April 'Nick's Pix:' THE PRODUCERS & Book Signing!

Well, it’s April, which means it’s springtime. And around here, that can only mean one thing: Springtime for Hitler.

Yes, I am unbelievably excited to be hosting one of my favorite comedies of all time, one of Mel Brooks’ greatest movies, and one of the most outrageous directorial debuts in film history, The Producers, on Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Theater in Oak Park as part of my 'Nick’s Pix' series.

And believe me, if there was ever a movie built to be seen with a crowd, in a beautiful old theater, on a big screen, with people laughing together until they can’t breathe, it’s this one.

The Producers, An Audacious Classic

Now, if somehow you’ve never seen The Producers, here’s the basic setup. Zero Mostel plays Max Bialystock, a washed-up Broadway producer who survives by charming lonely old ladies out of their money while pretending every dollar is going toward his next theatrical triumph.

Gene Wilder plays Leo Bloom, a timid, nervous, spectacularly high-strung accountant who stumbles into Max’s office to do his books and then stumbles into a realization that changes everything.

If a producer can make more money with a flop than with a hit by overselling shares in the show and then pocketing the difference, why not create the most spectacular disaster in Broadway history and cash in? So Max and Leo set out to do exactly that.

They find the worst script imaginable, a deranged love letter to Hitler called Springtime for Hitler, hire the worst possible director, cast the worst possible star, and prepare for a catastrophe. Only, of course, the catastrophe doesn’t go the way they planned.

Controversial, But Hilarious

That premise alone is insane. It was insane in 1967, it’s insane now, and that’s part of what makes the movie so extraordinary. Mel Brooks took one of the most taboo subjects imaginable and attacked it the only way he knew how: with ridicule, with absurdity, with satire, and with nerve. A lot of nerve.

This movie caused controversy from the beginning, and it still makes some people squirm, which frankly is part of the point. Brooks understood something very important, and it runs through all of his best work: tyrants, monsters, and idiots lose power when you laugh at them. Make them ridiculous, turn them into buffoons, expose their vanity and stupidity, and suddenly they don’t look so invincible anymore.

And The Producers does that with a kind of fearless comic insanity that almost nobody else could pull off. Mel Brooks wrote it, directed it, and because nobody else wanted to direct something this outrageous, he just did it himself. Thank God he did.

Oscar Winning Mel Brooks!

It became his first film as a director, and he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for it, which is still one of the great well-deserved comedy Oscars. This is where movie-Mel Brooks really announced himself, and what an announcement it is.

The movie is wild, twisted, gleefully tasteless in exactly the right way, and packed with the kind of comic set pieces and sharp satirical jabs that Brooks would go on to perfect in films like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, and History of the World: Part I.

The Performances

But what really makes The Producers soar, what takes it from being merely outrageous to truly great, are the performances.

Zero Mostel is just spectacular. He is huge, loud, shameless, sweaty, scheming, desperate, theatrical with a capital T, and absolutely perfect as Max Bialystock. He barrels through this movie like a force of nature.

And then you have Gene Wilder, who gives one of my favorite comic performances ever put on film. Wilder’s Leo Bloom is all nerves and panic and suppressed hysteria, and every single line reading, every little physical twitch, every escalating meltdown is funny. He is wonderfully subdued and yet completely bonkers at the same time, which is not easy to do.

My favorite line in the entire movie, and one that makes me laugh every single time no matter how many times I’ve seen it, comes after he’s been tackled and crushed and he squeaks out, “I fell on my keys.” I don’t know why that line hits me the way it does, but it kills me. Every time.

And then the supporting cast just keeps piling on the greatness. Kenneth Mars is outrageously funny as the lunatic Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, playing him with such committed absurdity that every scene is a comic time bomb.

Dick Shawn, as the hippie actor who wanders in and ends up playing Hitler, is one of the movie’s secret weapons, just hilariously bizarre and totally unforgettable.

Christopher Hewett, Andreas Voutsinas, Lee Meredith, the whole cast understands exactly the kind of heightened lunacy Brooks is going for, and they go for it without fear.

That’s one of the things I love most about The Producers. It doesn’t hedge. It doesn’t apologize. It doesn’t half-step. It commits. Completely. It is broad and sharp at the same time.

A Riotous Tribute to Broadway

It is vulgar and smart at the same time. It is a satire of Broadway, of show business, of greed, vanity, fraud, bad taste, ego, and performance itself.

It’s also, somehow, a genuinely great musical comedy even before it became an actual Broadway musical decades later. The title number, “Springtime for Hitler,” remains one of the most jaw-droppingly funny musical sequences ever filmed, this gigantic, insane, lavish production number that keeps topping itself in sheer audacity.

And this is exactly the kind of movie I love sharing with an audience. That’s what 'Nick’s Pix' is all about. On the second Wednesday of every month, I get to take over the Lake Theater and show one of my favorite movies on the big screen, introduce it, watch it with you, and then talk about it afterwards.

And for April, I thought, let’s laugh. Let’s have a great time. Let’s get out, go to the movies, sit in one of the most beautiful theaters in Illinois, and watch one of the funniest films ever made with a room full of people ready to laugh out loud together.

So here’s what’s happening. On Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Theater in Oak Park, I’ll be presenting The Producers in a beautiful 4K restoration on the big screen in the big house.

I’ll introduce the film beforehand, we’ll watch it together, and afterward we’ll have an interactive discussion, some Q&A, some trivia, and we’ll give away cool prizes, including T-shirts, movie passes, and even a copy of my book 40 Years, 40 Films.

A Book Signing: 40 Years, 40 Films

And yes, this is also a book-signing event. Before the movie and after the movie, I’ll be in the lobby with copies of 40 Years, 40 Films, which I’m incredibly proud of. It’s my autobiographical journey through my 40 years as a film critic, featuring essays on my favorite movie from each year since 1985.

So if you haven’t picked up a copy yet, or if you want one for yourself or as a gift, come by, say hello, grab a copy, and I’ll sign it for you. We’ll take pictures, talk movies, hang out, and make a really fun night of it.

This is going to be a spectacular evening. A hilarious evening. A pure movie-lover’s night out. Mel Brooks’ The Producers is one of the classic comedies of all time, and seeing it with a crowd is an absolute blast. It’s rude, risky, ridiculous, brilliant, and still laugh-out-loud funny nearly sixty years later.

So come join me for The Producers A 'Nick's Pix' Screening:

• Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m.

• The Lake Theater in Oak Park.

• Tickets are $9 for adults, $7 for seniors,

• Tickets: classiccinemas.com/nick.

It’s going to be a big, loud, hilarious night, and I cannot wait to laugh along with you. Don’t miss it.

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