In his first film, director/comedy legend Mel Brooks casts a bitter and cynical eye on the media that would eventually make him who he is today. He takes failed Broadway producer, Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and neurotic accountant/James Joyce reference Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) and has them produce a play with the intention of it failing. They raise more than the projected cost through investors, knowing that with the inevitable failure, they would keep all the money. They find a play, Springtime for Hitler, a fawning tribute to the author’s hero, the play’s title character. They find a star, a flower-power bandwagoner named LSD. They produce it. It shows and it turns out to be an unexpected hit, taken for satire.

The main characters have high standards. Bialystock was a once great producer who is sure in his judgement of quality. He believes firmly in the audience’s judgement too. This turns out to be his undoing. The play they produce is so crass, so rude, so unbelievably crazed and regressive that he couldn’t imagine it working. Unfortunately, he is living in the sixties. Gone are the days of innocent entertainment. They have entered the era of Godard and Derrida and John Barth. They are in the beginning of the postmodern era that carries over in ironic enjoyment to this day.

Springtime for Hitler is received as a brilliant parody and tickets sell out, just like the title characters

THE PRODUCERS (1968) DIR. MEL BROOKS (88 min.)

6/19 — 2 PM
FREE

Boston Public Library — Central
700 Boylston Street
Copley Square
Boston, MA 02116