For Spielberg, a turn for the better.

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2004)

I think that in history there has always been a fine line between a great success and a great flop in film. Especially when it involves comedy. For instance... when "The Producers" first came out in the late 1960's, it had been a fledgling director's first film, to us today he is known as the legendary Mel Brooks, perhaps the only director capable of out-doing nemesis director Woody Allen's wit. But this was a treacherous first step for Brooks to make, as it turned out, because of its bold humor about Nazi Germany that made many critics think it was one step away from being a "love letter to Hitler himself", as one character himself explains the plot to another. It was overshadowed by well-accomplished films of the period, such as "The Graduate" which actually opened on the same night. "The Producers" would have all but disappeared forever, if not for a very well written and widely published positive review by Peter Sellers, years after the film arrived in theaters which applauded the film for its audacity and for a rare genius which was something new in a world of slapstick humor. Today, after renewed interest, Mel Brooks has re-written it for Broadway and has become a smash-hit. Ironically, it has been a story which wins the audience of millions of Broadway-show goers with a story about two men trying to defraud Broadway, and the movie is redeeming itself today with the tremendous of sales its' made. I believe the same treacherous first step has occurred with 1941. Many people feel that it hits too close to the tragedy at Pearl Harbor and pokes fun at the competence of the ability of our determined soldiers that held the fort in our country during a time of war and paranoia of further Japanese attack. I am now waiting for the day when one well-known and very respected critic takes the time to give the film a fresh look, and will acknowledge Spielberg's great gumption at attempting a comedy about so sensitive a subject to many, and that the movie employs a plethora of legendary actors who gets their best product while in their prime here, while STILL allowing World War II veterans to retain their dignity. Until that day, I will be the one to say that I knew it was a great movie all along.