It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

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Directed by Stanley Kramer.

Starring Sid Caesar, Jimmy Durante, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Buster Keaton, Mickey Rooney.

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With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ...
by JJ79 in JJ79 Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Released: November 7, 1963Director: Stanley Kramer*****There is one-and only one-strike against this madcap version of a road race: it's runs an ungodly 195 minutes (if you find the Roadshow version). I guess that's expected with a cast as large as the one director Kramer assembles here. Among the performers: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Ceasar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, Norman Fell...and a whole host more in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. What starts out as a race between four cars (the second honeymoon couple, a movie van driver, two buddies and a husband, wife and her mother) for a supposed treasure buried by a man who has run himself off the road turns ultimately into a fifteen participant slapstick journey to recover the loot in the town of Santa Rosita.This movie, perhaps more than any other, is immune from real criticism. Why? These people are having fun in their roles, with enough cameos to fill ten films in 2007. ... " [More]

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ...
by JJ79 in JJ79 Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Name the actors Released: November 7, 1963Director: Stanley Kramer*****There is one-and only one-strike against this madcap version of a road race: it's runs an ungodly 195 minutes (if you find the Roadshow version). I guess that's expected with a cast as large as the one director Kramer assembles here. Among the performers: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Ceasar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, Norman Fell...and a whole host more. What starts out as a race between four cars (the second honeymoon couple, a movie van driver, two buddies and a husband, wife and her mother) for a supposed treasure buried by a man who has run himself off the road turns ultimately into a fifteen participant slapstick journey to recover the loot in the town of Santa Rosita.This movie, perhaps more than any other, is immune from real criticism. Why? These people are having fun in their roles, with enough cameos to ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Only the super-wide screen Cinerama format could hold all of the comedy stars in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, not to mention the title itself. Just as the bloated Cinerama feature How the West Was Won sought to outdo any Western before it, World fancied itself the comedy to end all comedies. It paraded an unparalleled list of famous comics across the screen, in both feature roles and cameos: Jimmy Durante, Milton Berle, Buster Keaton, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, Jerry Lewis, Dick Shawn, The Three Stooges, and many more. The film operates under the belief that having all of these funny people on screen is enough to get laughs, and occasionally, World can't help but crash under the strain of its frenetic pace and oppressive running time. Director Stanley Kramer smartly puts the most solid of Hollywood stars, Spencer Tracy, at the heart of all the slapstick madness. This was quite a radical departure for Kramer and Tracy, considering their previous two films together had been the dramas Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

Tags: chase , Entertaining , hilarious , mama , must-see
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