THE PRODUCERS 1967

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ken123
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THE PRODUCERS 1967

Post by ken123 »

Mel Brooks directed the 1967 version starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, which is TCM's "Essential " this week. IMHO it stinks. It has a couple of good early moments and then becomes a hideous bore. If you have an opinion please feel free to express even if it means calling me a jerk for having such an ill informed opinion of this " comedy ". :roll:
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Sue Sue Applegate
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Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

Dear Ken,
I just want to agree to disagree with you. I enjoy your posts, but I feel like The Producers is a comedy classic. Maybe you should watch it with someone who truly enjoys it, and find something else to celebrate about it, or it simply just might not be your cup of tea.
A movie that I simply could not abide was "The Object of Your Affection"
with Jennifer Aniston. And I know that I just wouldn't want to sit through that again. Excruciating. So your "Producers" just might be my TOOYA.
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ken123
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Post by ken123 »

[quote="Sue Sue Applegate"]Dear Ken,
I just want to agree to disagree with you. I enjoy your posts, but I feel like The Producers is a comedy classic.[/quot

I respect your opinion, but I just dislike this film, my late wife also didn't care for it. It seems that most critics, and the public, love it. I'm in a small minority, but that is how I feel. :wink:
Mr. Arkadin
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Post by Mr. Arkadin »

I enjoy The Producers, but I would not consider it an essential.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

I like The Producers (1967) a lot better now than I did when I first saw it - I was a teenager then, and I think a lot of the humor went over my head.

I definitely like it a lot better than its current incarnation. I saw the show on Broadway, and saw the film recently on TV. I thought the show, with its changes in characters and plot, was pretty weak, and the film even weaker. (I didn't get to see the original cast on stage, unfortunately.) The show was so frantic - it had the air of the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, where they rush through every number because they've got 8 shows a day to do. When "The Producers" was over, I really felt I came away with nothing. Nothing lingered, nothing made much of an impression.

The only real high spot in the onstage version was Gary Beach, who played the director Roger deBris in the film as well. He was hilarious - his part was bigger and much better presented onstage.

However, I think Christopher Hewitt, who played deBris in the original, could have done just as well in the second version. I don't think Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were shown in their best light in the film - I thought the whole thing wasn't really very well-directed. I frankly thought Uma Thurman was terrible - she looked so self-conscious in the dance numbers - you could see her mentally counting "5-6-7-8 . . . . "
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Post by MikeBSG »

I like the original "Producers" very much. I can't think of "The Producers" without Zero Mostel, as he runs around his office getting ready for the arrival of "hold me-touch me." Gene wilder and Kenneth Mars are terrific as well.

When I lived in Cleveland, I would see "The Producers" at least once a year, either at Cleveland State or the New Mayfield.

A "cult movie" from that era that really did nothing for me at all was Carl Reiner's "Where's Poppa?" I think I watched that one at CSU without laughing once.
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Post by Hollis »

The Producers" is easily a "Top Ten" when it comes down to listing the best comedies of all time. The pace of the movie is frenetic and is laced with subtleties as well as over the top comedic spots. The only other comedy of the "Modern Era" that I would put in the same league also happens to be from Mel Brooks, "Young Frankenstein."

As always,

Hollis
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Post by MikeBSG »

Is anyone planning to see the new Broadway version of "Young Frankenstein"? (At $450 a seat, I would guess not, but then you never know.)
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Moraldo Rubini
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What knockers!

Post by Moraldo Rubini »

MikeBSG wrote:Is anyone planning to see the new Broadway version of "Young Frankenstein"? (At $450 a seat, I would guess not, but then you never know.)
I hope to see it. It's knocking them out up in Seattle right now. I'm just afraid getting tickets won't be easy. I hope to pull some strings and get out there this fall for it...
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

I've only ever been able to get through that first 'musical' number hold and touch or whatever it is, and I change the channel. I have clicked back a couple of times but always land on that Hitler in springtime thing and after gagging, I finally get the channel changed again. It is one of the sickest things I have ever seen, albeit, I admit, I've never actually 'seen' it. I just cannot find anything about Hitler that could be considered humorous. The best thing I can say about him is I'm glad he died the way he did. As a rule, I would never wish such a horrible end to a person, but in Hitler's case, he worked for it, he earned it, and he got his just rewards from it. I'm baaaad!

Anne
Anne


***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

]***********************************************************************
Ollie
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Post by Ollie »

I like considering this an Essential because it's a favorite, but I'm not sure I could achieve any objectivity about its place in film history.

It could be "just one more '60s Absurdist Comedy" or it could be in the Top 5.

I do like watching it and the 1989 LET IT RIDE with Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, etc. because both are tales of small people who get caught up in some scheme that grows beyond their imagination, but they hang on anyway. And I get to laugh along the way.

PRODUCERS is the film that made me notice Gene Wilder and Kenneth Mars, and I enjoyed their next 8 years of films completely.
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myrnaloyisdope
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Post by myrnaloyisdope »

I'm currently working on watching the 1000 greatest films according to this site: http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm (it's a great list, you should check it out).

Anyway out of the 670+ films I've watched from it, The Producers is tied with Eyes Wide Shut for my lowest ranking of 3/10. Admittedly I really don't like Mel Brooks' work very much, but The Producers is pretty bad in my opinion. Gene Wilder has like 2 funny lines in the film, but otherwise it's loud, shrill, and badly executed. It takes a good premise and just kills it with gags that take way too long, and just plain obnoxiousness. Shouting is not a joke.
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traceyk
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Post by traceyk »

mrsl wrote:I've only ever been able to get through that first 'musical' number hold and touch or whatever it is, and I change the channel. I have clicked back a couple of times but always land on that Hitler in springtime thing and after gagging, I finally get the channel changed again. It is one of the sickest things I have ever seen, albeit, I admit, I've never actually 'seen' it. I just cannot find anything about Hitler that could be considered humorous. The best thing I can say about him is I'm glad he died the way he did. As a rule, I would never wish such a horrible end to a person, but in Hitler's case, he worked for it, he earned it, and he got his just rewards from it. I'm baaaad!

Anne
Anne-
I think the reason that "Springtime for Hitler" is funny is because it is so unfunny, if you get my meaning. Everyone thinks of him as a monster (and rightly so) and the thought of him rhapsodizing over flowers and so on is so incongruous it becomes funny.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

Tracey, I think you've hit it. No could, or much less try, to make Nazi Germany funny like Brooks. Who else but a Jew could get away with it. His career is full of references, whether movies, or sketch comedy or evne interviews. Something about the Nazis made Brooks pick them as a subject/target of his comedy. Maybe he may have seen them as having a total lack of any type of humor.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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