IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

by Gordon

Directed by: Stanley Kramer

Released: 1963

Rating: G

Runtime: 182 min.

Main Cast: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters

Rotten Tomatoes: 77%                    IMDB: 7.5/10

 

   1. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a classic American comedy that deserves at least one solid viewing from any humor-loving American. 2. If you were born after 1970, chances are that much of the comedic appeal will have been sucked out by the vacuous, desensitizing media waves of the decades thereafter.

   Though of course it still stands true that director Stanley Kramer packed his now-dated, epic laugh-riot with enough comedic star power to tickle the senses of even the most clueless present-day viewers. Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, all were Hollywood fixtures in the their heyday (perhaps most of all Spencer Tracy, though he was never known for comedic roles). And even those with no knowledge of any of these long-ago entertainers, many of them at least serve to remind us of the more familiar funny faces we’ve come to love in our own time, like Buddy Hackett for example, who sounds like Joe Pesci in Home Alone, and looks to be the true inspiration for Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

   The story itself is really a simple but opportunity-packed plot that should be funny just about any decade (as 2001’s Rat Race also tried to be). It’s the story of a group of strangers who witness the car accident and death of a random stranger who uses his final words to speak of a buried treasure hundreds of miles away. It’s really the story of how seemingly normal members of society can lose their inhibitions and even their mind over the pursuit of cash, and the adventures they face with each other and new characters along the way. But every story has its pitfalls.

   One inevitable problem with the movie is its overindulgent reliance on cheap humor. Though many funny bits thrive off of the slapstick standards of the day, for a boy used to the blatantly, cruelly realistic situational humor of modern-day funnies like The Hangover, much of it unfortunately goes down with the unpreventable air of childish silliness. And it would seem the writers had a penchant for things being destroyed, often whole sets as the actors would fumble and stumble their way past each other and into something else. It only goes so far.

   The tediousness unfortunately doesn’t stop there. Most blatantly is the bloated running time (Kramer’s initial cut ran 3 ½ hours long, but became shortened to just over 3 hours for the premiere release). Though I on rare occasions can see the appeal to running times of epic proportions given the right material (say, Lord of the Rings, for example), I was feeling stuffy before the film hit the halfway mark. Filling in for voids of humor and dialogue are about three times as many car chases, car swerves, car accidents and near misses than necessary. And nearly all of the characters, though expertly crafted, take up little to no change throughout the course of the film, their overacted, blown-up personas remaining their character’s one-and-only joke.

    Production-wise, the film’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are often long, continuous shots that cover entire, lengthy scenes. On one hand it exhibits less creativity from behind the camera. On the other, it proves the acting chops of the actors on the other side. With the comic talent such as it was, the crackups that would have presumptuously broken up the shots (fun as they’d make the set) must have been a bitch. The film’s color, though impressive at times, changes without warning from shot to shot, even in the same scene (perhaps an unavoidable pitfall of the day’s tools). I will say that despite the distracting video screens standing in for real background through much of the film, the extent to which Kramer syncs these with the live action seems almost revolutionary for the time.

   Sadly, my final grade might have bumped up to a B+ had the film’s ending not been the ridiculous free-for-all it was (even compared to earlier, over-the-top moments). Not only does it give up much of the funny, but it instead expects us to be interested enough in the actual plot to sit through watching everyone chase each other for the money for another half hour, this time on foot. But all the criticism isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the film. It’s great to witness such bold comedic prowess while reconnecting with the past, and kind of makes you wish they’d do more of it today.