by Jon Warner
Mel Brooks became known as a spoof-artist (if spoofing can be considered art). But his first film is quite an original, and perhaps his funniest work because of it. Armed with an insane premise, a wacky set of characters and some great talent, Brooks made his best film, or at least very close to it. I must say that I had seen this film before about 10 years ago, but upon viewing it for the second time recently I found it even funnier. In fact, as far as belly laughs go, this film ranks right up there with the greatest comedies of them all. It’s a non-stop, heaping dose of insanity. It also contains the first real extended performance (not counting Bonnie and Clyde) from Gene Wilder who would become a comedic icon and one of the essential comedians of his era.
The Producers stars Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock, a conniving Broadway producer, who woos a small armada of little old ladies in order to drum up cash to fund his productions. When an accountant named Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) shows up at Max’s office to check the books, he finds out that Max has been doing some “creative accounting”. In order to avoid legal trouble, Max decides to bribe Leo into a scheme which will make both of them rich. They will produce the worst play that they can possibly come up with (which they believe will close within the first few days of opening) and they will fund their play with money from the “little old ladies”. The play they choose is a tribute to Hitler and Nazi Germany called “Springtime for Hitler”, written by a former Nazi named Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), who is whacked out of his gourd and living in NYC in a highrise apartment where he talks to his pigeons on the roof. They presume that the play will crash and that they will abscond with the money and fly to Rio. That is of course assuming that the play fails (Dun Dun Dun!!!).
The first 15-20 minutes of the film in Max’s office are downright hilarious and I find that I cannot stop laughing. Leo shows up while Max is “making love” to one of the old women. Max’s pleas to Bloom once Bloom finds out what Max has been doing is just too much……as Max yells “HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!” right in Bloom’s ear! Another running gag surfaces in the early part of the film when Bloom takes out his little, blue security blanket and Max takes it from him. Of course Bloom throws a tantrum and Wilder’s antics are over-the-top. Another section of this sequence is when Bloom’s hysterics get out of control. One of my favorite lines comes from this part of the film when Max throws some water at Bloom and slaps him.
Bloom- “I’m wet! I’m wet! I’m hysterical and I’m wet!……. I’m in pain! And I’m wet!…. And I’m still hysterical!”
There are so many funny moments in this film though: the scene when Max and Bloom go to visit Franz Liebkind for the first time and he’s on the roof of an apartment complex wearing a Nazi helmet and talking with his pigeons; the scene where Max and Bloom go to find the worst director they can think of and it’s a cross-dressing man named Roger de Bris (Christopher Hewitt); of course the piece-de-resistance- the actual “Springtime for Hitler” musical number, which is totally outrageous and wildly inappropriate, but great comedy. This spectacular number is so crazy because it’s such a wonderfully awful song-and-dance presented with such gusto. We are shocked as much as we are laughing! There’s something about this sequence that even today is crude and I think it’s to Brooks’s credit that he was able to execute a scene with such poor taste that it has stood the test of time…..and still feels like poor taste (at least to my eyes).
When the film was released, it was only 23 years after the war ended. The use of Jewish characters and the lampooning of Nazi Germany was a regular occurence in the early 1940′s……The Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin and Ernst Lubitsch all used comedy to highlight Nazi persecution and voice their displeasure through enlightened laughter. But there are relatively no comedies involving Nazis or Hitler from 1942 through the next couple decades. It can probably be assumed that once the full extent of the Holocaust came to light, there wasn’t anyone who could have gotten away with a Nazi comedy at that time. Although there are bits of comedy thrown into Stalag 17 (1953) and The Great Escape (1963), it is probably the CBS TV show Hogan’s Heroes, that can probably be credited with bringing back the ability to mock and poke fun at Nazis. This relatively benign show, which aired between 1965-1971, probably paved the way for Brooks’s film. Now The Producers is far more edgy than Hogan’s Heroes was. Of course comedy has and always will have some degree of edginess to it. I’m not so sure Brooks was ever this edgy again (although the repeated use of the N-word in Blazing Saddles (1974) does come to mind). It’s just really interesting to me that The Producers got made in the first place. Now I know comedy can get a bit more leniency when it comes to controversial subject matter….because it’s comedy and of course comedy isn’t so “serious” about things.
What strikes me most about this film though, is Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. They are so funny, and they have such terrific chemistry together that it’s hard not to be somewhat in awe of their rapport. Mostel constantly has this wild-eyed look on his face, like he has just struck gold. I think Wilder went on to have some more memorable roles, particularly in another Brooks masterpiece, Young Frankenstein (1974). But, his work here feels more improvised and completely unhinged. He constantly seems on the edge of either hysterics, tears, or laughter. Additionally, Mel Brooks’s brilliant script is loaded with plenty of propulsion and enough zingers for 2 or 3 movies put together. This one is a real gem and one of the downright funniest films ever made.
How The Producers made the Top 100:
Yes Jon, it certainly is one of the funniest films ever made, and it’s one that has provided me with many laughs through the years with friends, with whom I share enjdless repitition of the film’s famed dialogue. Most of the lines involve the Nazi writer of “Springtime for Hitler” Franz Liebkind, the gay attendant for the play’s director, Carmengia, and the two great actors who inhabit the leads, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Dick Shaun as Hitler of course is equally as unforgettable, as are the old ladies who Mostel swindles. The centerpiece of the film and of the later Broadway play that became a milestone on it’s own (oddly as much as I have treasued the film, the musical left me cold, mainly because the music itself was so pedestrian) is the song and the outrageous satirical lines that include the likes of “Bombs falling from the sky again……Deutschland is on the rise again”………”Springtime for Hitler and Germany……….winter for Poland and France………u boats are sailing once more………Don’t be stupid…be a smarty, come and join your Nazi party” and so on. It’s depraved and tasteless to the point that it’s utter anarchic brilliance. The scenes with the director wearing a dress, the chicken copu with France, and when the latter declares in his apartment that “Hitler was a great painter and dancer” are hysterical, as are the frantic rage between Mostel and Wilder when they find out that their ‘worst ever play’ is a gigantic hit at the box office.
This is the finest American comedy of the last 50 years, and I’d certainly go to that mat to defend that sentiment.
Superlative piece Jon, and I completely agree with you that only Brooks could get away with this deceit, and it’s subsequent success through the years with the Broadway show is proof parcel.
Great piece on one of the funniest films of all time (I believe I had this one in my own top 10) and, clearly, Brooks ONE film that can be called a comedy masterpiece. The anarchic sensabilities that hark back to the hey-day of the Marx Brothers, rich characters and performances and a screenplay by Brooks that is so sharp in its wit and one-liners that it resembles a razor, THE PRODUCERS is one of the rare gems that bases none of its plotting on the insanity of real life but, rather, on a premise so off-the-wall that it could only inspire real life (the con game that Max plays by selling producer rights at 100% a piece to 50 little old ladies is nothing new by todays Wall Street standards-the crooks out there do it all the time… but on a larger scale). There’s a sort of smarmy glee within the plotting that almost makes you think that Brooks is laughing himself silly as he wrote it and, with a cast of crazies headed by Mostel and Wilder, probably did when he saw it played out by real people.
Pound for pound, on the belly laugh meter this film and the Coen’s THE BIG LEBOWSKI could be the grandaddies of em all. The jokes and the gags in this film come at you with lightning speed and, like the Marx’s, barely allow you time to catch your breath before the next cackle comes barreling in. Too bad Brooks basically sold out to spoof comedies after this one as THE PRODUCERS lived up to all the promise Brooks displayed as one of the most famous writers for Sid Caesars SHOW OF SHOWS back in the 1950′s and GET SMART in the 60′s. That Brooks won the Academy Award for this screenplay only adds to the promise of a brilliant career in film and I bemoan the poor choices the comic film-maker made after this wonderful and bizarre classic.
Like Sam, I have most of the screenplays best lines memorized and certain sequences and scenes never fail to crack me up to the point of tears.
MY favorite moment has Leo (Wilder) come back to the office after finally procuring all the money and depositing it in the bank. Only one stipulation lays across his and his partners track: Don’t spend a dime till after the play fails. When arriving back at the office, Bloom finds the office newly painted, redecorated and furnished and employing a very good-looking blonde secretary;
Leo: Max, the what the hell is going on here? I thought we agreed that we weren’t gonna spend any of the goddamned money?
Max (Mostel): I had to have a present, so I bought us a present! I had to have a present!
Leo (as the secretary puts a cigar in Max’s mouth and lights it for him): And, who the hell is this???
Max:: Oh, that’s out new secretary, isn’t she wonderful? She’s from Sweden. Her name is Inga. She doesn’t understand English too well but I trained her to do her job. She’s really good.
Leo: Good? Max, she can’t speak English!
Max: Oh, Bloomey, you’re always too harsh. Watch this. (Max picks up the phone on the secretary’s desk and makes a ringing sound). Ring, ring!!!!!
Inga (taking the phone from Max’s hands): Bialystock and Bloom, how can I help you? Bialystock and Bloom, how can I help you?
Leo: She just imitates what you taught her.
Max: Ok, that’s not enough? I’ll show you. Watch this. (Snapping his fingers and getting the attention of the girl) Inga, GO TO WORK!!!!
(The secretary walks to the other side of the office, peels off all her clothing to expose a killer body clad in a skimpy bikini, turns on the record player to sound off surfer music, and begins dancing and jiggling her torso).
Leo, with a cigar in his mouth, drops his jaw, allows the cigar to fall from his lips, as Max puts his arm around the shoulders of his partner and leers back and forth from him to the secretary.
Max: And… Would you believe it. I met her at the New York Public Library.
CRACKS ME THE F*#K UP EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!
One of the greatest experiences of one’s lifetime would be experiencing this film for the first time. That said, subsequent viewings rate very highly as well. I agree with Sam – this is one of the best films to have graced the silver screen. Even the name of the director character, Roger de Bris, sends me into stitches, and the scene in his elevator — where there’s little or no dialogue — is just one of the many hilarious moments. This is one screenplay Oscar winner where the Academy made a great choice. Audacious to a glorious extreme.
Since the rundown of placements isn’t included here, let me confess that The Producers is my numero uno for the countdown. The great thing about it is that you have actual examples for reference of how not to do what this movie does perfectly. The basic plot idea comes from a brutally mediocre movie called New Faces of 1937; that film made the producer a villain, with the performers striving to make the show good. Brooks’s own effort to modernize the story, at least as I’ve seen it on film, falls well short of the mark. Without “Love Power” The Producers is not itself. Maybe that means it’s a product of a specific moment in time. I certainly feel immersed in NYC 1968, or certain parts of it, every time I watch the film. But that time produced perhaps a unique collision of tastes and attitudes that Brooks exploited to its fullest. Maybe the greatest comedies could only be made at certain moments, while other times are uncongenial. You still need talent, though, and Brooks definitely earned that Oscar, if not a higher place in this countdown.
Franz Liebkin is my favorite character. But Roger du Pris is a close second. Pound for pound I agree with others that this might be the funniest film of them all. I enjoyed Jon’s review immensely.
Thanks all. I’m really glad to hear of all your love for this film. It’s the kind of comedy that can inspire rabid devotion. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have ranked this about 10 spots higher.
A good 50% of this film is like the guffaw-inducing comedy version of Psycho’s shower scene.