A Quick Tip by ArthurPanther

The trend is to convertmovies into stage musicals, butThe Producersgoes a step further: making a feature film of the smash-hitstage musicalthat was adapted from the1968 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 ...

Cast: Matthew Broderick, Will Ferrell, Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane, Michael McKean, Andrea Martin, William Hickey, Kenneth Mars, Jon Lovitz, David Huddleston, Estelle Winwood, Roger Bart, Renée Taylor, Josip Elic, Debra Monk, Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks, Bernie Allen, Eileen Essell, David Evans, Shimen Ruskin, Frank Campanella, Dick Shawn, Michael Davis, Zero Mostel, Barney Martin, Zale Kessler, Frank Shaw, Andréas Voutsinas, Tucker Smith, Arthur Rubin, Lee Meredith, Christopher Hewett, Anne Ives, Diana Eden, David Patch, Madelyn Cates, Gary Beach, Susann Fletcher

Director: Mel Brooks

Genre: Comedy, Music, Musical

Release Date: January 1, 1968, December 16, 2005

Screen Writer: Mel Brooks

Runtime: 1hr 30min, 2hrs 9min