Sunday, May 30, 2010

Wendy's Films of 2010 #81: It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

Now just to give you an idea as to how far behind I am in writing reviews, I actually remember the date I saw It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. On April 17th (that is... 43 days ago), I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon which included watching this film, and now... 43 days later... I am finally saying so.








Let me start off by saying this film has one of the best dance sequences of all time, I nearly broke myself laughing at how completely absurd and awesome it is. I can only hope that there are still people out there dancing like this at this very moment.

The cast of this film is also ridiculous; it includes: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Buster Keaton and Jerry Lewis. As the tagline says, "Everybody who's ever been funny is in it!" That's quite an exaggeration, but it's still pretty insane, especially for 1963. Now keep in mind this is an epic; it's 3 hours long, so know what you're getting yourself into and don't complain about how long it was afterwards.

The story goes that a criminal reveals the location of a grand sum of money just before he dies. Those strangers standing around as witnesses embark on a rollicking journey to uncover it for themselves, losing some on the way and pick up others to further their means. I like that it's not a hollow tale as it's a reminder of how easily good people can succumb to greed and obsession. There are countless scenes I could talk about, but since I like to keep things short I'll mention only one. It takes place in a gas station after one man is mistaken for a murderer and tied up. Not knowing what's going on, all those involved commence fighting until the station is a hilarious mess of insanity. Also, who knew you could just remove a car door with your bare hands? Each group gets a good laugh in at least once (with gags to spare), and I'd definitely recommend this one to the classic comedy lover.

To go: 216 days, 284 films.

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