The Producers (1968)
1h 28m | PG-13
Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom plan to make money by charming wealthy old biddies to invest in a production many times over the actual cost, and then put on a sure-fire flop, so nobody will ask for their money back – and what can be a more certain flop than a tasteless musical celebrating Hitler.
Director: Mel Brooks
Studio: Crossbow Productions
Genre: Comedy
Video: 720p
Cast
Zero Mostel
as Max Bialystock
Gene Wilder
as Leo Bloom
Dick Shawn
as Lorenzo St. DuBois (L.S.D.)
Kenneth Mars
as Franz Liebkind
Estelle Winwood
as "Hold Me Touch Me"
Christopher Hewett
as Roger De Bris
Reviews
**Greatest of all Time - GOAT - Best comedies.** Easily my number one. This film can be rewatched over and over again - always just as hilarious and timeless.
THE PRODUCERS (1967) - Mel Brooks' first feature film starts with the funniest opening credits sequence I've ever seen - a monetarily motivated rendezvous between a serial Broadway failure and a sexually insatiable octogenarian - and then proceeds to get even more hilarious as it progresses. The fabulous Zero Mostel somehow manages to chew scenery for breakfast, lunch and dinner while never overshadowing any of the other players (whose performances are all also appropriately broad, to be honest). Interestingly, were it not for a little known film by the name of THE GRADUATE (1967) casting while this film was going into production, we would have had Dustin Hoffman as the starry-eyed Nazi playwright. So Dustin went on to fame in another picture; Kenneth Mars ended up with a juicy role in just his second feature film; and Mel got to skewer the Third Reich and win an Academy Award for writing while doing it. Sometimes things just work out.