The Producers
Short description
The Producers is a 1968 American comedy about a Broadway producer, Max Bialystock, whose shows have stopped making money, and Leo Bloom, a nervous accountant who comes up with an unusual scheme. Rather than trying to stage a hit, the two set out to raise far more money than a play could ever need and then put on a production certain to fail, so that no investor will come asking for a return. Their search for the worst possible material leads them to a musical titled Springtime for Hitler, and to the people who agree to bring it to the stage.
Mel Brooks wrote and directed the film, his first time in the director's chair. Zero Mostel plays Bialystock and Gene Wilder plays Bloom, with Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars, Estelle Winwood and Christopher Hewett among the credited cast of 36. Sidney Glazier produced.
On IMDb and TMDB, the film holds audience ratings around the low seven range, reflecting solid approval across a large number of votes; the critics' rating stands considerably higher, at 8.2/10 from 74 reviews. Its later reputation rests on the satire of the theatre business rather than on broad commercial success at the time. Brooks went on to direct Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles in 1974, followed by Silent Movie, High Anxiety and later comedies.
What's left behind the scenes
- Dustin Hoffman was initially cast in one of the roles in the film, but he was then offered an audition for "The Graduate." Mel Brooks readily released the actor for the audition, as he was well aware of the film through his wife, Anne Bancroft (who had been cast as Mrs. Robinson), and understood that his chances of getting the role were very slim. However, Hoffman ultimately did not return to "The Producers."
- Producer Joseph E. Levine did not want to release the film, as he doubted its success, but he had no doubt at all about its bad taste. The film was saved thanks to the intervention of Peter Sellers.
- Outside of Broadway, Zero Mostel became famous for his production of "Ulysses in Nighttown." Leo Bloom naturally featured among the characters in the play. The character of Gene Wilder was also named Leo Bloom.
- Mel Brooks cannot read musical notation. All the songs he wrote for the film were initially hummed into a tape recorder by Brooks, and he then used the services of a specialist. When Brooks turned the film into a musical, he wrote all the music himself using the same method.
- The hysteria scene was filmed at the end of the shooting day, and exhausted Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman, 1933-2016) told Brooks that he was no longer able to work today. Brooks solved the problem by pumping the actor full of sugar and caffeine, after which the scene was filmed in just two takes.
- Due to its composition "Hitler's Spring," the film was initially banned in Germany, where laws prohibiting Nazi propaganda were in effect since the end of World War II. The film was shown in Germany only after it was included in the program of a film festival of works by Jewish directors.
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