It's been said from many film historians that the 1960's was the weakest decade for comedies. But it was in that decade that featured some great movies in that genre. One kind of comedy that took place during this time was the supercomedy: A film that featured a cast full of stars. In this posting I'll focus on three: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming; and A Guide For the Married Man.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World was the work of producer and director Stanley Kramer. After a string of acclaim work he took a stab with this comedy. The story innocently enough begins with a car crash off the highway. As the people head down to the site an old man (Jimmy Durante) tells them as he's about to die, that he buried $350,000 in cash 200 miles away in Santa Rosa Park ("under a big W"). Stunned the group (Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Sid Ceaser, Edie Adams, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett) decide to split the money once they find the loot.
At the same time police caption Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) overhears what had happened and begins to track the group. The movie works with its cast. In addition to the people that I've mentioned, World also features Phil Silvers, Terry Thomas, Peter Falk, Dick Shawn, Don Knotts, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, Jerry Lewis, and even The Three Stooges show up. The most funniest scene in that movie (it's also the second funniest 60's moment after the scene in The Knack...And How to Get It in which Michael Crawford's character plows his head into the wall) occurs when Edie Adams and Sid Ceaser are stuck in the hardware store basement and Ceaser's character electrocutes himself while trying to make an attempt of putting the lights back on.
Then there is the ending in which the characters get thrown off the firetruck latter and into the buidings. Seriously, would that kill somebody in real life? Oh, and for your information, none of the characters got the money (or as what Ted Knight's character said to Michael O'Keefe's cahracter in Caddyshack, "You'll get nothing and you'll like it!"). The movie was originally released in a roadshow version that ran for 192 minutes. But over the years the film was cut down to 161 minutes and according to film restorer Robert Harris (who preserved Lawrence of Arabia and My Fair Lady) in a interview done in the "Los Angeles Times" he believes that it is likely that It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World may not be restored to its original length given the fact that the movie is not a true classic.
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