young frankenstein follies (english)
Director Mel Brooks and the cast of the 1974 parody Young Frankenstein almost went overboard with their ad-libbing. British comic Marty Feldman, who played the dim-witted lab assistant Igor, came up with a running bit where his hunchback kept moving. Several days passed before Marty’s co-workers noticed; the displaced hump gag was added into the script so the other characters could react to it.
Gene Hackman shone as a kindly blind man who abused Peter Boyle’s creature by spilling scalding hot soup on his lap, breaking his wine glass during a toast and accidentally lighting the cigar-smoking demon’s thumb on fire. As the screaming monster ran off in pain, Hackman topped off the scene by making up the line, “Wait! I was gonna make espresso.”
Brooks himself provided a yowling cat sound when Gene Wilder’s Frederick Frankenstein threw an errant dart off camera. The players had so much fun creating extra material they ended up with a ponderous three-hour picture. Some hasty editing by Brooks removed the flat jokes, which cut Young Frankenstein’s length in half thus resulting in a comedy classic.