A review of ‘The Producers’, Mel Brooks – Issue XXII
Mel Brooks is undoubtedly the godfather of parody films.
Cartoon by Crid.
This is an excerpt of an article that features in our 22nd print issue.
Mel Brooks is undoubtedly the godfather of parody films. Without his influence, there would surely be no Zucker Brothers and their output, of which the Airplane! and The Naked Gun series are the mostly highly regarded. Not to mention the outpouring of gross-out, parody films which followed and defined the early 2000s.
The Producers is the film which started this far-out trend. The film, which later inspired its own Broadway stage musical, and film remake, tells of Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), a somewhat faded Broadway producer who has been reduced to trying to secure funding for his shows by indulging the sexual fantasies of rich little old ladies, the penance for which involves crawling around on the floor pretending to be barnyard animals and engaging in other such tomfoolery.
One day, the proverbial ice is broken when a nervous young accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) stumbles into Bialystock's office to find him in a compromising position but he powers through the situation by telling Bialystock that he is worried about his financial position. When putting their heads together to try and solve the predicament, they come to the light bulb realisation that they can make more money with a Broadway flop than a Broadway hit. Thus they begin the task of finding the worst play ever written among Bialystock's collection of amassed scripts. In the wee small hours, Bialystock cries with joy at discovering 'Springtime for Hitler', a Neo-Nazi love letter to the late Führer.
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