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

The dying words of a thief spark a madcap cross-country rush to find some treasure.

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

William Rose (story), Tania Rose (story)

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Spencer Tracy	...	Capt. T. G. Culpepper
Milton Berle	...	J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar	...	Melville Crump
Buddy Hackett	...	Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman	...	Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney	...	Ding Bell
Dick Shawn	...	Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers	...	Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas	...	J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters	...	Lennie Pike
Edie Adams	...	Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine	...	Emeline Marcus-Finch
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson	...	Second Cab Driver
Jim Backus	...	Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue	...	Biplane Pilot

Storyline

After a long prison sentence Smiler Grogan is heading at high speed to a California park where he hid $350,000 from a job 15 years previously. He accidentally careens over a cliff in view of four cars whose occupants go down to help. The dying Grogan gives details of where the money is buried and when the witnesses fail to agree on sharing the cash, a crazy chase develops across the state.

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Plot Keywords:

race | desert | money | mother in law | blockbuster | 

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Taglines:

If ever this mad, mad, mad, mad world needed "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world" it's now! (1970 re-release)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 1963 (UK)

Also Known As:

It's a Mad World

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,400,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$46,300,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Casey Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

192 min 154 min (edited) 174 min (restored video) 182 min (extended re-edit) (Laserdisc) 192 min (original)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (35mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.76 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The next-to-last film for production designer Rudolph Sternad. He died eight months before it was released.

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Goofs

Jonathan Winters' stunt double is seen with the chair back still attached in a shot following the scene in which Lennie is freed from the chair.

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Quotes

Lennie Pike: [after Smiler Grogan literally kicks the bucket] That guy's dead.

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Crazy Credits

The animators who animated the opening title sequence were technically uncredited on film, but they did get their names in during the shot where the giant globe "explodes" and there is a shower of name credits strewn over the screen. Freeze-frame reveals the names of all the animators. This is the same animation team who did A Charlie Brown Christmas.

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Connections

Featured in Beatles Stories (2011)

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Soundtracks

"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"
(1963) (uncredited)
Music by Ernest Gold
Lyrics by Mack David
Sung by an offscreen chorus during the Overture
Variations in the score throughout the film

User Reviews

A Comedy Classic that Still Holds Up...

A couple of years ago, I finally managed to get IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD on video. I saw it as a kid and remember enjoying it but watching it again for 40 years later, I still found myself LMAO. This is still the granddaddy of all comedy/adventures directed by Stanley Kramer, who up to this point had only directed serious dramas like THE DEFIANT ONES and JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG. A dying man (Jimmy Durante) who was thrown from a car that careened over a cliff, tells a group of witnesses to the accident (Sid Ceasar, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters) that there is $350,000.00 hidden under a big "W" in a nearby town, which sets off one of the wildest, craziest chase comedies made in the history of cinema. A rather tired and haggard looking Spencer Tracy heads the cast as the cop on the trail of these greedy money-mongers and just about every comedian or comic actor alive in 1963 appears in this film, either in a starring role or cameo and despite this impressive gathering of the best comedic talent in the business, towering over all of them in one of her few film performances, is Broadway legend Ethel Merman, who gives the performance of a lifetime as Berle's shrew of a mother-in-law. Her performance alone makes IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD worth seeing. Check out this classic if you've never seen it.