The Producers (2005 film)

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The Producers (2005)

Promotional poster for The Producers (2005)
Directed by Susan Stroman
Produced by Mel Brooks
Jonathan Sanger
Written by Mel Brooks
Thomas Meehan (screenplay)
Starring Nathan Lane
Matthew Broderick
Uma Thurman
Will Ferrell
Gary Beach
Roger Bart
Music by Mel Brooks
Thomas Meehan
Cinematography John Bailey
Charles Minsky
Editing by Steven Weisberg
Distributed by Flag of United States Universal Pictures
Flag of United Nations Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of United States December 16, 2005 (select cities)
Flag of United States December 25, 2005 (nationwide)
Running time 134 minutes
Language English
Budget $45,000,000 USD (estimated)
IMDb profile

The Producers is a 2005 film based on the 2001 Broadway musical of the same name, which is in turn based on the 1968 movie starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder and Andréas Voutsinas. The movie is directed by Susan Stroman (the director and choreographer of the original Broadway production).

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film opens ("Opening Night") with the flop musical "Funny Boy" based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Afterward, Leo Bloom arrives at the office of the show's washed up producer, Max Bialystock. Max has hired Leo Bloom as his accountant. While studying Max's books, Leo inadvertently inspires Max to put on a show that is certain to fail at the box office and cleverly change their accounts leaving them with $2,000,000 to spend. At first, Leo refuses to participate. Max, who cannot change the books himself, attempts to coax Leo into the scheme ("We Can Do It"). Leo still refuses and returns to his old accounting firm, Whitehall & Marks.

After being chastised by Mr. Marks, Leo fantasizes about being a Broadway producer ("I Wanna Be A Producer"). Leo quits his job and with Max, forms Bialystock & Bloom. Max and Leo search for "the worst play ever written" and discover Springtime for Hitler, written by an ex-Nazi named Franz Liebkind. They are coerced into performing Adolf Hitler's favorite tune in order to gain Liebkind's signature for Broadway rights to the musical ("Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop"). They solicit a flamboyant gay director, Roger De Bris (the worst director in the world), to direct and choreograph the play. De Bris initially refuses saying that the musical is far too dark and gritty and that Broadway needs to be more "gay" ("Keep It Gay"). Ulla, a beautiful Swedish woman, appears at their office for casting despite there being no auditions. Max insists on hiring her as their secretary and auditioning her ("When You've Got It, Flaunt It").

To gain the finances for the musical Max has sexual affairs with every old lady across town ("Along Came Bialy"). Max and Leo return the office to discover that Ulla has redecorated it to be entirely white. After Max leaves, Leo laments about Ulla and the dangers of sexual affairs straying him from his work, culminating in a kiss between Leo and Ulla ("That Face"). Later, at the auditions for the role of Hitler, Franz becomes angered at a performer's rendition of a beloved German song. Franz storms the stage and sings the song the correct way ("Haben Sie Gehört Das Deutsche Band?"). Max hires Franz to play Hitler.

On opening night, as the cast and crew prepare to go on stage, Leo wishes everyone "good luck", to which the players are horrified. They explain to Leo that it is in fact "bad luck" to say "good luck" on opening night and that the correct phrase is to say "break a leg" ("It's Bad Luck to Say Good Luck on Opening Night"). Franz leaves to prepare and, in his rush, literally breaks his leg. Max enlists Roger De Bris to perform the role in his place, and Roger accepts.

As the show opens, the audience is horrified and begins to walk out until Roger steps on stage as Hitler. Because his performance is so flamboyant, the audience sees the play as a mockery of Hitler rather than Franz's original vision ("Springtime for Hitler"). As a result, the show is a success and the IRS will be keeping tabs on Max and Leo. Max gets arrested for his tax fraud while Leo and Ulla escape to Rio("Betrayed"), however they return to stand up for Max in court ("'Til Him"). The judge sentences them both to five years at Sing Sing prison, but they are pardoned after writing a musical in prison ("Prisoners of Love"), and go on to become successful Broadway producers.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

The Producers received mixed reviews from critics. One positive online review said: "Outrageous musical numbers evoke most of the laughs in this movie funfest. Eat your heart out, Rockettes, because here comes a little old ladies’ chorus line (“Along Came Bialy”) to rival your success. Watch out, real-life producers, for an actor named Gary Beach (“Heil Myself”). Never, and I mean never, hire him if you want your play to flop! And stop spinning in your grave, Florenz Ziegfeld. Those “Springtime for Hitler and Germany” showgirls are all in good fun. Finally, congratulations to director Susan Stroman, for making this Broadway gem into a film that old-time movie musical fans like me can cheer about."[1]

Nathan Rabin wrote: "Between the rough start and an ending that lingers too long, there's a solid hour or so of terrific entertainment that serves as both a giddy tribute to Broadway musicals and a parody thereof. Thirty-seven years after Brooks declared war on taste and propriety, 'The Producers' has lost its power to shock or offend, but it's retained its ability to amuse."[2]

Roger Ebert cited difficulty in reviewing the film due to familiarity with the original 1968 film. However, he did state that the new version was "fun" and gave it three stars (out of a possible four). Said Ebert: "The new movie is a success, that I know. How much of a success, I cannot be sure."[3]

Most negative reviews suggested that the performances were tuned more for the theater rather than for film. Stephanie Zacharek observed: "'The Producers' is essentially a filmed version of a stage play, in which none of the characters' expressions or line readings have been scaled down to make sense on-screen. Every gesture is played out as if the actors were 20 feet (or more) away in real life, which means that, by the time the performers are magnified on the big screen, they're practically sitting in your lap. The effect is something like watching a 3-D Imax movie without the special glasses.[4]

[edit] Reaction to gay characterizations in the film

The Producers received some negative press for the portrayals of its gay characters and the presentation of exaggerated gay stereotypes and gay jokes.

Stephanie Zacharek, writing at Salon.com, said: "I'm still puzzling out how one of the big numbers, "Make It Gay" -- featuring an array of prancing, preening extras, as well as Roger Bart in a black turtleneck outfit laden with chains and pendant-style magnifying glasses -- is supposed to be anything other than homophobic, or at least just assertively clueless. I suppose this display is potentially defensible as a so-called celebration of stereotypes, but I'm not buying it."[4]

Gary Kramer, writing for the San Francisco Bay Times, noted: "...when Max and Leo meet Roger De Bris (Gary Beach)...and his partner/assistant Carmen Ghia (Roger Bart), these quite queer men play up the gay stereotype. It is meant to be campy fun...but as the scene goes on, it get[s] more over the top, and less amusing. When a mock troupe of Village People arrive for a conga, finishing off the big musical number “Keep It Gay,” the scene’s silliness is not infectious, but irritating."[5]

[edit] Trivia

  • In the scene when Ulla first enters Bialystock's office, the King Leer poster next to the door can be seen, and after a few seconds, its eyes start spinning.
  • The bit that Max Bialystock reads and claims to be 'too good' as he searches for the worst play is the opening section of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
  • The voices of 'Tom The Cat' (who is thrown by Bialystock into the theater) and the Stormtrooper who says 'Don't be stupid, be a smartie, come and join the Nazi Party!' are provided by Mel Brooks, two voices he also pre-recorded for the Broadway show and one voice (the latter) that he did in the original movie.
  • After the closing credits, there is an additional song where the cast bids good-bye to the audience. This number is also sung in the stage production right after the final company bow. At the end of the number is a cameo by Mel Brooks himself, who tells the audience: 'Get out, it's over'. In an interview, Brooks complained that audiences wanted to stay in the theater after the show was over. He specifically wrote this song to tell everyone to leave.
  • When Max is visiting the old ladies in their apartment buildings, he pushes a lot of intercom buttons. One of the names is A. Bancroft, a reference to Mel Brooks' late wife, Anne Bancroft. Another is labeled 'J. Gatsby', a reference to the eponymous protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Others include Bloomingdales, which is the name of a department store, and Tisch, which also bears the Tisch School of Arts and Tisch Hospital at NYU. Another name there is C. F. Kane, referring to Charles Foster Kane, from the film Citizen Kane. One more name is E. Wharton, referring to Edith Wharton author of "Ethan Frome" Yet another button reads "M. Kaminsky", a reference to Mel Brooks' birth name, Melvin Kaminsky. Further Names include A. Carnegie (Andrew Carnegie) and J. Rockefeller (John D. Rockefeller).
  • A black fedora is the "Broadway producer's hat" that Max finally allows Leo to wear in the last scene.
  • While talking about the $2,000 missing from Max's books after "Funny Boy", the calendar behind Max and Leo reads June 16th. The date is known as "Bloomsday" (later referenced when Leo and Max agree go ahead with their plan) by fans of James Joyce and his novel Ulysses. Joyce's character Leopold Bloom experiences extraordinary things on what's supposed to be an ordinary day - June 16th.

[edit] References to other Brooks movies

In the movie there are references to other movies by Mel Brooks, including:

  • High Anxiety; when Ulla asks if she can audition for Max and Leo, Leo starts to say, "Oh no, miss, that won't be nece–" and Max interrupts him, saying, "Yes, it is 'nece,' extremely 'nece!'"
  • Blazing Saddles; while looking over the contracts in the freshly-painted office, Leo says to himself, "Work work work, work work work, work work work."
  • Silent Movie; The "walker dance" during the number "Along Came Bialy"

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.reeltalkreviews.com/browse/viewitem.asp?type=review&id=1515
  2. ^ The Producers
  3. ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Producers review", RogerEbert.com, 2005-12-16. Retrieved on January 26, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Zacharek, Stephanie,"The Producers", retrieved January 26, 2007 from salon.com
  5. ^ The Producers on The Big Screen Fizzles, retrieved January 26, 2007 from sfbaytimes.com

[edit] See Also

Differences between film and musical versions of The Producers.

[edit] External links

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