Review of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) by Adam S — 23 Dec 2012

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of the nuttiest, zaniest, most sidesplitting comedies to come out of the 1960s. It starts out with a bang and rarely lets up. With a cast including Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Cid Caesar, and even the three stooges, expectations are high, and believe me, they're more than met here.

The movie opens with one of the screen's most outrageous death scenes, in which dying conman 'Smiler' Grogan reveals to onlookers that he hid three-hundred and fifty grand under the big W in a California state park. When attempts to be reasonable and work out a deal fail, four carloads of people set out to be the first to reach the money, any way they can.

These normally law-abiding people will lie, cheat, steal, double cross, do absolutely anything to get an edge. Alliances are made and broken with a frequency that surpasses even survivor. The situation snowballs out of control as more and more people are let in on the secret and succumb to the fever. And all the while, unbeknownst to them, their every move is being watched by the police.

The movie's real genius is to let each member of its diverse cast play to his/her strengths. Ethel Merman takes the mother-in-law shtick to new heights, bickering with everyone she meets, yelling, screaming, and constantly tearing into her luckless son-in-law (Milton Berle), the weak willed manager of an edible seaweed company. As far as she's concerned, everybody's an idiot, and either it's her way, or their pulling off the highway.

Her son Sylveter (Dick Shawn) is an even bigger basket case, completely misunderstanding the situation at every turn and going through endless histrionics. Caesar, for his part, spends almost half the movie locked in a basement along with his wife (Edie Adems). This may not sound promising, but each of his attempts to escape is funnier than the last, as his frustration and anger build and his methods escalate.

But for anger management issues, no-one can hold a candle to truck driver Lennie (Pike). In what might be the film's most hilarious scene, he completely demolishes a gas station as he tries to get his hands on a pair of hapless attendants. Often, scenes like this are a desperate attempt to get laughs, with it being painfully obvious that the actor is going out of his way to knock things over. But here, the destruction is a natural by-product of the fight, and the scene builds and builds until the whole heap comes crashing down.

And what's got him so hot under the collar? The treachery of Otto Meyer (Phil "The King of Chutzpah" Silvers). He wasn't even one of the original witnesses, but he's the biggest schemer and conniver in the bunch, hands down. He plays everyone one he comes across, fast talking his way through every situation with outrageous lies. He'd beat everyone to the money for sure if he didn't have the worst possible luck.

Terry-Thomas puts in a part as a typically bullish Brit, who turns out to be quite the pansy when the going gets tough. His verbal, and eventually physical, sparring with Berle is priceless. Meanwhile, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett find themselves on a terrifying flight with the world's most booze soaked aviator, and Don Knotts even makes a cameo as a sheep for Silvers to fleece.

But the guy with the most problems just might be Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy). He's got enough on his plate keeping track of these nuts, but family issues and ongoing squabbles over his pension keep butting in. It also begins to seem that he's strangely preoccupied with something else. Is this guy crazy, or crazy like a fox?

Eventually all the big players are gathered beneath the big W, which I wouldn't dare reveal the identity of. But even when the money's found, it ain't over yet. The movie continues to a completely over the top conclusion, in which everybody gets exactly what's coming to them.

Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is bit on the long side at two and a half hours, but the running time is necessary to give every cast member time to shine, and as they say, no good movie is too long. This is a real comedy gem, appropriate for the whole family. If you're looking for a good laugh, count on this one to deliver.