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The Producers
Max Bialystock is an aging Broadway producer whose career has veered from great success to the depths of near failure. He now ekes out a hand-to-mouth existence while romancing lascivious, wealthy elderly women in exchange for money for a "next play" that may never be produced. Leopold "Leo" Bloom, a neurotic young accountant prone to hysterics, arrives at Max's office to audit his accounts and discovers a $2,000 discrepancy in the accounts of Max's last play. Max persuades Leo to hide the fraud, and Leo realizes that, since a flop is expected to lose money, the IRS will not investigate its finances, and the investors will not expect a large financial return, so a producer could earn more from a flop than from a hit by overselling interests and embezzling the funds. Max decides to make this into a scheme, and use the profits to flee to Rio de Janeiro. He convinces Leo to join him, treating him to lunch and a day out and saying that his drab life in accounting is little different from prison anyway. Leo has an epiphany and agrees to the con.
The partners find the ideal play for their scheme: Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden, a "love letter to Hitler " written by deranged ex- Nazi soldier Franz Liebkind. Max and Leo bond with Franz over schnapps and tell him they want to show the world a positive representation of Hitler. Now with the stage rights, Max goes to work seducing as many old rich women as possible, selling 25,000% of the play to investors. Right away, he uses some of the money to redecorate the office and hire an attractive Swedish receptionist, Ulla. They sign on Roger De Bris as their director based on his reputation, who immediately demands revisions to the play and a happy ending in which the Nazis win the war. The part of Hitler goes to a hippie actor named Lorenzo St. DuBois (nicknamed " L.S.D. ") who accidentally wandered into the wrong theater during the casting call.
At the theater on opening night, Max tries to ensure a harshly negative review by appearing to attempt to bribe a New York Times theatre critic. Despite a promising start, with a distasteful opening number that causes several walk-outs (" Springtime for Hitler and Germany/Winter for Poland and France "), Max, Leo and Franz are horrified to see De Bris's revisions, and L.S.D.'s beatnik -like portrayal of Hitler, have turned the admiring tribute into a campy, comedic satire. Springtime for Hitler is declared a hit.
Back at their office, as Max and Leo are fighting after the latter attempts to turn himself in in exchange for a plea bargain, a gun-wielding Franz confronts them, angered by the audience laughing at the depiction of Hitler. He tries first to shoot them, and then himself, but runs out of bullets. The three then decide to blow up the theater to end the production, but they are caught in the explosion and arrested. At the trial, where they are found "incredibly guilty" by the jury, Leo makes an impassioned statement praising Max for being his friend and changing his life for the greater good. Max claims that they have learned their lesson and will never do such misdeeds again.
Max, Leo, and Franz are sent to the state penitentiary, where they produce a new musical called Prisoners of Love with their fellow inmates. While Max and Franz supervise rehearsals, Leo is put in charge of the money, overselling shares of the play to interested prisoners and the warden.