The Producers

Here's why you should go see the new 'The Producers' movie.
(The one with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick -- the film version of the Broadway version of the original 1968 Mel Brooks film.)

First of all, because it's terrific.

Secondly and most importantly if you're a Mel Brooks fan, it's important you see this movie.

Why?

Some backstory...
One fun drunken night in college, a thought came to me which I scribbled on one of the supporting 2 by 4's of Zac Johnson's apartment bunk loft. It was:

"When you begin to remember the beginning of the moment, the moment is about to run out."

I'm still honing and massaging this little aphorism of mine grammar-wise, but the jist is: when something's about to come to it's natural end, it begins to revert back or get in touch with it's roots and beginning pure state(s). A good example is like when say you're at a party and having a conversation with a stranger you just met. For a few minutes the conversation keeps your attention a little via politeness and introductory banter, then both of you reach a point where there's nothing more to talk about. Uncomfortable pauses, searching for transitional topics for something interesting again, no common ground was reached to take the chat another level. No new sparks of interest arise. Then you find yourself daydreaming a little, remembering what you first started talking about/what got you into the conversation in the first place. You start remembering the beginning of that moment. And usually by this point, it's obvious that the moment of interaction is about to expire. One of you will excuse yourself for a bathroom visit or another drink. It's when you start remembering the beginning that seems to be the signal that the end is near.

So here's what I'm seeing:

This new Producers is the best Mel Brooks movie in a long time. Because it's the same recipe that made the classic Brooks movies (The 1968 Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History of the World) what they were - trained actors from vaudeville and stage who honed the subtleties of live comedy via those performance venues, mastering the exquisite timing and nuances needed to pull it off right. And Mel put them in one space together, aimed the camera and told them "Go!". Like Hitchcock movies, the actors delivered whole scenes in one frame, or with two cameras for each viewpoint. It was not a mechanical volley of separately filmed closeups between the two actors. We saw the actors acting to each other. It was essentially live stage comedy with a camera recording it. Think the old Carol Burnett show on TV.

I said for years that the reason "Spaceballs" and following Brooks movies were not as great as Blazing Saddles was because the primary actors were not trained like the Harvey Korman's, Gene Wilder's, (and Mel Brook's himself.) They paid their comedy dues in front of live audiences. Who do we remember from Spaceballs as being hilarious? Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet and John Candy as the dog/Chewbacca character. Hmmm... those guys were in SCTV a.k.a Second City TV i.e. The Second City LIVE improv comedy group. Bling Blam Traffic Jam! there's your live comedy stage training. No offense but Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga were just impotent in that movie. That's right, impotent with a missing capitol R. Joan Rivers, a veteran live standup comedienne VOICED the female C3PO robot character in that movie and had funnier deliveries than Bill and Daphne put together.

Anyway...
Point is, how cosmically ironic and wonderful:
Mel Brooks FIRST movie (The 1968 Producers utilizing this recipe that starts his film success), he gets a string of classics, then he and his trusted stable of stage actors are replaced with younger/mostly-film actors and his movies start to lose their potency? The comedy timing has to come from quick edits to punch the lines, not the actor's comedy chops or stellar characterizations.

Then fast-forward 30some years and someone gets the idea to take the '68 Producers, adapt it TO THE STAGE, it becomes the biggest hit on Broadway in the beginning of the millenium, then someone greenlights to make a new film version OF THE STAGE PLAY, which was based off the MOVIE that used STAGE techniques??!! Some things protect themselves by being what they are.

I see this as the beauty and genius of Mel Brooks finding it's way back to itself. And this movie feels like a Mel Brooks film. Susan Strohman who directed the Broadway stage show directs the movie, yet Mel helped and the material is pure Mel and it's there. Susan understands Brooks. The movie is filled with the love of life and it's natural hilarity that Mel brought to audiences all along.

So back to my little aphorism -- and I say this with all respect and love, intending no gloom...

Mel is not getting any younger. His beloved wife Ann Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson of 'The Graduate') died in 2005, 30+ years together and reports were it just crushed him. What made Mel Brooks and his movies so loved and treasured has been returned to the world via the original vehicle that started it all for him. His humor, his recipe, his love of life and comedy, delivered by professionals who have the chops to do it justice because they trained in comedy the same way Mel's contemporaries did back in his day.

By this new Producers coming to us, we see the beginning of the Mel Brooks "Moment". And as life and the universe goes in circles, we're coming back around the 'Mel Brooks Circle' to remember the beginning of that "Moment."(Study atoms and the orbiting nature of it's components, then build up all matter from that circular orbiting action.) A take on the concept of "coming full circle." We're seeing the beginning of the moment, which may mean it's about to run out.

I hate to say it, but my heart and mind fears that for Mel, the Great Master of Ceremonies for the Variety Show in the Sky might decide that Mission has been Accomplished and ask Mel to come start writing for his old buddies trying to put a new show together up there.

Go see this new Producers. The cast is perfect, you'll be reminded how fantastic Nathan Lane is, why you respect Matthew Broderick, and yet again how much Uma Thurman can surprise you with talent you never knew she had.

And stick around through all the credits, there's a great treat at the very very very end of the film. If this blog of mine made sense to you as a Mel Brooks fan (or even not), you'll be glad you did.