A Sign of What Was to Come

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2018)

The Producers (1967)
*** (out of 4)
A Broadway producer (Zero Mostel) and an accountant (Gene Wilder) realize that you could make a great amount of money if you found countless investors to give money for your play and it close after one night. The two of them set out to commit a fraud by putting on the play Springtime for Hitler.
Mel Brooks' THE PRODUCERS is considered by many to be one of the greatest comedies ever made. I personally wouldn't go that far as I think Brooks was still learning his craft, which would soon take off but at the same time there's no question that this is a rather unique and interesting comedy that has enough laughs to make it worth watching.
I think the greatest thing this film has going for it are the performances by Mostel and Wilder. There's no doubt in my mind that no other actors could have made these roles work as well as Mostel and Wilder did and especially when you consider the chemistry that they have together. The two of them really do seem like a life-long comic team because they just work so well off one another as if they have been making pictures for decades! The two of them really deliver some great laughs throughout the picture. You've also got Lee Meredith who is a lot of fun as the sexy secretary.
Brooks certainly handles the material quite well and the film for the most part is rather laid back. It's more of an "intelligent" comedy that some of the more visual comedies that the director would do in the following decade. The film moves well enough and as I said there are enough laughs to make it worth watching. THE PRODUCERS isn't a masterpiece or even a great movie but it shows where Brooks and Wilder started and where they were headed.