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Gene Wilder’s Wild Ride Examined in New Documentary
It’s amazing to think that Gene Wilder almost didn’t get the role of Leo Bloom in The Producers, which kickstarted his illustrious film career. Born Jerome Silberman, Wilder would go on to film buddy movies with Richard Pryor, and star as Rabbi Avram Belinsky alongside Harrison Ford in The Frisco Kid.
The splendid new documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, showcases the star as an innocent type, with a sudden rage that could come out in his characters. We hear his voice through audio book recordings, and learn that while playing Willy Wonka, he would do unexpected things that were not rehearsed to surprise the actors. We hear from the child actor (now an adult) named Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie. Ostrum says that Wilder helped him by not telling him how he was going to play the scene where Charlie goes to Wonka’s office to collect his prize.
We also hear about Mel Brooks’ The Producers. For example, in the famous scene at the water fountain at Lincoln Center, the person controlling the water had it shoot up higher than usual. In the film, Bloom agrees to a scheme to defraud investors in a play, because he wants his life to be like things are in the movies. And after that role, of course, Wilder’s life became magical.
“That’s why we put that scene in,” director Ron Frank told me in an interview.
Frank said he was happy get the chance to interview Brooks, and that among Brooks’ important stories is that distributor and producer Joe Levine didn’t want Wilder in the film.
There’s also a hilarious scene from Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, in which Wilder falls in love with a sheep.
“There’s a great scene where he is just quiet, but it was too long to put in the film,” Frank said. “I really don’t think any other actor could have done what he did in the film and be so believable.”
Frank said The Frisco Kid was among his favorites of Wilder’s screen work. In that comedy, Wilder plays Polish Rabbi Avram Belinski who treks through the Old West to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. It’s a buddy film, and Harrison Ford got the role that was supposed to go to John Wayne, but for whatever reason, a producer tried to get Wayne to take a $250,000 pay cut and he refused.
It was not often that audiences saw a rabbi in a leading role.
“I think it was important to see not only that he was kind and that he believed in justice, but even when he shot one of the villains in self-defense, he thought he might not be worthy to marry the daughter,” Frank said.
The documentary deals with tragedy in how Wilder fell in love with and married Gilda Radner, who died of cancer. Some of the rage he showed as an actor could also stem from the fact that he was told that if he talked back to his mother, it could kill her. A welcome surprise in the documentary is Harry Connick, Jr., who was a neighbor and friend. We also hear about how Brooks and Wilder’s only argument was whether to include the tap dancing scene at the end of Young Frankenstein, and Brooks acquiesced because Wilder fought for it.
Wilder is my second favorite actor of all time, after Daniel Day Lewis, and I relished the opportunity to learn more about him.
“I hope people will see his great commitment to comedy in giving his all in every role,” Frank said.
The film includes some great clips from See No Evil, Hear No Evil, in which Wilder played a deaf man and Pryor played a blind man. It seems the two were not great friends off camera, though Frank said Pryor did visit Wilder when he was in poor health from Alzheimer’s disease. Wilder’s last wife, Karen, appears in the film and talks about how he decided to take a last swim and was able to do so. She reveals what his last words were.
Wilder is one of the greatest comedic geniuses of this era, and it is a shame he couldn’t have done more films with Brooks. Wilder died on August 29, 2016. Some will clamor for personal gossip, but I don’t need that here. Remembering Gene Wilder is a fitting tribute to a versatile comedic actor who is one of the few to make me laugh out loud.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Gene Wilder’s Wild Ride Examined in New Documentary first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.