It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Movie

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Rating:
Run Time: 161 min
MPAA Rating:
Released: 1963
Directors: Stanley Kramer
Genre/Type: Comedy
Chase Movie
Farce
Ensemble Film
Producers: Stanley Kramer
Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
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.

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Cast

Actors Character Born
Spencer Tracy Capt. C.G. Culpepper Apr 5, 1900 in Milwaukee, WI
Milton Berle J. Russell Finch Jul 12, 1908 in New York City, NY
Sid Caesar Melville Crump Sep 8, 1922 in Yonkers, New York City, NY
Mickey Rooney Ding Bell Sep 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Buddy Hackett Benjy Benjamin Aug 31, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Ethel Merman Mrs. Marcus Jan 16, 1908 in Astoria, Queens, NY
Phil Silvers Otto Meyer May 12, 1911 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Dick Shawn Sylvester Marcus Dec 1, 1923 in Buffalo, NY
Jimmy Durante Smiler Grogan Feb 10, 1893 in New York City, NY
Buster Keaton Jimmy the Crook Oct 4, 1895 in Pickway, KS
Jonathan Winters Lennie Pike Nov 11, 1925 in Dayton, OH
Edie Adams Monica Crump Apr 16, 1929 in Kingston, PA
Dorothy Provine Emmeline Finch Jan 20, 1937 in Deadwood, SD
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Cab Driver Sep 18, 1905 in Oakland, CA
Ben Blue Airplane Pilot Sep 12, 1901 in Montreal
Alan Carney Police Sergeant Dec 11, 1911 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY
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Back to the topReview

Review by Brendon Hanley
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, 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, 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.
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