I like this
movie for one reason: it’s certain that when you’re done watching, some scenes
will stick in your mind. The absurd dialogue and the way the characters are
portrayed as so ridiculously greedy make it seem implausible that such a group
could ever come together. But in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, they do, and
these people go to extreme lengths to ensure they get to the money before
anyone else.
Bringing
together an all-star comedic cast, along with numerous cameos from legends like
Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis, and others, must have been a monumental challenge
for producer and director Stanley Kramer. He got the script idea from William
Rose, whose initial concept involved a group of characters in Scotland. Kramer
later pushed for an American setting. The movie’s title evolved from Something
a Little Less Serious to Damn Thing After Another and finally to It’s a Mad,
Mad, Mad, Mad World, inspired by the 1605 comedy A Mad World, My Masters.
The plot
revolves around a man, wanted by the police for robbery, who has a terrible car
accident. In his final moments, he tells a group of strangers who gather to
help him that there’s $350,000 buried “under a big W” in Santa Rosita State
Park in Santa Rosita Beach. At first, the group tries to agree on sharing the
money equally, but after 17 different attempts to divide it fail, each person
sets off on their own to claim the fortune. The central character, played by
Spencer Tracy, is Captain T. G. Culpeper.
The scenes that
stuck with me the most include the one where Dingy and Benjy are stuck in an
airplane and have to pilot it themselves because the actual pilot, who got
drunk, knocks himself out trying to grab a drink. Another standout moment is
when Melville and Monica, a couple, get trapped in a hardware store, leading
Melville to completely wreck the place in his failed attempts to escape.
This is a movie
I can confidently recommend. If you watch it, you’ll likely enjoy it and grow
to love the dialogue. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that it’s a long
film—over 2 hours and 30 minutes. For me, it was worth every minute of the fun.
I do have to add
though that, Scavenger Hunt, a movie which is very similar to this in the way
it plays out, seems to be a lot better as it irons out the challenges this
movie had.
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