Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a literalism joke in its purest form: a command about direction that gets obeyed as a command about style. Feldman's deadpan hobble and Wilder's anxious copying sell it, and Brooks's instinct to keep a gag the cast wanted cut turned out right. It outlived the film twice, becoming a stock comic pun in later parodies and the title Aerosmith borrowed for their song.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Young FrankensteinShow the scene
In Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein (1974), Dr. Frederick Frankenstein arrives in Transylvania to settle his grandfather's estate and is met by the hunchbacked servant Igor, who insists his name is pronounced 'Eye-gore'. As Igor leads him off he says 'Walk this way', and Frederick, taking it as an instruction about how to walk, shambles after him with a matching hunch. The gag is a very old vaudeville and music hall pun on the two senses of 'way'. Gene Wilder, who co-wrote the film, said Brooks added it while shooting after Marty Feldman, who played Igor, had done it to make the crew laugh; both actors had asked Brooks to cut it.
Sources (3)
- Walk this way (humor), Wikipedialead and Young Frankenstein paragraphReference checked
- Young Frankenstein, WikipediaPlot; Legacy, Influence on musicReference checked
- Young Frankenstein, WikiquoteDialogue between Frederick and IgorReference checked
Context reviewed