It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 of stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers.
The film begins as the occupants of four vehicles on a lonely highway in the Southern California desert stop to help "Smiler" Grogan (Jimmy Durante, a bank robber, in his last screen appearance), who has just careened off the highway in a spectacular crash ("He just went sailing right out there")
With his dying breaths, Grogan tells the bystanders, comedy writer Dingy "Ding" Bell (Mickey Rooney), his writing partner Benjy Benjamin (Buddy Hackett), moving van driver Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters), dentist Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), and edible seaweed company owner J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle) about "three hundred and fifty G's" ($350,000) hidden in the fictitious city of Santa Rosita, less than a day's drive away, under a mysterious "big W”. Grogan then dies, literally kicking a bucket. The witnesses immediately begin arguing over how to divide the money, sparking a wild race. Each carload of characters races to be first to Santa Rosita and find the money. Many others, including Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne, a cactus-collecting British army officer played by Terry-Thomas; and Otto Meyer, a sneaky con man played by Phil Silvers, join the race as it progresses.
Berle's character, J. Russell Finch, is recovering from a nervous breakdown. He continually pops pills for his nerves throughout the film. His mother-in-law, Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), is loud, overbearing, and opportunistic. Mrs. Marcus, after arguing with Finch, phones for help to her son Sylvester (Dick Shawn), a beatnik lifeguard, who is introduced in a wild frenzied dance sequence with his girlfriend (Barrie Chase) to "31 Flavors" (recalling the 1953 Baskin-Robbins slogan), sung by the Shirelles. The stranded Finches are kindly given a ride in the passing Hawthorne's jeep. After quarreling with Hawthorne over a minor issue, Mrs. Marcus gets out of the jeep and spitefully drops Hawthorne's key ring down her bosom. After an offer of help by a passing driver (Jack Benny), Finch and Hawthorne turn her upside down and shake her to dislodge the keys. Later Mrs. Marcus beats Hawthorne over the head with her purse while he is driving.
Unbeknownst to the treasure hunters, Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) of the Santa Rosita Police has been working on the Smiler Grogan case for years. He suspects the various people who heard Grogan's last words may know where the money is hidden, and he has their progress tracked by various police units, including helicopters.
Quickly finding a small airport, Bell and Benjamin frantically enlist the aid of Tyler Fitzgerald (Jim Backus), a wealthy pilot who is hungover and lying on a pool table. He unfortunately has a penchant for drink, even while flying. Meanwhile, Dr. Crump and his wife Monica (Edie Adams) charter a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" World War I-era biplane which almost falls apart in mid-flight. During Rooney & Hackett's flight, Backus continues to drink and, while mixing his own "old fashion", is accidentally knocked out when Hackett fools with the controls. Eventually they make contact with the Rancho Conejo airport tower located near Santa Rosita. The tower guys (Carl Reiner and Jesse White) decide to enlist the prowess of local pilot Colonel Wilberforce (Paul Ford) to "talk them down". It does not go well. Hackett and Rooney, while trying to land,crash into a plate glass window of an airport restaurant filled with diners, while the frantic Colonel Wilberforce, trying just a bit too hard to talk them down, falls out of his tower, dangling by his microphone cord. The Crumps ultimately get locked in a hardware store basement once they arrive in Santa Rosita, eventually freeing themselves with dynamite which they find there. Peter Falk and Eddie Anderson (who played Rochester on Jack Benny's radio and TV shows) appear as Santa Rosita Yellow Cab drivers.
Otto Meyer stops to pick up the bicycling Lennie Pike (whose van had broken down), but when the dim-witted van driver reveals to Otto all he knows about the treasure, Meyer tricks Pike into getting out of his car. The clever Meyer leaves Pike on the roadside while speeding off to get the money for himself (Winters' facial expressions provide the bulk of the humor in his role, especially during this sequence). Pike later catches up with Meyer at a newly opened service station owned by two nerdy attendants, Irwin (Marvin Kaplan) and Ray (Arnold Stang), and tries to attack Meyer. Ray knocks Pike out with a bottle of oil and the two station owners tie him up with duct tape as Meyer escapes. Pike awakens, breaks out of the duct tape, goes on a rampage that destroys the station, and steals a Dodge Power Wagon tow truck.
Culpepper is anticipating a nice vacation since the Smiler Grogan case, which he has worked for 15 years, will be solved once the travelers find the hidden cash. He continues to monitor their progress as reports filter in from various police units. He starts to get ideas of his own about what should happen to all that money, however, spurred on by his imminent retirement and the low pension for his job.
Leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, all the main characters eventually converge on Santa Rosita State Park. Culpepper hurries to intercept them, telling his officers to back off and let him handle the situation. The money is soon dug up under the "Big W," a group of four palm trees planted diagonally to resemble the letter. Culpepper quietly approaches (after they finish arguing about how the money will be divided) and requests that they turn themselves in. Obviously, the authorities will be more lenient if they go voluntarily. Everyone piles into two taxicabs and heads for police headquarters, while Culpepper makes a break for it with the money. Ironically, just as this happens, Culpepper's Chief, Aloysius (William Demarest) blackmails the mayor into trebling Culpepper's pension.
Culpepper has decided to flee to nearby Mexico (strongly hinted as he looks at a map of California and the camera focuses on a strip on the bottom labeled "Mexico" as instrumental Mexican music plays softly on the soundtrack). His plan is in place, including a fast boat to deliver him south. But the treasure-seekers realize that Culpepper has turned the opposite way out of the State Park, so they pursue him. Culpepper, driving his police-issue Dodge, is chased by the treasure-seekers and his scheme unravels. The pursuit is a great car chase on highways and through town resulting in the eventual destruction of all three vehicles at an old building in downtown Santa Rosita that is about to be torn down. Upon hearing of the chase, and failure to contact Culpepper, Aloysius realizes that Culpepper has become a criminal, and sadly orders that he be arrested.
In a madcap conclusion, all the men chase Culpepper into the derelict building, chase him to the top floor, are tossed off a rescue ladder, and the suitcase filled with cash spills open. The money flutters down to the crowd on the street below, and the male treasure hunters wind up in the hospital. The film ends as Culpepper and the other men are moaning and bandaged in traction, lamenting the loss of the money and facing punishment. Culpepper, in visible disgust, remarks in dark sarcasm: "The only reason that you ten idiots are gonna get off lightly is because the judge will have me up there to throw the book at!" Culpepper mentions a litany of troubles before him, including a divorce and his pension being revoked, doubting that he will laugh about anything ever again. Benjy Benjamin, who is eating a banana, then tosses the peel on the floor in disgust. The women from the story, dressed in hospital uniforms, enter the hospital room. Loud-mouthed Mrs. Marcus, in the midst of another bombastic tirade, slips on the banana peel and falls hard on her rear end. All the men burst into hysterical laughter as she is taken away by orderlies. A smile slowly comes to Culpepper's face, and he finally joins in the laughter.
Although well known for serious films such as Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg (both starring Spencer Tracy), Kramer set out to make the ultimate comedy film with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. At more than three hours in its original roadshow version, including overture, intermission and exit music, the result is certainly one of the longest.
Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and presented in Cinerama (becoming one of the first Cinerama films originated with one camera), it also had an all-star cast, with dozens of major comedy stars from all eras of cinema making appearances in the film.
The film followed a Hollywood trend in the 1960s of producing "epic" films as a way of wooing audiences away from television and back to movie theaters. Television had sapped the regular movie going audience and box-office revenues were dropping, so the major studios experimented with a number of gimmicks to attract audiences, including widescreen films.
The title was taken from Thomas Middleton's 1605 comedy A Mad World, My Masters. Kramer considered adding a fifth "mad" to the title before deciding that it would be redundant, but noted in interviews that he later regretted it.
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