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Movies / On DVD / It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

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It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

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Reviews Counted:26

Fresh:20

Rotten:6

Average Rating:6.7/10

Runtime: 3 hrs 12 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: This wacky comedy classic directed by Stanley Kramer features one of the largest collections of American comedians ever brought together on celluloid, resulting in the kind of far-out comic gem... This wacky comedy classic directed by Stanley Kramer features one of the largest collections of American comedians ever brought together on celluloid, resulting in the kind of far-out comic gem that only the 1960s could dish out. Filled with sharp one-liners, plenty of pratfalls and double takes, and unstoppable slapstick humor, this film never stops entertaining. The laughs come mostly from vehicle accidents of all kinds: car crashes, bike accidents, airplane failures, and almost everything else imaginable. But a good amount of humor is also lent to major wrestling matches, terrible mix-ups and misunderstandings, and increasingly absurd personalities such as Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), the screeching and impossible mother-in-law. The film even laughs at itself, showing its flimsy cardboard sets as characters punch out walls or accidentally explode whole boxes of dynamite. The cast includes such favorites as Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Spencer Tracey, Terry-Thomas, and Dick Shawn, among countless others. Brilliantly simple, the plot concerns a caravan of motorists who witness a terrible accident on a dangerously windy California highway. The auto-crash victim (Jimmy Durante) 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! [More]

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hackett

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Dick Shawn, Jonathan Winters, Terry-Thomas, Phil Silvers, Carl Reiner, Dorothy Provine, ZaSu Pitts, Buster Keaton, Sterling Holloway, Leo Gorcey, Paul Ford, Peter Falk, Edward Everett Horton, William Demarest

Director: Stanley Kramer

Director: Stanley Kramer
Screenwriter: William Rose, Tania Rose
Producer: Stanley Kramer
Composer: Ernest Gold

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 5, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Spencer Tracy heads a hilariously zany cast that stars Hollywood's greatest comedians (Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas and Jonathan Winters) and features cameo appearances by every joker and jester in the business from DonKnotts and Jerry Lewis to The Three Stooges. Nominated* for 6 Oscars®, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is "an explosive motion picture experience" (Variety)! On a winding desert highway, eight vacation-bound motorists share an experience that alters their plansand their lives! After a mysterious stranger divulges the location of a stolen fortune, they each speed off in a mind-bending, car-bashing race for the loot and the most side-splitting laughfest in history.
  • Source: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

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    1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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    So many excellent actors and stunt men do so much in this film that it is beyond my space allowance to begin to credit them.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/09/05
    Bosley Crowther
    Bosley Crowther
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Stanley Kramer strikes out again with this elephantine 1963 attempt at uproarious comedy.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
    11/07/07
    Don Druker
    Don Druker
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The ensuing adventures stretch the definition of the word madcap.

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    02/13/01
    Christopher Null
    Christopher Null
    Filmcritic.com

    Favorite line: "Why don’t we just shoot ‘em down and be through with it.

    Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    10/02/01
    John J. Puccio
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com

    The comic competition is so keen that it is impossible to single out any one participant as outstanding.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    11/07/07
    Variety Staff
    Variety Staff
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Spencer Tracy, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney and host of good-old-fashioned-comedy chums cram in the action, but miss the laughs in this frantic bank caper comedy.

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    11/07/07
    Channel 4 Film

    This comic extravaganza starts off funny, but exhausts rather than delights.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    11/07/07
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    Kramer's 'comedy to end all comedy' stretches its material to snapping point but offers happy hours of star-spotting.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Time Out
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
    10/18/08
    Urban Cinefile Critics
    Urban Cinefile Critics
    Urban Cinefile

    An overblown elephant of a comedy. Not very funny and dated.

    comment Comment
    08/21/02
    Bob Bloom
    Bob Bloom
    Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

    Still the funniest star packed comedy ever.

    comment Comment
    01/02/05
    Steve Crum
    Steve Crum
    Kansas City Kansan

    Bloated mega-comedy best for its many cameos

    comment Comment
    02/11/05
    Daniel Eagan
    Daniel Eagan
    Film Journal International

    A huge cast wasted in this interminable mess

    comment Comment
    07/30/02
    Ken Hanke
    Ken Hanke
    Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

    Funny and energetic, but a long way from Kramer's best work.

    comment Comment
    07/27/02
    Chuck Rudolph
    Chuck Rudolph
    Matinee Magazine

    This movie defines the words "comic romp."

    comment Comment
    12/05/05
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    We just lauged and laughed -- in Cinerama, no less.

    comment Comment
    08/13/02
    John Urbancich
    John Urbancich
    Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    12/28/04
    Michael Dequina
    Michael Dequina
    TheMovieReport.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/23/04
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Worcester Telegram & Gazette

    No review available.

    comment 1 Comment
    07/04/05
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    10/03/02
    Philip Martin
    Philip Martin
    Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
     
     
    1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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