History Film / TheProducers

* BaitAndSwitch: At Max's trial, Leo and the old ladies show up to defend him. Leo says that Max believed in him when no one else did, and the old ladies assert that they don't care about the scheme. Even Roger says they gave him the best show he ever did. The judge seems touched...and then sentences Leo and Max to prison time. A scam is still a scam and they would have defrauded the IRS.

Bialystock and Bloom's plan culminates in a production which the opening night audience finds ''funny'' [[PoesLaw (they think it's satire)]], and since the play is announced to be a [[SoBadItsGood smash]] [[GoneHorriblyRight success]], things only go downhill from there.

'''Leo:''' ''(aside to Max)'' What pun?\\
'''Max:''' ''(aside to Leo)'' Shut up! He thinks he's witty!

* FailureGambit: The core of the plot is of course a Failure Gambit that... [[SpringtimeForHitler fails]].

* GiftedlyBad: Roger De Bris, whose plays get canceled the moment the actors begin rehearsing. Not to mention Franz Liebkind, whose play was already terrible before De Bris got his hands on it, and LSD, a "performance artist" of the worst kind.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Max and Leo produce an extremely offensive musical, hoping that people will hate it and they can make off with the massively-oversold backing shares. The show crosses the line so thoroughly that it comes back again, and audiences find it hysterical. Max even invokes the trope outright:

* InformedFlaw: Roger De Bris is supposed to be "the worst director in town," but subject matter aside, he puts on one hell of a musical. The only real criticism of his directing is that the aesthetic he prefers is a bit too campy.

** [=DeBris=] is debris. (BilingualBonus Also points out "bris".)

---> '''Max Bialystock''': How dare you condemn me without knowing all the facts!\\
'''Leo Bloom''': Mr. Bialystock, I don't condemn--\\
'''Max Bialystock''': Shut up! I'm having a rhetorical conversation.

* SexyPackaging \ CoversAlwaysLie: The poster basically sold it as if it were some sort of strange, softcore, porn by including nothing but a line drawing of Ulla sporting a Hitler-style moustache. No mention of its being a comedy or the premise or even of Mel Brooks (who was already known as a comedy writer), just an attempt at offbeat sex-appeal. Not surprisingly, the film flopped.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Max isn't liking the positive reviews. Not because he doesn't respect the reviewers, but because he was hoping for a flop.
* ZanyScheme: The whole plot. Max and Leo embezzled a hefty sum of money for the budget, and the IRS will not investigate that money if the play is an utter flop. Thus, they concoct a scheme in which they produce a play that is so bad it shuts down on the opening night, and they settle on a play based on a vocal Nazi's barely-legible, schlocky screed of a script extolling Hitler. They also hire Roger De Bris, whose plays are routinely canceled the moment the actors start rehearsing, as director in an attempt to guarantee that the play will be a flop. This might have worked, given that Roger, for all his campy transvestite quirks, can stage a decent story from a bad script, but then Lorenzo St. [=DuBois=], a drugged-out hippie who wandered into the theatre by mistake, gets cast as Hitler...

** Roger [=DeBris=] [[spoiler:gets to put on a smash hit Broadway musical and even star in it]]!

** [=DeBris=]' name [[BrickJoke is also Elizabeth]], but he doesn't seem too embarrassed by it. It's more there so Max and Leo can do a quick AsideGlance.

* GiftedlyBad: Subverted with Roger de Bris. He actually is a great director, and the man can sing and dance.

* SpringtimeForHitler: Just like the original 1967 film, Max and Leo attempt to profit from the biggest Broadway flop by producing a pro-Nazi musical. Max gets his two million from "old ladies" without intending to give any of that back since he and Leo intended to close the musical on opening night as a massive failure and claim the profits since the IRS doesn't investigate failed musicals. They initially have Franz cast as Hitler, but after Franz is injured, Roger Debris takes over the lead role...and his outrageous, over-the-top and campy portrayal of Hitler causes the musical to be mistaken for anti-Nazi satire and become a surprise smash, causing Max and Leo's scheme to fail and leaving them doomed to be charged for fraud since they can't pay back their investors.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Roger [=DeBris=], who is supposed to be in costume as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, to which he claims that he thinks he looks more like "the Chrysler Building."

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Max and Leo assume that Roger De Bris is the worst director they could find, given that his plays get shut down the moment his actors begin rehearsing. They are very put out to learn that Roger is actually a good director because, for all his quirks, he knows how to stage a decent story from a bad script.

The two schemers choose as their Broadway bomb ''SpringtimeForHitler'', a "love letter" to the [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler German dictator]] written by unrepentant Nazi Franz Liebkind. In the original film, their chosen director is Roger [=DeBris=], who is [[GiftedlyBad wholly untalented]] and [[CampGay flamboyantly gay]], while Hitler is played by Lorenzo St. [=DuBois=] ("LSD"), a charismatic but seriously brain-damaged hippie. In the musical, Liebkind is chosen for the role of Hitler, but breaks his leg at the last minute and is replaced by [=DeBris=].

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Max and Leo assume that Roger [=deBris=] is the worst director they could find. They are very put out to learn that Roger is actually a good director because, for all his quirks, he knows how to stage a decent story from a bad script.

* CannotTellAJoke: Roger de Bris.

** InUniverse, Roger de Bris has issues with the third act.

* GiftedlyBad: Roger de Bris. Not to mention Franz Liebkind, whose play was already terrible before de Bris got his hands on it, and LSD, a "performance artist" of the worst kind.

* InformedFlaw: Roger [=DeBris=] is supposed to be "the worst director in town", but subject matter aside, he puts on one ''hell'' of a musical. The only real criticism that could be said about his directing is that the aesthetic he prefers is a bit too campy.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Mel Brooks based Roger [=DeBris=]' elevator on a real friend's. It, too, was tiny and could barely handle three people. And yes, he did tell people to remove their shoes before entering, too.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Not that Leo and Max are saints, but Franz being a ''Nazi'' (while they're just conmen committing a mostly VictimlessCrime) definitely puts him as this for their team. He's even still [[EasilyForgiven working with them by the end!]]

* VictimlessCrime: Until they try to blow up the theater, Max and Leo's biggest sin is defrauding their investors. However, their investors in question are heavily implied to care less about the show or making money back and more about [[DirtyOldLady jumping Max's bones]]. Essentially, their scheme comes down to prostitution between consenting adult parties, which is illegal but victimless.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Roger [=DeBris=], who is supposed to be in costume as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, to which he claims that he thinks he looks more like "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Dressler Tugboat Annie]]."

* ZanyScheme: The whole plot. Max and Leo embezzled a hefty sum of money for the budget, and the IRS will not investigate that money if the play is an utter flop. Thus, they concoct a scheme in which they produce a play that is so bad it shuts down on the opening night, and they settle on a play based on a vocal Nazi's barely-legible, schlocky screed of a script extolling the Nazi party. The plan would have worked too if only the script were played straight, but Max and Leo had to hire Roger De Bris and Lorenzo St. Dubois to be extra certain that the play will crash and burn... but it doesn't.

* MadnessMantra: After ''Springtime for Hitler'' becomes a surprise hit, Leo keeps babbling "no way out" as he realises his and Max's scheme had failed.

* MisplacedADecimalPoint: Invoked. When begging Leo to not report his small-scale embezzlement at the beginning, Max tells him he should just misplace a few decimals.

* SecurityBlanket: Leo keeps a bit of his baby blanket on him in his jacket pocket.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Not that Leo and Max are saints, but Franz being a ''Nazi'' (while they're just conmen committing a mostly VictimlessCrime) definently puts him as this for their team. He's even still [[EasilyForgiven working with them by the end!]]
* TruthInTelevision: Because homophobia was so virulent in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, it was not uncommon for powerful gay men to "camp it up" and/or [[ObfuscatingStupidity "play dumb"]] around powerful straight men who wanted to work with them as a way to test who would be safe for them to work with and who would end up becoming a potentially lethal problem for them. In this case, Max and Leo pass the test in proving that despite their obvious discomfort they will treat Roger and Carmen with respect (for the most part) and never prove to be a danger to them.

* UnconventionalCourtroomTactics: [[AFoolForAClient Leo]] tries to appeal to the judge's compassion and sympathy, "no harm done", the old ladies concur with an applause, and Max shows a deep remorse. An uplifting music accompanies the scene, it looked like a convincing defense, [[HopeSpot right?]] SmashCut to the exterior of the jail where the duo is imprisoned.

* VictimlessCrime: Until they try to blow up the theater, Max and Leo's biggest sin is defrauding their investors. However, their investors in question are heavily implied to care less about the show or making money back and more about [[DirtyOldLady jumping Max's bones]]. Essentially, their scheme comes down to prostitution between consenting adult parties, which is illegal, but victimless.
* VillainProtagonist: Max and Leo may be funny, but they're both trying to defraud little old ladies and blow up the theater to coverup their misdeeds.

* ZanyScheme: The whole plot.

** Leo shouts [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_World_%E2%80%93_I_Want_to_Get_Off "Stop the world--I want to get on!"]]

** The ending has Bialystock and Bloom putting on several [[BlandNameProduct familiar-sounding productions]], which include: [[Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire ''A Streetcar Named Murray'']]; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Stoops_to_Conquer ''She Shtupps to Conquer'']]; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Button_Shoes ''High Button Jews'']]; [[Theatre/SouthPacific ''South Passaic'']]; [[Theatre/{{Cats}} ''Katz'']]; [[Theatre/{{Fame}} ''Maim'']]; [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman -- [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers On Ice!]]''

''The Producers'' is a 1967 comedy film written and directed by Creator/MelBrooks; it stars Creator/ZeroMostel as failed Broadway producer Max Bialystock and Creator/GeneWilder as fearful accountant Leo Bloom. The film, now considered a comedy classic, launched Brooks' long film career; several decades later, he adapted it into a [[TheMusical Broadway musical]] starring Creator/NathanLane and Creator/MatthewBroderick (as Bialystock and Bloom, respectively) which won twelve [[UsefulNotes/TonyAwardWinners Tony Awards]] (the most Tonys a Platform/{{Broadway}} production has ever received). The show and original film also won two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s (Best Long Form Music Video and Best Musical Show Album) and an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for best screenplay, making this production responsible for six of Mel Brooks' collection of eleven major awards in the entertainment industry. The Broadway adaptation was itself adapted into a film in 2005 (featuring Lane and Broderick in the primary roles), but this adaptation wasn't as well-received as the original film or the Broadway production.

''The Producers'' is a 1967 comedy film written and directed by Creator/MelBrooks; it stars Creator/ZeroMostel as failed Broadway producer Max Bialystock and Creator/GeneWilder as fearful accountant Leo Bloom. The film, now considered a comedy classic, launched Brooks' long film career; several decades later, he adapted it into a [[TheMusical Broadway musical]] starring Creator/NathanLane and Creator/MatthewBroderick (as Bialystock and Bloom, respectively) which won twelve [[UsefulNotes/TonyAwardWinners Tony Awards]] (the most Tonys a UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} production has ever received). The show and original film also won two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s (Best Long Form Music Video and Best Musical Show Album) and an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for best screenplay, making this production responsible for six of Mel Brooks' collection of eleven major awards in the entertainment industry. The Broadway adaptation was itself adapted into a film in 2005 (featuring Lane and Broderick in the primary roles), but this adaptation wasn't as well-received as the original film or the Broadway production.