Gene Wilder that is! On the surface, Eddie clearly wins this battle if it comes to box office or straight up zeitgeist. But I thought we’d get a little deeper into who might be the more well rounded movie star. Let’s see if Gene can put up a fight against the Murphy juggernaut!
First Match: Cool Customer in a Buddy Cop Movie
| Eddie Murphy Selection | Gene Wilder Selection | |
| Movie Title | 48 Hrs (1982) | Blazing Saddles (1974) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | Birth of the buddy cop movie, with Nick Nolte as the aging abrasive cop and Murphy playing the young recently out of prison partner Reggie Hammond | Delightful Mel Brooks spoof of the Western genre, where a town appoints a black man, Cleavon Little’s Bart, to town sheriff, who appoints Wilder’s Jim as his deputy. |
| The Case… | Eddie Murphy, in his debut role, plays the part he was born to play. The minute Reggie Hammond Roxanne’s onto screen, the movie comes alive. All of Murphy’s charms are on display here: the smartest man in the room ready to handle/adapt to any situation thrown at him, with completely hilarious results. | Conversely, Wilder plays the Nick Nolte part here, the drunk past his prime 2nd fiddle, which he was overqualified for. However, his mere presence and acting choices give the story heft it otherwise would struggle for. The Waco Kid is so good because of Wilder, he’s more interesting than Bart the sheriff, or any other character in the movie, drawing all sorts of emotions and or jokes because of Wilder’s brilliant way he delivers monologues to an audience. |
Winner: Murphy in a landslide; he’s amazing in 48 Hrs, which jumpstarted him into superstardom.
Eddie’s in the lead as expected, but let’s see how he does in a bigger group…
Next Category: Ensemble Player
| Eddie Murphy Selection | Gene Wilder Section | |
| Movie Title | Boomerang (1992) | The Producers (1968) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | Murphy’s head of a cosmetics company looks for love with his friends in a rare all black romcom for the time. | Mel Brooks is back again, with Zero Mostel’s over the hill producer partnering with Wilder’s accountant to produce the worst Broadway play of all time. |
| The Case… | Normally Eddie is the charming, charismatic head of a movie. Here he dials it back, playing the straightforward, romcom leading man and letting his incredible cast (Halle Berry, David Allan Grier, Robin Givens) cook instead. Murphy’s the glue that holds the wackiness together, and keeps the story moving forward. | For as amazing as Wilder is playing parts like Willy Wonka, his brilliance can be seen in roles like this one. He’s totally content to play a supporting man in a Mel Brooks film, which allows Zero Mostel, Brooks, and Kenneth Mars to cook around him. However, Wilder doesn’t just play the straight accountant as a thankless part. His interpretations of the script give his Leo Bloom this tumultuous inner life that makes his character more interesting than it has any right to be, but still 2nd banana as the role requires. |
Winner: Movies like The Producers show the range and depth of Wilder‘s talents.
Gene ties it up! We’re down to the final showdown…
Final Category: Fantasy Leading Man
| Eddie Murphy Selection | Gene Wilder Selection | |
| Movie Title | Coming to America (1988) | Young Frankenstein (1974) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | Eddie Murphy is the king of an African country and moves to Queens to make something of himself and maybe find love. | Gene Wilder plays the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, intent on paving his own way in the world and not living off of his crazy grandfather’s legacy. |
| The Case… | Eddie’s back in the gregarious leading man role in this one. Donning an African Accent, he has a blast playing the fish out of water in Queens, pulling heaps of laughs out of the premise as well as a host of side characters he’s also performing. He also carries the plot on his shoulders, romcoming his way into the audience’s hearts. | The last of the Wilder/Mel Brooks films sees Brooks trying to spoof the 1930s monster movies, and sadly, kinda failing because he likes them too much. Thankfully, Gene’s here to pick up the slack. Wilder’s performance is perfectly unhinged and over the top for the movie Brooks wanted to make in his head, making the movie memorable with all of his loony choices. |
Winner: Eddie Murphy and Gene Wilder elevate mediocre movies with their magnificence here, so let’s call this a tie.
Tie goes to the biggest winner, and that’s Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs. However, this whole exercise should encourage you to seek out Gene Wilder’s movies, because every one makes you respect that guy more and more with each stellar performance! Happy watching y’all!