Kenneth Mars

An irresponsible, drug-addicted, recently impregnated woman finds herself in the middle of an abortion debate when both parties attempt to sway her to their respective sides. Ruth Stoops is a poor indigent drug-user (a huffer - inhaling glue and paint for a high) whose down and out existence is complicated once more by becoming pregnant (she has had and lost four children already). When a judge orders that she gets an abortion or face a felony charge, she is befriended by Gail Stoney, a pro-lifer whose husband is president of the local "Babysavers" group. Suddenly Ruth is thrust into the middle of the pro-choice/pro-life struggle, with each side wanting her to take their side as a "message" to others - and the situation escalates... —Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>

Los Angeles Times reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher is writing an article exposing drug trafficking on the beach, where he suspects food vendor Fat Sam (George Wendt) of distributing heroin from his shack. Posing as a homeless addict during his investigation, he is approached by Alan Stanwyk, who mistakenly assumes Fletch is a junkie. Offering Fletch $1,000 just to hear out his proposal, Stanwyk takes him to his luxury mansion in Beverly Hills, where he formally introduces himself and says that he works for Boyd Aviation as the executive vice president. Stanwyk claims to have bone cancer, with only months left to live, and wishes to avoid the pain and suffering. Stanwyk offers $50,000 for Fletch to come to his mansion in a few days time, kill him, and then escape to Rio de Janeiro, staging the murder to appear as the result of a burglary. Fletch is suspicious, but ostensibly agrees to the plan. Along with his colleague Louisa Larry, Fletch begins investigating Stanwyk instead of completing his drug trafficking exposé, much to the dismay of his impatient boss/chief editor Frank Walker. The next day, Fletch endures a rectal exam from Stanwyk's doctor, Dr. Dolan, in a failed attempt to talk Dolan into divulging medical information about Stanwyk. Later that same day, disguised as a doctor, Fletch accesses Stanwyk's file in the hospital's records room and learns Stanwyk lied to him about having cancer. Fletch visits Stanwyk's wife Gail at her tennis club and, pretending to be a friend of her husband's, flirts with her during an impromptu tennis lesson, but does not uncover very much from her and leaves. Next, Fletch poses as an FCC agent while he visits Gail's father, Stanton Boyd, the head of Boyd Aviation to inquire about Stanwyk's finances. Fletch finds that Gail recently converted $3 million of her personal stock in Boyd Aviation into cash for her husband to buy a ranch in Provo, Utah. Fletch returns to his apartment for the day and finds that his ex-wife's lawyer, now-husband Marvin Gillet is waiting for him to collect unpaid alimony. Fletch gives Gillet the $1,000 cash bribe money that Stanwyk gave him earlier to make him leave. After having a cold beer, Fletch goes to sleep and has a dream of being a major league basketball player playing for the Lakers and scoring a hoop. The next day, while undercover at the beach, he discovers one of Fat Sam's customers, Gummy, running away from a patrolling squad car. Fletch tries to intervene when the cops catch Gummy and beat him up, but Fletch gets kicked in the groin by one of the cops and they haul Gummy away in the car. Fletch retaliates by throwing a rock through the car's back windshield, but the car keeps going. A few days later, Fletch travels to Provo, where he breaks into a realtor's office and discovers the deed lists the sale price as only $3,000. He barely escapes from the office while being chased around by a guard dog. Meanwhile, LAPD Chief Jerry Karlin gets wind of Fletch's soon-to-be-published drug article. He sends two thuggish detectives to Fletch's apartment and arrest him after they plant heroin on him. The two take Fletch to meet with Karlin, who tells Fletch he is jeopardizing the lives of undercover cops he's planted on the beach to bust the drug trade. When Fletch insults Karlin, he takes Fletch to an empty jail cell and threatens to shoot Fletch and place a switchblade in his dead hand to claim self-defense. Fletch tells Karlin he is going to work on another story about off-track betting in the Himalayas instead. An amused Karlin then lets Fletch go. Fletch finds out that Karlin had him arrested because of Fletch's boss, who wants Fletch to stop investigating what he considers a ludicrous story about drug-dealing cops. When Fletch confronts his boss about the incident, Frank refuses to believe Fletch's story about Karlin's plan to kill him. Fletch storms off, angry but more determined than ever to break the story. Disguised as a redneck airplane mechanic, Fletch shows up at Stanwyk's plane hangar and learns from two mechanics that Stanwyk has been using the plane each weekend to go to Utah, but uses as much fuel as if he traveled to South America. Back at the tennis club, Fletch meets Gail at her cabana. He treats her to an expensive lunch which he charges to the credit account of a snooty and obnoxious club member, Ted Underhill. Fletch gives her a little information about the investigation but has to flee when Mr. Underhill shows up at Gail's door, demanding the several hundred dollars the lunch had cost. Fletch spies on Stanwyk making a suspicious briefcase exchange with Chief Karlin, but is unable to determine the nature of their relationship. He returns home to find two squad cars in his building's parking garage and flees, managing to avoid capture after a harrowing car chase when Fletch steals an Alfa Romeo from a young car thief. He manages to stay ahead of them and is only able to shake them when he distracts them all at a lodge club dinner. Fletch returns to Provo and, under the guise of an insurance investigator, interviews Stanwyk's parents. Fletch discovers Stanwyk has been secretly married to another woman for eight years, having used Gail for her money. He returns to Beverly Hills and shares what he has found with her, who is very upset about her husband's bigamy. Fletch arrives at Stanwyk's mansion on the night of the plotted murder only to find Stanwyk armed and ready to kill Fletch instead. He reveals he is aware of Stanwyk's real plan to fake his own death by killing Fletch, burning his body, and dressing like Fletch himself. Stanwyk would then escape to Brazil with his other wife, as well as Gail's $3 million. Stanwyk was also using his private jet to smuggle cocaine from South America to supply Karlin, who unexpectedly shows up and, upon learning of Stanwyk's intentions to flee with $800,000 of Karlin's drug money, kills Stanwyk. Karlin then turns the gun on Fletch but is knocked unconscious by Gail with a tennis racket. Some time later, Karlin is indicted for Stanwyk's murder, due to Fletch's investigation. He begins dating Gail and, in the final scene, takes her on a vacation to Rio. Fletch jokes that he had placed the expenses for the vacation on Underhill's credit account and offers the audience the number.

Movie opens at a swanky Wall Street Party hosted By Ted, Howard's Boss, and CEO of big Wall Street firm. It turns out the party is a gathering of wealthy Wall Street traders employees and big wigs looking to hook up with women. Ted encourages Howard, and teaches him how to land a one of the various women and then bed them. Howard is uncomfortable as he makes his rounds at the party and is unable to get the attraction from any of the multitude of intoxicated, attractive, but vulgar women. Another party-goer, Catherine, also seems put off by the entire party and all of its patrons, but like Howard she moves around the party, entertained by the vulgar, highfalutin, grandiose, vain, pretentious, garish, and gaudy people and the shenanigans they engage in. Catherine and Howard meet, the two are instantaneously attracted to each other, and decide to leave the party for more civilized gathering. As Catherine gather her coat, Ted give Howard the key to a particular night club, The Safari Club, he consider a "second home". The two grab a cab and head to the Safari club, which turn out to be another absurd scene with scantily clad women in cages acting like animalistic cave women. To grab the attention of the cave women waitresses male club goers are given pop guns and shoot the women in the tuchus. Howard has not yet learned that Catherine is his new boss' wife. The two agree that the Safari club is no better then the party they just left and decide to leave. Catherine recommends dancing and the two go to a hipster club with real music and dance their tuchus's off and have a great time. Catherine meets a an astrologist at the party who tell her that Ted is not a good love match for her but that Howard is a perfect match. Catherine seems to agree. Catherine reveals to Howard that she plans on leaving Ted the next day and grabbing a one way flight back to her home town of Paris. Howard follows suit and decides to leave his wife and grab the same flight with Catherine to start a new life with her in Paris. Howard has no problem leaving his uncaring wife behind and his young boy who doesn't seem to care if his father is alive or dead. The rest of the movie dedicated to the road blocks Howard must overcome to get on the plane with Catherine to Paris. Ted tries everything he can to win back Catherine. Eventually Howard wins out and is able to board the plane at the last minute. The movie ends with the two holding hands on the plane.

Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) is a washed-up, 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. Bialystock spends time hiding inside his own office to hide from creditors and previous investors, whose money he failed to return. Bialystock has a closet full of framed photographs of old women that he is romancing, and he changes the frame on his office desk depending on which of the women is coming to meet him. Bialystock is long overdue on rent for his office, where he meets all the women and is being hounded by his landlord. Nebbish Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) is a nervous young accountant prone to hysterics, who arrives at Bialystock's office to do his books. Bloom keeps his small blanket in his pocket, which is also his security cover and goes absolutely hysterical if that blanket is taken away from him. Bloom discovers there is a two-thousand-dollar overcharge in the accounts of Bialystock's last play. Bialystock raised $60,000 from investors and only spent $58,000 on producing the play. This was because he raised more money than he could repay by selling more than 100% of the shares in the potential profits. Bialystock persuades Bloom to hide the relatively minor fraud, by shuffling numbers and begs him not to send him to prison in his old age. Bloom realizes that since a flop is expected to lose money, the IRS will not investigate its finances, so a producer could earn more from a flop than from a hit by overselling interests and embezzling the funds. For the scheme to work the play has to be a guaranteed flop. If the show is a hit, then all the investors would expect a return, and there would never be enough money to pay everyone. This would lead to jail. Bialystock immediately puts this scheme into action. They will over-sell shares again, but on a much larger scale and produce a play that will close on opening night. No one audits the books of a play presumed to have lost money, thus avoiding a pay-out and leaving the duo free to flee to Rio De Janeiro with the profits. Leo is afraid such a criminal venture will fail, and they will go to prison. But Max eventually convinces him that his drab existence is no better than prison. After reading many bad plays, the partners find the obvious choice for their scheme: Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden. It is "a love letter to Hitler" written in total sincerity by deranged ex-Nazi Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), whose name is German for "Frank Lovechild". Leo and Max bond with Franz over Schnapps and tell him they want to show the world a positive representation of Hitler. They persuade him to sign over the stage rights, telling him they want to show the world "the Hitler you loved, the Hitler you knew, the Hitler with a song in his heart." Auditions are held for 'Springtime for Hitler'.... with the ad "No experience needed". To guarantee that the show is a flop, they hire Roger De Bris (Christopher Hewett), a flamboyantly gay transvestite director, whose plays "close on the first day of rehearsal". The part of Hitler goes to a charismatic but only semi-coherent, flower power hippie named Lorenzo St. DuBois / L.S.D. (Dick Shawn), who can barely remember his own name and had mistakenly wandered into their theater during the casting call. After Bialystock sells 25,000% of the play to his regular investors (dozens of lustful little old ladies), they are sure they are on their way to Rio. They use some of the money to redecorate the office and hire a new receptionist, Ulla The result of all of this is a cheerfully upbeat and utterly tasteless musical play purporting to be about the happy home life of a brutal dictator. It opens with a lavish production of the title song, "Springtime For Hitler", which celebrates Nazi Germany crushing Europe. At the theater on opening night, Max tries to ensure a harshly negative review by attempting to bribe The New York Times theater critic. Springtime for Hitler has its premiere, which Max and Leo also figure it will be its closing performance. The play starts out as they hoped; There is an opening big musical production number which glorified Hitler and Nazi Germany. The dancers include young women who wear Nazi regalia. Other women wear very little clothing. The entire audience initially reacts with shock and disgust. People walk out. The only person who applauds is beaten. But when L.S.D. appears as a hippie Hitler, the crowd returns to their seats. After initial dumbfounded disbelief, the audience finds L.S.D.'s beatnik-like portrayal (and misunderstanding of the story) to be hilarious and misinterpret the production as a satire. During intermission, some members of the audience come to the bar at which Max and Leo are drinking and rave about the play, much to Max's and Leo's shared horror. The two decide to return to the theater after intermission to hear what the rest of the audience has to say, which echoes what the others already said. Meanwhile, L.S.D.'s portrayal of Hitler enrages and humiliates Franz, who after going behind the stage, untying the cable holding up the curtain, and rushing out on stage confronts the audience and rants about the treatment of his beloved play. However, someone behind the curtain manages to knock him out and remove him from the stage, and the audience assumes that Franz's rant was part of the act. Springtime For Hitler is declared a smash hit, which means, of course, that the investors will be expecting a larger financial return than can be paid out. As the stunned partners turn on each other, they are confronted by a gun-wielding Franz Liebkind, who is enraged and humiliated by L.S.D.'s portrayal of Hitler, accuses them of breaking the "Siegfried Oath". After a reconciliation, the three band together and blow up the theater to end the production. They are injured, arrested, and tried. In spite of Leo's impassioned statement praising Max (while also referring to him as "the most selfish man I have ever met in my life") the jury finds them "incredibly guilty", and they go to prison. In the end, Leo, Max, and Franz go back to producing plays with their fellow inmates ("Prisoners of Love"). Leo Bloom, however, continues the same old scam of overselling shares of the play to the other prisoners (20-30%) and even to the warden (50%). The song is performed while the credits are shown.