The Producers is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, which in turn was based on the 1968 Mel Brooks film. Max Bialystock (Lane) is a has-been Broadway producer who woos little old ladies into backing his flops. Leo Bloom (Broderick) is a meek accountant who is assigned the task of fixing Maxs financial records to account for a $2,000 discrepancy. Leo has a theoretical revelation that an unscrupulous producer could make more money with a flop by raising more money than he needs and having the show close in one night. Seizing this idea, Max convinces Leo to take part in the scheme. They raise two million dollars to back the worst musical play ever written, and hire the worst director in town and the worst possible cast. They find the perfect vehicle with a nostalgic piece titled "Springtime for Hitler" written by escaped Nazi Franz Liebkind (Ferrell). How could they miss? The movie successfully evokes both the Broadway musical and the original movie, yet is able to stand on its own. The cast of the stage production repeat their roles, with the exception of Will Ferrell (who is very funny in a restrained performance) and Uma Thurman (physically appropriate as Ulla, the aspiring actress who acquires a job as Max's receptionist). Don't forget to stay for the end credits!

General Jack D Ripper (Hayden) has got the fear of fluoride in him. Instead of having a nice, quiet lie down, he sets in motion the nuclear annihilation of the Soviet Union, as, perhaps, anyone would do in a psychotic rapture, had they access to the big red button. Sadly for all, though, the USSR has a doomsday device capable of DESTROYING THE WORLD in the event of nuclear attack. And it has no off' switch. The device, that is, not the USSR, which turned out, nearly thirty years later, to have one in the form of a small balding man with a big red birthmark, which has always seemed to me somehow ironic.

There are many reasons to see this film, but chief among them is Peter Sellers, who appears in three different roles, most notably as Dr Strangelove himself. His performances are flawless, and so is the film: it's a satirical masterpiece that deserves its many accolades (and, of course, its regular Film Group screenings).