The Producers (1967)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

This pairing is a first for us - two versions of the same story, set some 28 years apart! First up, the original from writer/director Mel Brooks (his first time in the director's chair) comes the story of a failed Broadway producer and a timid accountant who hatch a scheme to become millionaires by producing a sure-fire, destined to close on opening night flop, and how everything goes so wrong, they accidentally produce a hit! The film stars the incomperable Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock and the equally wonderful Gene Wilder as accountant Leo Bloom. Together, they find their flop, written by Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), the worst director in town, Roger De Bris (Christopher Hewitt) and the worst leading actor in town, Lorenzo "L.S.D." St. DuBois (Dick Shawn). The film also features classic performances from Estelle Winwood, Andreas Voutsinas, and Lee Meredith in a film that described as (paraphrasing Peter Sellers), "shocking, outrageous, insulting... and I loved every minute of it!"