The Producers

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2006)

Written and directed by Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein), this was his debut as director, it has always been looked on a classic of the comedy genre, cementing its place in history, I watched again to confirm this was the case for me as well. Basically Max Bialystock (Golden Globe nominated Zero Mostel) is a washed up Broadway producer, and is resorting to wooing and seducing old and wealthy women to raise money for his shows. Nervous and prone to hysterics Leo Bloom (Oscar nominated Gene Wilder) is an accountant sent from Max's firm to audit his books, looking through them he finds that his last show raised $2,000 more than was actually required, and the show was a flop, Leo agrees to hide this minor fraud. Leo has a revelation and makes a passing comment, that a producer could make more money with a flop that closes after only one performance than with a hit that runs and runs, as he would not have to pay back the investors who have bought into a specific percentage of the show. Max goes along with this idea and scheme, and together he and Leo agree to raise as much money as possible to produce a show that is guaranteed to be a flop and close after only one performance, and their first task is to find the worst show ever written. In their pile of scripts they find what they believe is a gem, an instant failure, an offensive musical titled "Springtime for Hitler", a love story to the infamous dictator written by Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), a patriotic and deranged Nazi German. Man then goes into overdrive using his seduction skills on all the old women investors he knows to raise the money, he is so successful in his venture he has sold 25,000% of the show, and he decides to get human plaything Ulla (Lee Meredith) as his short term reward. Max and Leo also hire who is considered the worst director in the business, Roger De Bris (Christopher Hewett), to bring this flop to life, and auditioning the leading role of Hitler they deliberately miscast Lorenzo St. DuBois aka "L.S.D." (Dick Shawn), who sees himself a cool smooth talker. Finally Springtime for Hitler is ready to go, the tickets are sold, and Max and Leo are smiling with glee as they watch the opening title song shock the audience in disgust, but then L.S.D. comes onto stage with unintentionally comedic performance as the dictator, and the audience go back to their seats laughing and applauding in delight. Max and Leo are shocked however hearing audience reactions that they have inadvertently produced a hit show, the only person truly offended is Franz who is angered by the mockery of the portrayal of the Fuhrer, he is initially crazed and tries to kill the producers, but they help him to settle. In the end the show is declared a smash hit, and the only choice the three see to stop it is to blow up the theatre, in court Max and Leo are found "incredibly guilty" by a jury, and in prison they seem to be back to producing, creating a new show titled "Prisoners of Love", but the scheming continues with the prisoners, and even the warden, giving them unreal percentages. Also starring Estelle Winwood as 'Hold Me Touch Me' old lady, Renée Taylor as Eva Braun, Andréas Voutsinas as Carmen Ghia, Josip Elic as Violinist, Madelyn Cates as Concierge, John Zoller as Drama Critic, William Hickey as The Drunk and Frank Campanella as The Bartender. Mostel is great as the sweaty, down on his luck Broadway impresario, and Wilder became a much bigger star following his fantastic performance as the shy and highly sensitive accountant, together the duo create good chemistry in their misadventures, and Shawn is really funny as the hippy Hitler actor, the scam of the film is one filled with hilarious absurdity, and the final theatrical performance is in brilliantly bad taste and will make your jaw drop, a fabulously funny and musty see comedy classic. It won the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. It was number 80 on 100 Years, 100 Songs ("Springtime for Hitler"), it was number 69 on The 100 Greatest Musicals, it was number 50 on The 50 Greatest Comedy Films, it was number 11 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs, and it was number 76 on The 100 Greatest Films. Very good!