![Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Trailer4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Its_a_Mad%2C_Mad%2C_Mad%2C_Mad_World_Trailer4.jpg)
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' is a 1963 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
produced and directed by
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
with a story and screenplay by
William Rose and
Tania Rose Tania is usually a given name. It may refer to:
Given name
* Tânia Alves, Brazilian actress and singer
* Tania Brishty, Bangladesh actress and model
* Princess Tania de Bourbon Parme, French designer
* Tania de Jong, Dutch-born Australian sopran ...
. The film, starring
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
with an
all-star cast of comedians, is about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers. It premiered on November 7, 1963.
The principal cast features
Edie Adams
Edie Adams (born Edith Elizabeth Enke; April 16, 1927 – October 15, 2008) was an American comedian, actress, singer and businesswoman. She earned the Tony Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Adams was well known for her impersonation ...
,
Milton Berle
Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...
,
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950 ...
,
Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ''The Music Man'' (1962), Benjy Benjamin in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wo ...
,
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary ''Variety'', February 22, 1984. ...
,
Dorothy Provine
Dorothy Michelle Provine (January 20, 1935 – April 25, 2010) was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first ...
,
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
,
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap come ...
,
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popu ...
,
Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of th ...
, and
Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...
.
The film marked the first time Kramer directed a comedy, though he had produced the comedy ''
So This Is New York
''So This Is New York'' is a 1948 satirical movie comedy starring acerbic radio and television comedian Henry Morgan and directed by Richard Fleischer. The cynically sophisticated screenplay was written by Carl Foreman and Herbert Baker from the ...
'' in 1948. He is best known for producing and directing, in his own words, "heavy drama" about
social problems
A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...
, such as ''
The Defiant Ones
''The Defiant Ones'' is a 1958 American Adventure film, adventure Drama film, drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Ton ...
'', ''
Inherit the Wind'', ''
Judgment at Nuremberg
''Judgment at Nuremberg'' is a 1961 American epic courtroom drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, written by Abby Mann and starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietr ...
'', and ''
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and featur ...
''. His first attempt at directing a comedy film paid off immensely as ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' became a critical and commercial success in 1963 and was nominated for six
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, winning for
Best Sound Editing
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awa ...
, and two
Golden Globe Awards
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
.
Against Kramer's wishes, the film suffered severe cuts by its distributor
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
in order to give the film a shorter running time for its general release. On October 15, 2013, it was announced that
the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
had collaborated with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
, United Artists, and film restoration expert
Robert A. Harris
Robert A. Harris (born 1945) is an American film historian, archivist, and film preservationist.
Life
Robert A. Harris was born in 1945.
Harris is often working with James C. Katz and has restored such films as ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Ver ...
to reconstruct and restore ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' to be as close as possible to the original 202-minute version envisioned by Kramer. It was released in a five-disc "Dual Format"
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
/
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
Combo Pack on January 21, 2014.
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' featured at number 40 in the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
's list
100 Years...100 Laughs.
Plot
"Smiler" Grogan, a just-released convict jailed for robbery 15 years earlier, escapes police surveillance but crashes his car on
California State Route 74
State Route 74 (SR 74), part of which forms the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway or Pines to Palms Highway, and the Ortega Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs from Interstate 5 in California, Interstate 5 in San Juan C ...
. Five motorists stop to help him: Melville Crump, a dentist on a second honeymoon with his wife Monica; Lennie Pike, a furniture mover; Ding Bell and Benjy Benjamin, two friends on their way to Las Vegas; and J. Russell Finch, a seaweed-business owner, traveling with his wife Emmeline and his loud, obnoxious mother-in-law Mrs. Marcus. Just before he dies, Grogan tells them about $350,000 ($3.2 million, today) buried in Santa Rosita State Park under “a big W”. After the group fails to come up with a satisfactory way to split the money, they decide to race to find it. Unbeknownst to all, Captain Culpeper, chief of detectives of the Santa Rosita Police Department, who had been working the Grogan case for years and hoped to solve it and retire, has everyone tracked.
All the motorists experience setbacks on the way to the park. The Crumps charter a rickety biplane to Santa Rosita. When they stop in a hardware store for supplies, they are inadvertently locked in the store's basement. After several failed attempts to break out, they blow out the wall of the basement with dynamite and hire a cab to get to the park. Bell and Benjamin charter a modern plane, but, when their alcoholic pilot knocks himself out, they have to land the plane themselves, causing chaos among the air traffic controllers as the plane flies wildly out of control. After bringing the plane to the ground, they also hire a cab to drive them to the park. The Finches' car collides with Pike's furniture van, and Russell persuades British Army Lieutenant Colonel J. Algernon Hawthorne to drive them to Santa Rosita. After a nasty argument, Mrs. Marcus and Emeline leave to hitch their own ride.
Pike stops motorist Otto Meyer for a ride; however, after Pike tells Meyer about the money, Meyer abandons him and convinces two service station employees to detain Pike. Pike destroys the station, steals a tow truck, and picks up Mrs. Marcus and Emmeline. Mrs. Marcus calls her dimwitted son Sylvester, who lives near the park; however, she claims Russell "assaulted" her, causing Sylvester to panic and drive towards her instead of getting the money for her. Meyer, meanwhile, picks up a stranded motorist and helps him get back home. Trying to get back to the highway, Meyer fails at crossing a deep river and his car is swept away, forcing him to steal another motorist's car.
Meanwhile, Culpepper has a furious argument with his wife and daughter, then is told his pension will be a pittance, and has a mental breakdown. He instructs all the law enforcement following the motorists to back off on his signal – because none of the motorists know him – and heads for the park. After many mishaps, everyone reaches the Park and begins searching for the "big W". Culpeper gives the pre-arranged signal and goes in alone. Emmeline finds the "big W" first, quickly followed by Pike, who tells the others. After the money is dug up, Culpeper identifies himself, but does not arrest them. He persuades the motorists to turn themselves in.
Chief Aloysius successfully blackmails the mayor into tripling Culpeper’s pension. He tries to get word of this to Culpeper, but fails because Culpeper has already gone after the stolen money. Figuring out Culpeper’s real motivation, the police chief sadly orders his friend’s arrest. Suspicious about why Culpeper let them go, the motorists follow him and notice he is not returning to the police station. They chase him to a condemned building, where the men corner him on a rickety fire escape which breaks because of their combined weight. In the struggle, Culpeper drops the briefcase containing the money, scattering the cash to a crowd of people in the street below. When they all pile onto a fire department ladder sent to rescue them, their combined weight causes it to spin uncontrollably and toss them wildly in different directions, leaving most of them heavily injured.
In the prison hospital, the men bemoan the loss of the money and blame their injuries on Culpeper. Culpeper responds that because of his lost pension, the ruined relationship with his family and the likelihood that the judge will probably be lenient with them but throw the book at him, it will be a long time before he laughs again. Mrs. Marcus, flanked by Emmeline and Monica (all in prison attire) enters and begins loudly berating the men, only to slip on Benjamin's dropped banana peel. All the men except Sylvester roar with laughter, and, after a brief hesitation, Culpeper joins in.
Cast
Principal cast
Supporting cast
Cameo/uncredited appearances
Cast notes
According to Robert Davidson,
the role of Irwin originally was offered to
Joe Besser
Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of The Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957 ...
, who was unable to participate when
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard Bershad (February 22, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and screenwriter.
Early life
Sheldon Leonard Bershad was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of middle-clas ...
and
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...
could not give him time off from his co-starring role in ''
The Joey Bishop Show''.
Actress Eve Bruce filmed a scene as a showgirl who asks Benjy Benjamin and Ding Bell to help her apply suntan lotion. The scene was cut, and she is uncredited.
Cliff Norton
Clifford Charles Norton (March 21, 1918 – January 25, 2003) was an American character actor and radio announcer who appeared in various movies and television series over a career spanning four decades.
Early years
Norton was born in Ch ...
is listed in the opening credits but is not found in the film; Norton had a role as a detective who appears at the Rancho Conejo airport.
King Donovan
King Donovan (January 25, 1918 – June 30, 1987) was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director.
Early years
Francis King Donovan was born in Manhattan on January 25, 1918. His parents were vaudev ...
, playing an airport official, appeared in the Rancho Conejo scenes but was cut from the film.
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on ''The Andy Griffith Show'', a 1960s sitcom for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He also ...
originally shot a second scene in which he tries to use a telephone in a diner. Also featured in the scene was
Barbara Pepper
Barbara Pepper (born Marion Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first Doris Ziffel on the sitcom ''Green Acres''.
Early life and career
Marion Pepper ...
.
The first of the credited cast to die was
ZaSu Pitts
Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...
, who died on 7 June 1963, five months to the day before the film's release. With the death of Carl Reiner on 29 June 2020 and Nicholas Georgiade on 19 December 2021, Barrie Chase is the film's last surviving cast member, credited or otherwise. Mickey Rooney was the last living member of the main cast at the time of his death on April 6, 2014.
Production
Background
In the early 1960s, screenwriter
William Rose, then living in the United Kingdom, conceived the idea for a film (provisionally titled ''So Many Thieves'', and later ''Something a Little Less Serious'') about a comedic chase through Scotland. He sent an outline to Kramer, who agreed to produce and direct the film. The setting was shifted to America, and the working title changed to ''Where, but in America?'' then ''One Damn Thing After Another'' and then ''It's a Mad World'', with Rose and Kramer adding additional ''Mad''s to the title as time progressed. Kramer considered adding a fifth "mad" to the title before deciding it was redundant but noted in interviews that he later regretted it.
Although well known for serious films such as ''
Inherit the Wind'' and ''
Judgment at Nuremberg
''Judgment at Nuremberg'' is a 1961 American epic courtroom drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, written by Abby Mann and starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietr ...
'' (both starring Tracy), Kramer set out to make the ultimate comedy film. Filmed in
Ultra Panavision 70
Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were, from 1957 to 1966, the marketing brands that identified motion pictures photographed with Panavision's anamorphic movie camera lenses on 65 mm film. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were shot at 24 f ...
and presented in
Cinerama
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...
(becoming one of the early single-camera Cinerama features produced), ''Mad World'' had an all-star cast, with dozens of major comedy stars from all eras of cinema appearing in it. The film followed a Hollywood trend in the 1960s of producing "epic" films as a way of wooing audiences away from television and back to movie theaters. The film's theme music was written by
Ernest Gold with lyrics by
Mack David
Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...
. Kramer hosted a roundtable (including extensive clips) on the film with stars Caesar, Hackett and Winters as part of a special ''The Comedians, Stanley Kramer's Reunion with the Great Comedy Artists of Our Time'' broadcast in 1974 as part of ''
ABC's Wide World of Entertainment
''ABC's Wide World of Entertainment'' is a late night television block of programs created by the ABC television network. It premiered on January 8, 1973, and ended three years later. The title was based on the long-running broadcast ''ABC's Wide ...
''. The last reported showing of the film on major network television in America was on ABC on July 16, 1979, and before that, on CBS on May 16, 1978.
Filming
The airport terminal scenes were filmed at the now-defunct Rancho Conejo Airport in Newbury Park, California, though the control tower shown was constructed only for filming. Other airplane sequences were filmed at the Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa, California; at the Palm Springs International Airport; and in the skies above Thousand Oaks, California; Camarillo, California; and Orange County, California. In the Orange County scene, stuntman
Frank Tallman
Frank Gifford Tallman III (April 17, 1919 in East Orange, New Jersey – April 15, 1978 in Santiago Peak, Trabuco Canyon, California) was a stunt pilot who worked in Hollywood during the 1960s and 1970s.
He was the son of Frank Gifford Tallman ...
flew a
Beech model C-18S through a highway billboard advertising
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
. A communications mix-up resulted in the use of linen graphic sheets on the sign rather than paper, as planned. Linen, much tougher than paper, damaged the plane on impact. Tallman managed to fly it back to the airstrip, discovering that the leading edges of the wings had been smashed all the way back to the wing spars. Tallman considered that incident the closest he ever came to dying on film. (Both Tallman and
Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.
Early years
Man ...
, Tallman's business partner and fellow flier on ''Mad World'', eventually died in separate air crashes over a decade apart.)
In another scene, Tallman flew the plane through an airplane hangar at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose.
Santa Rosa may also refer to:
Places Argentina
*Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city
* Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca
*Santa Rosa, La Pampa
* Sa ...
.
Some scenes were filmed in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
.
The fire escape and ladder miniature used in the final chase sequence is on display at the Hollywood Museum in Hollywood. Also, the Santa Rosita Fire Department's ladder truck was a 1960s
Seagrave Fire Apparatus
Seagrave Fire Apparatus LLC is an American fire apparatus manufacturer that specializes in pumper and rescue units, as well as aerial towers. In addition to manufacturing new equipment, they refurbish, repair and upgrade older Seagrave apparatu ...
open-cab Mid-Mount Aerial Ladder.
Production began on April 26, 1962 and expected to end by December 7, 1962 but took longer, apparently conflicting with the notion that Tracy's trip down the zip line into the pet store on December 6, 1962, was the last scene filmed. Veteran stuntman
Carey Loftin
William Carey Loftin (January 31, 1914 – March 4, 1997, a.k.a. Cary Loftin, Carry Loftin, Carey Lofton, Gary Loftin, William Carey Loftin) was an American professional stuntman, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. film industry. He is ...
was featured in the documentary, explaining some of the complexity as well as simplicity of stunts, such as the day he "kicked the bucket" as a stand-in for Durante.
Widescreen process
The film was promoted as the first film made in "one-projector"
Cinerama
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...
. (The original Cinerama process filmed scenes with three separate cameras. The three processed reels were projected by three electronically synchronized projectors onto a huge curved screen.) It originally was planned for three-camera Cinerama, and some reports state that initial filming was done using three cameras but was abandoned. One-camera Cinerama could be Super Panavision 70 or Ultra Panavision 70, which was essentially the
Super Panavision 70
Super Panavision 70 is the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983.
Ultra Panavision 70 was similar to Super Panavision 70, though Ultra Panavision lenses were anamorp ...
process with anamorphic compression at the edges of the image to give a much wider aspect ratio. When projected by one projector, the expanded 70mm image filled the wide Cinerama screen.
Ultra Panavision 70
Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were, from 1957 to 1966, the marketing brands that identified motion pictures photographed with Panavision's anamorphic movie camera lenses on 65 mm film. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were shot at 24 f ...
was used to film ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World''. Other films shot in Ultra Panavision 70 and released in Cinerama include ''
The Greatest Story Ever Told
''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens. It is a retelling of the Biblical account about Jesus of Nazareth, from the Nativity through to the Ascension. Along with the ensemble cast, ...
'', ''
The Hallelujah Trail
''The Hallelujah Trail'' is a 1965 American Western mockumentary spoof directed by John Sturges, with top-billed stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin. It was based on the book of the same title (originally released as " ...
'', ''
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
'', and ''
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
''. Super Panavision 70 films released in Cinerama include ''
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
'', ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'', and ''
Ice Station Zebra
''Ice Station Zebra'' is a 1968 American espionage thriller film directed by John Sturges and starring Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, and Jim Brown. The screenplay is by Alistair MacLean, Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, and W ...
''.
Animated credit sequence
Kramer's comedy was accentuated by many things, including the opening animated credits designed by
Saul Bass
Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
During his 40-year career, Bass wor ...
. The film begins with mention of Spencer Tracy, then the "in alphabetical order" mention of nine of the main cast (Berle, Caesar, Hackett, Merman, Rooney, Shawn, Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Winters), followed by hands switching these nine names two to three times over. Animation continues with paper dolls and a windup toy world spinning with several men hanging on to it and finishing with a man opening a door to the globe and getting trampled by a mad crowd. One of the animators who helped with the sequence was future ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...
'' animator
Bill Melendez
José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the Peanuts animated specials, ''Peanuts'' animated specials ...
.
Reception
The film opened at the newly built
Cinerama Dome
Pacific Theatres' Cinerama Dome is a movie theater located at 6360 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pac ...
in Los Angeles on November 7, 1963. The UK premiere was on December 2, 1963 at the
Coliseum Cinerama Theatre in London's West End. Distinguished by the largest number of stars to appear in a film comedy, ''Mad World'' opened to acclaim from many critics and tremendous box office receipts, becoming the
3rd highest-grossing film of 1963, quickly establishing itself as one of the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation, earning an estimated
theatrical rental
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freq ...
figure of $26 million. It grossed $46,332,858 domestically
[Box Office Information for ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World''.](_blank)
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
. Retrieved September 5, 2013. and $60,000,000 worldwide,
on a budget of $9.4 million.
However, because costs were so high it earned a profit of only $1.25 million.
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''The New York Times'' wrote that the film "is everything, down to redundant, that its extravagant title suggests. It's a wonderfully crazy and colorful collection of 'chase' comedy, so crowded with plot and people that it almost splits the seams of its huge cinerama packing and its 3-hour-and-12-minute length." ''Variety'' stated "There are a number of truly spectacular action sequences, and the stunts that have been performed seem incredible. The automobile capers are some of the most thrilling and daring on record,
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'.
Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...
notwithstanding." However, the review continued, "Certain pratfalls and sequences are unnecessarily overdone to the point where they begin to grow tedious... but the plusses outweigh by far the minuses."
Philip K. Scheuer of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that the film "really bugged me... the first few pratfalls have, perhaps their comic shock values. Thereafter the chase—and the homicidal mania—simply go on and on – countless cars are wrecked, a plane or two, an entire service station, the basement of a hardware store, fire escapes, a fire-engine tower. The only new idea, occurring well into the third hour, hinges on a surprise development in the character of a proud, plodding chief of detectives, played by Spencer Tracy – and even this proves disillusionment."
Richard L. Coe Richard Livingston Coe (New York City, November 8, 1914 – Washington, D.C., November 12, 1995) was a theater and cinema critic for The Washington Post for more than forty years. Coe became known as one of the most influential theater critics outsi ...
of ''The Washington Post'' was mixed, writing "Yes, it is furious, fast and funny and it is also vast, vulgar and vexatious because Kramer has not given us one sympathetic character and because it is shown in Cinerama." Paul Nelson wrote in ''
Film Quarterly
''Film Quarterly'', a journal devoted to the study of film, television, and visual media, is published by University of California Press. It publishes scholarly analyses of international and Hollywood cinema as well as independent film, including d ...
'': "The film manages to stay on its feet for a little while and trundle self-importantly along, but it soon becomes painfully clear that its feet are flat and its wheels are square. Kramer lacks all the essentials of good comedy; he has few ideas, no cinematic or comic technique (the huge screen certainly didn't help him here: just one more technical burden), no sense of comic structure, and above all, no sense of pace."
The film's great success inspired Kramer to direct and produce ''
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and featur ...
'' (also starring Tracy and also written by William Rose) and ''
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'' is a 1969 American war film distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the bes ...
'' (also scored by Ernest Gold and co-written by Rose). The movie was re-released in 1970 and earned an additional $2 million in rentals.
The film holds a 71% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 38 reviews, with an average score of 6.9/10. The consensus states: "It's long, frantic, and stuffed to the gills with comic actors and set pieces—and that's exactly its charm." According to Paul Scrabo, Kramer began thinking about his success with ''Mad World'' during the 1970s, and considered bringing back many former cast members for a proposed film titled ''The Sheiks of Araby''. William Rose was set to write the screenplay. Years later, Kramer announced a possible ''Mad World'' sequel, which was to be titled ''It's a Funny, Funny World''.
Awards and honors
The film is recognized by the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
in the following lists:
* 2000:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #40
Soundtrack
*"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (1963) - Music by Ernest Gold - Lyrics by Mack David
*"You Satisfy My Soul" (1963) - Music by Ernest Gold - Lyrics by Mack David - Played by The Four Mads - Sung by
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFadd ...
*"Thirty-One Flavors" (1963) - Music by Ernest Gold - Lyrics by Mack David - Played by The Four Mads - Sung by The Shirelles
Home media
Existing footage is in the form of original 70 mm elements of the general release version (recent restored versions shown in revival screenings are derived from these elements). A 1991 VHS and LaserDisc from MGM/UA was an extended 183-minute version of the film, with most of the reinserted footage derived from elements stored in a Los Angeles warehouse about to be demolished. According to a 2002 interview with master preservationist
Robert A. Harris
Robert A. Harris (born 1945) is an American film historian, archivist, and film preservationist.
Life
Robert A. Harris was born in 1945.
Harris is often working with James C. Katz and has restored such films as ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Ver ...
, this extended version is not a true representation of the original roadshow cut and included footage that was not meant to be shown in any existing version.
A restoration effort was made by Harris in an attempt to bring the film back as close as possible to the original roadshow release. The project to go ahead with the massive restoration project would gain approval from
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
(parent company of UA), although it did require a necessary budget for it to proceed.
Released on January 21, 2014 originally as a two
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
and three
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
set, the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
release contains two versions of the film, a restored 4K digital film transfer of the 159-minute general release version and a new 197-minute high-definition digital transfer, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original "road-show" version not seen in over 50 years. Some scenes have been returned to the film for the first time, and the Blu-ray features a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. It also features a new audio commentary from ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo, a new documentary on the film's visual and sound effects, an excerpt from a 1974 talk show hosted by
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
featuring
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950 ...
,
Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ''The Music Man'' (1962), Benjy Benjamin in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wo ...
, and
Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...
, a press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and cast members, excerpts about the film's influence taken from the 2000
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
program ''
100 Years...100 Laughs'', a two-part 1963 episode of Canadian TV program ''Telescope'' that follows the film's press junket and premiere, a segment from the 2012 special ''The Last 70mm Film Festival'' featuring surviving ''Mad World'' cast and crew members hosted by
Billy Crystal
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
, a selection of Stan Freberg's original TV and radio ads for the film with a new introduction by Freberg, trailers and radio spots from the 1960s/70s, and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic
Lou Lumenick
Louis J. Lumenick (born September 11, 1949) is an American film critic. He was the chief film critic and film editor for the ''New York Post'' where he reviewed films from 1999 until his retirement in 2016. He is currently researching the histor ...
with new illustrations by cartoonist
Jack Davis, along with a map of the shooting locations by artist Dave Woodman.
[
]
Influence
Films having a comedic search for money with an ensemble cast modeled after ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' include ''Scavenger Hunt
''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony Randa ...
'' (1979), ''Million Dollar Mystery
''Million Dollar Mystery'' (also known as ''Money Mania'') is a 1987 American film released with a promotional tie-in for Glad-Lock brand bags. This was the final feature-length film directed by Richard Fleischer.
It starred an ensemble cast o ...
'' (1987) and ''Rat Race
A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely.
The term is ...
'' (2001). There are similar Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
movies like '' Journey Bombay to Goa: Laughter Unlimited'' (2007), ''Dhamaal
''Dhamaal'' () is a List of Bollywood films of 2007, 2007 Cinema of India, Indian Bollywood, Hindi-Hindi, language comedy film directed by Indra Kumar and produced by Ashok Thakeria. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, ...
'' (2007), ''Mast Maja Maadi
''Mast Maja Maadi'' is a 2008 Kannada comedy-romance film directed by R. Ananth Raju featuring Sudeep, Vijay Raghavendra, Diganth, Naga Kiran, Komal and Jennifer Kotwal in the lead roles. The film features background score and soundtrack compos ...
'' (2008) and ''Total Dhamaal
''Total Dhamaal'' (also known as ''Dhamaal 3'') is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language adventure comedy film directed and written by Indra Kumar and loosely based on the 1963 Hollywood film ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' with some scenes borrowe ...
'' (2019).
See also
* List of American films of 1963
A list of American films released in 1963.
''Cleopatra'' - the highest-grossing film of 1963.
__TOC__
A-C
D-G
H-M
N-S
T-Z
See also
* 1964 in the United States
External links
1963 filmsat the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSO ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'': Nothing Succeeds Like Excess
" an essay by Lou Lumenick
Louis J. Lumenick (born September 11, 1949) is an American film critic. He was the chief film critic and film editor for the ''New York Post'' where he reviewed films from 1999 until his retirement in 2016. He is currently researching the histor ...
at the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
*
Writer Mark Evanier discusses his favorite movie
Still a 'Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'?
{{DEFAULTSORT:It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963 films
1963 comedy films
American chase films
American epic films
American comedy road movies
1960s English-language films
Films scored by Ernest Gold
Films directed by Stanley Kramer
Films produced by Stanley Kramer
Films set in California
Films shot in California
Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award
Treasure hunt films
United Artists films
1960s American films
Films shot in San Diego
1960s comedy road movies
Comedy epic films