1967 Directed by Mel Brooks
Broadway producer, Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom plan to make money by charming little old ladies to invest in a production many times over what it will actually 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.
Zero Mostel Gene Wilder Estelle Winwood Christopher Hewett Kenneth Mars Lee Meredith Renée Taylor Andréas Voutsinas William Hickey David Patch Barney Martin Madlyn Cates Shimen Ruskin Frank Campanella Josip Elic John Zoller Brutus Peck Anne Ives Amelie Barleon Elsie Kirk Nell Harrison Mary Love Dick Shawn Mel Brooks Bill Macy Bernie Allen Robert Paget Tucker Smith
Forår for Hitler, Det våras för Hitler, Les producteurs, Kevät koittaa Hitlerille, Total verrückter Broadway, Primavera para Hitler, 프로듀서
"I'M IN PAIN AND I'M HYSTERICAL AND I'M WET!"
Rest in peace Gene Wilder, you were the man.
I had a lot of fun with this one!
Mel Brooks’ bizarre off the wall style feels so different from other 60s Hollywood comedies, some still struggling to evolve from the screwball genre that worked so well in the 40s. This has elements of those, but incorporated a dark sense of humor that feels very much like the 70s coming on.
Mel Brooks rocket launched his career with this, defining instantly his brand of parody and absurdism that carried him through, and his legendary collaborations with Gene Wilder.
The Springtime For Hitler opening number had me dying. I look forward to revisiting more of Brooks’ works.
Back in the sixties doing his thing,
Mel Brooks made it Time for Spring.
With comedy precision,
No one envisioned,
A modern day return of the Reich wing.
outside i look fine, but just know that internally i am gene wilder shrieking about how he’s getting hysterical and needs his blanket
"I never knew that the Third Reich meant Germany! I mean it's just drenched with historical goodies like that..."
Still funny! Really announces itself in the opening office scene where Mostel and Wilder are screaming and hyperventilating like they really mean it. This shit isn't funny to them, which of course makes it very funny. I'll bet this felt explosive in 1967, when Mel Brooks' sense of humor lived at the exact intersection of the Borscht Belt and the "sick comics" of the late '50s/'60s (your Lenny Bruces, your Mort Sahls, etc).
As director, Brooks doesn't sweat the technical stuff too much.
Sometimes I really hate going into a film knowing it’s a classic. The Producers has topped charts for generations, ticking off countless boxes from best comedy lists to Roger Ebert’s Great Movies. With that in mind, Mel Brooks’ highly energetic effort never really had a chance with me, a viewer who’s generally opposed to all-out farcical, particularly in the shape of a screwball musical. It is still, of course, the numbers that save this, not to mention Gene Wilder being Gene Wilder. I’m not usually one to judge old films by modern standards, but I couldn’t help but wince a few times throughout. Its transphobic/misogynistic tangents are definitely problematic, whichever lens you want to put it under, but I think…
