Hollywood Smaltz!

The one thing Hollywood does right is bring the spectacle back. Take the Producers for instance. In 1968 the film with Gene Wilder & Zero Mostel came out and it became a classic, but Hollywood loves to re-invent it's own, and in this case it was Broadway that got Hollywood's attention. Mel Brooks created the Broadway play "The Producers" in 2001, and it was a smash. Nathan Lane, and Matthew Broderick are hilarious in the parts of Max Bialystock & Leo Bloom. So hence comes the movie "the Producers" in 2006. It's an old fashioned musical with some very funny skits in it. If anything this is what Hollywood does right. Only Hollywood has the money to create such lavish films, and it is usually these films which live on in our collective memory. But what happens to the original? Where does it go. After all it was the inspiration for the Broadway play, and the present day film remake. The original was re-released on DVD, and looks better then it did when it first was released in 1968. MGM Entertainment re-released the original with supplements that will make an aging cinefile's heart burst with joy. I recommend the DVD, and also whole heartily endorse the movie remake which is out now.

Hollywood does everything big, and in the case of the movie "The Producers", it does them right. Go see it, and tell me you don't whistle a tune or two as you are walking out of the theater. And who knows you might even start to dance. It could happen. You know you want to.