The Producers (1968 film)
"A true phenomenon—first inspiring a Broadway musical, then later a film remake of said musical: The Producers lives up to and even exceeds the hype. A perfect turn from Gene Wilder, amongst countless virtues, certifies this cult classic as one of the funniest films of all time."
— MUBI's take
The Producers (1968 film)
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1996.
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The Producers is a 1968 American satirical black comedy film. It was written and directed by Mel Brooks, and stars Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, and Kenneth Mars. The film is about a con artist theater producer and his accountant who scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling interests in a stage musical purposely designed to fail. Searching for the worst script imaginable, they find a script celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and bring it to the stage. Because of this theme, The Producers was controversial from the start, and received mixed reviews. It became a cult film, and found a more positive critical reception later.
Why It Rocks
- This served as the film that launched Mel Brooks' directing career by poking fun of Adolf Hitler a with his unique blend of witty and outrageous humor, resulting in a comedy milestone that eventually worked its way into American popular culture.
- Mel Brooks had previously worked for a producer who seduced little old ladies for their money and heard about two other producers who made flop after flop, which would serve as the inspiration for the film, which at the time was titled Springtime for Hitler (which didn't work out very well as a book or a play). It was a very risky film for nearly every studio due to the story and the title, though the film did eventually get accepted, the title was still changed to The Producers which was considered less troubling to theater owners.
- The central joke of The Producers is rooted in the very nature of comedy itself. Two Broadway "producers" plan to make a large fortune to launch a deliberately terrible show, then pocket the leftover money when it flops. And yet, despite finding a Nazi-themed script that should have completely bombed, the audience sees it as pure satirical farce, and the show becomes a total hit.
- The film would introduce Gene Wilder (who at the time was a theater actor with just one movie credit, a small role in Bonnie and Clyde) to the world as a major comic talent, with his nervous hysteria and growing panic a perfect complement to the brashness and confidence of Zero Mostel. Wilder and Mostel are not just hilarious but also poignant and lovable, in the tradition of Laurel and Hardy. It's their incredible talent and humor that makes Leo Bloom and Max Bialystock both very entertaining and humorous characters.
- Aside from Wilder and Mostel, there's also a brilliant supporting cast led by Kenneth Mars as Franz Liebkind, who is so happy that his play will be produced that he shares the news with his rooftop birds and breaks into a rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
- Mars stayed in character by supposedly wearing the same clothes for the entire two-month shoot, even sleeping in them. He also insisted on having bird droppings placed on his German helmet.
- The comic centerpiece of the film is the show Springtime for Hitler and its unforgettably great/awful title number. Brooks wrote the lyrics and told composer John Morris to make the music “big, wonderful, flashy, but terrible.” Choreographer Alan Johnson said “there were no limits” as Brooks encouraged him to go bigger and broader, resulting in a riotous throwback to Busby Berkeley—an overhead shot of dancers forming a swastika.
- The film introduced two phrases to the world: “creative accounting” and “when you’ve got it, flaunt it.”