Formal Review of "The Producers"

                Mel Brooks’ classic film The Producers is a grand look at various stereotypes with a comedic flair. When washed up Broadway star, Max Bialypstock, meets Leo Bloom, an extremely nervous accountant, the two work together to swindle money from innocent old women by having them invest money in a sure-fire flop play. They choose to produce a guaranteed failure of a play titled, “Springtime for Hitler: a Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden,” which was written by Franz Liebkind, an undercover Nazi, to extol the virtues of Hitler. To further guarantee that the play is a failure, Max also employs the worst director he can find, an eccentric man of questionable sexual orientation named Roger De Bris. The group thinks they have a sure-fire flop on their hands when they hire a local hippy, LSD, to play the main role of Hitler. However, things go awry when LSD’s performance turns the play from an uncomfortable praise of Hitler to a successful spoof of all things German. In one last, mad attempt to save themselves from prison, Max and Leo team up with Franz, who is extremely upset with the mockery made of his play, to blow up the theater that is hosting their play. In the end, all three of them end up in court. By far, the most enjoyable part of The Producers is Mel Brooks’ take on several classic stereotypes. Three of the most masterful of these stereotypical characters are Max, Franz, and LSD.

                Max Bialystock, played by Zero Mostel, is your stereotypical sleeze-ball, complete with New York accent, rumpled clothing, greasy hair, and questionable hygiene skills. Not only does he look like a greasy con-man, he acts like one as well by lying, manipulating, scheming, and being a general cheapskate. From the very beginning of the film we see Max lie to and manipulate other people. He has sex with little old ladies so that they will give him money to produce terrible plays, but lies to them about both the plays and his intentions toward them. Max even goes so far as to hide and switch out photographs of the old women, depending which one is coming over next. Later, Max manipulates Leo into helping him carry out the money-swindling scheme that Leo accidentally came up with. Max tells Leo how easy it would be to get away with, makes him think he’s on the bottom and deserves to be treated better, and that the two of them are friends. Throughout the film, Max also demonstrates just how cheap he is. He lives in a rundown apartment, which he avoids paying for, wears a cardboards belt, buys the cheapest food possible when he takes Leo out to lunch, and is even willing to destroy public property and kill innocent people in order to avoid paying money. It is quite likely that Max Bialypstock is the finest example of human scum to ever grace the film industry.

Franz Liebkin, played by Kenneth Mars, is the poster child for the German Nazi stereotype. One of Franz’s most notable features, besides his outrageous German accent, is his helmet. Regardless of the situation or the attire required, Franz keeps his military helmet firmly atop his head at all times. In addition to his war-time head gear, Franz remains ready for war by caring for messenger pigeons, which he uses to send messages back to his home country. Despite his clearly Germanic allegiance, Franz does his best to seem like an America-loving citizen. Any momentary slip-ups that may reveal his true allegiance are quickly smothered out by Franz’s recitation of notably “American” pieces such as The Pledge of Allegiance and Yankee Doodle Dandy. If all of this didn’t put the icing on the proverbial German chocolate cake, even Franz’s play is full to the brim with even more German Nazi stereotypes. In the show’s opening number we see men wearing lederhosen and women wearing milk maid costumes; scantily clad women sporting symbols such as beer, pretzels, medals, and ravens; mentions of the “master race,” and Düsseldorf; men and women in Nazi uniforms saluting Hitler, dodging pretend bullets, listening for bombs, and forming a giant swastika together; and to end the number a giant picture of Hitler is lowered, Nazi party flags are brought on stage, and fake cannons are shot. Absolutely everything about Franz Liebkin screams Nazi Germany and it is absolutely wonderful.

Lastly, we have my favorite character in the film: Lorenzo St. DuBois, better known as LSD, played by Dick Shawn. LSD is the film’s token hippy stereotype. With The Producers being released in the late sixties, it’s no wonder that this particular stereotype found its way into the film. Just as he did with his role as Sylvester Marcus in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Dick Shawn does a wonderful job portraying a smooth, sixties beatnik. Even if LSD never said a word throughout the entire film, you would still be able to tell that he is a hippy. Everything about his appearance screams “flower child” from his outfit, which consists of a black shirt, a pair of striped pants, and thigh-high boots, to the Campbell’s Soup can he has strung around his neck, and to the bouquet daisies he carries into his audition. Fortunately for the audience, LSD has plenty to say… Once he is able to remember his name that is. From here LSD not only spouts plenty of sixties lingo in an incredibly laid back manner, but he actually sings a song for his audition entitled, “Love Power,” in which he states that, “Love power will rule the earth and there will be a great rebirth,” and that, “If everybody in the world today had a flower instead of a gun, there would be no wars.” Throughout his audition he shows off some strange interpretative dancing and throws flowers at the director, his assistant, and the producers. After he is hired to play the role of Hitler in “Springtime for Hitler,” LSD singlehandedly ensures that the play is a success as his “groovy” tendencies cause him to portray Hitler, the ruthless dictator that he was, as a silly, incompetent fool. For his downright silliness and his cleverly given acronym, LSD, Lorenzo St. Dubois is one of the best stereotypes present in The Producers and my favorite character in the entire film.

Although there were definitely things about The Producers that I didn’t enjoy such as an overabundance of sexual innuendos, I found most of the film (especially the second half) to be thoroughly enjoyable. As usual, Mel Brook’s humor is genius, the performances of actors such as Dick Shawn and Gene Wilder (though I did not talk about his character in this review) were wonderful, the original songs were extremely well written, and, of course, Mel Brook’s ability to poke fun at different stereotypes is fantastic. While it wasn’t one of my favorite films, I would definitely recommend The Producers to anyone who enjoys great humor and doesn’t mind a little crude humor. Personally, if I were to watch it again I would likely skip to a point further into the movie after most of the crude humor is done with.