The Producers is a 1968 feature length comedy film set in New York City in which two con-men attempt to cheat theater "angels" (investors) out of their investment money. Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) is a failed, aging Broadway producer who meets up with accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder). Their plan is to oversell shares in a show and then go bankrupt and keep all the unspent funds. They set out to purposely make a flop so that no one will ever audit the flop's books. Springtime for Hitler, a musical comedy about Adolf Hitler, is the result. Unfortunately, the Broadway musical becomes a hit. The writer (Kenneth Mars) who really believed they were producing a tribute to Hitler is insulted by the audience's laughter. He and the producers bomb the theatre to end the production. The producers see it as a final — yet futile — plan to reap their ill-gotten gains. However, the producers end up in prison where they cast a new show amongst the prisoners.
The movie was written and directed by Mel Brooks.
It won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Wilder). The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The movie was adapted as a Broadway musical by Mel Brooks in 2001. Its first run starred Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and won a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.