Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967)

It's time for another "Film Club Dialogue," tonight featuring Miriam Tibbets, Film Club's own Anarchist and Film Club's adviser, Mr. Findlay. Tonight's topic: cult films.

Miriam: Why are cult movies considered “cult”?

Findlay: Um, because they band together and practice strange rituals at midnight?

M: Maybe, but Wikipedia says it’s because of their dedicated fanbase, an elaborate subculture that engages in repeated viewings, quotes dialogue, and participates in some form audience participation.

F: Like when people throw rice and toilet paper and shout rude things at the screen during The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

M: That too.

F: So it’s the audience that acts like a cult, not the movie. But what does this have to do with tonight’s movie The Producers by Mel Brooks?

M: How could The Producers not be cult film? Any film whose plot includes a washed-up Broadway producer (played by Zero Mostel) and a nebbishy accountant (played by Gene Wilder) creating a musical called “Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden” deserves the esteemed title of “cult.”

F: So, does the audience participate? I’m not sure I want to see a bunch of high school students singing and dancing along to “Springtime for Hitler” or dressing up as Nazis. Even if it is a comedy.

M: The Producers made my father sing out “Springtime for Hitler” at the very mention of this movie.

F: No doubt your father sings along with a lot of movies. Has he seen Mulan?

M: Maybe; we’re getting off topic. Cult films also have a status that places them outside the mainstream. They’re movies that are overlooked by most people, even as they become hugely popular with a small “in-group.” They also tend to have story elements that challenge mainstream values.

F: Ah, like the movies of John Waters, most of which we can’t show at Movie Night. But wasn’t The Producers fairly popular?

M: Yes, it was. Many critics, who usually disregard movies that later achieve cult status, celebrated Mel Brook’s comedy. But it does approach a serious topic with a kind of humor that a lot of people might find offensive.

F: Like making a musical about Hitler.

M: To quote the movie, “Not many know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer.”

F: Now that’s funny.

M: I’m a huge fan of satire and black comedy, the sort of elements one often finds in a cult movie.

F: Sure. That reminds me of one of my favorite cult films, Eating Raoul. It’s about a dinner party, and I’ll let you guess who’s for dinner.

M: Ewww.

[Pause]

F: I think there's another really important aspect of the cult film definition we haven't talked about.

M: What's that?

F: "Camp." Typically this refers to the mocking of conventional values. More specifically, camp art attacks "straight" values with a homoerotic subtext.

M: Are we still talking about The Producers?

F: Well, yes. But a more familiar example might be the 1960s Batman movie which we showed last year.That depiction of the Batman character is frequently described as "campy" because its presentation of a male superhero who speaks in decisive exclamation points in such an over-the-top comic manner calls into question the conventional attitudes about manliness. Just look at his tights, his eyebrows painted onto his cowl, Robin's cute little slippers.

M: Right. And The Producers has the same kind of subtext. The flamboyant effeminacy of the character, L. S. D., and the whole "Springtime for Hitler" show, in fact.

F: Exactly. That's campy. And that's a key component of a lot of cult films. For an odd comedy about a couple of guys trying to make a terrible Broadway musical, The Producers has enjoyed a pretty long life. It got made into an actual Broadway musical in 2001, and then that got made into a new film musical in 2005.

M: Raising another question: Why do people insist on remaking movies already held in high regard?

F: Maybe film-makers in the 21^st century have run out of ideas. Or they just know it’s easy to make money when you give the film-goer something familiar.

M: Well, enjoy this original version of the movie. And join the cult, too, for heaven’s sake! We sacrifice goats to Mel Gibson at sunset.

Miriam Tibbets (Film Club Anarchist) and R. Findlay (Film Club Adviser)