Taxi Driver (1976)
Movie Watch
An unstable Vietnam veteran named Travis Bickle works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City....
Neo-noir Psychological thriller Vigilante
Rob Zombie recommended Taxi Driver (1976) in Movies (curated)
Moone Boy - Season 1
TV Season Watch
Seán Murphy is the imaginary friend of 12-year-old Martin Paul Kenny Dalglish Moone, the youngest...
Simon Pegg recommended Taxi Driver (1976) in Movies (curated)
The Santa Clause (1994)
Movie Watch
Scott Calvin is a divorced father whose strained relationship with his son, Charlie, begins to mend...
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Movie
A monstrous tidal wave has left the luxury liner Poseidon capsized mid-ocean and its few survivors...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Young Frankenstein (1974) in Movies
Apr 20, 2020
Such is the case with Mel Brooks' Universal Horror film spoof/satire YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN from 1974. It is a work of comedic genius and features some of the most memorable characters in motion picture comedy history.
Co-Writen by Brooks and Gene Wilder, Directed by Brooks and starring Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman and the great Madeline Kahn, this film sends up the black and white Universal Horror films of the 1930's not by making fun of them, but by lovingly recreating them and then exaggerating the scenes/circumstances.
Wilder is at his manic best as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein - the grandson of the original Frankenstein - who is brought to Transylvania and soon takes up his grandfather's work. He works through a controlled rage throughout the film until such times where the rage (and his hair) comes bursting forth in maniacal energy that is a comic tour-de-force.
He is surrounded by an outstanding collection of misfits, most notably Marty Feldman's servant/assistant Igor who is game for just about anything. Under-rated is the comedic performance of Teri Garr as Frankenstein's lab assistant Inga who not only has good looks ("what knockers") but can hold her own with Wilder and Feldman in a scene. Peter Boyle is earnest and scary and vulnerable (all at the same time) in his portrayal of "the Monster" who just wants to be understood - the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene shows some fine comedic chops in an actor that up to this point had not really done comedy (his Emmy nominated work in EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND is years in the future).
But it is the work of 2 female comediennes that drives this film to another level. Madeline Kahn as Frederick's fiance, Elizabeth, commands (and steals) every scene she is in while the inscrutable Cloris Leachman is deadpan perfection as castle housekeeper Frau Bleucher (horse whinny).
Director Brooks keeps the jokes coming at a fast a furious pace, but keeps the pace and the story going as well. This is much more than "just a collection of jokes" - it is a very good movie.
This film falls squarely in my "Top 10 All Time Favorite Films" - and my #1 comedy of all time.
Letter Grade: A+
10 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Luke (12 KP) rated Young Frankenstein (1974) in Movies
Oct 2, 2017
Lust for Life: Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting Phenomenon
Book
In the early 1980s Irvine Welsh's life was going nowhere fast. His teenage dreams of being a...
Binocular Vision
Clare Skeats and Edith Pearlman
Book
Edith Pearlman's Binocular Vision are the collected stories of an award-winning author who has been...