Product Notes
Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jimmy Durante. When an auto-crash victim reveals he's hidden a fortune in stolen cash, motorists set out to find it with a vengeance. 40 cameos and a million laughs. 1963/color/160 min/G.
Product Reviews
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, Rovi
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It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World |
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Comedy |
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7 February 2012 |
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Spencer Tracy(Capt. C.G. Culpepper), Milton Berle(J. Russell Finch), Sid Caesar(Melville Crump), Buddy Hackett(Benjy Benjamin), Mickey Rooney(Ding Bell), Ethel Merman(Mrs. Marcus), Phil Silvers(Otto Meyer), Dick Shawn(Sylvester Marcus), Jimmy Durante(Smiler Grogan), Buster Keaton(Jimmy the Crook) |
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Stanley Kramer |
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G |
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Blu-ray Disc |
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124242 |
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883904242420 |
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MGM424242 |
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7 February 2012 |
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MGM/UA STUDIOS ( MGM ) |
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159 |
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A: Americas, E Asia |
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2.35:1 (Cinemascope), Color, Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV |
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French, Spanish |
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Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Mono, DTS-HD Master Audio, English, French, Spanish |
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Discs:1 ~ Format:Blu-Ray ~ Region:A |
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Eng Fre Spa |
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Alan Carney(Police Sergeant), Allen Jenkins(Police Officer), Andy Devine(Sheriff Mason), Arnold Stang(Ray), Barbara Pepper, Barrie Chase(Mrs. Haliburton), Ben Blue(Airplane Pilot), Ben Lessy(George, the Steward), Bobo Lewis(Pilot's Wife), Buddy Hackett(Benjy Benjamin), Buster Keaton(Jimmy the Crook), Carl Reiner(Tower Control), Charles Lane(Airport Manager), Charles McGraw(Lieutenant), Chick Chandler, Cliff Norton, Curly Joe DeRita(Fireman), Dick Shawn(Sylvester Marcus), Don C. Harvey(Helicopter Observer), Don Knotts(Nervous Man), Doodles Weaver(Salesman), Dorothy Provine(Emmeline Finch), Eddie "Rochester" Anderson(Cab Driver), Eddie Ryder(Tower Radioman), Edie Adams(Monica Crump), Edward Everett Horton(Dinckler), Ethel Merman(Mrs. Marcus), Harry Lauter(Radio Operator), Howard Da Silva(Airport Officer), Jerry Lewis(Mad Driver), Jesse White(Radio Tower Operator), Jim Backus(Tyler Fitzgerald), Jimmy Durante(Smiler Grogan), Joe E. Brown(Union Official), John Zaccaro, Jonathan Winters(Lennie Pike), Larry Fine(Fireman), Leo Gorcey(Cab Driver), Lloyd Corrigan(Mayor), Louise Glenn(Billie Sue), Madlyn Rhue(Police Secretary), Marvin Kaplan(Irwin), Mickey Rooney(Ding Bell), Mike Mazurki(Sarge), Milton Berle(J. Russell Finch), Minta Durfee, Moe Howard(Fireman), Nicholas Georgiade(Detective), Nick Stewart [Nicodemus](Truck Driver), Norman Fell(Detective), Paul Birch(Patrolman), Paul Ford(Col. Wilberforce), Peter Falk(Cab Driver), Phil Silvers(Otto Meyer), Roy Engel, Roy Roberts, Sammee Tong(Chinese Laundryman), Selma Diamond(Culpeper's Wife), Sid Caesar(Melville Crump), Spencer Tracy(Capt. C.G. Culpepper), Stan Freberg(Deputy Sheriff), Stanley Clements, Sterling Holloway(Fire Chief), Terry-Thomas(J. Algernon Hawthorne), Tom Kennedy(Traffic Cop), William Demarest(Chief of Police), ZaSu Pitts(Switchboard Operator) |
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Art Director:Gordon Gurnell, Cinematographer:Ernest Laszlo, Composer (Music Score):Ernest Gold, Director:Stanley Kramer, Producer:Stanley Kramer, Screenwriter:Tania Rose, Screenwriter:William Rose |
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