MovieChat Forums > It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) Discussion > Why This Failed To Be 'The Classic' Come...

Why This Failed To Be 'The Classic' Comedy

posted 12 years ago by poetcomic1
34 replies | jump to latest

Each comedian has his own rhythm and style and 'setting'. Get every imaginable comic together to do their shtick and it will be the funniest movie ever, right?
WRONG! We constantly shift to the 'comic world' of each comedian. It is exhausting. No other film has ever made me more tired. Go figure. Ethel Merman as the mother-in-law from hell is by far the funniest thing on screen. Rather than try to top everyone else's comedy she goes to the limit with her actual given character.

[–] Owlzindabarn 12 years ago

Well, sorry you were so exhausted. At least now you won't ever have to watch that movie again, will you? Unless you need something to put you to sleep.

I have a better idea--next time you can't get to sleep, just go back and read some of your own tired posts.

[–] poetcomic1 12 years ago

You are one of those people who get personal for NO REASON other than someone disagrees with you. I just stated an opinion and you feel you have to tear into me personally. You didn't say anything intelligent about the film - maybe some positive aspect of the film I missed that you enjoyed? I would certainly be open to being contradicted or even convinced that I am wrong. No, you just attack my posts personally.

[–] singjohn 12 years ago

Read Owlzindabarn's post with an Ethel Merman voice and you'll get a huge laugh! LOL!

[–] scottythefield 12 years ago

I think the cast wasn't as well-used as it could have been, personally. The Jack Benny and Three Stooges cameos were completely pointless and unfunny. Don Knotts was underused. And Jonathan Winters was also wasted, since he wasn't allowed to employ his genius for improv and verbal humour.

[–] bing-57 9 years ago

> I think the cast wasn't as well-used as it could have been, personally.

Yikes. The movie was three hours long already. They can't give every cameo their own 5-10 minutes.

--
What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

Season's Greetings!

[–] eric-1501 10 years ago

The first reply was not a personal attack...everyone realizes that but you

[–] poetcomic1 10 years ago

"I have a better idea--next time you can't get to sleep, just go back and read some of your own tired posts." Yeah, real friendly.

[–] powersroc 12 years ago

I have to respectfully disagree with you.I felt that IAMMMMW worked very well because the majority of comedians were portraying characters & not doing the schtick that they were known for previously.Milton Berle does standup routines & is best known for dressing up like a woman.In the movie he was a henpecked husband.Jonathon Winters is brilliant at improvisation & creating wild characters.He did not to that & has said that all of the cast stuck,sometimes not to their liking,to the script.Phil Silvers was a con man on his TV show & he does do the same character here.But it fit the context of the film.Yes,Don Knotts was his classic nervous man,& Jerry Lewis did his goofy face & manic laugh.Again,it worked.I love this film & admire many of these comics but had they been allowed to all do what they were well known for,this movie would have been a disaster.I'm sure Stanley Krammer's agenda was to keep a tight reign on everyone so that the film would work as well as it did.It must have been a daunting job,Krammer said as much in interviews.

[–] poetcomic1 12 years ago

It is an exhausting film that leaves many people curiously depressed. Yes they all play characters as opposed to stand up shtick...but comedians by nature have a very intense 'presence' whatever they play. Too, too much.

I do get your point though, especially looking Milton Berle doing his best 'naturalistic' acting ever shows how good he could have been in movies.

[–] HalHopandPop 12 years ago

More than welcome to your opinion, but it leaves me in stitches every time.

"Milo, I've told you again and again - please, don't walk on the chickens!"

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 12 years ago

This movie was pretty funny, but I prefer other comedies from the sixties.

~~
Jim Hutton: talented gorgeous hot hunk; adorable as ElleryQueen; SEXIEST ACTOR EVER

[–] turtleturk 12 years ago

Clueless.

"It's not the ups and downs that make life difficult, it's the jerks." Charles Chaplin

[–] cnicknz 12 years ago

Funny how this movie divides people. I think my problem with it is that is was directed by someone who had absolutely no gift for comedy. As has been mentioned by many, it is way too long, and the pacing is lugubrious. Kramer relied on his cast to keep things moving, but they could only do so much.

[–] kcornelg 12 years ago

Has anyone ever established the proper way to determine what has been the classic comedy? I suspect that it never will be determined. One person’'s classic comedy may be another person'’s ultimate snoozefest. This was 40th on the list of AFI’'s Top 100 Funniest American Movies when that list was released in 2000. Some Like It Hot was first.

I don’'t know whether this is the classic comedy, but, fifty years since I first saw It'’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in a movie theater, and was laughing so hard I cried, it'’s still among my top 25 favorite comedy films.

[–] Readerman 12 years ago

Parts are quite funny, but it's a good 40 minutes too long. The first time you see Winters take apart the gas station is a hoot. Rooney and Hackett are used well. As for Merman, her character was not funny to me, just godawful annoying, as was her son, Dick Shawn, and it takes better skill than Jim Backus apparently has to play drunk. He was terrible.

[–] cowgoesmoo 12 years ago

I think you are on to something. Perhaps "The Classic" Comedy is one that you can watch a thousand times and never get tired of it/always be amused by it.

I first saw this movie when I was maybe 9 years old and I was laughing so hard (especially at the gas station scene and the fire escape scene) that my parents thought I'd break some ribs. I'd watch it again and again over the years but it never struck me as funny upon repeated viewings as it did the first time. I still enjoy the movie and now find myself liking other scenes that I didn't appreciate in my youth, but... I can't really call this "The Classic" Comedy.

[–] fang123horn 12 years ago

Me personally its a classic, I dunno maybe I'm just a slapstick type of guy and I do not mind at all if its 3 hours long. To me it hits all the right notes, again that's just me.

[–] kcornelg 12 years ago

If not a classic comedy, it still has this classic scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZsp8SvJj8 Maybe not as funny as it seemed when you first saw it, but how often have you watched that scene, and not, at least, smiled a lot?

[–] poetcomic1 11 years ago

I never cared for the gas station scene all that much. It is something that Laurel and Hardy did better and a LONG time ago.

[–] eric-1501 10 years ago

WHAT planet are you living on again??