The Producers

The Producers (1968) is Mel Brooks' comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Washed-up Broadway producer Max Bialystock scrapes by romancing rich little old ladies out of their checkbooks. Then a jittery accountant shows up at his office with a deranged idea that changes everything.

The accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), notices something: you could make more money on a flop than on a hit. Oversell shares far beyond the actual budget, mount a guaranteed disaster, let it close on opening night, and pocket the difference. To be sure it bombs, Max (Zero Mostel) picks a musical called "Springtime for Hitler," a chirpy tribute to the Fuhrer. The scheme is airtight right up until the audience starts to applaud.

This was Brooks' directing debut, and it won him an Oscar for the screenplay before growing into a cult favorite and a smash Broadway musical decades later. The comedy is gleefully tasteless and provocative, which is entirely the point. Mostel and Wilder play off each other like a wound-up spring. Stream The Producers (1968) online on iFILM.