''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
Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.
Though he ...
.
It starred an ensemble cast of "America's new comic talent". The film was largely inspired 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 ...
's ''
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer with a story and screenplay by William Rose and Tania Rose. The film, starring Spencer Tracy with an all-star cast of comedians, is a ...
''.
Dar Robinson
Dar Allen Robinson (March 26, 1947 – November 21, 1986) was an American stunt performer and actor. Robinson broke 19 world records and set 21 "world's firsts." He invented the decelerator (use of dragline cables rather than airbags for a ...
, a stuntman, died on November 21, 1986 after riding his motorcycle off a cliff while attempting to do a stunt.
Plot
Sidney Preston, a disgruntled
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
aide, takes off with $4 million that belonged to the government. While on the run, he stops at a roadside
diner
A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...
in Arizona and has their world-famous
chili, while flirting with the waitress. Two clumsy government spies named Fred and Bob are looking for Sidney. Sidney suffers a fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
and before dying asks for a kiss from the waitress, then he reveals to the onlookers the location of the first million dollars which he says is "In the city of the bridge". The onlookers are the Briggs Family (Stuart, Barbara, and Howie), nerdy newlyweds Rollie and Lollie, amateur singer Crush and his group of three blonde backup dancers (Faith, Hope, and Charity), brother/cook Tugger and sister/waitress Dotty. Soon, they meet professional wrestlers Bad Boris and Awful Abdul, cops Officer Gretchen and Officer Quinn, and deranged ranger Slaughter Buzzard.
The onlookers are skeptical, until Rollie turns on the television which is playing the news talking about Sidney Preston and the buried money. The newsman talks about his life and says he was born in El Puente, Arizona. The onlookers of the diner head out on a mad dash to find the dough. When they find the money in El Puente's famous bridge, Slaughter accidentally drops it into the canyon. They follow clues to the next million which is in Sidney's houseboat and lose it as well as it gets shredded in Sidney's table-sized paper shredder. After finding and losing the third million as it falls out of the hands of a greedy aeronaut, they all give up as the movie ends. During the closing credits, Bob informs the audience that there is one million dollars somewhere in the US and if they follow the clues in specially marked Glad-Lock bags, they have the chance to win $1 million.
Cast
Production
Parts of the film were shot at
Glen Canyon
Glen Canyon is a natural canyon carved by a length of the Colorado River, mostly in southeastern and south-central Utah, in the United States. Glen Canyon starts where Narrow Canyon ends, at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Dirty D ...
in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.
While performing a routine stunt for this film, stuntman Dar Robinson died on November 21, 1986.
Marketing contest
Producer
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...
conceived the idea for ''Million Dollar Mystery'' when he visited New York and saw a row of people lining up for what he presumably thought was a movie. A companion told De Laurentiis that they were actually lining up for lottery tickets.
Glad Bags sponsored a sweepstakes timed for the film's release. The company gave away entry forms, and the audience would fill out these forms with their answer to where the last million is hiding, based on clues given in the film. De Laurentiis said of the film:
De Laurentiis had high expectations for the film, but it did not turn out to be a hit. The winner of the contest ended up being 14-year-old Alesia Lenae Jones of
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
, who successfully guessed that the loot was hidden in bridge of the nose of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
. Apparently, thousands of contestants had arrived at the same answer, and her entry was chosen in a random drawing.
Reception
''Million Dollar Mystery'' was a box office flop grossing $989,033 against a $10 million budget.
The film received negative critical reviews. The film holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews.
Home media
The film was released on
VHS and
Laserdisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
by HBO Video in 1987 in pan and scan format with the contest info at the end of the movie omitted. It was later issued by Anchor Bay Entertainment on
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 ...
in 2007 in widescreen with the theatrical ending intact, and reissued again on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in Spring 2021.
Award nominations
Golden Raspberry Awards
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
* Nominated:
Worst Original Song,
Barry Mann
Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.
He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US.
Early li ...
& John Lewis Parker (1988)
* Nominated:
Worst Supporting Actor,
Tom Bosley (1988)
* Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor, Jamie Alcroft (1988)
* Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor, Mack Dryden (1988)
References
External links
*
*
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{{Richard Fleischer
1987 films
1987 comedy films
Films directed by Richard Fleischer
Treasure hunt films
Puzzle hunts
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films
Films shot in Utah
Films with screenplays by Rudy De Luca
1980s English-language films
American comedy mystery films
1980s American films