A clever idea carried to hilarious heights

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2000)

In 1968, the world had seen the second world war end, and managed to push out of it's mind the horrors committed by the Nazis in it's duration. How to deal with such horrors in a way that would commit entertainment ? Mel Brooks attacks the problem with the weapons the Jews have always armed themselves with in order to survive: humor, or in this case, heavy-handed yet clever satire. During the tale of an over-extended "producer" of plays (Zero Mostel) and his adoption of his accountant and the accountant's innocently declared scheme to oversubscribe investors in a play to be found---and guaranteed to fail---thereby with no questions to be asked by the investers, with Mostel and his accountant(Gene Wilder) escaping with the $$$$$ vast oversubscription. They locate a Nazi loyalist living in Manhattan who has written a play honoring Hitler. It seems a cinch...until the unexpected happens, all after Mostel has sold thousands of percentages of the play all to "little old ladies" who are enticed by Mostel's charm and promise. The movie uses the play's author, Naziism, and Hitler himself(with great help from comedian Dick Shawn)as the butt of jokes/ridicule throughout the unfolding of the scheme. Even after these 32 years intervening since 1968, a multitude of the joke lines remain alive and well ...and in frequent use.