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By Rich Heldenfels
Published on Sunday, Apr 06, 2008
Gene Wilder's overall cinematic output is not marked by consistency, its marvelous moments mixed in with many duds (including an unsuccessful TV series).
But when he was on, there was more than enough to merit tribute from Turner Classic Movies on Tuesday.
Watch his unfettered behavior in The Producers (the original, good movie, not the adaptation of the musical) or his absolute commitment to his performance in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask. Or his Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Or Blazing Saddles, or Start the Revolution Without Me, or Young Frankenstein, or his work with Richard Pryor in Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.
There's enough there to forgive Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and The World's Greatest Lover and the later Pryor films.
TCM will show three of Wilder's films on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning: The Producers at 9:15 p.m., Blazing Saddles at 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. and Start the Revolution Without Me at 2:15 a.m.
In addition, it will air Role Model: Gene Wilder at 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. The hour-long production has Wilder considering his career — as actor, director and writer — and aspects of his personal life in conversation with Alec Baldwin.
It really is a conversation, too, with Baldwin sharing thoughts and experiences of his own. (When Wilder talks about how his first wife — not Gilda Radner — proved a good inspiration for anger in his performances, Baldwin indicates he might use the same technique. Baldwin's split with wife Kim Basinger has been famously nasty.) Although Baldwin at times presses when he should just listen, for the most part he is good at drawing out Wilder — and Wilder says at interview's end that he might not have sat down with someone other than Baldwin.
What Wilder has to say is often interesting, both about his craft and the people in his life. Mel Brooks falls in both areas, as a longtime friend of Wilder and as his collaborator on The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles; Brooks knew he could call Wilder to be in Blazing on a moment's notice, when the actor signed to play the Waco Kid went into alcohol withdrawal as shooting began.
There also is talk about Radner, who died while married to Wilder and about Wilder's current marriage, which has lasted 16 years. There are memories of working with Pryor (some good, some bad), and of The Producers' Zero Mostel. And more than once it feels as if a topic was covered in even more detail than the show contains. I'm hoping there will be a DVD with more.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Gene Wilder's overall cinematic output is not marked by consistency, its marvelous moments mixed in with many duds (including an unsuccessful TV series).
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