It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Director: Stanley Kramer
Screenplay: William Rose, Tania Rose
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Jim Backus, Ben Blue, Joe E. Brown, Alan Carney, Chick Chandler, Barrie Chase, Lloyd Corrigan, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Selma Diamond, Peter Falk, Norman Fell, Paul Ford, Stan Freberg, Leo Gorcey, Sterling Holloway, Edward Everett Horton, Marvin Kaplan, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Charles Lane, Mike Mazurki, Charles McGraw, ZaSu Pitts, Carl Reiner, Madlyn Rhue, Roy Roberts, Arnold Stang, Nick Stewart, Sammee Tong, Jesse White, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Paul Birch, Paul Clarke, Stanley Clements, Minta Durfee, Roy Engel, Nicholas Georgiade, Stacy Harris, Don C. Harvey, Allen Jenkins, Robert Karnes, Tom Kennedy, Harry Lauter, Ben Lessey, Bobo Lewis, Jerry Lewis, Tyler McVey, Eddie Ryder, Doodles Weaver, Lennie Weinrib and The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DiRita).
Tagline: It’s the biggest entertainment ever to hit the Cinerama screen!
The Plot…
A car is racing down a remote California desert highway. When the driver misses a turn and his car goes careening down a steep incline, drivers of four vehicles pull over to see if they can assist. In the vehicles are five men and four women. The men make their way down to find the driver of the crashed car barely alive. With his dying breath, the man tells the group that he buried $350,000 of stolen money in Santa Rosita park under a big “W”. The man then literally kicks the bucket.
The men and women discuss the dying man’s claim. They then decide he wouldn’t waste his final minutes lying. The group then begins to argue about how to split the money. When they cannot come up with a way agreeable to all, they rush to their cars. Each plans to get to the park, find the bury cash and keep it all!
Let the good times roll!
Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was nominated for six 1964 Academy Awards, winning one.
- Nominee for Best Music, Score – Substantially Original: Ernest Gold
- Nominee for Best Music, Original Song: Ernest Gold (music), Mack David (lyrics) For the song “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”
- Nominee for Best Film Editing: Frederic Knudtson, Robert C. Jones, Gene Fowler Jr.
- Nominee for Best Sound: Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)
- Nominee for Best Cinematography, Color: Ernest Laszlo
- Winner for Best Effects, Sound Effects: Walter Elliott
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World features the film debut of Jonathan Winters. It also contains Jimmy Durante’s final feature film appearance. It also has ZaSu Pitts final feature film appearance. She died just four months before the film’s premiere. The movie contains Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson’s final feature film appearance.
Harold Lloyd, Bud Abbott, Edward Brophy, Wally Brown, and George Burns were all offered roles, but declined.
Bob Hope was to be in the film, but his studio refused to allow it.
Don Rickles wanted to be in the movie, but was never asked. Rickles would tease Stanley Kramer about this “snub” from then on.
Stanley Kramer didn’t ask Charlie Chaplin to appear since Chaplin was living in exile in Sweden.
Red Skelton was to film a cameo but salary demands led to it not happening.
Ernie Kovaks was to play Melville Crump, but Kovaks was killed in an auto crash before filming began.
Joe Besser (best known as one of The Three Stooges) was asked to play one of the garage mechanics, but as co-star of The Danny Thomas Show, he couldn’t get the time off.
The Three Stooges have a cameo as firemen which is a callback to their 1930 short, Soup to Nuts, where they played firemen.
If you’re of the right age, or a dedicated film fan, spotting all of the cameos is fun!
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a classic.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) rates 5 of 5 stars
