The Producers

The DVD release of "The Producers" sends me every viewing back to 1968 when I first saw this brilliant, barrier-smashing comedy. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were the perfect pair to bring to life the adventures of a Broadway faded impresario, now a con man, and his neurotic, hyper, accountant accomplice.

Together they fleece old ladies, something Mostel's Max Bialystock was doing before the auditor, Max Bloom, came by to check the books. Mostel's seduction of the old, the awful and the ugly has no equal in movie physical comedy.

The scheme: put on the worst flop imaginable and when it closes virtually after opening night the two scammers snare riches: the investments they don't have to return. But if the show is a hit...

The producers' vehicle, "Springtime for Hitler," both brought audiences to a new level of appreciation for the malleable, creative power of film and...it made some viewers genuinely nervous, even upset.

Following Steve Allen's observation that a formula for comedy based on history is Tragedy+Time, director Mel Brooks brought to the screen, less than a quarter century after World War II ended, Dick Shawn as a campy fuehrer surrounded by the Nazi counterpart of the Rockettes. And Max and Leo are clearly Jewish in character if not so openly identified.

Kenneth Mars grabs laughs as the author of "Springtime for Hitler," an unreconstructed, Hitler-adoring flake who raises pigeons on the roof of a Manhattan tenement while accoutered in the odd leftovers of Wehrmacht uniforms.

When I fitted in seeing "The Producers" in its opening week I sat in the middle of an audience that was, to a certain extent, as befuddled as the film's playgoers watching the first part of the intended-to-outrage musical comedy about the Third Reich. Not only were SS uniforms, swastikas and photos of Hitler on the "stage" but the movie theater audience also digested, perhaps for the first time, a send-up of an uproarious gay couple, two real queens. One is effeminate to the core, the other is a cross-dresser (and a faultlessly garish one at that). This kind of stuff hadn't been done before in a Hollywood flick.

1968's audience had many who well-remembered World War II and some had fought in the conflict. I knew people who admitted feeling that the horrific global battle against Hitler had been trivialized by Brooks and his extroverted cast - until they could no longer hold back guffaws that segued rapidly into uncontrolled laughter.

That "The Producers" is also now a runaway Broadway hit is no surprise and I'd love to see a DVD release with Lane and Broderick. However fine they would be, it's the original that broke barriers.

The DVD has a number of worthwhile features including a fascinating "Making of..." segment. Peter Seller's short, famous encomium is read and there are the usual other additions. An outtake presenting an alternative blow-up of the "Springtime for Hitler" theater is interesting, largely because it shows how perceptive Brooks was in scrapping it for the shorter scene actually used.

"The Producers" is, in some ways, a subversive movie. Without stridently proclaiming a new aesthetic, it is exactly that and so it's a timeless classic. This is not satire about Nazism, Hitler and the Third Reich. It's treating as suitable material for slapstick and quick gags the detritus of an evil time.

But it's also a bit dated, no subject is taboo today for comedic treatment, and many who see it for the first time (as my teenage son did tonight) will enjoy the movie without getting the full impact of its assault on conventionality.

Is there any historical topic that will not, in the passage of time, be employed for pure comedy? Is it possible that the next generation will laugh at a comedy parodying Auschwitz? I hope not but I also can't be sure.

Many years ago I refused to watch "Hogan's Heroes" on TV because I personally knew former U.S. POWs. But that show, with Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink, was very popular. "Hogan's Heroes" was to TV what "The Producers" was, and is, to film. And both made a mark that will be emulated as future generations go beyond satire to humorous treatment of matters most today consider beyond the pale of acceptability as a vehicle for laughs.

10/10

THE PRODUCERS might just be the funniest film ever made. It stars Zero Mostel, as a bankrupt Broadway producer, and Gene Wilder, as his emotionally-retarded accountant. Together, they figure that they could actually make more money producing a flop than a hit, so they become producers and put on "Springtime for Hitler," a sure-fire flop. However, things go horribly "right," and soon the producers find themselves in a tight spot trying to repay their investors. It is not the flop they hoped for, and they wind up in jail, with a hilarious finale.

This is Mel Brooks' masterpiece. Brooks' won an Oscar for Best Screenplay-1968-no surprise,as this is as funny a film ever to be made! The song should've won an Oscar, as it is one of the most hilarious tunes to come out of any movie.

When you see a movie once and think it's hilarious, that's a good sign. When you see a movie about a half-dozen times and think it's still hilarious, that's more than a good sign. That means that not only can you put up with seeing it multiple times, but you also find new things that you didn't see before. Plus, there are some scenes that are too hilarious not to laugh at! The chemistry between stars doesn't hurt, either. What movie am I talking about? Mel Brooks' The Producers, his most sustained and inspired piece of lunacy!

Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel have amazing chemistry as meek accountant Leo Bloom and scheming Broadway producer Max Bialystock. Max seduces little old ladies for checks, and when Leo comes into his office one day, he finds that a producer can make more money with a flop instead of a hit. They decide to do his ploy, and create the world's worst play, Springtime for Hitler (a gay romp with Adolf and Eva), and meet interesting characters, including author Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), director Roger DeBris (Christopher Hewett), and their Hitler, Lorenzo St.DuBois, aka L.S.D. (Dick Shawn).

What makes this comedy such a gem is its mixture of types of comedy. There is slapstick, there's satire, there's bad taste, and everything but the kitchen sink! The scenes I have seen so many times, but what makes me love them is how they, mainly Wilder, play their roles. Wilder is somewhat crazy, and relies on his blanket to calm himself down. Not only does he have comic perfection, he's a darned good actor to boot! Mostel is great as the would-be sleazy loser-producer, with eye movements that put Silent Bob to shame and a great voice.

The songs in it are great, also. Two of them were written by Brooks himself, `Springtime for Hitler' (with which I have auditioned for a role in a musical with) and `Prisoners of Love'. They're both very funny (real Brooks-ian) (note to Merriam-Webster: include that word right next to `bling-bling'). It's not exactly a musical, but The Producers is in a class of its own. Long live The Producers!

My rating: 9/10

Rated PG for bad taste and homosexual themes.

Why this movie is brilliant and funny: 1-A hilarious Gene Wilder with his amazing freak-out moments. I think many actors copied his scenes from this film.

2-Excellent satire about hitler and nazis. Many lines from this film are recognizable and became a comedy standard.

3-Amazing performance by Dick Shaw as L. S. D and as the theatrical hitler. He is funny and subversive at the same time.

4-Great 1on1 scenes with the main actors, especially the ones which involve heavy physical acting.

5- It is intelligent filmmaking which shows how progressive and funny Mel Brooks was; and that was his first film...

Just watch it, it's 1,5h and it's beautifully funny! 10/10.

This is a classic film with wonderful performances all around (although I didn't take to Dick Shawn's as much as the others). Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were perfect casting as was Christopher Hewitt (later to be known as TV's "Mr. Belvedere"). What's even more impressive are the various elements of truth that are beneath the histerical if not obsurbed storyline. The current Broadway hit doesn't compete with this film. The performances are good on stage but not as wonderful as here. Due to long term business problems this film wasn't released for home video and cable until much later then it should have been. Outright broad comedy and silliness belong in our daily lives and this film offers them very well. EVERYONE should see this film!