It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Writing credits: William Rose & Tania Rose, William Rose & Tania Rose
Cast:
Spencer Tracy .... Capt. C. G. Culpepper
Milton Berle .... J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar .... Melville Crump, DDS
Buddy Hackett .... Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman .... Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney .... Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn .... Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers .... Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas .... Lt.Col. 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
Joe E. Brown .... Union official
Alan Carney .... Police sergeant
Chick Chandler .... Detective outside Chinese laundromat
Barrie Chase .... Sylvester's girlfriend
Lloyd Corrigan .... The Mayor
William Demarest .... Police Chief Aloysius aka Al
Andy Devine .... Sheriff of Crockett County
Selma Diamond .... Ginger Culpeper, Voice on Telephone (voice)
Peter Falk .... Third cab driver
Norman Fell .... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Paul Ford .... Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg .... Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn .... Billie Sue Culpeper, Voice on Telephone (voice)
Leo Gorcey .... First cab driver
Sterling Holloway .... Fire Chief Edward Everett
Horton .... Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan .... Irwin
Buster Keaton .... Jimmy the Crook
Don Knotts .... Nervous Motorist
Charles Lane .... Airport manager
Mike Mazurki .... Miner
Charles McGraw .... Lt. Matthews
Cliff Norton .... Reporter
Zasu Pitts .... Gertie (switchboard operator)
Carl Reiner .... Tower controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue .... Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts .... Policeman outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Arnold Stang .... Ray Nick Stewart .... Migrant truck driver
Joe DeRita .... Fireman (as The Three Stooges)
Larry Fine .... Fireman (as The Three Stooges)
Moe Howard .... Fireman (as The Three Stooges)
Sammee Tong .... Chinese laundryman
Jesse White .... Radio tower operator at Rancho Conejo
Jimmy Durante .... Smiler Grogan
Jack Benny .... Man in car in desert
Paul Birch .... Policeman
Stanley Clements .... Detective in squad room
Howard Da Silva .... Airport Officer
Minta Durfee .... Bit part
Roy Engel .... Patrolman/Police radio voice unit F-14James Flavin .... Patrolman (uncredited) Nicholas Georgiade .... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Stacy Harris .... Police radio voice unit F-7 (voice)
Don C. Harvey .... Policeman in helicopter
Allen Jenkins .... Police officer
Robert Karnes .... Police Officer Simmy
Tom Kennedy .... Traffic cop
Harry Lauter .... Police dispatcher (uncredited)
Ben Lessy .... George (steward)
Bobo Lewis .... Pilot's wife
Jerry Lewis .... Man who runs over hat
Bob Mazurki .... Eddie (miner's son)
Barbara Pepper .... Bit part
Eddie Ryder .... Air traffic control tower staffer
Charles Sherlock .... Crowd Extra
Eddie Smith .... Extra
Doodles Weaver .... Hardware Store Clerk
Produced by Stanley Kramer .... producer
Original Music by Ernest Gold (also songs)
Cinematography by Ernest Laszlo (director of photography)
Film Editing by Gene Fowler Jr. Robert C. Jones, Frederic Knudtson
Production Design by Rudolph Sternad
Art Direction by Gordon Gurnee
Set Decoration by Joseph Kish
Costume Design by Bill Thomas
Makeup Department George Lane .... makeup artist
Connie Nichols .... hair stylist Lynn F. Reynolds .... makeup artist
Production Management Clem Beauchamp .... production manager
Adrian Woolery .... production manager: animation
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Batcheller .... assistant director
Bert Chervin .... assistant director
Charles Scott .... assistant director
Carey Loftin .... second unit director
Art Department Art Cole .... property master
Sound Department Art Dunham .... music editor
Walter Elliott .... sound editor
Roy Granville .... sound re-recordist
John K. Kean .... sound engineer
Clem Portman .... sound re-recordist
Vinton Vernon .... sound re-recordist
Glenn E. Anderson .... boom operator
William Brittan .... music recording engineer
Richard Portman .... assistant foley artist
Gordon Sawyer .... sound supervisor
Special Effects by Danny Lee .... special effects
Chuck Gaspar .... special effects
Visual Effects by Linwood G. Dunn .... photographic effects
Farciot Edouart .... process photography
James B. Gordon .... photographic effects
Jim Danforth .... miniature maker
Marcel Delgado .... miniatures
Willis H. O'Brien .... visual effects
Stunts Carey Loftin .... stunt supervisor
Max Balchowsky .... stunts
Paul Baxley .... stunts
May Boss .... stunt double
May Boss .... stunts
Richard E. Butler .... stunts
Tap Canutt .... stunts
Bill Couch .... high wire stunt double: Spencer Tracy
Bill Couch .... stunt double: Buddy Hackett
Chuck Couch .... stunt double: Terry-Thomas
Philip Crawford .... stunts
Dick Crockett .... stunts
John Daheim .... stunts
Carol Daniels .... stunts
George DeNormand .... stunts
Gary Epper .... stunts
Stephanie Epper .... stunts
Fred Gabourie .... stunts
Dick Geary .... stunts
Sol Gorss .... stunts
Chuck Hayward .... stunts
Bob Herron .... stunts
Robert F. Hoy .... stunts
John Hudkins .... stunt double: Jonathan Winters
John Hudkins .... stunts
Loren Janes .... stunt double: Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson
Walt La Rue .... stunts
Carey Loftin .... stunt double: Terry-Thomas
Carey Loftin .... stunt driver
Carey Loftin .... stunts
Paul Mantz .... stunt pilot
Harvey Parry .... stunts
Regis Parton .... stunt double: Milton Berle
Gil Perkins .... stunts
Jack Perkins .... stunt double: Jonathan Winters
Janos Prohaska .... stunt double: Peter Falk
George Robotham .... stunt double: Dick Shawn
Wally Rose .... stunts
Carl Saxe .... stunt double: Sid Caesar
Fred Scheiwiller .... stunts
Bill Shannon .... stunts
Alex Sharp .... stunts
Paul Stader .... stunts
Tom Steele .... stunts
Frank Tallman .... stunt pilot
Helen Thurston .... stunt double: Ethel Merman
Buddy Van Horn .... stunts
Dale Van Sickel .... stunt driver
Dale Van Sickel .... stunts
Jesse Wayne .... stunt double
Jesse Wayne .... stunt double: Mickey Rooney
Marvin Willens .... stunt double: Phil Silvers
Marvin Willens .... stunts
Other crew:
Saul Bass .... title designer
Mack David .... lyricist
Joseph Edesa .... chief gaffer
The Four Mads .... musician: dance sequence
Ernest Gold .... conductor
Martin Kashuk .... assistant company grip
Joe King .... costume supervisor
Anne P. Kramer .... assistant to producer
Paul Mantz .... aerial supervisor
Hal McAlpin .... additional photographer
Bud Pine .... production coordinator
Irmin Roberts .... additional photographer
Morris Rosen .... company grip
Marshall Schlom .... script supervisor
The Shirelles .... singer: dance sequence
Frank Tallman .... aerial supervisor
Ivan Volkman .... assistant to director
Charles F. Wheeler .... camera operator
Clarence Agress .... physician: Mr. Silvers
Robert E. Blair .... dog trainer
Bob Carlson .... animator
Hugh Childs .... animator
Tab Collar .... animator
Jim Danforth .... animator
Ernest Gold .... musician: dance sequence
Art Goodman .... animator
Bernard Gruver .... animator
Oscar Hansson .... animator
Robert Helfer .... music coordinator
William T. Hurtz .... director: animated title sequence
James V. King .... camera operator: second unit
Ruth Kissane .... animator
Bror Lansing .... animator
Ed Levitt .... animator
Mary Mathews .... animator
Hal McAlpin .... still photographer
Bill Melendez .... animator
Carl Pederson .... animator
Beverly Robbins .... animator
Charles Smith .... animator
Danny Smith .... animator
Frank Smith .... animator
Albert Woodbury .... orchestrator
Irene Wyman .... animator
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 careers
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.Summary written by Col
Needham {col@imdb.com}Blockbuster comedy. Brilliantly simple, the plot concerns
a caravan of motorists who witness a terrible accident on a dangerously winding
California desert highway. The auto-crash victim, Smiler Grogan, reveals in his dying
words that he has hidden a fortune of stolen cash, sending the drivers on a
rambunctious race to see who can claim the loot first!Summary written by filmfactsmanSomewhere in the desert. A car speeds like crazy along the roads.
Suddenly, the driver loses control and sails off a cliff. Four other vehicles are near,
they stop to help. The dying man narrates the drivers of a fortune in cash, $350,000,
which he has hidden below a giant "W" in Santa Rosita, some 200 miles away. The
four drivers and their respective passengers can't decide on how to share the future
fortune, and suddenly a wild race to Santa Rosita develops. While one party manages
to rent a plane (from 1916), the others face different problems like tire damage,
untrustworthy lifts, deep water, drunken millionaires, a British adventurer, little girl's
bicycles, and last but far not least a mother-in-law from hell and her imbecile son.
While the folks slowly travel towards the goal, they are being watched. Who ever
said that nobody else knew about the fortune?
Also Known As: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (USA) (promotional title)
Runtime: 182 min (Laserdisc version) (extended re-edit) / USA:154 min
(edited version) / USA:161 min / USA:192 min (original version)
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (Technicolor)
Sound Mix: 4-Track Stereo (35mm prints) / 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)
Certification: Iceland:L / USA:G (1970) / Australia:G / Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova
Scotia/Quebec) / Finland:K-8 / Portugal:12 (edited version) / Spain:T / UK:U
/ Canada:PG (Ontario)
Trivia: Jack Benny's cameo at the wheel of a Maxwell was considered inaccurate
by his fans because it was missing one thing: Mel Blanc. Blanc supplied the sound
of Benny's antique car on radio.
Goofs: Continuity: 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.
Quotes: Emmeline Finch: Oh Russell, I feel sick. J. Russell Finch: Now take it
easy honey, these things happen ya know. Mrs. Marcus: Now what kind of an
attitude is that, these things happen? They only happen because this whole country
is just full of people, who when these things happen, they just say these things
happen, and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.
Awards: Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations.
Tagline: 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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