{"id":12831,"date":"2010-10-13T16:43:34","date_gmt":"2010-10-13T23:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12831"},"modified":"2021-01-29T00:27:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T07:27:23","slug":"its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12831","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There&#8217;s money in this for all of us. Right?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster-194x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster-194x300.png 194w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster-663x1024.png 663w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster-83x128.png 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster-175x270.png 175w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Poster.png 739w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs he lies dying from a car crash, an ex-con (Jimmy Durante) tells a motley group of witnesses &#8212; Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Edie Adams, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine, and Ethel Merman &#8212; about a stash of money he has hidden under a &#8220;giant W&#8221;. Soon they are in a fierce competition &#8212; secretly overseen by a police detective (Spencer Tracy) &#8212; to be the first to find it.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Car Chase<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Ensemble Cast<\/li>\n<li>Greed<\/li>\n<li>Hidden Treasure<\/li>\n<li>Mickey Rooney Films<\/li>\n<li>Peter Falk Films<\/li>\n<li>Spencer Tracy Films<\/li>\n<li>Stanley Kramer Films<\/li>\n<li>Zasu Pitts Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary is mostly enthusiastic in his <em>GFTFF<\/em> review of this all-star cult comedy &#8212; produced and directed by Stanley Kramer as a &#8220;salute to slapstick&#8221; &#8212; which was one of just five feature films shot in a single-lens version of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cinerama\">Cinerama<\/a>. He argues that the &#8220;all star cast&#8221; &#8212; most of whom are &#8220;known for their verbal skills&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;prove equal to the task&#8221;; that &#8220;there are some spectacular stunts and some imaginative plot twists&#8221;; and that while the film may &#8220;be too long&#8221;, this nonetheless &#8220;allows all the stars ample time to be in the spotlight&#8221;. He notes that while &#8220;much humor&#8230; falls flat&#8221;, there is &#8220;also a great deal of hilarity in [the] film, both visual and verbal&#8221;, with Kramer effectively demonstrating &#8220;that old, familiar slapstick bits are still funny&#8221;. Finally, he argues that Kramer miraculously &#8220;manages to maintain a frantic pace throughout&#8221; the film&#8217;s lengthy (nearly three hours &#8212; and it was originally much longer!) running time. <\/p>\n<p>In his later, more detailed analysis of the film written for <em>Cult Movies 3<\/em>, however, Peary is suddenly much more critical. He claims that <em>&#8230; Mad World<\/em> &#8220;makes a mockery of humanity&#8221; given that the individuals seeking the hidden money are either &#8220;stupid, loud, vulgar, mean, corrupt, shameless, and[\/or] greedy&#8221;. He points out that we never really feel much &#8220;affection&#8221; for any of the characters &#8212; other than Spencer Tracy, for a little while: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-1024x376.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"235\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-66689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-1024x376.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-128x47.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-768x282.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-1536x564.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy-604x222.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-Tracy.png 1827w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; and that &#8220;we miss a sympathetic character to root for, someone who has a noble purpose for acquiring the money&#8221;. In this review, he argues that despite its purported aim to serve as an homage to silent slapstick films, the film is &#8220;filled with superfluous dialogue&#8221; used &#8220;to camouflage&#8230; uninspired sight gags&#8221;, which in turn lack &#8220;intricate pacing&#8221; or any &#8220;build to a big-laugh payoff&#8221;. He posits that &#8220;the wrong types of comedians were cast&#8221; (he&#8217;s especially disparaging of Rooney and Hackett, who he claims &#8220;should have been replaced by&#8230; two much zanier performers&#8221;), and, in sum, refers to <em>&#8230; Mad World<\/em> as a &#8220;disappointing, wrongly conceived film&#8221; &#8212; though one which is &#8220;by no means a total disaster&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>After reading both reviews &#8211; and scratching my head plenty over how one reviewer could offer such widely divergent takes on the same film &#8212; I found myself agreeing primarily with Peary&#8217;s <em>Cult Movies 3<\/em> review. While I find the premise and plot twists remarkably clever &#8212; and enjoyed &#8220;watching for cameos from the likes of Jerry Lewis&#8221; and others &#8212; overall there&#8217;s little here to actively engage anyone but cult followers of the film. And while it&#8217;s true, as Peary notes, that the lengthy running time allows most of the stars ample time to shine, none of them are at their comedic best. Sid Caesar, just for instance &#8212; so brilliant in his sketch comedy series (see <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12156\"><em>Ten From Your Show of Shows<\/em>, 1973<\/a>) &#8212; is merely serviceable here playing a married man trying to blast his way out of a locked hardware store; and despite Peary&#8217;s claims that Ethel Merman was a &#8220;good sport to play such a character&#8221;, her outrageously obnoxious mother-in-law is someone you desperately hope to see obliterated within a few moments of her arrival on-screen. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-1024x374.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"234\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-66688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-1024x374.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-128x47.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-768x281.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-1536x561.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2-604x221.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Merman2.png 1837w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, all the stunts and sight gags go on for about three times as long as they need to &#8212; and I&#8217;ll agree with Peary that they&#8217;re mostly uninspired. The most amusing sequences &#8212; indeed, the only ones that had me giggling out loud &#8212; involve Dick Shawn as Merman&#8217;s grown son, who&#8217;s first seen dancing groovily with his robotic girlfriend (Barrie Chase), then sobbing protectively as he races to &#8220;rescue&#8221; his mother. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"843\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-66682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn.png 843w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn-300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn-128x52.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn-768x313.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Shawn-604x246.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While I appreciate this film on multiple levels (including its historical value as a Cinerama production), it&#8217;s ultimately not one I&#8217;ll be returning to again any time soon. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hbw.addr.com\/madworld.htm\">here<\/a> for a fun set of comparative photos with actual locations of all major sequences revealed. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Interestingly, Peary points out that this &#8220;was one of the first films since Griffith&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24621\">1916 <em>Intolerance<\/em><\/a> to cut back and forth between several story lines&#8221;; it&#8217;s strange to think that so many years went by before this practice began to become as commonplace as it is today. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A clever premise<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"836\" height=\"331\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-66685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise.png 836w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise-128x51.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise-768x304.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Premise-604x239.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fun cameos by a plethora of comedic greats<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"847\" height=\"334\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-66683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo.png 847w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo-128x50.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo-768x303.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Cameo-604x238.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine location shooting throughout Southern California<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"836\" height=\"335\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-66684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location.png 836w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location-128x51.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location-768x308.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Its-a-Mad-Location-604x242.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply as a cult favorite with historical importance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057193\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1963\/11\/19\/archives\/screen-wild-comedy-about-the-pursuit-of-moneya-mad-mad-world-opens.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/79559\/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world\/#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s money in this for all of us. Right?&#8221; Synopsis: As he lies dying from a car crash, an ex-con (Jimmy Durante) tells a motley group of witnesses &#8212; Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Edie Adams, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine, and Ethel Merman &#8212; about a stash of money he has hidden under a &#8220;giant W&#8221;. Soon they are in a fierce competition &#8212; secretly overseen by a police detective (Spencer Tracy) &#8212; to be the first&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12831\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12831"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66690,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12831\/revisions\/66690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}