George Harrison's Favorite Comedy Is Easily One Of The Funniest Movies Ever Made

All four members of The Beatles became involved in the film industry in one way or another. The whole band famously played versions of themselves in the music films "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!," and collaborated on several other Beatles film projects besides, but they also split off to work on individual movies as well. 

John Lennon appeared in Richard Lester's "How I Won the War" in 1967, and directed and produced many experimental shorts. He famously recommended that the Beatles' manager, Allen Klein, buy the rights to the trippy acid Western "El Topo." 

Paul McCartney, likewise, produced some shorts and appeared in films like "Eat the Rich" and various animated shorts. He also had fun cameos in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," and several others.

Ringo Starr was the most prolific actor of the band, appearing in a wide variety of fun fringe movies like "Candy," "The Magic Christian," "200 Motels," "Son of Dracula," and "Lisztomania." Even if Starr had never been in the Beatles, he would still be a notable cult film figure. He was even in an episode of "Sabrina: The Teenage Witch." 

George Harrison, meanwhile, was perhaps the most commercial producer and/or executive producer of the band, having backed some rather remarkable movies. He stumbled his way into producing "Monty Python's Life of Brian," which led to his collaboration on several additional Python projects. He produced "Mona Lisa," "Withnail & I," and "How to Get Ahead in Advertising." He clearly had the best taste of the Beatles. 

So when Harrison said, in a 1988 interview with Film Comment, that his favorite comedy was Mel Brooks' 1967 film "The Producers," you can be sure he knows what he's talking about. 

Mel Brooks' "The Producers" is often listed among the funniest movies of all time. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actor and for Best Screenplay. It won the latter. It centers on a would-be Broadway producer named Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) who hasn't had a hit in years and shakes down funding for his shows by seducing wealthy dowagers. A nervous accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder, noted recipient of a urine joke), idly points out during an audit that it would be possible to make more money from a flop Broadway show than a hit. If a producer were to raise more than they needed for a show, and the show flopped, the producer could then embezzle the difference. Max and Leo decide to produce a show that is sure to fail.

George Harrison mentioned in his Film Comment interview that he couldn't help but think of "The Producers," one of his favorite movies, when he was first asked to become a producer in 1979. He said that he only became a producer by accident, relating the following story: 

"An English company had backed out of the Monty Python film 'Life of Brian' in preproduction. And the guys, friends of mine, asked me whether I could think of a way to help them get the film made. I asked Denis O'Brien, who had been my business manager since the end of '73. After thinking about it for a week, he came back and suggested that we produce it. I let out a laugh because one of my favorite films is 'The Producers,' and here we were about to become Bialystock and Bloom." 

Luckily, "The Producers" wasn't a flop.

No, George Harrison had no intention of embezzling cash or committing fraud. But he did like the idea of being a film producer, just like the characters from his favorite comedy. He didn't know much about movies, but his fame as a musician was likely used to attract investor attention to certain movies. Harrison and his partner, Denis O'Brien, kind of blindly groped their way into the business and stayed. He continued: 

"Neither of us had any previous thought of going into the movie business, though Denis had a taste of it managing Peter Sellers, and negotiating some of the later Pink Panthers films. It was a bit risky, I guess, totally stepping out of line for me, but as a big fan of Monty Python, my main motive was to see the film get made."

"Life of Brian" did indeed get made. It can be debated if it's the funniest Monty Python movie. And that was the first domino to fall. Before Harrison knew it, he was on board all kinds of film projects. Harrison continued:

"Denis got a bug for it. And the pythons as individuals were all writing scripts. Terry Gilliam presented us with this brilliant idea, which turned into 'Time Bandits.' Michael Palin had done a BBC-TV series, 'Ripping Yarns,' a series of 30-minute films, and I once mentioned [...] to him that if he ever wanted to write a big 'ripping yarn' it would be just great. So he did. [...] Anyhow, one thing led to another, and our films just kept happening."

And, lo, George Harrison became a successful producer, comedy legend, and legitimately important film figure. As if he needed to pad out his résumé any more.