The Producers

[Mather]

I have no idea how many Mel Brooks fans there are on RevLeft, but does anyone else like The Producers?

IMO one of the funniest films ever.

You can watch the whole film here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaV3b7EG36I

BTW I am on about the original 1968 film and not that awful 2005 remake.

[Susurrus]

I was raised on Mel Brooks. Young Frankenstein is my personal favorite though.

[RED DAVE]

Max Bialystock: You have exactly ten seconds to change that look of disgusting pity into one of enormous respect!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/quotes

Enjoy the quotes; then watch film.

RED DAVE

[Philosopher Jay]

Zero Mostel was one of the great actor-comedians of the Past Century. His performance in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" ranks with Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd in my book. His performance in "The Front" as a Hollywood blacklist victim, is also extraordinary.
The film also contains Gene Wilder's best performance. Unfortunately, after a few brilliant performances in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Sherlock Holmes' Older Brother" "Blazing Saddles," and "The Frisco Kid," he seems to have lost his inspiration and his comedy became pretty routine and dull for his last ten or so films.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Fan? I pretty much worship the ground that Mel Brooks walks on, lol.

Although IMO his best films are Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Blazing Saddles in particular, there are scenes in that film that no matter how many times I watch them never fail to make me laugh so hard I almost cry. I can only think of two or maybe three films that consistently make me laugh like that.

[Pirate Utopian]

Mel Brooks is awesome. The Producers is genius.

[RED DAVE]

Re Blazing Saddles. One night, many long years ago, I went to see Blazing Saddles at an late-night showing in London. The place was pretty crowded; however, there were about seven Americans in the audience. How do I know there were about seven? Because during the course of the movie, seven of us were constantly cracking up while the rest of the house was sitting there with a "What the fuck?" expression on their faces.

RED DAVE

[Mather]

Young Frankenstein is my personal favorite though.


I love that film too.



Re Blazing Saddles. One night, many long years ago, I went to see Blazing Saddles at an late-night showing in London. The place was pretty crowded; however, there were about seven Americans in the audience. How do I know there were about seven? Because during the course of the movie, seven of us were constantly cracking up while the rest of the house was sitting there with a "What the fuck?" expression on their faces.



I get what your saying as not everyone in Britian gets American humour, but I'm British and I love Brooks work, he is indeed a genius.

[Sendo]

I love that film too.



I get what your saying as not everyone in Britian gets American humour, but I'm British and I love Brooks work, he is indeed a genius.

It's probably because Brits are aware of American culture but don't understand its meaning and significance. Many are aware of America's sordid past with racism, but are so ill-equipped to deal with identifying racism.

Cases in point, renowned critic Mark Kermode is hopelessly oblivious to stereotypes and racism in the movies Precious and the Twilight films (yes I saw one of them just to see how BAD they were after reading part of a book...Mormon moralism, white supremacy, sexism, purple prose, deus ex machina, etc).

I was oblivious to the racism in Guy Ritchie's Snatch. It wasn't just depicting racism, it seemed to enjoy making the same jokes. When I first saw it I didn't know about stereotypes of Afro-Caribbean Londoners or the Romany or the Traveler oppression. I thought of it as silly as a 3rd generation Italian American calling his 3rd generation Polish American friend a "polack" in the 21st century. "Fuckn' poikeys!" I had no clue what that was about.

The movie indulges in the humor because they often crack jokes about Brad Pitt's character and family being incomprehensible. To me it's fine because they don't say stuff like "Tuner isn't delicious at all, now'r is it? Sauce code. Go to bad. Click your hiwz together like Dorothy in that ode movie Wizard of Oz. We bof sawr it together. You loved it, innit? Look dare at the big tar on the church roof. Look at 'im lift those weights! 'e is a parful man." I seriously put on subtitles for half the time the Anglo Londoners talked. For the film Layer Cake I had subtitles on the whole time. Anybody who thinks Estuary English is more respectable than Irish or Welsh or rhotic English is a chauvinist.*

A British friend recanted stories about how acquaintances at university would say horrible things like "Paki!" for Pakistanis leaving me baffled as to how it was any worse than saying "Brit!" for the British. Yet he couldn't understand why the Bristolian street named "Black Boy Street" was racist.

Likewise, if he had seen Blazing Saddles I'm sure he wouldn't have understood lines like "Dock that Chink a day's wages for napping on the job." "Sing me a Negro work song...like Swing Low Sweet Chariot."

Point is, you can miss racism in a movie and you can miss depictions of racism in a movie if you don't know the culture. You can learn all about the KKK, Jim Crow laws and segregation, but it doesn't mean you'll recognize a jive-talking crow in an animated film for what it is. Or a British, homosexual lion for that matter.

There have been so many skits on Fry and Laurie and Black Adder I didn't get because I was oblivious to the minutiae of British voting customs or courtroom etiquette or whatever else. I love British humor, but that doesn't mean I'll magically know all of the cultural references.

*It's like Seoulites saying their Korean is "standard" when most Seoulites born after 1945 mix up vowels left and right in casual speech and can't even remember how to spell Kindergartener-level words in a non-contracted form. Good Lord, and then the Americans who flap the t and d in matter and madder and water and pronounce Anne like Ian, yet make fun of people from Dixie.

[Book O'Dead]

I like the original version with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as much as the remake with Mathew Broderick. Also I love the music, "Springtime for Hitler" is a hoot!

[00000000000]

Adore that film, Blazing Saddles runs a close second

'Hey boys, look what I found!'

'Yo, where all the white women at?'

[¿Que?]

Noone here likes spaceballs. That one came out while I was young, so I have a special place for it in my heart. It's also fuckin' funny.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I haven't seen the movie version of the Producers, but I saw it off-Broadway when I was in New York in 2007 or 8 ... Tony Danza was in it.

TKTS rocks for getting cheap same-day theater seats. I saw Avenue Q and Wicked the same way.

And yes, the Producers was funny as hell.