Mel Brooks' Oscar-winning masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 1999)

Some say the first 15 minutes of THE PRODUCERS is the best comedic scene ever captured on film.
Film, stage and television legend Zero Mostel is teamed with a very young Gene Wilder (in only his second film role) in this story of a Broadway show that can't possibly fail. Zero plays Max Bialystock, a once great Broadway producer who now prostitutes himself to "little old ladies" to earn money for shows that he will never really produce. When an accountant named Leo Bloom shows up to do Max's books, the nervous Leo (Wilder) realizes that a Broadway producer could make more money with a flop than with a hit show. Max's ears perks up, and he soon cons Leo into co-producing the worst show ever to hit the Great White Way. The play, a musical, written by an German ex-patriot named Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars, the wooden-handed policeman in Brooks' "Young Frankenstein") is called "Springtime For Hitler". To make sure the show is a "sure-fire flop", they hire Broadway's worst director (actor Christopher Hewett as the flambouyant "Roger DeBris") and worst leading man (actor Dick Shawn as "Lorenzo Saint DuBois).
What could go right?
If you are a fan of Brooks' "History of the World Part One", you will recognize director DeBris' personal secretary "Carmen Giya" played by Andréas Voutsinas. Look for actor Barney Martin (he played Jerry Seinfeld's dad "Morty" on the hit tv show "Seinfeld") as one of the stage Hitler's generals, and listen for Mel Brooks' voice dubbed into the show's big opening number. Believe it or not, but THE PRODUCERS has more quotable lines of dialogue than the rest of Brooks' films combined! (a slight exaggeration...perhaps)
Check this film out alongside 4 other wonderful "thespianic comedies": The Tall Guy, My Favorite Year, The Impostors, and Waiting For Guffman.