The Producers

The Producers; comedy, USA, 1968; D: Mel Brooks, S: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars, Estelle Winwood, Christopher Hewett, Lee Meredith

New York. Broadway producer Max is bankrupt, so he earns money by seducing old ladies in his office. But one day accountant Leo visits him and accidentally calculates that a producer could steal a million $ of investment if they set up a play that nobody will watch. Max brings him to a park and persuades him to do that. In order set up this scheme, they choose the worst screenplay possible, the catastrophic story "Springtime For Hitler" by some Nazi author, and they even bother to hire the worst director, a transvestite, and gay rocker for the leading role. But Max's and Leo's plan backfires when the play becomes a huge hit since people think it's a comedy, so they end up in jail.

Both simple and funny satire, unusual "The Producers" is the directorial debut by Mel Brooks and arguably his best film, precisely because it is more grounded in reality than some of his later wacky, too cartoonish spoofs. "The Producers" are a very good film despite a few questionable or tasteless jokes, but that was the intention, whereas the storyline is even sustained and quite disciplined—everything is based on a hilarious concept where the producers deliberately do the opposite of expected, craft the worst possible play in order to earn a huge profit, equipped with insane dialogues ("You have exactly 10 seconds to change that look of disgusting pity into one of enormous respect!"; "How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?"), static exteriors in New York and amusing humor—while only the occasional crude humor and cold characters bring it down. The best scene is the one where Leo gets a genius idea and a water fountain erupts behind him. Similarly like Lubitsch's "To Be or Not to Be", Brooks' film also walks on delicate territory, always in danger of falling into controversy (in one sly sight gag, an audition add says: "Audition for Adolf Hitler - no previous experience required"), yet it takes itself so casually and childishly naive that very few could be angry at it, and its caricatures are so joyful one simply wants to go along with their concoctions.

Grade:+++