Friday, April 11 / 7 pm
Directed by Mel Brooks
1967, USA, 88 min
Winning an Academy award for Best Original Screenplay, the film is the story of an aging, washed up theatrical producer Max Bialystock and his accountant Leo Bloom who deliberately set out to produce a Broadway flop with the intention of making a lot of money from investors and taking off after the play closes. The only problem is the play is a hit!
Kevin McDonald says, “though it bombed when first released it is now considered one of the best comedies ever. Strangely enough it was the original plot of the Marx Brothers movie, A Night at the Opera. When it was nixed, the outline sat in an MGM vault for 35 years until Mel Brooks read it and decided to make it into his first movie.”
