stupid and unfunny as I think they are? If it's a generational thing, it's the first time I've found myself on the "old" side of the culture gap.

haha shows on adult swim are largely geared towards those who are completely and utterly schwasted.  I chuckled at the "paid for by voter prop 216"
its not a generational thing, its just the fact that you aren't blazzed out of your mind at 3 in the morning, by which point you'd be beyond delerious and would probably laugh at your pinky.

That's the only thing I can think of to explain Aqua Teen Hunger Force, except that even when I was smokin' up on a regular basis, I never watched anything like that -- I would watch anime like Urusei Yatsura, or SF movies.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Tastes in comedy have shifted so much in the last years…

Not to derail, but a quick question: are the comedy stylings of comedy duo Tim and Eric a generational thing or are they as stupid and unfunny as I think they are? If it's a generational thing, it's the first time I've found myself on the "old" side of the culture gap.

Bdoomed and stePH are right, but I think that's also part of what I was talking about.  As a culture, we've been more accepting of what would have been too "coarse" or "vulgar" to show before.  It's a function of the audience's desire to be shocked; two things inevitably happen: the audience gets bored with being grossed out and goes to look for something more substantial, and to keep/gain an audience, the entertainers find new depths to plumb.  It's usually described in generational terms because (obviously) newer people aren't going to be bored with the schlock yet.

And it's not like each generation hasn't had their poster-children of the toilet-humor revolution; I'll let you all debate the relative merits of Beavis & Butthead, South Park, Adult Swim, Family Guy, Simpsons, and... Frank Zappa. 

[stePH]

And it's not like each generation hasn't had their poster-children of the toilet-humor revolution; I'll let you all debate the relative merits of Beavis & Butthead, South Park, Adult Swim, Family Guy, Simpsons, and... Frank Zappa. 

Ah, but there's so much more to Frank Zappa than scatology and invective.  He composed quite a bit of "serious" music, as well as some technically challenging rock music both instrumental and with lyrics, and many of those lyrics are completely devoid of any scatalogical humor or political invective.

(Can you tell I'm a fan?  I was just listening to disc 3 of Läther in the car this morning while out shopping with the wife.  In fact, a couple of months ago I made a "work-safe" playlist of that album, which had me cutting out less than a quarter of the total content.)