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

• Funny Movie, Disappointing DVD

  
  By A2I6MHMAZZDCRX on 2002-02-19
  It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a classic comedy. Combining big name talent, it tells the story of what happen when a group of strangers finds out where $50,000 is buried. Soon, these normally law-abiding citizens are speeding, stealing, and destroying property. What they don't know is the police are observing them the entire time. As the situations get more out of hand, the movie gets funnier.

  I wasn't that impressed the first time I saw this movie. But on repeated viewings with friends, I've come to enjoy it more. The actors are phenomenal and the material has a timelessly funny quality to it. I'm young enough that I don't recognize all the stars, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment at all.

  I was excited when I found out that the movie was coming to DVD, but I've got to say the final product disappointed me. I have only seen the "restored" VHS version that's been out for years. This DVD goes back to the original theatrical release and cuts out some of my favorite scenes. They are included in the deleted scenes section, but it's a very poorly thought out section that makes it hard to find what you want to see. The DVD does include good picture and sound, and I have always enjoyed the documentary included from the videos.

  This is a classic movie that everyone should see. However, if you're a fan of the recent videos, be forewarned that this is not the entire movie you are used to seeing. Hopefully, this movie will be reissued on DVD with this footage added back.
  
  

• My Favorite Comedy of the Sound Era

  
  By AT07UZQQR7ZEH on 2005-08-15
  Stanley Kramer's IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963, UA) is my favorite comedy of the sound era and the most fondly remembered movie of my 1960's childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a sunny and airy mood, the comedy cast of a lifetime, sharp and hilarious dialogue, an irrestible greed plot, a melodic music score by Ernest Gold, and furious pacing for almost, or just over, three hours (depending on what version you are watching). The more I watch it on DVD at 161 minutes or at 182 minutes on Turner Classic Movies, the more I love it and want to see the long-lost 192 minute Cinerama world premiere version.
  
  MAD WORLD does something right that every other movie of its type gets wrong--it starts a chase plot in reel one, then develops character outward as we go along. It does not spend 45 minutes setting up the story, as similar movies do. In the opening scene, a dying millionaire (Jimmy Durante) tells a group of people in the Southern California desert that a large sum of money is buried "under a big W" in a park south of San Diego. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett are gag writers headed for Las Vegas. Milton Berle is headed for a vacation with wife Dorothy Provine and Ethel Herman as the mother-in-law to beat all mothers-in-law. Sid Caesar and Edie Adams are a dentist and his wife. And Jonathan Winters is driving a van of furniture. Monitoring all of them, as they race after the money, is Spencer Tracy as the coastal city (a compilation of Long Beach and Santa Monica) police captain with a wall map.
  
  So we have a slapstick chase movie to end all slapstick chase movies. (WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!) Heading a golden age of television cast are Caesar and Adams, who get to fly in a makeshift plane, then get locked in a hardware store basement. In a career performance, Winters hilariously gets to completely demolish a desert gas station. Berle has a running battle with the mother-in-law from Hell, Merman, who in turn has been given some gloriously acidic dialogue by superb sreenwriters William and Tania Rose. The Roses have never been given enough credit here. All of the sublime dialogue is on the printed page. Along the way, Winters meets up with Phil Silvers, who in turn mixes up with miner Mike Mazurki. Silvers is staggeringly funny with a car at the bottom of a canyon, then later drowning in a river. Rooney and Hackett are in another plane that flies through a Coke billboard after pilot Jim Backus knocks himself unconscious. There is also Dick Shawn as Merman's lifeguard son at Silver Strand Beach. And a phone running battle in his inner police office with Tracy and his wife and daughter that escalates over a simple vacation. And this is only part one, before the film's intermission! Part two has some of the funniest dialogue and greatest car chases in all of movie history for me. And the grand climax has never been topped for me--not even by silent era clowns.
  
  MAD WORLD got mixed reviews when it opened city by city in late 1963, right before President Kennedy's tragic death in Dallas. The positive ones praised a wonderful cast and hilarious chase plot. The negative reviews said it was too long and repetitious at 193 minutes. So producer/director Kramer and his editors carefully cut the Cinerama world premiere version, two months into its run, to 162 minutes. It played in 70mm Cinerama engaggements at 162 minutes until 35mm engagements in Spring 1965. It was further cut then to 154 minutes with roadshow music and intermission removed. All 35mm prints today--and since 1965--run 154 minutes. The DVD, which may or may not still be for sale, restores roadshow music and runs 161 minutes. At an aspect ratio of 2.55, it also blessedly comes close to restoring the ultra-wide widescreen images of the original film. Maddeningly, though, this 161 minute DVD print is curiously missing the Oscar-nominated title song overture.
  
  But there is also a 182 minute print of MAD WORLD (!), restored by my dear filmmaker friend Paul Scrabo, MGM executives, and a dying Kramer in 1991. That is the version that hit VHS and laserdisc in 1991 with a splendid hour-long documentary that I wish could be seen nowadays. It briefly surfaced on one DVD edition, then removed from another that has no bonus material. (So we have two different 161 minute DVD prints that may both be on moratorium! One with a lot of bonuses and one with none. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world!) Anyway, the 1991 documentary combines behind-the-scenes filmmaking with cast/crew reminiscences. Almost everyone recalls a lot of hard work in desert heat, but also a heck of a lot of slapstick fun. One other thing I love about the movie is that the Southern California desert landscapes are deserted for miles--no other cars and no homes, just an occasional truck and gas station.
  
  For 22 years, Paul and I and others have been on a futile quest to restore IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD back to its original 192 minute Cinerama world premiere length. The closest we have come is the 182 minute reconstruction on home video and cable TV, and it includes preview material. So we are still missing at least ten minutes of crucial visual material and as much as fifteen minutes. Included in the still lost material (I have the complete script--I think) are Shawn stealing his married girlfriend's (!) convertible, more of Buster Keaton's cameo as a crook, getting Jim Backus INTO a shower he subsequently is removed from, the identity of a strange man in the police station (he is a police reporter told to sit on the story for now), Tracy learning who Silvers is (an unemployed piano player and gambler), and the beginning of almost all the police office scenes. Current prints, including the 182, join them in progress.
  
  There are easy-to-find Internet articles on Stanley Kramer's immortal masterpiece that claim the great Robert Harris and James Katz, who restored VERTIGO and MY FAIR LADY among others, want to reconstruct MAD WORLD. My Internet sources claim Harris has in his possession "188 minutes of bona fide world premiere footage." Only four minutes missing off the original 192 minute print--close enough for me! The Internet claims further that Harris just is waiting for a $2 million purchase order--lunch money in today's Hollywood--to do the work that needs to be done to restore this wonderful movie back to the length it ran when it opened in Los Angeles on November 7, 1963; the version that early in 1964 got six Oscar nominations.
  
  We owe it to the memory of a great filmmaker and a magnificent cast, many still very much alive, to reconstruct and restore IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD from 154 or 161 minutes to 192 minutes for theatrical re-release (it has always been an audience favorite) and letterboxed 2.76 ratio home video sales. It is a precious part of our cinematic and cultural heritage. THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON THE 161 MINUTE DVD and 182 MINUTE CABLE TV PRINTS.
  
  
  
  
  

• Overblown but remarkable all-star comedy!

  
  By A31I3HXMD5H1EL on 1999-03-12
  As the first film I ever paid to see as a child (I was 11, and so proud of saving up the money!) I loved "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". It was slapstick on a grand scale, with a clever commentary on greed thrown in. And the cast! Tracy, Berle, Caesar, Silvers, Winters, Rooney, Hackett, Shawn, Terry-Thomas, Falk, Rochester...and the 3 Stooges had a bit part, along with Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton, so many more! For one of the first generation of 'TV Kids', I was in Heaven!

  With adulthood, and changing tastes, I can see some of the film's flaws...It's too long, Spencer Tracy is obviously in poor health and straining to keep his energy level up, some of the scenes (especially the early ones) lack pacing, and the Cinerama format almost guarantees you'll miss part of the action, even in a wide-screen format.

  But the film's sense of joy is undimmed, and the new digitally-remastered edition Amazon.com is offering gives them full attention. Enjoy again Rooney and Hackett's mishandling of an airplane, Jonathan Winter's gas station destruction scene (a classic!), and, of course the bodies-flying finale.

  And hang in there...After the film is a 'Making of...' documentary, with FABULOUS ancedotes by the surviving cast members...It alone is worth the cost of the film!

  After 36 years, I STILL love this movie!
  
  

• It's a grand, grand, grand, grand movie

  
  By A25XGZX0YRTJKN on 2002-03-11
  It's difficult to find anything not to like about this particular film. First effort at a comedy by Stanley Cramer, the film features almost every comedian available in the early 1960's. Cameo appearances by some of the most popular stars such as (a young) Jerry Lewis, the three stooges, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown and others. Regular characters are played by such notables as Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hackett, Milton Berle, Don Knots, Phil Silvers, Terry Thomas and Jonathan Winters. It's fun just watching for who will appear next in the action.

  It's a classic race by four groups of contestants for a promise of buried money bequeathed them by a dying criminal. The fortune ($300,000 from a Tuna Factory robbery) is buried under a 'big W' in Santa Roseta Park -- a couple of hours away from their present location.

  It's a hoot watching the group trying to decide how to split up the money -- observing Sid Caesar and Dorthory Provine locked in the basement of a hardware store and trying to break out -- flying with Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney after their pilot (Jim Backus -- the voice of Mr. Magoo) becomes incapacitated -- driving with Milton Berle and Terry Thomas with their views of America (and the ensuing fist fight) ... and it goes on and on.

  Baby boomers will especially enjoy the flick because of the nostalgia the big names will recall. But the film will appeal to all ages since the humor is timeless.

  If you haven't seen the film and enjoy a good show -- be sure to watch this one. If you've seen it before and want to relive a fine movie, add it to your collection and relive the laughter.

  *** Highly Recommended for all age groups **

  ~P~
  
  

• Wanted to like it.

  
  By A6TBR6L2D4XKC on 2001-10-05
  I really wanted to like this DVD. I have the movie on VHS and enjoy it a lot. My reason for rating it so low was that it had almost 23 minutes missing from what was on the restored DVD version, including several memorable Phil Sivers moments. I see no reason why a DVD should offer less than the VHS. Shame on the producers of the DVD. What could they possibly have been thinking?
  
  
• Madness is Genius
  By AD2DDHLD6FRFM on 2001-12-14
  Eight traveling vacationers witness the sudden car-crash and slow final death of con-man Smiler Grogan in the hills above Palm Desert, Cal.. Grogan's dying words reveal the secret location of $350,000 hidden in Santa Rosita Park, near San Diego. This sparks a wild, hectic race for the dough. Pure greed,buried treasure, and car crashes. It's all here. "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World" was the most successful movie directed by ace Stanley Kramer. All of the famous television and film comics from 1963 appear in this wild comedy. Only Bob Hope is missing. The cast includes Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, and Spencer Tracy. Ernest Gold composed an original booming, wonderful soundtrack you'll be humming for days. At two hours and 41 minutes, "Mad World" is too long, but an incredible cast and mad-cap action propel the story along. This new MGM DVD is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect. The colors are crisp and vibrant. The "Mad World" DVD includes an excellent 1991 documentary with all the major surviving cast members. There's also 1 hour of "out-takes", faded and damaged, from the original Cinerama 70mm release. And there's two trailers. The year 2001 produced an obvious remake of "Mad World" called "Rat Race", a modest hit. Stanley Kramer and Spencer Tracy made 4 classic films together. The last was the inspiring "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967. In ill health, sadly, Tracy died just days after shooting ended. Stanley Kramer himself died in Feb. 2001. His genius is now gone. His legacy lies before you.
  
  
• A Timeless Comedy
  By A3HAIQAPJCTOSH on 2000-01-30
  This will always be one of my all-time favorite comedies. I have watched it over two dozen times and it never grows old. I introduced this movie to my pre-school children over 20 years ago and still enjoy reciting the dialogue along with them today. This is a great movie to share with your family or just to enjoy alone on a rainy afternoon.

  There will never again be a comedic cast like this...Tracy, Caesar, Winters, Merman, Hackett, Rooney, Berle, Terry-Thomas, Rochester...and cameos by Jimmy Durante, Buster Keaton, the 3 Stooges, Jack Benny, Don Knotts, and Jerry Lewis. The magical moments seem endless...three fantastic car chase sequences...an airplane sequence with Rooney and Hackett...the gas station sequence with Winters...the hardware store sequence with Caesar and Edie Adams...and on, and on, and on.

  If you are looking for a movie that will make you laugh and smile and escape life's concerns...this is it !
  
  

• A godsend DVD...almost
  By AEVDN809UQJHU on 2001-11-11
  I'm not going to go into a review of the 1963 film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.'' This is one of those films that's almost beyond reviewing--you either love it or you hate it. I love it, and have loved it for more than 30 years, ever since my Mom took me to see it in its 1970 theatrical re-release. It's a classic.

  What I want to talk about here is the new DVD version of the movie. Is it good? "Yes emphatically" and "yes kinda" at the same time. The main drawback for the dvd is the aspect ratio-strange for a widescreen 16x9 enhanced dvd, yes? Let me explain.

  For decades since I saw it on the big screen, the only version I was able to see of "Mad4World" was the pan-and-scan version-which meant for years I was seeing only about half the picture. I thought myself lucky when I recently caught a "widescreen" version of the movie on cable TV (either Turner Classic or American Movie Classics, I forget which-probably TCM since my tape has no damn commercials stuck in the middle of it). Unfortunately, this version was only a small bit "wider" than the pan and scan; but it was better than what I'd seen on TV previously. You see, "M4World" started its life as a ultra widescreen Cinerama movie. That means its picture was not only super-wide, having been shot in 70mm SuperPanavision, but that it was also projected onto a curved screen that wrapped around the audience, taking up almost all your peripheral vision if you sat in the front part of the auditorium. An anamorphic lens was used in the projector which distorted the picture at the edges in order for them to look normal when projected on the huge curved screen. The original aspect ratio was 2.55:1.

  So the point I'm trying to make is that this was a VERY widescreen movie. And now we have a very widescreen transfer on DVD. Now we can see more of the film than we have been able to in years, right? Good, right?

  Well, yes and no. You see, for some reason, MGM has put "Mad4World" out not at a 2:55 aspect ratio, but at a slightly narrower 2:35 aspect ratio. This might not seem like such a bad thing, but the surprising result is that there are many things I can see on my old vhs tape of the pan-and scan version that I cannot see on this widescreen DVD!

  The reason is this: as I said, this widescreen version is slightly less wide than the original, and often characters on either the far left or far right sides of the screen are cut off a bit. In my old P&S version, the person who had done the panning and scanning simply panned all the way to the right or left side of the picture if the action was on that side, showing that character fully (but of course showing the characters on the other side not at all). In this new dvd (not-quite) wide (enough) screen version there is, of course, no panning and scanning; the 2:35 picture is simply shown. Unfortunately it is a slightly smaller picture than what was originally there, and often the result is characters cut off at the shoulder.

  Of course, this is MUCH better than anything we've had on home video before. And MGM should be praised for releasing the DVD at such a reasonable price, and with some decent extras. I just wonder why they didn't go ahead and transfer the film at its original aspect ratio.
  If I have to look at Phil Silvers, I wanna see BOTH his shoulders, dammnit!
  
  

• Comedy For All Eternity
  By A3CXQI2LNXPKW9 on 2001-09-16
  It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a comedy for all eternity. This is one of those big box, big budget, long-running-time, cameo-loaded, expensive, broad-canvas farces of the 60's that I love so much. Released in 1962, this was one of Stanley Kramer's greatest and last movies. This award-winning movie is a timeless masterpiece for the whole family.

  After a bouncy, splashy Saul Bass animated title sequence, the story begins with a brief car chase in the California desert. Bank robber Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) wrecks his car, and with his dying words reveals a secret about buried treasure to the seven strangers who stopped on the roadside. 'Look for the big W' in Santa Rosita, he says, and then he kicks the bucket.

  After a brief attempt at cooperation, the treasure hunt is on and it's every man for himself, in four teams. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett decide to take to the air but their pilot, Jim Backus, gets hammered on Old Fashioneds. Husband-and-wife Sid Caesar and Edie Adams can only find a biplane cropduster. The lone truck driver, Jonathan Winters, can't get gas. And his mother-in-law Ethel Merman fatally hampers Milton Berle, with his wife Dorothy Provine.

  So all four teams scamper across the landscape, across the broad canvas of this movie, wound tight by desperate greed and calmly monitored by a Sergeant Culpepper, Spencer Tracy. This is the framing story for an amazing string of billed appearances and unbilled cameos so many that at last your senses are sort of dulled. Oh, it's Carl Reiner in the control tower. Oh, look, it's Stan Freberg, yeah. The best cameo, hands down, is Jerry Lewis, who comes barreling down Long Beach Boulevard in a moment of exuberant stupidity and runs over Spencer Tracy's hat.

  Probably my favorite, I have so many, co-star was Terry Thomas who plays a vacationing Englishman in a rattling station wagon, who picks up Milton Berle. He's talkative. He prattles away (accurately) about why it is that the American male is positively preoccupied with booo-sums, and says things like, "I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!" This sequence, within the context of the movie so far, has a single funny moment when this whole vast farce might come alive, find its voice, and this circus might make sense - Terry-Thomas finds the tone for the rest of the movie. I find it compelling that the aesthetic success of all this footage, all these appearances, all this thoroughly American spectacle, suddenly pivots around a few fussy syllables about breasts. But once the moment passes, Terry-Thomas is efficiently neutralized and dismissed by Ethel Merman, and on we go.

  The array of challengers eventually reach Santa Rosita, and several unexplainably humorous events occur. These I will not reveal to you and allow you to view the movie on your own time. I must add though, that if you do see this movie, reserve several hours. Like most from its decade its LONG... VERY LONG... But allow me to assure you, you wont be disappointed.
  
  

• They Don't Make Movies Like This Anymore !
  By on 1999-11-05
  I have seen this movie a minimum of 20 times since its release in 1963. My sister from Florida and I can recite every line of dialogue by heart and once when it was shown on tv we watched it while on the phone long-distance, just to share each and every hysterically funny moment together. Ethel Merman is side-splitting when Terry Thomas and Milton Berle try to get the car keys out of the bosom of her dress. When Buddy Hackett says to the group "okay then - it's decided - every man for himself - except for YOU lady, (pointing to Ethel Merman) may you just DROP DEAD ! " There are too many funny moments to repeat here, but suffice it to say that this movie is time well-spent. I guarantee you that even up to the last 30 seconds of the movie you will be laughing. The only movie I've ever seen that compares to this one might be "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming". If you're tired of the filth, bad language and violence of movies today - rent this movie and take a step back into the past where movies were meant to ENTERTAIN !
  
  
• Missing scenes and the wrong aspect ratio...
  By AJN5JXTEHDYCE on 2002-02-16
  I was pleased to see the release of this movie as it has always been a favorite. Upon viewing the DVD I was rather dissappointed. The Laserdisc Deluxe Box set was in the correct 2:55 screen ratio and had a run time close to the original. This DVD is cropped at 2:35 and is missing many of the scenes that were included in the LD set. Shame, shame MGM - you did it right for the LD and then dropped the ball on DVD...
  
  
• One of the greatest comedies of all time, but...
  By A3HA8JDTR75B7F on 2001-09-26
  ...what is this with MGM DVD? I have a tape of this wonderful movie that is the restored version, about 20 minutes longer. Why was this version not used for the DVD? Why not a 65mm copy? I guess we'll see this come out later as a "Special Edition." MGM has been doing this lately, the most recent example was "The Greatest Story Ever Told." Although created from a beautiful 65mm interpositive, it was advertised as "restored" but turned out to be the same old cut version with some additional music. I would think twice about purchasing any more of these classics from MGM. This film is excellent and we play it on a regular basis. I would have rated it five stars if it was not the cut version.
  
  
• GREAT film. Bummer DVD
  By A3UQQ6WYJ4EDQ1 on 2001-10-11
  Count me in as one of the millions that think this is one special movie. 'Seen it at least 50 times since the mid 60'sand couldn't wait for it to arrive on DVD. But hold onto your VHS widescreen copies. This is not the 3 1/2 hr. Cinerama presentation that played in '63-'64. It's not even the partially restored 188 min. version that's been out for awhile now. It's the same old hacked up 155 min. version that's been in existance for some 30 years now (albeit with the intermission and exit music tacked on, but with the overture and opening song dropped!). Someday somebody IS going to find the complete version. But until then, I've been happy, no, make that grateful, that the 188 min. version is around, even though the extra footage isn't up to the visual standards of the "protected" 155 min. print. What's the difference between the two? As United Artists kept shortening the film for second-house and third-house runs ( a common practice back then when films ran over three hours, it gave the local houses an extra showing) what was left was a very streamlined story, with the emphasis very much on the STORY. Gone were those "little" magic moments that contained some of film's funniest bits: Dick Shawn, after the telephone call, telling his zombie-like girlfriend his Mama is in trouble, working himself into an Oedipal frenzy with the cry, "...maybe even RAPE!" ; Terry Thomas trying to "press on" with the exit line, "I'll just have to say Ta-Ta" ; Mike Mazurki grabbing a startled Phil Silvers by the collar with a threatening, "Now look, pal..." and forcing Silvers to drive him home. As the scene now stands it looks like Silvers is doing this out of the goodness of his heart, which, of course, is the one thing he doesn't have; When Spencer Tracy bumps into Merman in the parking lot sending her sprawling, he does this twice. The first time it's a perfectly executed sight gag that produces a hearty belly laugh. The second time though, the timing is off, and only a smile is generated. Only the second bump survives in this cut. And on and on and on...For those who have written they can't see the sense in this film being any longer, plug in any classic 3+hr. movie (The Godfather, Godfather II, Once Upon A Time in America, Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, A Star is Born, The Deer Hunter, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, heck even The Sound of Music). Now cut any 45 minutes from any one of those movies. You might still have an entertaining movie, but a classic...? (Check out the original cut of Once Upon A Time in America on VHS, then look for the 2 1/2 hr. version that was released to U.S. Theaters when it plays on t.v. It's an incomprehensible mess, while the original cut ranks as one of the best films ever made.) The funny thing about ...MAD WORLD is that it is not a particularly funny script. Hell, this script could be shot straight and you'd have a searing indictment of how greed can kill the human soul and infect the morals of society. And the finale could be played for horror. The beauty of ...MAD WORLD is that this cast is so damned talented they wring some of the best laughs out of straight lines through the pumped up exageration of real human behavior, something that's much harder to do. (Check out the overlapping dialogue of the reporters in His Girl Friday). This is what makes the film so endlessly watchable. The schtick, in my opinion, is just the icing on the cake. As far as the picture quality goes, maybe I'm suffering from DVD burnout, 'cause while the picture looks beautiful (it's crystal clear) it just doesn't feel "right". There's something ice-cold about the way the movie moves. Is there such a thing as overproducing a transference of film to DVD? In looking at the trailer on the DVD however, the film looks "right". It breathes. I can "feel" the motion of the zaniness, and it "looks" more like film. It doesn't have that "videotape" feel that movies on DVD have. Hang on to your less detailed VHS copies..
  
  
• Endless laughter! The funniest film in the world!!
  By A240QB45BSMDAN on 2003-07-02
  "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", in my opinion, is the funniest film ever created. I don't see why anyone would want to refuse watching this film. Over 30 years worth of comedians and top movies stars are in it including Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Dick Shawn, Terry-Thomas, Johnathan Winters, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Peter Falk, Jimmy Durante and so many others. This is a quintessential motion picture comedy masterpiece about a police chief (Spencer Tracy) chasing after a group of crazed vacationers on a wacky and loony search for buried treasure of $350,000. This is something that you'd want to watch again and again. It's a very productive way to kill 3 hours. If you are a movie fan or you just love to laugh, this is it. "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
  
  
• If you love this movie AVOID this DVD
  By AX2W5TGGN2NU3 on 2003-08-23
  If you love this movie, as I do, don't buy this DVD. Years ago a restored version with added sequences was released on VHS. Great effort was put into the restoration and the added scenes were funny and they greatly improved the flow of the movie. The restoration was released with great fanfare and has appeared on TV several times. Now for some reason MGM has released the pre-restoration version on DVD. After years of seeing the restored version, watching this DVD is wrenching. Scenes I've become accustomed to seeing are missing (relegated to a collection of deleted scenes on the DVD's flipside) and the whole experiece is like watchng a movie edited for comercial television (and we all know how annoying that is). I have only myself to blame for getting stuck with this DVD. It never occured to me that MGM would pull something like this. I think it's obvious that they intend to put out a better version in the future. Even the packaging of this DVD is lame, they don't even make use of the famous cast caricature painting by Jack Davis. MGM put this version out knowing that later when they put out a decent version people like me will buy it again. Don't get played like that; avoid this DVD and wait for the real thing.
  
  
• Beware the bargain version
  By A2AME5NUGARQK9 on 2004-10-11
  If you're tempted to purchase the (...) version at your local grocery store the way I was, be forewarned. There are two versions of this DVD available, and they are priced similarly. The version I picked up, which bears no difference in the cover as the version for sale here on Amazon, doesn't include any of the special features, unless you consider a French soundtrack with Spanish subtitles special. Spend the extra dollars and buy it here. The Special Edition VHS version was nice with all it's built-in features, but it was also very long to sit through. The DVD for sale here, which includes deleted scenes and the "making of" documentary, has the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, Amazon also offers the bare bones version and links both products to the same reviews. (...)
  
  
• The minutes are not important, it's still funny!
  By A2Y32ZDU2A82GK on 2005-12-23
  This is my all time favorite movie.I fell in love with it when I was a kid in the 1970's and the local independent TV station(before cable was the norm) would split it into two nights on the 8 O'Clock movie.
  Like many, I hope that a miricle happens and that the missing 10 to 15 minutes of film that is known to have been in the original Roadshow release in 1963 will be found and the film properly restored to it's original context.
  I have read all of the revues here, and I must comment on the so-called "missing "scenes from the most recent(2003) DVD version.
  
  What happened is that the extended version on laser disc and and the two tape VHS version that has the longer running time(which I have) are really a bit bogus in their own right.
  The scenes spliced back in(and they are noticable in the VHS version, which is the same one TCM runs) were in fact, NOT in the original 1963 Roadshow Version of 192 minutes.They were outtakes never used by Stanley Kramer in the original version,but were put in the film so that MGM could market the laser disc/VHS version as "Restored",which in fact it was not.
  This has been documented by dedicated film researchers who want very much to put the movie back in it's original version.
  Supposedly, noted film restoration expert Robert Harris has all but 4 minutes of all the original, but it's doubtful some 43 years later that all of it will ever be found, but we can always hope.
  There is some audio (but no footage) of the scene which sets up the entire get away plan that Lt.Culpepper(Tracy)sets up with Jimmy(Keaton), including a split sceen phone call between the two taking place while Tracy eats the ice cream sundie he says he wants.
  Other missing scenes from the original Roadshow 192 minute version is of Jonathan Winters dragging the Finche's Chrylser Imperial back and forth with the box van trying to unhook the bumpers.Even in the long VHS version, if you look when Hawthone pickes up The Finches, you can see in the background the Imperial is damaged a lot more than what we saw in the wreck that started it.
  
  It has long been rumored but never 100 percent confirmed that Kramer's director's cut of the film was just short of FIVE hours!
  Think about all THAT footage that is lost to history.
  
  I just got the latest DVD release(with no extras) and enjoyed it immensely just for the better sound and picture quality,the so called "missing scenes" being absent didn't bother me the least.I can always play my VHS tapes to see them placed in the movie with the story if I want to, or tape it on one tape the next time TCM plays it.
  I have ordered the older DVD just so I can see the hour long documentary that was included on that about the making of the movie.
  
  At any rate, the older I get the more I enjoy this film and never tire of watching it,it has a grip on me that I am glad to have to endure.
  
  
• Not as complete as the VHS edition.
  By on 2002-03-02
  The movie: Excellent! However... I couldn't wait for the DVD of this movie to come out so I could replace my out-of-print VHS copy. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep the tape, because the DVD cuts many scenes from the movie and then labels them as "extra" or "deleted" footage. These scenes are correctly placed within the movie itself on the VHS edition. It's a shame and I don't know why the movie had to be chopped up like that. As it is, I'm looking forward to burning my own DVD of the tape as soon as I can.
  
  
• Director Stanley Kramer Works The Magic That Is Comedy
  By A2W00XKTTF1G0Z on 2002-07-31
  It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of those films that is one-of-a-kind. It will always be. Let me start with a ensemble cast of comedians and talent that will never be seen again: Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracey, Ethel Merman, Cid Cesar, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, Norman Fell, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges, Buddy Hackett, Don Knotts, terry Thomas, Jack Benny and Carl Reiner to name a few. Isn't that amazing enough?

  Technically Stanley Kramer - who is more noted for his dramatic works really took a chance and mad this movie not knowing how it would all come together. The adventurous of everyday people being pulled from heir everyday lives in a chase for $350,000 is hysterical.

  This movie is a comedy galore. Everyone shines and everyone moves the story along and intertwines with each other. There are amazing stunts, matt photography and special effects that were done the hard way back then.

  THE DVD extras has a great documentary on the beginnings and production of the films. Most of the original stars can be seen talking about how much fun and craziness went on the set. There are also deleted and reedited scenes that didn't make the final print. Those are really interesting.

  This is a fantastic classic comedy film and if you have never seen it - buy this one sight unseen! It will make you laugh and wonder in amazement at how they did what they did without today's computers and technology! 7-30-02
  
  

• Qualified Good Review; Film is okay; DVD another story
  By on 2004-01-02
  Here we go with yet another example of a film which MGM does a terrible job of releasing on DVD. The VHS edition of this movie released in the early 90s containing the restored scenes and the like is actually superior to the DVD release. Here, those scenes are included, but they're in the special features, slapped together in no discernable order, and many extra scenes that have no audio are also added, plus some that are so brief, it makes you wonder "what's the point."

  Also, what many may consider a minor point, but the film, released in the theaters as a United Artist release, now opens with the post-1990 MGM lion and the 1983 dubbed stereo roar. Considering that Warner Bros. does a commendable job of including the actual theatrical opening logos from the initial release for the MGM, RKO, and other titles obtained by Turner, it would be only right if MGM did the same with the initial opening logos for the titles its acquired through mergers. If they insist on including their own logo, at least include the one that was also included with the original studio for its original theatrical release.

  Also, MGM has on more than one occasion released DVD's with questionable screen ratios. While this film was originally released in Cinerama, it still appears as though the ratio here is still off when viewed on a standard television screen.

  Extra features are so-so. The "making of" documentary that was included in the aforementioned VHS release is included, plus the original theatrical trailers. One plus--while the film and the special features are on separate sides of the DVD, at least the film is all one one side. Something that can't always be said for classic films ("Ben-Hur," for one.)

  As for the plot of the film. It is one long car chase, but if you like the stars included (virtually everyone working in comedy in the early 60s), you'll find it an enjoyable flick. Plus, if you're a fan of pop culture, it's fun just watching what's going on in the background in the many exterior scenes, and the various product placments in the movie.
  
  

• It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad DVD
  By A290RC1VV93VDE on 2004-07-11
  I would give this DVD 5 stars if all the movie was here, but it isn't, hence 3 stars. There's no excuse for this considering that no major restoration has been attempted here, the storage capabilities of DVDs are huge, and MGM has already released the full-length movie on VHS. The deleted scene feature is a mess. Watching the scenes seperately is tedious and not much fun. The least they could do would be to put the deleted scenes in the order that they appeared in the original film. The third and fourth scenes appear to be exactly the same as do others later on. Sometimes the scene appears the same only zoomed in. Others scenes have no sound. Some of the last scenes go on and on up to 10 minutes and contains everything that is included in the feature except for very minor snippets of dialogue. Sometimes you can't detect anything new, like in the money dividing proposal scene.

  I can see why MGM would want to keep their pristine 35mm print whole and transfer that to DVD but perhaps they should have included a 2nd disc and a 2nd version that patched together all the missing scenes, no matter what condition, and reconstructed the film as best as they could to the longest originally released version.
  
  MGM, when you finally "Special Edition" this movie offer a rebate with the proof of purchase from this inferior edition!
  
  

• Watch that aspect ratio !!
  By A2XNY8B0TQM5CF on 2001-09-26
  This is indeed a hilarious movie. However, be aware that this film on DVD is letterboxed at 2.55:1. Unless you have a widescreen television, this film will appear as a VERY NARROW BAND across your screen. It would have been feasible to compromise at 1.85:1 and still preserve much of the director's original vision. If you have a regular 36" screen or smaller, you will have to get very "up close and personal" to view this film. Unfortunate.
  
  
• I Guess You Had To Be There
  By ANTD0QDO7ZLRS on 2002-11-26
  Most of the people I know of who love this film are among those who were old enough to have seen it at the time of its original release (or perhaps the 1970 re-issue). Those that aren't seem to prefer movies like RAT RACE. Of course there must be exceptions; this is just my personal observation. Of those who don't like it (whatever their age) I can only say it's too bad they don't appreciate this much-imitated, but still one-of-a-kind, picture.

  My main purpose here is to comment on the recent DVD release. I have owned the laserdisc box set for some years, and thought it was time I upgraded. I should have read the fine print. Although the DVD contains almost a half-hour of additional scenes cut from the picture after its original "roadshow" engagements, they are included only as supplemental material on the "B" side of the disc, and not integrated into the film as they were on the laserdisc set. The "movie" side of the DVD contains only the cut 161 minute version.

  The DVD image, thanks to the superior technology, is an improvement over that of the last laserdisc release (although there is the teensiest bit less picture area, due to less-severe letterboxing on the DVD). But next time I want to watch this film, I'll probably pull out the laserdisc instead of the DVD, despite the better picture, because I prefer to see the 188-minute version (which is as close to a full restoration as has yet been done for video release) all in one piece. (You folks did a great job, Rennie!)

  So, all you owners of the "restored" version of this film on laserdisc (or even the semi-letterboxed VHS tape released at the same time) be warned: the DVD does not provide the same version. You might want to take this into consideration if you plan on purchasing the DVD.

  I still love this movie, and there's plenty to laugh at in whichever version you see or have. ("Right! Except you, lady: may you just DRRRROP DEAD!")
  
  

• A great comedy...an OK DVD
  By A1YAIZZLVOXA1B on 2001-09-29
  "Mad World" is one of my all time favorite films, so naturally I was quite excited when it was announced on DVD. I must say I was mildly disapointed when it did arrive. The sparse amount of features is the worst part. Yeah, there is a cool animated menu, and the "making of" documentary that was released with the video is here, along with some "extended scenes". Unfortunately the scenes are on the other side of the disc (it's a "flipper") So, essentially we get the regular version of the film on side A. There is no "overture" as on the video, no booklet, nothing that special. Quite disappointing as MGM usually does it up right. I was hoping for the ultimate version as was premeiered at the Cinerama Dome back in '63. This DVD does include the intermission and entre acte, however. So, it's well worth the money, but not the "special edition" I was hoping for. I'll have to hang onto my video version for the full experience.
  
  
• They Didn't Get It Right
  By A155PGC9JP0OVD on 2002-12-18
  What a bummer. For the DVD they should have used the wonderful 188 minute restored version that was released on Laserdisc and VHS in 1991. But NOOOOO, they stuck with that horrible 161 minute butchered version we had to suffer with for years. Go to Ebay. Look for the 188 minute version of this movie on Laserdisc or VHS and have a ball!
  
  
• doesn't hold up to my childhood memory; 5.1 mix troublesome
  By on 2001-09-30
  I was really looking forward to seeing this again because it was one of my favorite films when I was a young child. Unfortunately I didn't find it as engaging now as I did during my multiple viewings in the 60's. I guess many here feel that this film's length is fine, but I really think it would have been funnier with some editing. I cannot imagine an even longer version!!! Still, with so much great talent on screen, it's hard not to like this film. I agree with the other reviewer that Ethel Merman steals the show.

  I didn't see anyone else comment on the sound yet, and perhaps this has more to do with my system (though I haven't had this problem on any of the other 75 or so dvd's I've seen): The dialog isn't consistently clear due to the loud sound effects (car and airplane engines). The mix doesn't seem to be well balanced; one moment I want to turn it down because the airplane noise is too loud and then I have to turn it up to hear what the actors are saying.
  
  

• If you think Buddy Hackett is funny, you'll love this movie.
  By on 2002-01-29
  Watching the beginning of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" is like watching my Grandpa try to play the violin. Some things just don't improve with time. This movie is one of them. It starts out with a car crash in which Jimmy Durante, on his death bed, reveals to three carloads of contentious onlookers the whereabouts of a buried treasure. Durante's death is so poorly acted that you want to jump up on screen and finish him off yourself. His monologue ends with Durante literally kicking a bucket. Oh! Ha ha ha! He KICKED THE BUCKET! Get it?! Things just go downhill from there.

  If you laugh at Buddy Hackett playing slapfest with Mickey Rooney, or watching a bunch of donut-chugging cops leer at a female's rear end every time she walks by, or Jonathan Winters riding a girl's bicycle down the road, then you'll love this movie and are probably over 60 in physical and/or under 12 in mental age. For everyone else, I recommend something funny.
  
  

• The Golden Standard for classic Film Comedy
  By A2F7CCPK4QL359 on 2006-09-22
  Even seen the movies Rat Race (with Whoppi Goldburg, Seth Green, Cuba Gooding Jr) ? Scavenger Hunt (With Cleavon Little & Roddy McDowell)? Midnight Madness (with Micheal J. Fox)? Time Bandits (Sean Connery, Shelly Duvall, John Cleese as Robin Hood)? If you may have seen any of these films, you should owe a debt to the greatest Chase movie ever, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
  
  World is a story of eight motorist who see an old man (Jimmy Durante) kick the bucket in a car accident. His last words to all of them is "The treasure is under the W". This now is a race to find the fortune under the W. and madcap odyssey to get to the treasure and what happens to get them to get there. Its a CHASE movie that is NUTZ! and it will make you laugh
  
  With Spenser Tracy as the police Captain trying to keep up with Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine & Ethel Merman (first car), Buddy Hackett & Mickey Rooney (second car), Edie Adams & Sid Caesar (the Third car) and Jonathan Winter (the truck). Along the way, these eight meet everyone from Phil Silvers, Dick Shawn, Terry-Thomas and many many comic names from Peter Falk (pre Columbo), Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Three Stooges to Buster keaton, Jim Backus, Carl Reiner & Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Its a who's who of comedy from the 1960's
  
  This film has slapstick, family comedy, stunt comedy and verbal sight gag gems. It has all the comedy styles in one movie. It is a great chase comedy that Stanley Kramer has directed. All Kramer had to do is turn on the camera and watch these talents mesh
  
  Is it worth getting for your DVD library? GAWD YES! It doesn't date itself and still is loads of fun for all ages..Its a family film that all can still enjoy. It is worth ten stars-but they only allow me five!
  
  Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD
  
  
• ITS A GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT MOVIE
  By AQ75S7221N12Z on 2001-08-10
  This is one of the last great all star movies of its kind, (if you include Oceans 11, Great Race, Longest Day, and the like, but a great comedy from an unexpected source - Stanley Kramer. Jonathan Winters alone is worth the price of admission, and the casting is excellent.

  Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney in the flying sequence is spectacular. Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, and many many more (even Peter Falk!) make this movie a must see rate "G" movie for the whole family Ethel Merman and Spencer Tracy play pivotal roles in this non-stop comedy, and its well worth your time and money to see it in its UNCUT ORIGINA version. TV does not do it justice. You must see it as it was made to be seen

  Many "guess spots" are here,... Don Knotts... Jerry Lewis.... Jimmy Durante.. Terry Thomas (an excellent bit with Jonathan Winters)...and many many more. Dick Shawn... it keeps on going....

  I rank it 5 stars with a bullet. Its clean, wholesome fun and is not insulting. Its just great thought out comedy starring the masters of the genre.

  SEE IT!
  
  

• Mad genius.
  By on 2001-08-28
  Arguably cinema's only intelligent farce. (Chaplin's work was too sentimental to quite qualify as farce.) To find its equal, one must turn to literature, probably: Rabelais and Cervantes from the Renaissance; Laurence Sterne from the Enlightenment; Joseph Heller from the modern era. You get the idea. *Mad World* probably should have failed, and the fact that it not only didn't fail but still stands as one of the greatest movie comedies ever made is some kind of lucky accident on par with winning a state lottery. The director, first of all, was a mismatch with the material: Stanley Kramer, director of all those turgid social dramas of the 50's and 60's, director of nary a comedy. Second, the running time: the very idea of a 3-hour comedy sounds very unfunny (imagine *Animal House* at 3 hours!). Third, the use of Cinerama to present something that has its roots in Victorian stage vaudeville could fairly be construed as pretentious. Amazingly, Kramer got away with it. *Mad World* is a clinic for film students on how to frame wide-angle set-ups (the aerial shots at the beginning, the desert expanses, the toothpick of a fire-ladder waving precariously across the colossal composition, the giant "W", on and on). The Cinerama cameras even manage to invest the comical bickerings and pratfalls with a vast contempt -- the small-minded characters look puny indeed against all that on-location backdrop. The movie starts off rather cold, and refuses to get sentimental later. But, contra Maltin, it never isn't funny: Jonathan Winters tearing down a gas station with his bare hands is a classic; Dick Shawn's characterization of an Oedipally-motivated surfer has to be seen to be believed. *Mad World* is super-brilliant. Highest rating.
  
  

• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
• The Great Race
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
• Around the World in 80 Days (Two-Disc Special Edition)