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It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World (1963)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat May 07, 2022 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Grogon told them about the loot, how much it was, and where it was buried. The group withheld all that information when questioned by the detective.

When I Googled the question about withhold information from the police, I was surprised to learn that it's just a misdemeanor with a fine a hundred bucks in some states (like Oklahoma, for example), but in California it's a felony with a sentence (up to) 3 years and a fine (up to) $10,000! Shocked

So, I guess the Treasure Hunters aren't going to wiggle out of that charge by using the defense I offered, concerning the way Captain Culpepper ignored all the reckless and illegal actions of the group because he wanted them to reveal the location of stolen loot. Sad

Their crime of withholding information occurred before the police deliberately allowed all the dangerous driving and other destructive acts, so the defense attorneys could not use that as a loop hole.

The judge would undoubtedly levy the maximum sentence on the men who lied to Norman Fell, based on the fact that they must have believed what Grogon said, since they acted on the information in such a maniacal and determined way.

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon May 22, 2023 8:21 am; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat May 07, 2022 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So prior to all of the "merrymakers" taking the off-ramp that leads to Santa Rosita State Park, we see cunning & clever Captain Culpepper station his car near the top of the ramp.

He then watches the various vehicles containing all the money chasers pull off the coast highway & onto the ramp in order to drive into the park.

How did Culpepper know to park at that exact spot? At this point, all the law enforcement people were following all these people (without their knowledge) in order to see just where their final destination was. However, they didn't know precisely where they were going. So why would Culpepper choose that ramp? He theorized the money was buried somewhere in Santa Rosita, but that covers a lot of ground. He did not know it was in the park, so how could he have predicted the suspects were headed there?
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe...He read the script???
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like director Stanley Kramer didn't read the script.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The word "Mad" is indeed mentioned in the film.

During the climatic car chase with Captain Culpepper being pursued by the two taxi cabs filled with all the "merrymakers," we have a scene taking place at the Santa Rosita Police Department. The station officers are attempting to contact Culpepper when they receive a report from an officer in the field. He calls in to report that they were investigating a mad dog report when they saw Culpepper & the two cabs roar past them. It is then that the police department realize what Culpepper is really up to, that he has stolen the suitcase of money & making a run for it.

I wonder just how much longer Culpepper might have gone had that officer not called in about the dog?

Ironically, at the end of the fire escape scene we see Culpepper crash into a pet shop and all the dogs have surrounded him and are licking his face.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Saw an interview with Jonathan Winters who was asked just how much adlibbing was allowed in Mad World? The interviewer assumed there had been a lot given how many great comedians there were in the movie and that it was an all out comedy picture.

Winters replied that really wasn't the case at all. He said that the script was so well written that adlibs weren't necessary at all. And director Stanley Kramer was a bear on not allowing adlibs.

However, Winters did do an adlib that Kramer did permit in the scene where Dick Shawn & Jonathan are digging up the suitcase full of money. Sylvester (Dick Shawn) is telling Pike (Jonathan Winters) to "Cut out, baby!" Winters adlibs "Don't call me baby."
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2023 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

Producer and director Mike Schlesinger offers his thoughts on a modest and somewhat amusing movie. Very Happy


Mike Schlesinger on It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World


___________

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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2023 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If Otto Meyer had planned it better when he was counting up the shares for everyone, when he said 15, he should have pointed to Lennie Pike. He told the crowd that Lennie deserved an extra share for discovering the big W landmark, so that's where the 15th share would have gone to. Instead, he counted himself as the 15th share, that immediately put Pike & Sylvester onto his underhanded scheme.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2023 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

That's true, Mike! Very Happy

Phil Silver's underhanded character made a clumsy attempt to get a double share of the money, but nobody would have been fooled when they actually divided it up. There's no way the group would give him twice as much as everybody else just because he went 'round the circle of people and counted himself twice. Rolling Eyes

And as you pointed out, it's ironic that their really were fifteen "shares" of the money — two for Jonathan Winters. So for that reason, Phil's attempt to get two shares was even dumber.

In a way, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Word is little like [b]Forbidden Planet[/i], in that the complex story continues to provide new things for us to discuss and debate. Very Happy

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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2023 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Johnathan Winters said that this first appearance after his nervous breakdown. He was unsure, but his wife made him take the part saying that he needed to go back to work.

Stanley Kramer said that working with the cast was like trying to herd cats. Stan Freberg was hired to do a commercial for the movie while filming was still going on, so he had a small window to get it done. His idea was to have the title on blocks and have the cast fight over who gets which word. It was pandemonium. Johnathan Winters was lecturing on Indian rights, Milton Berle was constantly telling jokes from his card catalog of "ad libs" held by his assistant. Plus the cast was actually arguing over who got to hold which word. Stan Freberg was trying to get some order, when Stanley Kramer said, "Now you know what I've been going through the last three months". Laughing

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2023 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

Good Lord! Shocked

Obviously this was The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad MOVIE when you consider what poor Mr. Kramer had to put up with. We should all be grateful that this amazing comedy ever made it to the big screen.

Thanks, David. Fans of this great feature film need to know what a miracle it is to have such a wonderful movie today. Very Happy

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PostPosted: Thu May 25, 2023 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some more interesting items from the good ole' IMDB.

The Jack Benny cameo scene was originally offered to Stan Laurel. Laurel turned down the cameo because he swore never to perform again after the death of his partner & friend Oliver Hardy in 1957. By this time, a long shot of this roadside scene had been filmed with a stand-in wearing Laurel's trademark bowler hat. This explains why Benny wore it in the close-ups as he was never associated with such a hat.

Writer William Rose wanted Jack Benny for the Captain Culpepper role.
Sidebar: Nope, don't see Jack in that part at all. There was nobody that Stanley Kramer was ever gonna cast in that part that would have been superior to the legendary Spencer Tracy. Nobody.

There were approximately 100 stunt performers in Hollywood at that time. Mad World used 80 of them.

The scene where Melville Crump accidentally knocks the blowtorch into the stairs with a sledgehammer took 86 takes.

Sidebar: Not buying this one at all, IMDB. They had one of the finest directors and stunt designers and teams in Hollywood at that time. They'd have figured some way to execute this stunt and not require 86 takes which would have been a waste of a lot of time and footage.

Each leading actor was given 2 scripts: one contained the dialogue and the other the stunts.

Stanley Kramer asked legendary silent screen comic Buster Keaton to perform one of his signature bits, moving 2 steps forward and then one backwards.

Legendary fellow silent screen comic Harold Lloyd turned down a cameo role. Rumor has it he would have played the mayor of Santa Rosita which ended up being done by Joe E. Brown.

Sidebar: Would have been a wink to the audience if Lloyd had done that particular role. One of his greatest movies (a favorite of mine) was called Safety Last! In that film, Lloyd ends up climbing up a skyscraper for a publicity stunt, and runs into all types of death defying missteps during his ascent to the rooftop.
How perfect for the grand finale with the "merrymakers" hanging onto a crumbling fire escape on the side of a tall building then to have LLoyd shout out to them.

One of the biggest audience reactions with laughter was reported by theater owners. The Rancho Conejo Airport cameo with the Three Stooges silently standing by as firefighters.

Proposed titles for the film were: Something a Little Less Serious, Where, But in America, and One Damn Thing After Another.

Sidebar: Glad they went with Mad World. I'm guessing that in 1963 having the word damn in the title of your film, which is a family friendly one, might have kept some people away from the movie. So that would have been a bad move.

Arnold Stang broke his left forearm just days before shooting his scenes in the gas station. Kramer offered him full salary and would recast the role. Stang would not hear of it as he desperately wanted to be in the movie. He wore garage workman's gloves over his overalls in order to cover up his cast.

Sidebar: I remember when I saw the film for the first time, I wondered why Stang held his arm in an unusual manner in some scenes?

Joe Besser was offered the Marvin Kaplan role of the gas station owner. He was unable to accept it because Sheldon Leonard & Danny Thomas could not give him time off from The Joey Bishop Show.

Sidebar: Joe would have been funny in the role. Can you imagine not being able to appear in Mad World because you're doing the forgettable Joey Bishop sitcom? Never found Bishop funny at all.

Groucho Marx was to have made a cameo in the concluding hospital scene, where he would have played a doctor and delivered the final punchline of the film.

Sidebar: Wonder what that punchline was? Oh well, I love Groucho & his brothers, but the finale with Mrs. Marcus slipping on a banana & raving just could not be beat.

Phil Silvers held crap games on the set throughout filming. Milton Berle said that Phil was one of the biggest gamblers he's ever seen.

Kramer allowed the gambling because it kept the cast close by throughout filming. He could always find any of the actors whenever he needed them on set.

Sidebar: Smart strategy, Stanley. However, if some cast member lost badly at the games it might have caused big problems among the cast.

The roles of Melville & Monica Crump were originally written for Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland. Judy was encountering problems with her TV network over her weekly variety series, so she was unable to accept the part.

Sidebar: Would have been fun to see the Babes In Arms musical duo reunited again. They did some very entertaining MGM musicals together when they were younger. Garland was a phenomenal performer in anything she did.

Budd Abbott & George Burns declined roles in Mad World.

Kramer never considered approaching famed silent screen star Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was retired in Switzerland & very wealthy. Stanley figure that Charlie would want too much money.

Sidebar: Wasn't Charlie still banned from the U.S. in 1963? Don't you just love that our highly ethical and principled Congress did that to Chaplin? I mean, when you think of exalted moral integrity & standards, you just automatically think of our politicians, right?

Mad World was the second highest grossing film of 1964, after The Carpetbaggers. Who remembers The Carpetbaggers?

Writer William Rose's outline for Mad World had Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason, and Red Skelton arriving at the crash scene of Smiler Grogan's automobile.

Sidebar: Interesting. So were Milton, Sid, & Phil playing their same roles from the film? Wonder who Jackie & Red were playing? I could see Jackie as Pike, Red as Russell.

Sid Caesar was in a screaming battle with William Rose over dialogue for his character. Stanley Kramer defused the situation by introducing Spencer Tracy to Sid.

Paul Ford who plays Colonel Wilberforce in Mad World also played Colonel Jon T. Hall on the Phil Silvers Show.

Donald O'Connor was considered for the Benjy Benjamin role.

Sidebar: I'm a big fan of Don, but I don't quite see him in that part, at least the way Buddy Hackett did it. I do see him in the Dingy Bell role.

Lucille Ball, Imogene Coca, Joan Davis, and Martha Raye were all considered for the three leading female roles.

All talented women. Imogene was a wonderful partner to Sid Caesar on his series, would she have played Monica? Joan Davis was a very funny actress who seems all but forgotten today. Martha Raye would have made a marvelous Mrs. Marcus.

Jack Parr was considered for the cameo played by Jerry Lewis. Hmm, folks well remember Lewis, doubt they would remember Parr as well.

When Tyler Fitzgerald says that he can't see, this is a broad wink to the Mr. Magoo cartoon character voiced by Jim Backus.


When director Stanley Kramer assembled the cast to show them them the stunt work scenes that had been filmed, Buddy Hackett was so impressed that he asked Kramer, "What do you need us for?'

Buddy is a passenger in a Volkswagen in Mad World. He repeats the same thing in the Walt Disney comedy movie The Love Bug.

The James Bond film Octopussy (1983) pays homage to the scene where the plane in Mad World is flown through a hanger. Roger Moore, as 007, flies a jet aircraft through a hanger as he escapes his enemies in a foreign country.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
________________________________

Bear in mind that I'm just addressing this (for fun) as a good defense attorney, a master of courtroom strategies. Naturally I'm not excusing the things the people did wrong. So, here goes my brilliant defense! Very Happy


Pow wrote:
Otto Meyer lied to the Don Knotts character, identifying himself as a operative for the C.I.A.

DK can also testify that OM realized they were being followed by a helicopter and lied about it being piloted by enemy agents.

The prosecution will tear his alibi story apart.

First of all, it's not against the law to tell somebody you're a policeman or a government agent. Guys in bars do it all the time to pick up cute, gullible chicks.

As long as you don't show a fake I.D., you're not a criminal, just a big fat liar. Very Happy

Second, it's Don's word against Phil's! And Phil's clever young attorney would get Don on the stand, pretend to suppress his laughter, and say this.

"Mr. Knotts, let me get this straight. You're claiming that Mr. Meyer told you he was with the CIA, that the police helicopter flying nearby was filled with enemy secret agents who'd already tried to kill him three times already, and the CIA would send reinforcements if you told them that . . . what was it? X-27? Yes, I remember now, that X-27 was in trouble. And . . . you actually believed that story, sir? Seriously?" Laughing

The judge and jury are in stitches at this point, and Don is squirming around in his chair, doing his famous "nervous Barney Fife" routine. I don't see that as "tearing Otto's alibi apart." Very Happy

And remember, all he has to do is convince a few of the jurors to believe Otto's more plausible story about attempting to follow a group of people who where acting recklessly while trying to be first to claim a buried fortune.

Remember, the police helicopter really WAS watching Otto to keep tabs on him (like all the others), and our brilliant Legal Eagle can ask the Santa Rosita police embarrassing questions about why they didn't just apprehend all the fortune hunters and ask them where the money was buried! Shocked

So, (the lawyer would point out) even though Mr. Meyer's actions might seem irregular . . . the cops where handling the situation very badly and actually causing all the confusion!


Pow wrote:
Pike will be fired by his moving company & sued by the people who were awaiting his delivery of their items for their home.

Not only did it not get there in a timely manner, some of it was damaged. That little girls bike is history for sure.

No argument on the firing, not to mention a prison term for grand theft auto. But concerning the truck, it was in an accident with the Imperial, and he used the bike to get to a garage that had a tow truck.

He found one . . . but after that, things didn't go so well. Rolling Eyes

However, the family can't very well sue the poor man for not delivering their stuff in wrecked truck, right? Cool


Pow wrote:
The prosecuting lawyers will want to know why exactly did Captain Culpepper maintain radio silence during the chase.

Why did he not respond to urgent calls from his friend the Chief of Police?

Again, our young Perry Mason will sweet talk the jury with his exciting story about how Culpepper left the park and drove in the opposite direction to allow the fortune hunters to turn themselves in without being accompanied by a policeman. But suddenly he discovered he was in the middle of a high speed chase, with fourteen crazy people in two cabs, which he mistakenly thought were trying to steal the money back and do him bodily harm!

Being an elderly man, poor Captain Culpepper had to keep both hands on the steering wheel and give all his attention to controlling the car so that he didn't plow into any of the terrified pedestrians who barely got out of the way!






After his car was disabled when the cabs ran into it in the alley, he got out and fled for his life — bravely taking the suitcase with him, because he was absolutely determined to recover the Tuna Factory payroll after dedicating more than a decade to solving a famous case which he felt would be the crowning achievement of his career as a peace officer!





"And of course, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Captain Culpepper knew full well that dozens of people had already notified the police about the three cars driving dangerously fast through the city. Therefore, Captain Culpepper was confident that help was on the way. He just needed to keep any of the fortune hunters from getting away with the money before his fellow officers arrived!

(Boy, can I lay it on thick or what!? I know it's total bull hockey, but it sounds so heroic even I'm ready to acquit him! Shocked)
Actually, Bud, it is illegal to tell someone that you are an agent for the C.I.A., as well as a police officer, if you really are not either.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Currently watching a documentary on the great silent screen comedian Harold Lloyd. As we well know, the marvelous Buster Keaton does a cameo in Mad World.

It got my wheels spinning, what if Stanley Kramer had somehow managed to secure the services of both Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin to also perform cameos in the film? We would have had all 3 of the terrific and legendary silent screen comedians together in one movie. Not sharing any scenes though.

Here's what I'd do. Put Buster in the role of "Smiler Grogan." The fun being that Buster's silent screen persona rarely smiled or showed much facial emotion. After all, he was referred to as the Great Stone Face. So have him with the name Smiler as irony. We can use the personas of Chaplin & Lloyd the same way so as to have an in-joke regarding their Mad World cameos.

Charlie shows up as Mr. Dinkler, owner of the hardware store. As Sid & Edie exit the store after demolishing it, Dinkler sees them and yells "you vandals." Chaplin's on screen character was known as The Little Tramp. In that role, we'd see the Little Tramp operate as somewhat of a con artist in order to get through life. He was never out to truly hurt anyone deeply; he just would pilfer food, pretend to be innocent while pulling a fast one on someone. The police were usually chasing after him. In this scene we have the Santa Rosita detectives holding back Mr. Dinkler from going after the Crumps. The police are holding The little Tramp. Plus, having the irony of The Little Tramp calling someone else a vandal and thief.

On to Harold. I'd have his cameo be the politician speaking at the park who suddenly sees the cast of "merrymakers" climbing onto the fire escape of the condemned building. In the move we hear him say, "Heeey, those ladders are not safe!" Lloyd starred in the iconic 1923 movie Safety Last & Feet First from 1930! In both these films, he climbs up tall buildings. Naturally, everything goes wrong in his ascent, where he almost falls off the respective buildings several times. Who better to yell out to the main cast of Mad World about their not being safe as they dangle on the building on a collapsing fire escape? Plus, he uses the word "safe," when calling out to them and that very word is in the title of Harold's wonderful silent film.

Perfection, if I do say so myself.
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