Making success out of failure with The Producers
Pretty much every fan of over-the-top film comedy has a soft spot in their comedic heart for the legendary Mel Brooks.
The man behind such classics as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History Of The World, Part 1, and Spaceballs (among many others), helped chart the course of modern film comedy in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
But now you can see the film that started the legend, The Producers, 50 years after it burst on the screen and helped to make both Brooks and actor Gene Wilder household names.
“I want...I want...I want everything I’ve ever seen in the movies!” Once the King of The Great White Way, Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) is reduced to romancing old ladies to finance his next flop show.
But when nervous accountant Leopold Bloom (Gene Wilder) surmises that more money could be made from a flop than a hit, the next step is to produce the Busby Berkeleyesque musical “Springtime for Hitler” and to cast stoned-out Flower Child “LSD” (Dick Shawn) in the lead.
A surefire flop—or is it?
Brooks nabbed an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay of 1968, while his movie skyrocketed from controversial cult comedy to the National Film Registry and umpteen lists of the funniest movies ever made.
Showing this Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at both the East Ridge 18 and Hamilton Place 8 theaters.