Thursday, April 3, 2014

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

As a follow-up to his Oscar-winning drama, Judgment at Nuremberg, director Stanley Kramer did a complete 180 degree artistic spin to create what is arguably the greatest three-hour slapstick comedy ever created. Looking at it now, a half century later, it’s still a good movie and you can appreciate the effort it must have taken for Kramer to reign in the enormous amount of comedic talent in his cast, both the lead characters and the numerous cameo appearances. But time hasn’t been kind to all the routines in the movie, and some of them are more enjoyable for the nostalgic feeling they give you from seeing the film as a kid than one may get from seeing them the first time. Watching Jonathan Winters destroy a gas station is still hilarious, but seeing Milton Berle be screamed at by Ethel Merman is more annoying than amusing. The special 197-minute extended version of the film included in the package takes things way too far, especially the way the flow of the film is interrupted where footage is missing.

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