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The Producers (Special Edition)

The Producers (Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
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!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The greatest comedy to date. Hilarious, satirical and sweet
Review: Mel Brooks is a genius of comedy, there is no denying that. In the past 33 years, he has generated some of the best American comedies that people have found to like, dislike, and laugh all the way. The Producers was his first, and even though it has gotten the (very good) Broadway treatment, it is still the quintessential comedy containing satirical points, insanity, absurdity, nutty acting and Dick Shawn.

The film stars Zero Mostel as a producer who has fallen on hard times (he is sleeping with little old ladies to get backings for his constantly flopping plays), until an account with a lot of demure (Gene Wilder in one of his finest and funniest roles) gives him the idea to make a flop on Broadway, and actually make it a kit, if only for themselves. This inspires the two to get a nazi's (Kenneth Mars) scrpit, a gay director, a Sweeish-tease of a secretary (Lee Meredith), and a flower power actor (Dick Shawn in one of the best comedic roles ever) to make Springtime for Hitler.

Wow. Even if the film didn't deliver laughs (which is not true because it delivers them by the dozens) for some, Brooks' ideas are enough for a whole string of films, but he is able to compact them into one very amusing and incredible comedy that gets better with each passing year. The numbers "Love Power" and "Springtime for Hitler" are equally memorable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Zero Mostel's Finest Hour Thanks to Mel Brooks!
Review: I love this film because it always makes me laugh, but also because it captures the genius of Zero Mostel, a performer who did some of his best work on stage ("Fiddler on the Roof" "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"). The plot revolves around the New York theatre world and Mostel's down-and-out, has-been producer. And the thought of Mostel (quite the vision in his lounging robe and with his bad comb-over) playing "boy toy" to rich little old ladies in order to raise enough to produce bad show after bad show, rarely fails to get laughs. Add to the mix one of Gene Wilder's best performances, as Leo Bloom, the accountant who wanders into Mostel's world and who gets sucked into a "sure fire" scam, and you have enough laughs to fill ten comedies. I had the pleasure of seeing Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the musical version of this film when it opened on Broadway a few years ago, and while that show was fantastic, I still think back fondly to where it all started: with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, whose zaniness is forever preserved on film, always there to entertain us.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mel's first was his best
Review: The success of the broadway production of this film is no surprise being that it is one of the best comedies ever put on film.

Every performer in this movie is hilarious. Zero Mostel is perfect as the loud-mouth producer who swindles little old ladies. Gene Wilder is classic as the uptight accountant who freaks out whenever anyone touches his blue blanket. Then you have the homosexual crossrdressing director, the neo-nazi lunatic screenwriter, the flower child druggie actor, and the sex object receptionist dancing when she is ordered to "Go to work."

Heavily based on characters, this is what makes the Producers so great. The story is simple, but when brought to life by the crazy performances... it is classic.

And who could pass up seeing a movie with this premise? Two men decide to produce the worst play ever called "Springtime For Hitler" in hopes that it will fail and they will keep all the money that was supplied by little old ladies?

This special edition DVD is a real treat too as it offers a great documentary that tells the Cinderella story of how Brooks went from being a nobody to winning an Academy Award for best screenplay.

This movie will always be one of my favorite films of all time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Essence of Comedy
Review: Mel Brooks couldn't have known how fun people would find this movie.

Short of seeing it on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick (which I doubt will happen again), this is the essential 'Producers'.
A funny, FUNNY film about 2 men dedicated to making money by bilking old ladies out of thier savings with the promise of profits from the production of the worlds worst musical: "Springtime for Hitler". The level at which thier plan backfires is the springboard for its hilarity.

I miss Zero Mostel. I miss Gene Wilder, especially after seeing his stint on 'Will & Grace'.

But most of all, I miss Mel Brooks at the top of his game (this film, 'Blazing Saddles', 'Young Frankenstein', 'High Anxiety').
Hell, give me another 'Life Stinks' for that matter. He's still funnier then the Farrely Brothers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A testimony to Brooks' genius
Review: I first saw this movie over thrity years ago. Although I was pretty young, I was drawn in by all the hysteria and screaming, all the slapstick and goofiness between Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Later in life, I realized how truly smart and truly side-splitting this movie is. And only now do I realize how risk-taking it must have been to make this movie. Can you imagine how a 1966 audience--just 20 years after WWII--reacted when they saw this movie and its "Springtime for Hitler" scene, and to have a Nazi with whom you can actually sympathize (played by the underrated Kenneth Marrs)? But Mel pulled it off back then, and the play is still holding up today.

I know the movie is approaching its 40th birthday, and that comedies just don't age as well as dramas or musicals. But DEFINITELY give this one a chance. It'll be worth the money just to watch Zero and Gene and Kenneth. And as an added bonus, for you New Yorkers out there, get ready for shots of midtown and the Village that are like a moving museum pieces.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mel Brooks' First-And Best
Review: "The Producers", which has gained newfound fame due to the Musical Comedy that Mel Brooks created based on this, his first movie, is also the best thing Brooks has ever done. "Blazing Saddles" was a gag-a-minute take on the Western, and "Young Frankenstein" was Brooks' spoof on horror, but in "The Producers", Brooks' made something that was entirely his own: a madcap, hilarious, perfectly cast satire of life on the seedier side of Broadway.

The late, great Zero Mostel stars as Max Bilalystock, a former big-time Broadway producer who has been reduced to seducing old ladies for checks to fund flops. Into his sad life comes accountant Leo Bloom(Gene Wilder in the first of several Brooks' collaborations). Bloom is a nebbishly high-strung auditor who offhandedly mentions to Max that a producer could make more money from a flop than a hit. This launches one of the most hilarious movies ever made, as Bloom and Bialystock scheme to find the worst sript, worst director, and worst actors to make the most tasteless and awful play ever.

The humor here is some of Brooks' finest. He expertley skewers Broadway egos, Nazis's, and greed as he tells the tale of the production of "Springtime for Hitler", written by an ex-Nazi who still holds onto the idea that Hitler was a great man. What keeps it from becoming an offensive movie is that the play is so hopelessly miscast and directed that it is just a big joke, and the fact that the audience knows that the Nazi is being taken advantage of steers the film away from the dark aspects of that ideology and makes fun of everything Hitler was trying to create. Wilder shines as Bloom, in his first major role, as he moves from loser to producer to desperate criminal, and Mostel shows his fine gift for broad comedy in his portrayal of the morally bankrupt producer who prizes money above all else. The film's funniest scenes involve bizzare breakdowns from Wilder, the hilarious alegiance to the defunct Third Reich by the playright, played with utter conviction by Kenneth Mars, and of course the play itself. The opening musical number is a sight to behold, and manages to spoof every over the top broadway production ever in the sense that everyone involved in the production, save Wilder and Mostel, take it so damn seriously.

The Producers has finally gotten the DVD release it deserves, and should delight anyone who loves Mel Brooks, and perhaps win a few converts who only know him from his latter day flops(Men in Tights, I'm looking at you). Brooks had 10 great years of moviemaking in him, and he starts it out with a bang in this film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Perfect Comedy
Review: This has to be one of the greatest movies ever made. First of all, Mel Brook's hilarious script, while more subtle than most of his later works (Men in Tights, Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles, etc.), is pure comic genius. Also, the perfect interplay and chemistry between the late Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder is probably the best seen in the movies since Groucho, Chicco, and Harpo (the Marx brothers, for those who don't know. For those who do, that is indeed the correct speling of his name, not Chico). Not to mention many great supporting performances from many others, such as Dick Shawn as a hippie named LSD. If you have never seen this movie before, you will fall out of your seat laughing. If you've seen the play, that is still not a good enough reason to not see this movie. In fact, the only reason you shouldn't see this movie is if you are in a coma, or dead. Overall, this is definitley a must-see-movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A comedy classic
Review: Whether or not you've caught the hot Broadway remake of Mel Brooks' 1968 classic - 'The Producers,' anyone who appreciates satire along with Brooks' zany style of humour will find great enjoyment in this 90 minute ode to show business, hucksterism, broadway musicals and nazism. While the humour is somewhat dated at times, no one can deny the sheer comedic energy given off by the likes of Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, etc that will leave you laughing out loud every 6 mintues or so. Also of note is the craziness in the musical numbers themself that border on the fine line between absurd and offensive yet always manages to pull itself out brilliantly in the end.

For those planning on purchasing the DVD make sure that you get the 2002 released 'Special Edition' version. This edition includes over one hour of documentaries that actually manage to be viewable. Aside from the numerous other extras on this disc the video transfer is great (for an older movie) and a remastered 5.1 surround mix is included as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of Mel's Greatest Comedies!
Review: Max Bialystock (zero mostel) is a producer of Broadway shows who needs money quickly because he is in debt. He gets his money by charming and spending time with elderly women that are more than happy to sponsor his plays in exchange for some fun. Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), Max's accountant, points out that producers can actually make more money through a flop. Max schemes to find the worst play and get women to buy 25,000 percent of the play. He chooses SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER as the flop, and this comedy is hilarious with the awesome performances of Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. You don't want to miss this comedy!


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