Rating: 
Summary: Best Movie of All Time
Review: Just ahead of One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest to be my all time #1.If you don't laugh all the way through this one you may need prozac.Stanley Krammer's best work.Probably funnier for the over 35 crowd because they can relate to the era better.
Rating: 
Summary: zero stars... one of the worst films ever made
Review: There is only one reason to watch "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (IMMMMW) and that's Phil Silvers (Otto). His character is the only one that isn't a complete and total stereotype and who doesn't submit to idiotic sight-gags and slapstick humor (elements of comedy better exhibited in other films). The only time I laughed at this "greatest comedy ever filmed" was the scene with Silvers and Don Knotts during which Silvers convinces Knotts to abandon his car. Silvers has character and delivery and is fun to watch throughout the movie but he only accounts for ten minutes or so of the 160 minutes in total.The rest of this film is so bad it may well be the worst comedy ever made and I can show you why with one ten-second scene. Like many old film and TV stars, The Three Stooges make a cameo in IMMMMW. Theirs occurred during a scene where there is an impending plane crash. The camera pans across the three (Moe, Larry and Joe) holding firefighting equipment.... and that's it. No dialogue. No purpose, really. Jump cut to Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett trying to land the plane. See what this movie is all about? It's about waiting to see who makes the next pointless cameo appearance ("Ooooh, there's Jerry Lewis [Credit: Man who runs over hat]!" "Oooooh! There's Jack Benny![Credit: Man in car in desert]"). I guess this passed for entertainment back in the day but to me it seems embarassingly pathetic. I know people, really funny people, who hold this movie in the highest esteem but count me among those who just don't get it. It's not for lack of comedic talent that this movie stinks out loud. There are actors in this movie who are comedic geniuses elsewhere: Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, etc.... All of these actors made me laugh out loud but their participation in IMMMMW seems driven by pride: everyone who is everyone in comedy wanted to be in this picture... if they were left out I guess they felt snubbed. But who or what Dick Shawn is to this film, I'll never know. All that guy did was creep me out. Don't kill director Stanley Kramer's other work for this debacle. He did do 'Inherit the Wind' and 'Judgement at Nuremburg', both good films apparently. I just guess he could never do comedy. Steer clear. 98% garbage.
Rating: 
Summary: If you love this movie AVOID this DVD
Review: If you love this movie, as I do, don't buy this DVD. Years ago a restored version with added sequences was released on VHS. Great effort was put into the restoration and the added scenes were funny and they greatly improved the flow of the movie. The restoration was released with great fanfare and has appeared on TV several times. Now for some reason MGM has released the pre-restoration version on DVD. After years of seeing the restored version, watching this DVD is wrenching. Scenes I've become accustomed to seeing are missing (relegated to a collection of deleted scenes on the DVD's flipside) and the whole experiece is like watchng a movie edited for comercial television (and we all know how annoying that is). I have only myself to blame for getting stuck with this DVD. It never occured to me that MGM would pull something like this. I think it's obvious that they intend to put out a better version in the future. Even the packaging of this DVD is lame, they don't even make use of the famous cast caricature painting by Jack Davis. MGM put this version out knowing that later when they put out a decent version people like me will buy it again. Don't get played like that; avoid this DVD and wait for the real thing.
Rating:
Summary: The Original "Rat Race"!
Review: Stanley Krammer brought almost a 1,000 actors for what would be the funniest movie I ever witnessed as a kid. I remember watching this film on television and I laughed so hard that it hurt my sides for days. It would be impossible to name all the actors that made this film a laugh riot, but kudos to Ethel Merman as the mediling mother-in-law to Milton Berle (Uncle Milty). Get ready to laugh you tail off!
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, bad DVD
Review: I am 13-years-old and I bought this movie without any idea what it was about. I saw the list of all the comedians in it and had to have it. I watched the movie and loved it. I read on IMDb that Buster Keaton had an extended scene, so I tried to watch the "extended scenes". I found out the hard way that most of the scenes are soundless or the film is messed up or something. Belive me, you're not missing much with the VHS.
Rating:
Summary: One of those things happens once in a lifetime and boom...
Review: One of those things happens once in a lifetime, you gather all the mastermind of comic actors and actresses and boom you have a comedic masterpiece.
Enough talking, gotta see it again for 100th time.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Comedy Film Of All Time.........BUT!
Review: This is my all time favorite comedy film of all time. Im sure most would agree that this was a once in a lifetime classic that will never be repeated again (although Im sure that Hollywood will keep trying). Practically every single comedian of the time (1963) makes either major appearances or quick cameos. From Phil Silvers who is hysterical to even a fast Jack Benny, this is a laugh out loud riot. The stunts were real. No digital effects. This is a must for anyone who is in to slapstick comedy. A fantastic opening car crash scene opens the film that just keeps on going. Unfortunately the original version of the film ran close to 3 hours at it's opening and was later trimmed down. In the late 1980's a Laserdisc version was released with an extra 20 minutes of footage, and it was reinserted into the film. This dvd version is the trimmed down 161 minute version. Although the new transfer is quite stunning, except for a few minor scratches, it still is unknown why MGM would rush out and release this version instead of the restored version. The new audio claims to be a 5.1 soundtrack, but it doesnt really sound any better than regular stereo. If you listen to the video or laserdisc version you will notice a much more spacious sound. I guess I will have to wait for an officially restored complete version. This version is still acceptable until the real thing comes along.
Rating:
Summary: Not The Restored Version. Many scenes and cameos missing.
Review: Many scenes and cameo appearances are missing. Before you buy this DVD, I would wait for a fully restored version with all deleted scenes restored and returned INTO the film. This DVD includes a one hour documentary, "Something A Little Less Serious: A Tribute To It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. DVD includes entended scenes separatly from the film and is confusing. Wait for a restored version or try a homevideo version. Don't not accept a 154 min. or 160 min. version. Try to find a 2 hours and 50 minutes version (170 min.)
Rating:
Summary: STILL BRILLIANT AFTER 40 YEARS!
Review: nothing like this will ever be made again. Look at the roster of superstars in this movie: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Buster Keaton, Phil Silvers, Don Knotts, Jerry Louis, Peter Falk, The Three Stooges, Joe E. Brown, Jack Benny, ....wow...who am I forgetting? One of the all-time great comedies! DVD contains a great documentary featuring most of the original cast, trailers, and lots of deleted scenes. An American Classic!
Rating:
Summary: One of the top five funniest movies ever made
Review: This movie is easily one of the top five funniest movies ever made. Not only are the 15 main stars, like Milton Berle, Sid Caeser, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, and so many more, major comedic actors of their day, but so many other well known actors like Don Knotts, Jim Backus, Norman Fell, and the Three Stooges, make small cameo appearances. In terms of a cast, the movie has the largest cast of established actors for any genre that has ever been assembled, and given a hilarious script, this movie couldn't help but be a laugh riot. Eight seemingly ordinary people happen across an accident scene where the lone victim, played by Jimmy Durante, reveals the location of buried money, which had been stolen from a Tuna Factory, before he kicks the bucket. When the police show up, they decide not to say anything so about the money so they can go about their way, which they do. This is only the start on what turns into a mad dash to be the first to get to the money. After failing to agree on how to divide the money between eight people, (and no, eight shares doesn't seem to satisfy everyone, not when you take into account the four cars the people were driving, that five people went down to the crash site, and so on) all eight decide it should be every man for himself. During their trip, the eight people recruit others along the way to help them get to the money first, and all of them are being tracked by the police captain who has been trying to solve the Tuna Factory robbery, Spencer Tracy, for so many years. As all 15 converge at the same time, hysterical mayhem is only the beginning. Enjoy!
| 
