And They Say Hitler Can't Be Funny

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 2005)

It is often said that the greatest way to get back at someone is to make fun of them in a way that they don't know they are being made fun of. The Producers takes this premise and spits on it. Mel Brooks was a writer for "Sid Caesar's Show of Shows" and "Get Smart" before penning his first movie, The Producers. Brooks, who is Jewish (and if you didn't know that, you should have your head examined), used his big chance to get back at the enemy of the Jewish people, Hitler. The Producers unapologetically makes fun of not only Hitler, but how people would react to a Broadway play devoted to the dictator. Not only a smart and funny movie, The Producers features great acting by Zero Mostell as play producer Max Bialystock and Gene Wilder as accountant Leo Bloom who makes the mistake of finding out that a play that flops could make more money than a Broadway hit. This leads to the conning of little old ladies to invest in a play called "Springtime for Hitler." The play is directed by the flamboyant and terrible Roger De Bris, played by future Mr. Belvedere Christopher Hewitt, and written by ex-German army officer Franz Liebkind, played by Kenny Mars. The problem? The play actually turns out to be a hit, ruining the plans of Bialystock and Bloom and perhaps saying Hitler can be a commercial success, if in the hands of the right people. Mel Brooks makes fun of Hitler in all of his movies, but makes it a critical plot point in his first movie. Brooks would then go on to write a Broadway musical version of The Producers 30 years after the movie came out and won critical and audience approval. A movie version of the musical is due out in 2005, making it a movie version of a play version of a movie based on a play. Got that?