Comedy
Cast
Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder
Director
Mel Brooks
Release Date
January 1, 1968
Rating
NR
My Rating
B
Made in 1968 as a movie, this is now a very popular Broadway show. Some of the people playing the characters are Jason Alexander, Martin Short, and most notably with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick who are going to be in the new movie version. The movie was written and directed by Mel Brooks, the comic genius behind Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, and Young Frankenstein.
This movie is about a man named Max Bialystock, a theater producer who has hit rock bottom. He is so desperate for money that he "entertains" (?) little old widows who have lots of money. Anyway, one day, a timid, anxious, still-carries-around-his-baby-blanket accountant comes into Bialystock's life. His name is Leo Bloom, brilliantly played by Gene Wilder (aka Willy Wonka). When Bloom discovers that Max owes 2000 dollars, they come up with a scheme to earn millions by creating a flop of a play, meaning that they would pick the worst script, worst director, and worst actor to make the play suck. The play they end up picking is "Springtime for Hitler" written by an old Nazi soldier named Franz Liebkind. Then they pick a director who, when they meet him, is dressed in a formal gown�I thought it was so strange. Then, the actor they pick is basically a hippie who seems to be high on something�probably L.S.D. because that's what his name is. Well kind of, it's Lorenzo St. DuBois or L.S.D. Anyway, they think they have gotten away with their scam when everyone in the audience starts to leave the theater in the opening act when the cast sings "Springtime for Hitler and Germany!!!" It's so funny though. So Bloom and Max leave the theater and get drunk, come back after Intermission only to find that everyone now thinks it is hilarious. So they end up going to jail with Franz only to start another play about prisoners.
This definitely wasn't one of the funniest movies I've seen, but there were a lot of funny parts in it. I would definitely recommend seeing the original before the new one comes out in 2005. And I can't wait for that one. So definitely see this movie�it is worth the watch.
