The Producers (1968)
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 57 | Rotten: 4
A hilarious satire of the business side of Hollywood, The Producers is one of Mel Brooks' finest, as well as funniest films, featuring standout performances by Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel.
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 1
A hilarious satire of the business side of Hollywood, The Producers is one of Mel Brooks' finest, as well as funniest films, featuring standout performances by Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 54,753
Movie Info
Theatrical producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) was once the toast of Broadway. Now he lives in his seedy office, cadging cash contributions from wealthy old ladies in exchange for sexual favors. Even worse, he's reduced to wearing a cardboard belt. Max's new accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), the soul of honesty, suggests that Max produce a hit to try to recoup his losses, but Max knows that it's too late for that. Offhandedly, Leo muses that, if Max found investors for a flop, he could
Jun 1, 1968 Wide
Dec 3, 2002
AVCO Embassy Pictures
Cast
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Zero Mostel
Max Bialystock -
Gene Wilder
Leo Bloom -
Kenneth Mars
Franz Liebkind -
Estelle Winwood
Old Lady -
Renée Taylor
Eva Braun -
Christopher Hewett
Roger De Bris -
Dick Shawn
L.S.D -
Andreas Voutsinas
Carmen Giya -
Lee Meredith
Ulla -
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Frank Campanella
Bartender -
Josip Elic
Violinist -
William Hickey
Drunk in Theater Bar -
Anne Ives
Ladie -
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Barney Martin
German Officer in Play -
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Michael Davis
Production Tenor -
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Diana Eden
Showgirl -
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Madelyn Cates
Woman at Window -
David Evans
Lead Dancer -
Margery Beddow
Dancer
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The Producers Trailer & Photos
All Critics (64) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (4) | DVD (35)
The Producers has many things going for it -- notably a wild, ad-lib energy that explodes in a series of sight gags and punch lines.
Top CriticMel Brooks has turned a funny idea into a slapstick film, thanks to the performers, particularly Zero Mostel.
Everything that can go wrong in an amateur film does go wrong, from the timing to the structure to the pitch of the performances.
Brooks' first feature, an absolutely hilarious and tasteless New York Jewish comedy about Broadway.
Top CriticSome of it is shoddy and gross and cruel; the rest is funny in an entirely unexpected way.
The one aspect of the original Producers that still stuns is the roaring, over-the-top, in-your-face thereness of its two lead performances.
Slapstick comedy-musical -- not meant for kids.
Like The Producers itself, Springtime for Hitler, with its Busby Berkeley-meets-Leni Riefenstahl choreography and creatively crude lyrics, ends up proving that bad taste can be irresistible.
Quite possibly Brooks's finest hour.
The original, and by far the best.
An anarchic reminder that laughter can be mightier than the sword.
You don't need to be a WWII vet to feel the glee as the movie invites us to dance on Hitler's grave.
If you love and understand live theatre, or the old-school movie musicals of the 1940s, you will enjoy this much more than people who cannot transfer their minds to that world.
Wilder's like a baby monkey--you get the feeling he'd cling to your leg if you let him.
Scathingly hysterical.
If Mel Brooks is remembered for only three films, then he can rest easy knowing that they're three of the funniest ones ever made. And The Producers was the first.
Nobody does it like Brooks! The best interpretation of the tale to date.
A great introduction to Mel Brooks' humor.
It's the ultimate punchline, the killer gag, that a proto-novel that turned into a proto-play that ended up as a movie about the worst musical in history, is now the most popular musical in town.
I suppose you could call it a time capsule. Then again, Brooks' Broadway blockbuster may prove that blustery bad taste is timeless ... Ferrell is so ferociously over the top, I hope the other cast members all got rabies shots.
A cheeky and intelligent look at a more disturbing side of live theatre.
The hilarious original that inspired the musical (and upcoming film, again)...if you like Mel Brooks, you'll like this.
Audience Reviews for The Producers
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Max Bialystock: Don't you see Bloom, darling Bloom, glorious Bloom? It's so simple. Step one: We find the worst play world, a surefire flop. Step two: I raise a million bucks. Lots of little old ladies out there. Step three: You go back to work on the books, phony list of backers - one for the government, one for us. You can do it, Bloom; you're a wizard! Step four: We open on Broadway. And before you can say Step five, we *close* on Broadway!
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- Franz Liebkind: Not many people know it, but the Führer was a terrific dancer.
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Foreign Titles
- The Producers (1968) (DE)
- The Producers (UK)


To those who haven't seen "The Producers", it is the tale of an unstabble accountant and a greedy broadway producer who discover that they can make more money with a broadway flop than with a broadway success. They go out to see if they can pull this skeem off, but they end up releasing one of the biggest broadway hits in history. A fantastic story, very creative and filled with opportunities to laugh. And you know what? Not only does it take advantage of all the opportunities to laugh, it gets ones you wouldn't even think of as an audience.
Another thing we have to consider is that this was Mel Brooks first movie. No director makes a hit so successful as this on his first go. Anyone who saw this when it was first released had to have known that this man was destined for greatness in film. He didn`t go cheap on this movie either. He got a fantastic cast including Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. And he didn`t just get a great cast for the leads, but the smaller characters in it really were what made the film. Especially the characters of the man who wrought the play and the lead actor in the play, L.S.B. I couldn`t stop laughing when those guys where on screen. And who could forget Mel Brooks first cameo in one of his own films; a single line he sings, `Don`t be stupid, be a smarty! Come and join the Nazi Party!`. Good times, good times!
As for Wilder and Mostel, they were at they`re very best. They were living charactures of things hat were already hilarious. From the first time these characters meet each other, the audience knows they are going to have a real treat by watching these guys. But with these characters, it wasn`t just how funny they were, you really loved them. You felt lucky to be able to spend 2 hours with such interesting people. They were the kind of characters that revolutionized comedy film making for the world! They werent afraid to go over the top with the way they acted. They really just wanted to give everyone some of the greatest laughs of their lives! They didnt use some of the cliches that we see in comedy today, they invented their own!
Sometimes, we watch a film and we we finish we realize silently that this film is going to change everything for this film industry, and then you immediatly watch the film over again. If you have not watched this film yet, then what the hell are you doing! GO SEE IT, YOU IDIOT!!!!