My 150 Favorite Movies #119

The Producers (1967)

Before there was the movie musical, there was the Broadway musical, and before that there was the movie, Mel Brooks' first ever directorial effort. Line-for-line, The Producers is arguably the funniest movie, ever. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are brilliant together, as Bialystock and Bloom, Broadway producer, and neurotic accountant, spectacular failures each.  Apparently, this movie was where the phrase "creative accounting" originated. The idea of mounting what they are sure will prove to be a flop,  Springtime for Hitler: a Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva in Berchtesgaden is within itself, grounds for hilariously un-p.c. insanity, but the one-liners sprinkled throughout put this one over the top. Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), unrepentant Nazi and playwright, "Hitler! There was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon - TWO COATS!" And of course, there's this scene.