The Producers (Deluxe Edition)
A "startling, stunning, outrageous [and] breathtaking debut" (Los Angeles Times) from acclaimed writer/director Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs), this Oscar®-winning* comedy combines "pure pell-Mel lunacy [and] wild, ad-lib energy [into an] uproariously funny" (Time) film! Low-rent Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and his high-strung accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), discover that, with the help of a few gullible investors, they can make more money on a flop than on a hit! Armed with the worst show ever written ("Springtime for Hitler") and an equally horrific cast, this double-dealing duo is banking on disaster. But when their sure-to-offend musical becomes a surprise smash hit, they find themselves in the middleof a Broadway blitzkrieg! *1968: Original Screenplay
Mel Brooks's directorial debut remains both a career high point and a classic show business farce. Hinging on a crafty plot premise, which in turn unleashes a joyously insane onstage spoof, The Producers is powered by a clutch of over-the-top performances, capped by the odd couple pairing of the late Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, making his screen debut. Mostel is Max Bialystock, a gone-to-seed Broadway producer who spends his days wheedling checks from his "investors," elderly women for whom Bialystock is only too willing to provide company. When wide-eyed auditor Leo Bloom (Wilder) comes to check the books, he unwittingly inspires the wild-eyed Max to hatch a sure-fire plan: sell 25,000 percent of his next show, produce a deliberate flop, then abscond with the proceeds. Unfortunately for the producers (but fortunately for us), their candidate for failure is Springtime for Hitler, a Brooksian conceit that envisions what Goebbels might have accomplished with a little help from Busby Berkeley. Truly startling during its original 1968 release, The Producers does show signs of age in some peripheral scenes that make merry at the expense of gays and women. But the show's nifty cast (notably including the late Dick Shawn as LSD, the space cadet that snags the musical's title role, and Kenneth Mars as the helmeted playwright) clicks throughout, and the sight of Mostel fleecing his marks is irresistibly funny. Add Wilder's literally hysterical Bloom, and it's easy to understand the film's exalted status among late-'60s comedies. --Sam Sutherland
The Producers (Deluxe Edition) Accessories
 Young Frankenstein
The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
The Mel Brooks Collection (Blazing Saddles / Young Frankenstein / Silent Movie / Robin Hood: Men in Tights / To Be or Not to Be / History of the World, Part 1 / The Twelve Chairs / High Anxiety)
Spaceballs
High Anxiety
To Be or Not to Be
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Twelve Chairs
Silent Movie
The Producers (Deluxe Edition) Reviews
The Producers features one absolutely hilarious, brilliant sequence (Springtime for Hitler) surrounded by far less amusing and severely dated material; the strength of that one scene is just enough to recommend it, but it's not a great movie. The Bottom Line:.
Newcomer Gene Wilder in his first hit movie plays the foil (fool). For fans of Mel Brooks you see the first glimpses of his movie madness and genius. I guess zany comedies reach across the generations. to Zero Mostel's cagey, corrupt and over-the-hill broadway producer. Some might say the movie is perhaps a bit "dated" for younger audiences, but that didn't seem to deter laughs from the teens and youngsters at my viewing. Brooks pens some of the most absurd and hilarious songs ever written, and directs over the tops performances by each and every cast member.
Classic performances by Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel and Dick Shaun make this film, which enjoyed a sort of cult classic following until they made it into a Broadway musical, a completely satisfying experience for the viewer interested in laughing, thinking and singing along. Mel Brookes at his very best, working with the very best, nurturing the very best. "The Producers", the original, is a must-have for your video library. My husband used to be the concierge but he's dead, so now I'm the concierge." It's been 20 years since I've seen that scene, but it has remained in my "filing cabinet" of memorable lines ever since.
Don't hesitate to buy this movie. The stereotypes, the caricatures, and the very real situations presented will leave a lifelong impression on you. Hey, they didn't turn "Showgirls" into a Broadway musical for a reason, right. When I first saw the film back in the late '70s, I was struck dumb by the musical within the story, until I realized what irony was, that is. You'll laugh your patooty off, break out into song at work, and will enjoy this movie that has withstood the test of time.
Everytime you hear the term "concierge", for instance, you will immediately start the routine, "I'm the concierge.
I bought this to share with my adult children. My memory of the film, which I saw first run back when it was newly released, was far better than the actual movie seemed this time around. . Still, the last bit of the film and the Broadway play that results from the film's set up, is pretty funny. Funny how tastes change.
Later Sellers used a large chunk of Liebkinds dialogue in a famous interview on the Parkinson show in the UK. Sellers described it as "the ultimate film.". They both give outstanding performances which are very nearly matched by Kenneth Mars. Overall an excellent film that would probably have got 4.5 stars from if it was possible.
I picked this 2 disc edition up very cheaply, so look around as there is no need to pay full price. From its marvellous opening credit sequence right through to the end this maintains a very high standard of comedy. He plays 'Franz Liebkind' the writer of a musical that both Max and Leo (Mostel and Wilder) believe will fail horribly and make them a fortune. Of course not everything goes quite to plan and the rest you should see for yourself. This is Mel Brooks debut film as a director, and its amongst his very best work. Fortunately for Mel Brooks he was lucky enough to get Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the two leading roles.
The extras in this two disc edition are very good. There is a 63 minute documentary on the making of The Producers and some outtakes as well. The original statement from Peter Sellers after he first saw The Producers is read. Of his other films only Young Frankenstein is in the class IMO.
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