Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Classic Pick of the Week: Mad World!

Product Details

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Blu-ray. This has to be one of the most epically insane movies ever made, not for quality and success (Marx Brothers movies and many silent comedies beat Mad in that department) but for sheer ambition, size and scope. On paper, the gags are plenty and would be enough, because it never gets old to laugh at panicked amateurs having to take over flying a plane from the drunken pilot, lots of cartoonish car crashes and explosions, an attempt at busting out of a hardware store, or a temper tantrum that literally brings down a building. And all in Cinerama no less!

Sounds fun already, but truly what makes all those situations and this movie as a whole (a three hour whole, mind you) is the massive collection of funny people. Director Stanley Kramer basically rounded up everybody that was funny in, around or anytime before 1963, threw in some serious notables and familiar character actors and packed them all in a greed-fueled race to a fortune (relatively little money by today’s standards, but Dr. Evil might approve) buried under a giant “W” with just some vague clues provided by a dying Jimmy Durante. The result, though far from the greatest comedy you’ll ever see, is still satisfying good natured nuttiness on a scale that must be seen to be believed and meant for Blu-ray. This release has a few scant extras.  

1 comment:

  1. Love this movie!! first watched as a kid in early 1970's. All star cast!! Very Funny!!

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