The Producers (1968)
July 23rd, 2003 at 7:33 pm (3 - Enjoyed it)
It is amazing that in all my movie watching I had never before ran across Broadway stage star and three time Tony Award winner Zero Mostel. In The Producers (1968) he plays Max Bialystock, a manipulative play producer / con man. From his first moments on screen he is an absolute riot as he plays on the insecurities of accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) and the laughter does not stop until the movie’s end. The ridiculous plot of two stage producers who want to put the sure-fire flop ‘Springtime for Hitler’ on Broadway in order to bilk investors out of their money proves an adequate vehicle for Zero and Wilder to play their odd characters to their over-the-top limit. The Producers has the odd trivia claims of supposedly being the first place the world saw a high five as well as the first use of the term creative accounting.