Hey, guys. Quint here. Gene Wilder has been a part of my life since before I can remember. It's weird how someone you never met could share a similar standing as your parents, but that's exactly how I feel about Wilder. He's always just been there for me, either as the mischievous morality focused madman Willy Wonka or Victor Frankenstein (it's pronounced Frawnk-En-Steen). He was a father figure, cool uncle and goofy big brother all rolled into one.
As I grew older I naturally discovered more of his work, with his Waco Kid performance from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles being my favorite, but I'd be lying if my earliest childhood memories of the man aren't the most cherished.
You can't talk about Wilder's career without emphasizing his turn as Willy Wonka in the classic 1971 family film WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Everything about the movie is great, but you can't watch that film and not realize it rests squarely on Wilder's shoulders. His turn is equal parts childlike, ornery, loveable and psychotic and it really shouldn't work. Wonka's in his own world and the joy he gets at messing with people is borderline mad, but that makes him an absolutely irresistible figure for kids.
Wonka is like Wizard of Oz in that it will always finds an audience with children, no matter how many generations pass. In that way, Wilder will be immortal.
The demented chocolatier will always be the most iconic role of Wilder's career, but it's unquestionable that he was at his very best as a performer when working with Mel Brooks.
The Producers was their first collaboration and it's still an incredibly charming and uproariously funny film. Wilder's comic timing is off the charts in this film, thanks in large part to his chemistry Zero Mostel. It's not my favorite Brooks/Wilder collaboration, but it would be the best movie any other comic star/director would make.
The two worked together back to back a few years later in one of the most amazing funny one-two punches ever put out. Blazing Saddles was a movie I watched way too young... at least that's how a grown up thinks about it, but as a kid it was an R-rated Looney Tunes. Mongo punching the horse, the Candygram scene, farting around the campfire... all that appeals to a kid's sense of humor. Blazing Saddles is one of those movies that grows up with you. You get a lot of the race relations subtext and references the older you get.
Wilder's Waco Kid is such a good number two to Cleavon Little's Sheriff Bart. His solemn tale of how he became a drunk is one of the best comedy monologues ever uttered onscreen with such a funny punch line delivered in a way only Wilder could have done it. “Little bastard shot me in the ass!”
If you held a gun to my head and told me to pick a favorite between Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein I don't know if I could decide, but there's no question that between the two Young Frankenstein is the best showcase for Wilder.
Wilder gets the lead role that perfectly captures every aspect of what makes him magic on screen. His Victor Frankenstein is someone that is a little full of himself, has wild mood swings, but is so goddamn funny that you're laughing every other line at his pompousness, his excitement, his successes and failures.
His talents as a writer are on full display in Young Frankenstein. The script is zany, broad, but has all the heart in the world... and it's a little horny, too. That's Gene in a nutshell. If you've read his autobiography, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, you'll know that Wilder was a little obsessed with sex. I did not pick up that book expecting to read so much about his boners, but I love that he was so honest and up front with his life stories.
It might be funny to think about Willy Wonka being such a horndog, but the heart of Kiss Me Like A Stranger was getting a little insight into his relationship with Gilda Radner.
Wilder and Radner seemed to be a match made in heaven. They were real people, though, so their marriage wasn't always roses and sunshine. Wilder didn't sugarcoat their ups and downs as two funny people sometimes competing for attention, but it's abundantly clear in his writing that they shared something he never quite had with another person, some spark of chemistry that makes you want to believe in destiny (“No escaping, that's for me! Destiny!”).
Haunted Honeymoon was a movie that was constantly on cable when I was growing up, so of their few onscreen collaborations that's the first one that jumps to mind. Hanky Panky is most definitely a better film, but what's true in both is you can see the playful love between Wilder and Radner and it's ridiculously adorable.
There have been a few one-offs in his career that are notable (The Little Prince, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask, The Frisco Kid and Bonnie & Clyde jump to mind), but what struck me when I looked back over his filmography was how he'd pair with other actors or filmmakers and make a series of films with them. We've talked about Brooks, but there's also his post Frankenstein work with Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.
And, of course, his on-screen pairing with Richard Pryor. The two have ties going back to Blazing Saddles, which counted Pryor as one of its writers and, for a time, was going to have in star in the lead role.
The two men first shared the screen in Silver Streak, one of my all-time favorites. This was another one of Wilder's movies that was on regular rotation for me as a kid. I'm also quite fond of Stir Crazy. Wilder's nervousness and Pryor's inherent cool were such a delicious combination that even their worst movies (and they did do a couple stinkers) had some level of enjoyment just seeing these two men interact with each other.
After Radner's death, Gene semi-retired, preferring to spend his days with family, away from the public eye. He did step out from time to time and in those rare moments he'd tell people that Mel Brooks was the only one who could coax him back in front of a movie camera again. I'm heartbroken that those two didn't have one last hurrah together, but considering they gave us three all-timer comedies I guess it'd be a bit greedy of me to mourn the loss of a fourth.
For all Wilder gave us, I will not be upset at his early retirement. He seemed to be much like his on-screen persona, a funny man with a big heart who just wanted to make the world a little brighter moment by moment. We need more people like Gene Wilder.
Gene's family released a statement, letting us know that he passed away from Alzheimers Disease, but that even though the disease killed him it never took away his ability to recognize those closest to him nor altered his personality. I take a lot of comfort in that. It might sound a little silly because I did not know the man, but like I said at the beginning of this piece, he still factored majorly into my life. While he didn't know me personally, I get the feeling he recognized the importance he played as a kind of role model for children all over the world and that he took great joy in that.
I couldn't have asked for a better cinematic role model. Thank you, Mr. Wilder, for telling me it was cool to be a dreamer of dreams. Thanks for the laughs, the tears and all the love you put on the screen. My thoughts will be with Mr. Wilder, his family and his fans today.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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