109. The Producers (1968) (with Harry Marks)

Load Bearing Beams

It’s Springtime for Laci and Matt as film historian Harry Marks (@lobbyintros on TikTok) joins the show to go over Mel Brooks’s first movie: the classic comedy The Producers (1968). Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder give two of the funniest performances ever… but what about the rest of the movie? Is it laugh-out-loud-funny in 2024? Or is it hopelessly dated? Or is there possibly a third option?

Harry’s making great videos about classic films on his TikTok. We’d like to point you specifically to his movie intros (https://bit.ly/3TB6KVV), his series on the Hollywood Blacklist (https://bit.ly/43EsswF), and his series on the WGA strike of 1960 (https://bit.ly/3TYksDP).

Next week: We’re taking a week off. We’ll be back on April 12, 2024 with an episode about Overboard (1987).

Watch this episode in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oONRODqNHxY

Time stamps:

00:12:25 — Our personal histories with The Producers and Mel Brooks

00:20:30 — Pre-movie predictions

00:24:47 — History segment: Career overviews of Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel; development and legacy of The Producers

00:42:10 — In-depth movie discussion

01:23:10 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode:

“Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM

“Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg

“The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ

Sources:

All About Me by Mel Brooks - https://amzn.to/49l2i3o

Kiss Me Like a Stranger by Gene Wilder - https://amzn.to/3TV8Wcb