It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 11/29/12, Best Sound Editing, 1963
This movie is a cornucopia of comedic personalities from the 1930s through the early 1960s, from Jack Benny to Jonathan Winters, including The Three Stooges, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney and Ethel Merman, led by the great straight man, Spencer Tracy. It was fun to watch as actors flitted in and out of scenes, some for two minutes and others for fifteen. The premise of the movie is the suspect of a robbery (Jimmy Durante) is racing away and crashes his car off a cliff. Of course before he dies, he tells the witnesses (including Buddy Hackett, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, et al) that there is money buried somewhere in Santa Rosita, California. Everyone sees dollar signs and sets off to find the loot after they can’t agree on how to split it (the amount from 1963 was $350,000, over $2 million in 2012 dollars). You can only imagine the chaos that ensues (or watch the movie and see for yourself). There is a lot of physical and slapstick comedy. The movie won for best sound editing, and I don’t know all the nuances that go into deciding the award, but there were a lot of explosions and wacky sound effects that if they weren't edited well, it would have looked like a badly dubbed foreign film. Was it the best that year, I don’t know, and there was only one other film in the running (A Gathering of Eagles). Stanley Kramer directed this ensemble piece, and it seems like a huge change of pace for the man who directed serious movies like Judgment at Nuremburg, Inherit the Wind and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (all starring Spencer Tracy). I kept watching the movie because I had to see what kind of trouble the characters would get into, would Sid Caesar succeed in blowing himself up, would Jonathan Winters get back at the dentist who tried to leave him stranded in the desert, and would anyone be able to get Ethel Merman to stop shouting? Every time she opened her mouth I heard ‘There’s no business like show business’ in my head. She had to be a good sport, because she (her character) was manhandled, dropped, and subject to a series of pratfalls. Kramer didn't make short movies and this is no exception; apparently there are several versions of the movie, one exceeding 200 minutes. I got the version the library had which was 161 minutes; I can only imagine that a few cameos were cut out, or the chase scenes were shortened. There are a few interesting and funny twists and Tracy is great at leading this crazy circus. If you like or remember the comedians of the past, or like playing ‘name that actor’, you should watch this movie. There are a few adult themed scenes, but nothing like what’s on TV these days. I was trying to imagine if they could remake this movie today, and who would be the cast and the cameos. I don’t know, I think we’re past that golden age, but maybe I’m just past it. Watch this and then watch some of Kramer’s other films. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
