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

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

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's a Mad,Mad,Mad ....Genius of a film!
Review: It's a Mad,Mad,Mad,World is the grandaddy of all comedy spectactulars that has never been equaled or repeated since it came out in 1960(films like 1941 etc.). It boasts an all-star cast including Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle,Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Terry Thomas, Peter Falk etc... and a host of cameos including The Three Stooges. Great direction from Stanley Kramer as all hell breaks loose when a group of motorists witness a fatal car accident on a California mountainous highway. Then, the car's driver (Jimmy Durante) tells them, in his last dying breath, that there is $350,000 buried in a park in Santa Rosita under a Big "W". When they can't decide how to divvy up money that they haven't seen yet, their greediness takes over and it becomes a free-for-all race to try to get to Santa Rosita first. This is when the fun begins because each party goes through various misadventures trying to get to the Big "W". The most memorable one being Jonathan Winters as "Lennie Pike" the truck driver, destroying an entire roadside garage/gas station. At the same time, Tracey's Police Captain Culpeper, who has a stake in the loot too, follows all the moves of each party until he sticks his hand in the "cookie jar" and is sucked into all the madness. Overall a VERY FUNNY and entertaining film about the absuridites and greed of the human condition. The film has laughs all the way from the beginning till the grand finale, when all the major cast members are at the top of a fire engine truck telescopic ladder. No film has ever had such a hilarious and memorable sequence filmed like this before. Even with today's special effects, it could never be rivaled. The DVD has great extras including cast interviews, hours of deleted scenes, and in glorious widescreen. The two tape VHS version has a few of the deleted scenes restored into the finished cut of the film. Truly a classic film through and through.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Laughs and Lots of them.
Review: Superior funny film with Stanley Kramer directing all star cast of entertainers who all race against time and commen sense to find cash box full of money buried under a "Big W" as told by a dying bank robber. These people are so greedy to get to the money first that they make a mess of their own lives to do it, and the funny climax to the film shows what happens when you don't learn to share.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: If you think Buddy Hackett is funny, you'll love this movie.
Review: Watching the beginning of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" is like watching my Grandpa try to play the violin. Some things just don't improve with time. This movie is one of them. It starts out with a car crash in which Jimmy Durante, on his death bed, reveals to three carloads of contentious onlookers the whereabouts of a buried treasure. Durante's death is so poorly acted that you want to jump up on screen and finish him off yourself. His monologue ends with Durante literally kicking a bucket. Oh! Ha ha ha! He KICKED THE BUCKET! Get it?! Things just go downhill from there.

If you laugh at Buddy Hackett playing slapfest with Mickey Rooney, or watching a bunch of donut-chugging cops leer at a female's rear end every time she walks by, or Jonathan Winters riding a girl's bicycle down the road, then you'll love this movie and are probably over 60 in physical and/or under 12 in mental age. For everyone else, I recommend something funny.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the unfunniest comedies ever
Review: Seems Stanley Kramer's idea of comedy was to make something very big and very loud and not a bit funny. He should have let Blake Edwards direct, as he has had much better luck with this genre. The true travesty of this mess is to see the great Spencer Tracy lower himself this much. I guess he really needed the money. It's also quite sad to see real comic geniuses like Winters and Caesar stoop this low. This film really makes me want to cry!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lots of laughs!
Review: A lot of cameos by out of work actors and just as funny now as when this film first came out. Pick up a copy and enjoy!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: classic
Review: This movie should be defined as a classic. The great cast is endless. This movie was recently remade and called rat race. both are great comedies that can and should be viewed by all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: DVD Version Doesn't Measure Up.
Review: Since I first viewed "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in 1963 at the Pacific Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood, I have always considered it to be my all-time favorite comedy movie. For several years, I have owned the two-tape VHS "Collectors' Edition," and have enjoyed showing it to friends and relatives (The movie works best with large groups). I therefore eagerly awaited -- and pre-ordered -- the new DVD version. Upon presenting it the other night at a New Year's party, however, I discovered that the DVD producers used the 35mm general theater release version, rather than the original 70mm version. This ment that several scenes were deleted. Furthermore, the Overture was not included. The DVD version is crisp and clear, and the sound quality is great, but I wish that the whole movie had been included.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A venerable classic
Review: I first saw the film at a Martin Cinerama many moons ago. I don't recall if it was really in Cinerama or just wide screen, but it was definitely big screen material nevertheless. I recently rented it and hooked my nine year old son. So now we have the DVD to watch together. This is one I hope they never remake (ala Oceans 11) since they could NEVER duplicate the talent in this festival of humor and sight gags. My son even recognized Sid Caesar on Vegas Vacation (what a stinker).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Flawed But Often Funny
Review: When an ex-con crashes his car, he reveals a clue to the location of stolen money to bystanders before he dies, and thereby touches off an increasingly competitive race between--are you ready for this?--Milton Berle, Sid Ceasar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Edie Adams, and Dorothy Provine.

Within minutes the competition becomes downright nasty, and before too long our cast of neurotic comics are hurtling toward the money by car, bicycle, biplane, luxury aircraft, and virtually every other form of transportation imaginable, trying to wreck the others' chances and be the first to arrive. Along the way they encounter a host of stellar cameo players ranging from the Three Stooges to Buster Keaton, many of whom--Carl Reiner in particular comes to mind--contribute to the fun.

There is a great deal to enjoy in this film, but regrettably the film as a whole never quite seems to know what do with its over abundance of talent. The action inevitably breaks down into comic vignettes, and some work better than others, too often leaving the viewer to wade through leaden moments in search of the memorably funny ones. A particularly weak link in the film is, sadly, the usually marvelous Spenser Tracy in the pivotal role of a detective who tracks the race in hope of recovering the stolen money; visibly frail, his very off-the-cuff performance lacks the power to hold the strands of the story together. Similarly, too often marvelous cameo performers such as Zasu Pitts are reduced to mere faces in the crowd, their only appeal in the flicker of recognition they may elicit from the viewer. And the film's conclusion is, frankly, a bust.

Still, Berle, Ceasar, and Winters are consistently at the top of their game in this sprawling film, and Ethel Merman at her abrasive best makes one regret Hollywood's underuse of her talents. If you like slapstick (and even if you don't) you're bound to find SOMETHING you like here--and for most viewers the parts you like will be sufficient reason to stay with the film. Just go make some popcorn during the spots that don't appeal to you!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LIKE FINE WINE,BUT BETTER
Review: LIKE FINE WINE THIS MOVIE GETS BETTER WITH AGE. THE DIFFERENCE
BEING THAT ADDICTION TO THIS MOVIE ONLY MAKES YOU HEALTHIER.
I SAW THIS MOVIE IN CINERAMA IN L.A. WITH ABOUT FIVE OF MY
BEST FRIENDS IN 1964.I WAS 17 AT THE TIME. WITHOUT THE AID OF
ANY MOOD ALTERING DRUGS,NO ALCOHOL,NOTHING BESIDES MY NORMAL
SENCES,I CAME AWAY NEEDING CPR. THERE HAS NOT BEEN A MOVIE SINCE
THAT HAS COME CLOSE TO MATCHING THE CHUCKLE-METER LEVELS ACHEIVED
WHILE ATTENDING THIS MOVIE. IF YOU TRULY ARE A COMEDY JUNKIE,
ALL COMEDIES ARE JUDGED RELATIVE TO "ITS A MAD...........WORLD"
IN DVD NO LESS!!!!!WOW!!!!!!!


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