Cinema Revisited: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
“What is your favorite movie?”
People who study and write about film history are asked this constantly. And, honestly, I always answer that I can’t answer. I couldn’t narrow down my favorite movie from 1935! Is it “A Night at the Opera?” “Bride of Frankenstein?” “Man on the Flying Trapeze?” “G Men?” Those are all as great as each other and for very different reasons. So, no chance of me naming one single solitary film as the movie I enjoy more than any other.
But one question I can always answer is what my greatest experience in a movie theater was – and that is during Spring break (we called it Easter Vacation back then) in 1969 when some friends and I went to see “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” a long, epic-level comedy that is filled with iconic superstars, hilarious situations, and wild slapstick gags. I was in a crowded theater of people roaring with laughter and applauding throughout. I can still hear my pal Allie whimpering “oh—my side…” from laughing so hard. The applause at the end was thunderous. And everyone left the theater smiling. I’d love to experience that again, but I know I never will. It is one of many great childhood memories.
Flash forward decades later to Facebook. This crazy comedy that was made back in 1963 (it was already old when I saw it!) is actually semi-controversial. I have one group of learned film historian type friends who call it THE greatest movie ever made. Well, I don’t know if I’d go that far. And I have another group of learned film historian type friends who call it a bloated, unfunny mess. No way!
Regarding those who dislike the film, I am reminded of a scene in Terry Zwighoff’s “Ghost World” (2003) in which Steve Buscemi’s character mentions he likes Laurel and Hardy, and the clueless woman he is dating says, “why does the big one always have to be so mean to the little one?” Buscemi’s reaction is priceless – offering a facial expression that shows him searching with utter futility how to answer such a stupid stupid question. Well, there are people who say “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” is off-putting because the people are so mean and greedy. That’s missing the point as completely as the “Ghost World” character misunderstood Stan and Ollie.
Of course film, like everything else, is a matter of taste. People will like or dislike things for purely subjective reasons, whether they are objectively good or bad. But claiming a movie is bad would require some level of analysis (and backing up “best movie ever made” is a tough sell also, but in that case it pretty much means “the movie I love most of all.”).
When Stanley Kramer decided to use slapstick comedy as a message picture, examining the abject greed of ordinary people, he carefully cast it with such comic heavyweights as Sid Caesar, Edie Adams, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine, Ethel Merman, Jonathan Winters, Terry-Thomas, and Phil Silvers among the principles. And the rest of the cast? Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges, ZaSu Pitts, Carl Reiner, Dick Shawn, Jim Backus, Peter Falk, Rochester, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Paul Ford, Mike Mazurki, Edward Everett Horton, Arnold Stang, Marvin Kaplan, Doodles Weaver, Nick Stewart, Jesse White, Leo Gorcey, and Jimmy Durante.
Heading the entire cast is Spencer Tracy, who can be considered THE greatest actor in the history of motion pictures.
The film is not subtle. It is a wild series of noisy slapstick vignettes that are as violent and messy as any of the most extreme silent comedies. Sid Casesar and Edie Adams destroy a department store. Jonathan Winters destroys a gas station. Mickey and Buddy are up in a runaway aircraft with a drunken pilot.
But the sheer beauty of each performer playing within his or her own niche is priceless. Phil Silvers has never been a more delightful con artist since his Bilko days. Mickey Rooney is a bundle of manic energy. Ethel Merman is at her overbearing best. Even Paul Ford, stammering instructions from an air control tower, recalls his triumphant Colonel Hall role from the Phil Silvers show.
Perhaps younger people will get less out of the proceedings because, sadly, they just aren’t smart enough to know these classic stars of the past. But when we saw it at the show, we knew every one of them. Many were still active. So a brief cameo by Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges, Joe E. Brown, or Buster Keaton was met with yells of happy recognition.
We went to the show all the time back in those days, and frequently had a great time (it was a good era for movies). But the crowded, noisy theatrical experience we enjoyed while watching this enormous epic comedy film was a discernible high point, even as it happened. And I know I will never experience anything like this again.
There have been other epic comedies. But I didn’t care much for “The Great Race” or “The Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.” Nope, “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” is the Elvis of epic comedy. Imitation, but no duplication.
My favorite movie? I have no idea. My favorite moviegoing experience? Yeah, that one’s easy.