It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [Blu-ray]

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World(1962) is a fun, epic, big-budget madcap comedy directed by Stanley Kramer(Judgment at Nuremberg, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bless the Beasts and the Children). Rat Race(2000) was made in the same vein. The film is like a giant banana split for us to enjoy. This film is a great comedy and a great action movie, as well. A mobster(Jimmy Durante) is injured in a car accident and he tells a dozen motorists about his hidden loot. It's "buried under a big W". The mobster kicks the bucket...quite literally! An assortment of people spend the next three hours trying to get to the money first and leave a trail of destruction! The main characters get punished in their attempts to get rich! Spencer Tracy plays a police officer who follows the trail of damage. Everyone from Jerry Lewis to The Three Stooges to Eddie Anderson to Jim Backus to Carl Reiner make cameos in this film. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World was made on a large budget of $9.4 million and filmed in Panavision/Cinerama widescreen format and Technicolor. Movie studios at the time were trying to compete with the TV industry and "woo back" consumers. "Santa Rosita Police Reports" played on speakers at the film's debut in 1962. The scene with Otto Meyer(Phil Silvers) driving his car into a river was spoofed on The Simpsons. This film sparked my interest in the late Edie Adams. She played Monica Crump in the movie. She was not only talented and funny, but she had a pretty face and a sexy, well-endowed body. Adams was the widow of comic actor Ernie Kovacs. At one point, this film was going to take place in Scotland, but Kramer put the story in the State of California in the United States of America. CBS used to show It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World on TV in the 1970's. I've seen the 2 hour, 40 minute version of the film. The Turner Classic Movies version and the VHS/BETA versions are longer. Some people claim that Stanley Kramer's cut of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World was 5 hours and 20 minutes long! Not everyone is a fan of this film. In one of my home video books, they only gave the film two stars! The music score by Ernest Gold is superb and catchy. The script by William and Tania Rose is loaded with slapstick humor. Dick Shawn is funny as a crazy "momma's boy". The late Dorothy Provine(That Darn Cat)is quite good in the film. Barrie Chase makes a brief cameo in the film dancing half-naked to 60's pop music! Terry Thomas is funny as a stereotypical English guy. I like the scene where Jonathan Winters destroys a gas station with his bare hands! Saul Bass and Bill Melendez crafted the animated credits for the film. Ethel Merman spends most of the film yelling at everyone! Merman guest starred as "herself" on a couple of That Girl episodes. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World was one of the most entertaining films of 1962 and the film's entertainment value is still intact.

It's a funny, funny, funny movie

First off Amazon.com has this as a 1:85 aspect ratio , which shows you can rarely trust their descriptions and be wary of reviewers who haven't watched this DVD/BR set or the extras. The true aspect ratio is more like 2:76 (pretty extreme) and those complaining of the quality of the "found" footage on the roadshow version probably haven't seen the bonus feature describing the process and the true quality of much of it.. but I digress. As a boomer and even more, a child of Southern California , this movie not only took me on a 3 hour tour (I couldn't resist) of places I knew and had been with my family ,and some near our home, but kept me laughing and enthralled and entertained without pause! Several years back I took my girlfriend,now fiancee , to see it at a 70mm film festival in Los Angeles. If you are unaware , this is one of the few films Hollywood in their ongoing ineptitude to create anything new and continually re making films etc will NEVER attempt to duplicate ,nor could they. This film features so many legendary comedians and they all seem to be happy with their differing sizes of parts , from cameos to features. I can't say that many of them were ever better in a major motion picture, before or after. My mother , to her last days would still laugh until she cried thinking of Dick Shawn in his convertible crying , while yelling "I'm coming momma"! In fact Dick Shawn's immortal line "Ya'll heard what Momma Said" (momma was Ethel Merman) was used by none other than Jeff Beck as an introduction to a song a few CDs back. Truly this film is ridiculously funny, epic, and a time capsule of amazing talents that were in many cases being phased out of the mainstream of the entertainment industry at that time in favor of the next generation of hopefuls. It seems everybody I know has a favorite bit from this film, from Jonathan Winters destruction of a small gas station, to Jim Backus as the drunk pilot with Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers is ridiculously funny and Jerry Lewis has a wonderful cameo, the GREAT Sid Caesar was never better in a feature film as well... and Jimmy Durante literally "kicking the bucket" starts it all off.... oh and Andrew Gold's father Ernest composed a wonderful merry go round of a film score!!! The existing DVD and Blu Ray were certainly appreciated , and the bonus features with extra scenes and the documentary with Director Kramer, welcome. I was happy with them and grateful to have them.... but I did dream of more of the footage I missed and remembered. I should add that I've kept this edition because the outstanding documentary was not added to the Criterion list of extras and for a huge fan of the film it is an essential part of the films history for me. But again, speaking of extras they take up a WHOLE DVD in the 3 DVD side of the set they are so long and wonderful. The Press junket stuff from the day isn't 3-4 minute movietone news nothing they are over a half hour each and several of these as well as a reunion in 1974 and a more recent reunion hosted by Billy Crystal. The more recent one is a bit tough at times as there are a few wheelchairs on stage but it is balanced by the smiling and youthful faces from the heyday of the original release and I cherish this rare and wonderful footage , several hours of bonus features! For my money, I'm thrilled with this package, I love the dual format discs.... I have a DVD player in my office/workout area and a BR in my living room and I don't think everybody has BR yet, believe it or not. I also love that Criterion looks for as many bonus features as they can find, and they have stuck in a tremendous batch of extras and enlighten and entertain. Unlike others I LOVE the packaging.... goodness the fold out with the Jack Davis (again being a boomer who didn't know his work from MAD magazine) artwork spread across several panels! The bonus sheet with the actual locations scenes were shot was particularly interesting to me as I knew most of them being a "local" but confirmation was cool and a few new spots surprised me. at under $30 , the amazon.com price, this is about the price of two tickets to a forgettable movie at your local mall..... and you have this immortal classic. I guess if you only have a casual interest the $10 version would be fine, but if you are a film buff this is the essential version. Considering the fact that sales of physical product , music and DVDs, has been in free fall for some time I applaud and thank Criterion. Those that nit pick and criticize should get their heads out of their behinds and do something themselves to find out how hard it is to get all the rights, releases, and research done as well as creating new features. The major studios have given up putting work into "legacy" titles and in many cases are not only NOT putting in extra features or even remastering , but often are issuing on DVDR format. Lets support Criterion and the other niche manufacturers that keep working on these valuable films.

Great clear picture and the soundtrack is brilliant. A must for all movie lovers

Même si le film est long, le rythme est soutenu …Avec de sacrés effets spéciaux ( les effets numériques n’existaient pas à l’époque) et des prises de vue d’une définition au top en ultra panavision…et une flopée de stars…et la VF présente sur ce bluray !

Llegada rapida .pero el blu ray aunque pone que es rn castellano ay una parte de la pelicula que es castellano latino

this is a true comedy with all the best starrs in the 60s

Excelente película, imprescindible