It's funny how when I think about Mel Brooks, I almost immediately think about Gene Wilder. It doesn't make logical sense Gene Wilder had a lot of projects without Mel Brooks and vice versa. But I guess that just goes to show that when it comes to the really iconic stuff, the team included both Mel and Gene. And I'm talking about movies like Blazing Saddles and of course the immortal Young Frankenstein. Man, those movies are just ridiculously funny and witty and they did a lot to define m sense of comedy.
Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83 and interestingly enough Mel Brooks is still alive at 90. It's rather sad to think about. Now I find myself looking back at his body of work.
And then of course there's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. which isn't a Mel Broosk comedy but is something else entirely. Sure, it's not a 100% accurate representation of the book and the Oompa Loompa song wasn't at all like in the books but it worked in so many other ways. It was equal parts magical and horrifying for children and that worked out amazingly well on the whole.
Then you have his many pairings with Richard Pryor, one of the ones that I remember most being See No Evil, Hear No Evil. That movie was crazy funny and probably terrible inappropriate by modern movie standards, but hey it really worked for the time! The fact that both of their movie careers ended with Another You, the last movie for both of them.
Thank you for the laughs and the music, Mr. Wilder. You will be missed.
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