(Mel Brooks, US 1974, 106 min., 35mm)
Mel Brooks followed-up his anarchic Western parody Blazing Saddles with something even better: a spot-on spoof of the great Universal horror pictures of the 1930s. In perhaps the finest sustained parody ever made on film, the manic Gene Wilder is Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (that’s pronounced Fronk-en-steen), reluctant heir to the man who re-animated dead life. With the help of two assistants (goggle-eyed Marty Feldman and Teri Garr), Dr. F. resumes his grandfather’s work and creates his own monster (Peter Boyle). The uniformly sterling and hilariously funny cast also includes Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | Matinee: Blazing Saddles (35mm)
100 Years of Mel Brooks Mel Brooks’s third feature, and his first box-office blockbuster, turns the western upside down and inside out. Scheming politician Hedley (not Hedy!) Lamarr (Harvey Korman) appoints a Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) to the small town of Rock Ridge in order to drive the people away.
Film Screenings | Matinee: Young Frankenstein (DCP)
100 Years of Mel Brooks Mel Brooks followed-up his anarchic Western parody Blazing Saddles with something even better: a spot-on spoof of the great Universal horror pictures of the 1930s.
Film Screenings | Silent Movie (35mm)
100 Years of Mel Brooks Mel Funn (Brooks), a washed-up Hollywood director, announces his plans to make a contemporary silent movie. With the help of collaborators Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) and Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman), Mel sets out to recruit a top-notch cast (Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Paul Newman, Marcel Marceau and Anne Bancroft) in order to secure funding for his magnum opus.