Details
Movie Description
What do a down-and-out Broadway producer, his anxiety-attack-prone accountant, a go-go dancing Swedish secretary, and a Nazi playwright have in common? They're all part of Mel Brooks's wild and wacky first film, THE PRODUCERS. In this hysterical farce, rapacious but lovable producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) hasn't had a hit in years and resorts to fulfilling sexually crazed little old ladies' fantasies for extra cash. But when he meets his new meek, neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), the two accidentally come up with a plot to oversell shares in a surefire flop musical and make off with the profits. The plan sends the new partners-in-crime on a search for the worst play ever: SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER, written by an ex-Nazi (Kenneth Mars) whose only friends are the filthy city pigeons he keeps on his roof.
Inspired, manic performances by all involved, along with Brooks's lively direction--which affectionately alludes to such MGM Golden Age musicals as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN--make THE PRODUCERS both referential and highly original as it moves along swiftly to the ultimate musical climax.
Synopsis
THE PRODUCERS is a wacked-out comedy classic about a rapacious Broadway producer who plans to stage a guaranteed flop--and then pocket the backers' money when the production fails. There's one thing the partners didn't count on, though: the play becoming a runaway hit.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Theatrical release: 1968
THE PRODUCERS is number 11 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Funniest Movies.
THE PRODUCERS was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1996.
Mel Brooks made his directorial debut with THE PRODUCERS.
The play in the film was actually later produced onstage by Alan Johnson (who was the choreographer of the film).
In 2000, Brooks signed on actor Nathan Lane to play Max Bialystock in a new Broadway musical of THE PRODUCERS, for which Brooks will write, direct, and compose all the music.
Industry Reviews
"...The film itself shines in a gorgeous new print..."
Entertainment Weekly - Missy Schwartz (12/06/2002)
"...[B]efore Mel Brooks, no one had taken a genre and made as much savage fun of it in one movie comedy as a writer-director could..."
Premiere - Premiere Staff (12/01/2003)
"Brooks' play-within-a-film structure is fiendishly clever..."
Uncut - Michael Bonner (11/01/2004)
"[T]he screen is dominated by Zero Mostel's rapacious turn as washed-up producer Max Bialystock."
Sight and Sound - Matthew Leyland (01/01/2005)
Quotations
"You know who I used to be? Max Bialystock, king of Broadway. Six shows running at once! Lunch at Delmonico's, two-hundred-dollar suits...Look at me now. Look at me now! I'm wearing a cardboard belt! I used to have thousands of investors begging, pleading to put their money in a Max Bialystock production. Look at my investors now...Hundreds of little old ladies stopping off at Max Bialystock's office to grab a last thrill on the way to the cemetery."--Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) to Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder)
"Don't be stupid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi Party."--lyrics from the opening number of SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER
"That's our Hitler!"--Bialystock after seeing L.S.D.'s (Dick Shawn) audition for SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER
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