2016 continues to pave a road of grief as we lost yet another great talent in comedian Gene Wilder, best known for his collaborations with Mel Brooks and his role as the eponymous Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He passed from complications with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 83. We here at TheYoungFolks wanted to honor him by taking a look at his finest performances.
Blazing Saddles
As the world says goodbye to Gene Wilder there is one movie that embodies his personality to me. Blazing Saddles was released in 1974 and is still considered today one of director Mel Brooks’ greatest comedic works. Brooks has a history of making films that take certain aspects of society and amplify them to their extreme. In Blazing Saddles, audiences were treated to the best spoof of a western film ever created. One of the reasons why this film was so successful was the hilarious cast. Legendary actors like Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks, Harvey Korman and Cleavon Little. There are so many moments that come to mind when I think of this film, most of which make me uncontrollably laugh. To take real world issues like racial tensions and big business taking over the world and making situations that the audience feels like they shouldn’t be laughing at but continue to do so anyway is what this film is truly all about. Whether it’s everyone being named Johnson, the now famous farting cowboys scene, or the hangman trying to hang a horse with its owner, this film will always be a classic example of why the world is so thankful for Gene Wilder’s acting. Tyler Carlsen
Silver Streak
There are few films that can successfully juggle several genres and still manage to come off as a single, cohesive piece. Silver Streak is a train suspense film that feels like a comedic homage to Hitchcock thrillers with accents of the spy genre. The comedy is mostly subtle, expertly restrained by Gene Wilder. His comedic approach in this film is mostly reactionary. He is continuously put in extraordinary situations and he reacts like any other person would naturally react.
The key to his humor, which is very obvious since this film isn’t a period piece or set in some fictional world, is his everyman technique. Wilder is effortlessly funny, whether it’s his facial expressions or his wit cleverly expressed through quips and snark. He doesn’t need to over-exaggerate, even when his character explodes from (understandable) built up frustration. Wilder’s approach makes him versatile in the many different environments he’s put in and the different people he is paired with. The most notable partnership in this film comes when Richard Pryor’s character is introduced and the film becomes a buddy cop. Their comedic styles are opposite, but that is exactly what makes them complementary. The one scene with black face notwithstanding, the rest of the humor was completely on point even if some of it was a bit dated. – Jon Espino
The Producers
Advertisement
Gene Wilder’s brilliance didn’t simply come from being funny. Funny people are a dime a dozen. Wilder’s magnetism came from his ability to portray characters riding the edge of madness. People who are deeply repressed, who just need that free spirit partner to send them over the edge. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in his brilliant turn as Leo Bloom in The Producers. His magical rapport with Zero Mostel’s Max Bialystok comes from so much more than just being the straight man. Oscar terrifies Leo, and in every scene, he’s holding on for dear life to keep his composure. Wilder is selling this fear in every moment he’s onscreen. Through subtle looks, body contortions, and the occasional full-on meltdown, he makes Leo the narrative’s most spontaneous piece.
Brilliant Wilder performance aside, The Producers is a comedy classic in its own right. It brilliantly parodies the business side of art, while keeping the laughs coming a mile a minute. The musical version starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick is also a lot of fun, but nothing compares to original. To me, Wilder will always be the man behind the blue blanket. – Michael Fairbanks
Young Frankenstein
Advertisement
The reason why Gene Wilder’s performance as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein—sorry, FRONKensteen—in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974), ranks as one of the greatest comedic performances of all time is that if you had plucked him out of the film and dropped him into a straight horror film, it still would have worked. That was the true genius of Brooks’ greatest spoofs: they weren’t just comedies, but sincere love letters to the genres they parodied. If you took the jokes out of The Producers (1968), you’d still have a fascinating backstage drama. Blazing Saddles (1974) would still be a moving Western about overcoming racism; High Anxiety (1977) a gripping thriller. Young Frankenstein looks and feels like a classic Hollywood horror movie—they even reused the lab machinery and props from the Boris Karloff Frankenstein films. The difference, of course, is that it’s funny. While Peter Boyle’s Monster was the heart of the film, Wilder’s was the soul. His emotions were large and bombastic, over-the-top but somehow not unbelievable. His gnarled indignation at mention of his grandfather could curdle milk. His screams and agonies over his failure to give his Creature life may be a punchline, but the more times I watch it, the more and more my heart breaks for him. He also had the gift of understatement, a skill woefully missing in most modern comedy. Go watch the scene where he locks himself in the room with the Creature after giving his assistants orders not to open it no matter what he says, no matter how he begs. When the Creature approaches him and Wilder runs back to the door, he doesn’t scream, he doesn’t even raise his voice. He calmly asks them to let him out, little rivulets of exasperation and fear trickling out of him. It’s what sells the moment. It’s what helps sell the film. -Nathanel Hood
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (but Were Afraid to Ask)
This isn’t a “starring” role from Wilder, but he definitely stole the show in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (but Were Afraid to Ask) in what is essentially one of several short films. As a married General Practitioner (who whispers the fact that his mother paid for the office) he’s confronted with a bizarre patient; a shepherd who’s fallen in love with one of his sheep. Turns out, there’s just something special about Daisy the Sheep, because Wilder falls head over heels in love too. Wilder is hilarious in his commitment to the out-there premise. He plays the initial idea with the same nervous mania he brought to The Producers, but when he falls in love with Daisy at first sight, the performance changes to something strangely “realistic?” He plays his cheating doctor as if he were in a serious romance; despite having only a sheep to act opposite. Like the best kind of surreal short films (this one could easily have appeared on Kids in the Hall or as an SNL Digital Short) it’s as funny as it is weird, and Gene sells it from beginning to end. – Lesley Coffin
Advertisement
See No Evil, Hear No Evil & Haunted Honeymoon
Gene Wilder will always be remembered for the iconic characters he brought to life. Willy Wonka, Leo Bloom and Dr. Frederick Frankenstein just to name a few. These characters are iconic and well-earned additions to cinematic history. They stick out in Wilder’s career not just because of his unforgettable performance, but also because the films were critically acclaimed. Does it mean every bad film he was in had a bad performance from Wilder? Never.
Wilder’s talent is undeniable, regardless of how much of a dud the film as a whole turns out to be. His energy was contagious and you can always tell just how much fun he had playing every role. That gave him an effortless genuineness that he brought to every character, no matter how poorly written they may have been. It also made it easy for his various comedic partners, like Gilda Radner and Richard Pryor, to play off of his comedy. Whether he was playing a subtle character casually delivering punchlines or a more eccentric one screaming his humor, he was always authentic. He understood comedy and knew when to step back and support another character comedically, and when to take center stage.– Jon Espino
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
While the film itself may fail to mesmerize me today as it did as a child, Gene Wilder’s impressively nuanced turn as the mad man in the purple cap has only grown more substantial as I’ve grown. He is the embodiment of enigmatic as the entrepreneur, both a villain and hero to the story depending on which part of the film you’re at. Is he the cipher of nightmares or the builder of dreams? It’s the ambiguity that Wilder sells so phenomenally in his role, from his feigned entrance to his closing sweeping moments, that makes him so utterly untouchable. Young Frankenstein may have been the better movie and Blazing Saddles finds Wilder at his funniest but as Willy Wonka he is iconic. His voice soothes in “Pure Imagination” and there’s no forgetting his increasingly hysterics in the psychedelic train sequence. He’s warm, he’s conniving and he’s a great thinker, all of which plays out beneath the surface of his eyes. For what could have been an air light role, he made it the work of a master. -Allyson Johnson
Advertisement