The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
by Susan Stroman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gary Beach, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman, Will FerrellDirector: Susan Stroman
Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-16
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Entertaining Musical
Summary: 5 Stars
Musical: From Broadway to Hollywood
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
This screen adaptation of Mel Brooks' hit Broadway musical was perhaps the most entertaining movie I saw in 2005. I even liked it better than the 1968 original that starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.
Some reviewers have criticized stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick for overacting their roles on screen. One of these writers said that the performers were "playing to the upper balcony".
Perhaps these critics should take another look at the 1968 version, because if Lane and Broderick are playing to the upper balcony, then Mostel and Wilder are certainly playing to the theater across the street.
The plot of the musical, which involves two uscrupulous Broadway producers who discover that it's more profitable to produce a flop instead of a hit, follows the storyline of the original almost to the letter...with one key exception.
It eliminates the character of the hippie actor, played in 1968 by Dick Shawn, and divides that character's function between Will Ferrell, who plays the Nazi playwright, and Gary Beach, cast as the gay theatre director.
Beach is a delight in the "Springtime For Hitler" production number and Ferrell steals every scene in which he appears.
Also in the cast are Uma Thurman, as the producer's sexy secretary and Roger Bart, who like Beach and the two stars, appeared in the Broadway production.
Among the DVD extras are an audio commentary by director Susan Stroman, a hilarious gag reel and deleted scenes, including one song, "King of Broadway" that should NOT have been cut. It would have been the best production number in the movie.
? Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)
Summary of The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
This remake of Mel Brooks 1968 film features Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the roles that they originated in the smash Broadway adaptation of the original film. Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Lane) is famous for his spectacular opening night flops. Leopold Bloom (Broderick) is an uptight accountant who virtually discovers gold while reviewing Max s books. When Leo realizes that you can actually make more money with a flop than with a hit the two team up and begin a search for both the worst script and the worst director they can find to ensure failure. The script selection seems easy when the duo stumble upon SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER an homage to the Fuhrer penned by Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell) a German sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Convinced that the script will incite outrage the duo needs a bad director to seal the deal. Campy director Roger DeBris (Gary Beach) and his assistant (Roger Bart) fit the bill perfectly. But when their scheme fails Max and Leo find themselves with the worst possible outcome: a hit. To make matters worse Franz is just a little peeved that Hitler was depicted disrespectfully--and he has a gun. Will Max and Leo survive the playwright s wrath? Will they go to jail for cooking the books? And will Leo ever submit to the advances of sexy Swedish receptionist/actress Ulla (Uma Thurman)? Directed by stage director Susan Stroman making her feature film directorial debut this riotous romp features lots of laughs from the major players as well as brief appearances by Jon Lovitz Michael McKean and Richard Kind. Lane and Broderick make it easy to understand why the show was an unprecedented hit on Broadway and Ferrell is a scene-stealer as Liebkind.System Requirements:Running Time 135 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?COMEDY Rating:?PG-13 UPC:?025192843723 Manufacturer No:?28437The trend is to convert movies into stage musicals, but The Producers goes a step further: making a feature film of the smash-hit stage musical that was adapted from the 1968 film. The chief drawing card, of course, is Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their roles from the stage. Lane plays Max Bialystock, a legendary Broadway producer who hasn't had a hit show in a long time. Enter nebbish accountant Leo Bloom (Broderick), who tells Bialystock he could actually make more money with a flop than a hit. So the two set out to produce the worst Broadway musical of all time, one guaranteed to close on opening night, with the collaboration of an outrageous cast of characters: Will Ferrell as sieg heil-ing author Franz Liebkind, Uma Thurman as Swedish bombshell Ulla, Gary Beach as director Roger De Bris, and Roger Bart as his assistant, Carmen Ghia, among others.
As directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman (who did the same honors on Broadway) and co-written by Mel Brooks, The Producers is laugh-out-loud funny. It's also a relentlessly over-the-top, shamelessly bawdy, stereotype-ridden comedy that may turn off its audience just as much as its centerpiece, Springtime for Hitler, was intended to. But Broadway fans who are used to larger-than-life figures who play to the back row while showering the first row with spit, are likely to forgive and just enjoy the famous granny-walker dance, a supporting cast dotted with Broadway performers (playing a taxi driver is Brad Oscar, who originated the role of Liebkind on Broadway then later played Bialystock), or the mere spectacle of seeing Lane and Broderick memorializing the performances that millions never got a ticket to see. (For maximum laughs, stick around through the closing credits.) --David Horiuchi
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