Rating: 
Summary: Funniest movie I've ever watched
Review: It may not be the funniest movie ever made, but it's definitely the funniest movie I've ever watched. Now that I've watched it a few dozen times, I'll usually fast-forward through the scenes of Mostel romancing old ladies or Wilder getting hysterical; they're a bit long and overdone. I'll also skip Lee Meredith belly-dancing if my kids are watching with me. But what's left is as funny now as the first time I saw it, if not moreso.Sometimes if I don't have time to watch the whole movie, I'll just fast-forward and watch Dick Shawn's audition for the role of Hitler, a 60's-style ode to love and flowers that turns angry, climaxing when his flower "goes into the sewer with the yuck running through her, out into the river that we drink; hey world you stink." That by itself is worth the price of the video. Then there's the producers' confrontation with the landlady (Madlyn Cates in her only credited movie role, a brief but show-stealing performance, delivering such memorable lines as "I'm not a madam, I'm a concierge"), the auditions by other Hitler wannabes, and of course the big production number at the beginning of "Springtime for Hitler", whose hilarous lines and other effects are too numerous to list. I'm told that the Broadway version eliminates Dick Shawn's hippie-playing-Hitler character because it's "dated". I can only say that my kids were all born between ten and twenty years after the movie was made, and they agree with me that he is the funniest character in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: First & Best
Review: This has got to be one of the funniest films of the 20th century and certainly deserves its cult following.
Mostel never backs down from his zany, head-on comdey routine as a down-and-out Broadway producer and Gene Wilder is at his neurotic best as the account who helps him hatch the plan to produce an utter theatrical disaster for as much money as they can con out of little old ladies.
Look out for the talented late Christopher Hewett as the cross-dressing director. At 6' 3",it's worth seeing him in dress alone!
Rating:
Summary: Strong Candidate for Greatest Comedy
Review: Despite a few dated and tasteless scenes, this movie sustains very well over 30 years later. The script is brilliant, as is the direction, and Zero Mostel's acting, though bordering on cartoonish here and there, is astonishing.
Since the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" and W.C. Fields' "It's A Gift", both from 1934, there are very few film comedies which even approach "Classic" status. My personal favorites, along with the three just mentioned, are "So Fine" with Jack Warden as a desperate garment industry Manager, and "The Freshman", with Marlon Brando, sending up his "Godfather" role.
What makes this picture so entertaining is the twisted plot - you really can't see how, or decide when the demented scheme (of raising too much money for a terrible Broadway play and leaving for Rio when it's time to pay the investors) will blow up in the faces of the milquetoast Accountant Gene Wilder or the has-been Producer Zero Mostel. And just when you feel spent from laughing, a huge opening night production number of "Springtime For Hitler", with a goose-stepping chorus line and Busby Burkeley effects, is presented.
Yes, a few segments have not traveled well through time, specifically, the scenes mocking the "gay" Valet or ogling the bubble-headed blonde Secretary; the very entertaining Hitler "audition" by the failed Beat Generation follower turned Flower Child Dick Shawn also doesn't quite register by now, but altogether this film must be considered as essential viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Calling it hilarious is understatement
Review: The Producers is the ultimate farce - a perfectly hilarious spoof of greed, wherein Broadway laughs at itself, and the viewer can laugh aloud at the way bad taste can be a winner. Naturally, a bizarre musical comedy based on Hitler is the ultimate farce, and the scenes of the show are amongst the funniest I've ever seen in any film - especially the title number, complete with show girls who wear pasties in the shape of pretzels and Gestapo officers kick stepping. The "world" of The Producers is one in which every character is a broad caricature, and the action is never anything approaching reality, and herein lies its very appeal. Political correctness would destroy the fun. The characterizations are so blatantly bizarre (giving us the opportunity to howl with laughter at the grossly exagerrated traits - whether avarice, timidity, inflated ego, or a desire for attention) that they cannot be taken as pointed at any living individual or "group." Zero Mostel is the ultimate con man - a charming rogue who seems a blend of Falstaff and a peek at Wall Street through a Coney Island (distorting) mirror. The timid Gene Wilder character, a study in extreme anxiety who still cannot resist the chance to go for the gold, has wonderful moments, perhaps the best being his attempts to convince the judge that his selfish business partner has given people so much joy that the scam was for the best. This is as delightful a film as one could hope to find.
Rating:
Summary: Mel Brooks' and Gene Wilder's finest moment
Review: I first saw this film about ten years ago late at night on Irish TV. I thought "this is the funniest film I've ever seen! How come I've never heard of it?". I took note of the name, and made sure to tape it next time I saw it on TV (about six years later!). I know it was a great movie, but I thought I was alone. Now I know there are others! Now more and more people are becoming aware of it too, and so should you, if you haven't seen it already. It really is a very funny movie, easily, in my mind, up there with Some Like It Hot. You won't regret seeing this film, you really won't. Directed by Mel Brooks (his first picture, and probably his best), the story is of a clapped out broadway producer (Mostel) who, due to the chance remark of his meek and mild auditor (Wilder, also in his first picture, and probably his best, performance), hatches a scam to produce the worst musical in the world ever, thereby fleecing dozens of little old ladies, promising each them 100% of the profits in exchange for their cash. Once the play flops, he keeps all the excess cash! Bringing Wilder on board, they search for the worst script in the world - but no matter how bad they are, they all have at least something good about them! Until he finds...Springtime for Hitler!, a musical extravaganza celebrating the rise of Hitler and Nazism, with full blown song numbers, dancing, and synchronised marching! Absolutely bound to fail. The negotiations with the author, a crazed former Nazi (Kenneth Mars) are just hilarious ("the Fuhrer was a great painter you know. He could paint a whole apartment in one afternoon, two coats!"). Next they must find the director and the cast. A series of incredible casting calls with Hitler look-alikes (some singing, some dancing!) eventually leads to LSD (Dick Shawn) a flower loving hippie, who is only dimly aware of what's going on. Having found the worst play, the worst director, the worst cast, we finally get to see some of the musical itself. And it is unbelievably bad, tasteless, and objectionable! (In reality, for us, the viewers, the huge opening number is just incredible, with lots of singing, girls in skimpy outfits and leather boots goose stepping across the stage, cannons going off, not to mention the troupe of dancers doing synchronised marching in the shape of a swastika!). It's so bad that it seems to kind of break through the fabric of badness and come through the other side as being enthralling, funny, comical and just really good! So the play is a success! So what happens to the plan? Well, I'll leave that to you to find out when you see the film - I should leave some surprises! All in all, this is a great film, which will have you laughing out loud at the great performances, the fantastic lines, and really satisfying attention to detail in even the smallest parts in the film. I guarantee you, this will be one of the funniest films you will ever see.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this . . .
Review: As far as I am concerned, this is the funniest movie ever made. Tasteless at times, yes. But the combination of Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Ken Mars, Lee Meredith and the little old ladies is irresistable. Oh. and let's not forget "the concierge. I'm not a madam, I'm the concierge." Tiny role but, like the rest of the movie, unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: My # 1 Laugh Out Loud Movie.
Review: Mel Brook's first movie, The Producers is still his best. This film has always been on my Top Ten movie list. Now that it's a hit on the boards I feel a bit unsettled. This was always my movie. One that I could recommend to someone and have them say " I 've never seen that one".Now The Produsers belongs to the world. The cast from the top to the bottom is Great! Zero Mostel is Max Bialysock. "Flaunt it baby ,Flaunt it" Gene Wilder (in perhaps still his best role) is Leo Bloom" Fat ,Fat, Fatty!" Ken Mars is Franz Leibkind" the Furor was a wonderful dancer" Dick Shawn is L.S.D "Hiel Baby" right on down to Bill Hickey in the Toast to Failure..."oh Thank You" . Murray, do yourself a favor, get this movie .You will laugh ,You will Cry, you will find your self goose stepping down the street humming..." Spring time for Hitler and Germany".
Rating:
Summary: "He who hesitates is poor!"
Review: I was introduced to this masterpiece a few years ago by a friend who basically said to me... "you aren't a Mel Brooks fan until you've seen this movie"... and he was right. This is Mel's out-and-out BEST movie... EVER... the funniest movie OF ALL TIME. If you like comedies... you are in for a treat... this is by far the funniest movie ever made. Now while its not as hammy as most of Mel's other movies (this being one major issue a lot of Spaceballs fans have with the movie), this movie's humor is much more sophistocated and sneaky. The comedic timing is classic giving you just enuff time to laugh after every line so you can catch the next one. But, some of the humor is high-brow, and some you will miss the first time out. I've seen the movie about 500 times and the first hundred times I would always find a nuance to the humor... Zero Mostel is simply a "bloody little GENIUS". Gene Wilder is at his all-time best(YES, better than Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein combined), Dick Shawn is a crazy, crazy guy. Hewlett (Mr. Belvedere) is rampantly funny. And all the rest of the cast is just primo too. Go to the video store and rent it... then come home watch it... and pre-order the dvd. I own it on VHS, LD (Criterion) and now DVD (brasilian, waiting for the American).
Rating:
Summary: "Hitler - now there was a painter!"
Review: This is a wickedly clever comedy. As Leonard Maltin points out in his review above, repeated viewings will only enhance one's appreciation of Mel Brooks' hilarious satire. There will be viewers who simply don't "get it", but I urge them to be patient. Watch it again - it really is a comic tour de force, and politically incorrect to the hilt. Peter Sellers was one first-time viewer who did get it. He would later recount how he had to crawl on all fours out of the theatre, so bent over with laughter was he. Later on the British Parkinson TV programme, he would have audiences in hysterics at his own highly accurate imitation of Kenneth Mars' dedicated Nazi. In fact Mars practically steals this film with his Hitler-worshipping character's defence of the Fuehrer. Comparing Churchill with Hitler, he declares (in an adsurdly strong German accent): "Hitler - now there was a painter. He could paint an entire apartment - two coats, one afternoon!" This spiel goes on for some time, and it is utterly priceless. But Mars' Nazi is merely one character in a gallery of memorable, larger-than-life eccentrics, and the entire film is a riot from start to finish. A highly original script from the inventive Brooks contributes greatly to the fun. Somehow Hitler will never seem the same again!
Rating:
Summary: an "over the top" classic comedy
Review: Thank Moses for Mel Brooks, as an actor but also as a director, this fantastic movie is one of the highlights in comedy movies, with over the top performances of especially Zero Mostel.
"Springtime for Hitler" remains one of the campiest production numbers ever written for screen.
Mostel is incredibly funny with the old ladies trying to get money to invest in his shows.
The more than once hysterical Gene Wilder as an account Leo Bloom comes up with a plan to put a show on Broadway that will be a definite flop, the investors will loose thier money, the producers can take a plane to Rio. The show becomes an instant hit, because the premiere audience after hesitation adore the camp Springtime for Hitler show.
The show's director Roger Debris and his secretary Andreas Voutsinas play the most over the top gays you can think of,outrageous!!!!!!
this movie is for laughs, and needs to come out on DVD asap!!!!!
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