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poster of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Rating: 6.961/10 by 583 users

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

Directing:
  • Stanley Kramer
  • Ivan Volkman
  • George R. Batcheller Jr.
  • Marshall Schlom
  • Charles Scott
  • Bert Chervin
Writing:
  • Tania Rose
  • William Rose
  • Tania Rose
  • William Rose
Stars:
Release Date: Thu, Nov 07, 1963

Rating: 6.961/10 by 583 users

Alternative Title:
Deu a Louca no Mundo - BR
Это безумный, безумный, безумный мир - RU
Bolond, bolond, bolond világ - HU
Bolond, bolond világ - HU
Das Ding - Eine total verrückte Welt - DE
To je ale bláznivý svét - CZ
Це божевільний, божевільний, божевільний, божевільний світ - UA
El mundo está loco, loco, loco, loco - ES
El mundo está loco, loco, loco - ES

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 03 hour 17 minutes
Budget: $9,400,000
Revenue: $60,000,000

Plot Keyword: prison, california, airplane, chase, competition, treasure hunt, national park, slapstick comedy, money, desert, race, cash, absurd, hilarious, farcical
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Spencer Tracy
C. G. Culpepper
Milton Berle
J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar
Melville Crump
Buddy Hackett
Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman
Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney
Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn
Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers
Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas
J. Algernon Hawthorne
Edie Adams
Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine
Emeline Marcus-Finch
Jim Backus
Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue
Biplane Pilot
Joe E. Brown
Union Official
Alan Carney
Police Sergeant
Chick Chandler
Detective Outside Chinese Laundromat
Barrie Chase
Sylvester's Girlfriend
William Demarest
Police Chief Aloysius
Selma Diamond
Ginger Culpepper (voice)
Andy Devine
Sheriff of Crockett County
Norman Fell
Detective at Grogan's Crash Site
Paul Ford
Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg
Deputy Sheriff
Louise Glenn
Billie Sue Culpepper (voice)
Leo Gorcey
First Cab Driver
Buster Keaton
Jimmy the Crook
Charles Lane
Airport Manager
Don Knotts
Nervous Motorist
Charles McGraw
Lt. Matthews
Zasu Pitts
Gertie - Switchboard Operator
Carl Reiner
Tower Controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue
Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts
Policeman Outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Nick Stewart
Driver run off highway
Moe Howard
Airport Firemen #1
Larry Fine
Airport Firemen #2
Joe DeRita
Airport Firemen #3
Sammee Tong
Laundryman
Jimmy Durante
Smiler Grogan
Jack Benny
Man in Car in Desert (uncredited)
Jerry Lewis
Driver Who Runs Over Hat (uncredited)
Doodles Weaver
Hardware Store Clerk (uncredited)
Jesse White
Air Traffic Controller
Al Bain
Spectator (uncredited)
Stanley Clements
Reporter (uncredited)
Max Wagner
Spectator (uncredited)
Morey Amsterdam
Uncle Mike (voice) (uncredited)
Lovyss Bradley
Matron (uncredited)
Dick Cherney
Detective (uncredited)
John Clarke
Helicoper Pilot (uncredited)
Roy Engel
Patrolman / Police Radio Voice Unit F-14 (uncredited)
Nicholas Georgiade
Detective at Grogan's Crash Site (uncredited)
Stacy Harris
Police Radio Unit F-7 (voice) (uncredited)
Don C. Harvey
Policeman in Helicopter (uncredited)
John Indrisano
Hard Hat in Crowd (uncredited)
Allen Jenkins
Cop (uncredited)
Tom Kennedy
Traffic Cop (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock
Crowd Member (uncredited)
Paul Sorensen
Hardhat in Crowd Next to Joe E Brown. (uncredited)
Lennie Weinrib
F-14 / Ladder Fireman (voice) (uncredited)
Rudy Germane
Police Officer (uncredited)
Peter Falk
Third Cab Driver

John Chard

It's every man (and old bag) for himself. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is one of those films that as a child I went to the cinema to watch and then proceeded to talk about it enthusiastically in the playground for weeks afterwards. So I find myself here in my middle age with mixed feelings after just revisiting this extravaganza for the first time in many a year. It's very much a film of three parts to me, and each part impacts differently on the entertainment scale. The first part of this multi cast piece is as madcap and as mirthful as you could honestly wish to see, but this sadly ill prepares you for a middle part that outstays its welcome to the point that you can't believe they stretched it to an original cut of 3 hours! The final third of the film saves it from smug overkill because by now you have invested so much time into the film, you thank the gods for any sort of frivolity - and thankfully the film does lift you back up to the happy place that you had visited an hour previously. The cast are fine, where some brilliant shows are mixed in with the merely acceptable ones, and I wouldn't want to be so churlish as to dissect each actors respective show. However, as a Phil Silvers fan I'm rewarded plenty enough and as a Spencer Tracy acolyte I'm burning candles again in his honour. Yet it's Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus that lives long and glorious in the memory here, and honestly I feel the film is worth a watch purely just for her. The set pieces are fine and the stunts are truly a feast for the eyes, but ultimately one comes away thinking this film should have been a masterpiece instead of the overkilled and overlong experience that it is. 6.5/10

Wuchak

_**Epic screwball comedy-adventure with an all-star cast is overlong**_ Released in 1963, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” is grand comedy-adventure about several motorists in the remote desert of Southern Cal learning of a buried cache of moolah in Santa Rosita State Park along the coast 200 miles south. A mad scramble to get to the money ensues. The cast is superlative with too many old-time greats to cite. The opening is compelling, the first act culminating with an amusing sequence where Jonathan Winters’ character levels a gas station in the desert. The wild close with the fire truck ladder and corresponding hospital gag is also superb entertainment. The middle of the film, while fun, can get tedious because emptyheaded shenanigans can only hold your interest for so long. In other words, the movie’s just too long for such madcap misadventures. Nevertheless, it’s a fun, energetic flick with top-rate locations and this is the only way to see so many classic celebrities on screen together. The theatrical cut runs 2 hours, 41 minutes whereas the longest cut runs 3 hours, 30 minutes. There are several other cuts. It was shot entirely in various areas of Southern Cal. GRADE: B-


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