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 Okay, so maybe this film led to a lot of stinkers through the years, in numerous attempts to "clone" its classic appeal. However, you can say this about many great films. Star Wars, after all, has led to some pretty bad stinkers in sci-fi clones. Even Titanic, most recently, has led to several overly saccharine sobfests, and the success of recent Farrelly Brothers comedies have led to way too much "potty humor" for this critic to tolerate easily. Simply put, yes, this film  has led to a few "clone" stinkers. Okay, it's led to a LOT of clone stinkers. However, it still was a great comedy; there's no denying that.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

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A Techtite Review

The Film : Often Imitated, yet rarely duplicated, is this madcap 1963 comedy, with a wild menagerie of classic comics! This is a film that stars such names as Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hacket, Ethyl Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry Thomas, Jonathan Winters, and with smaller roles starring Peter Falk, Norman Fell, Don Knotts, Carl Reiner, The Three Stooges, and several more! It's no wonder that so many comedies try to duplicate this classic film's charm. It's even less wonder, that they rarely succeed.

The story begins with eight motorists on a lonely desert highway, where a mysterious stranger --a few seconds from, literally, kicking the bucket-- tells them that a stolen fortune is buried under a "big dubble-ya." The race is on to find that money first, with each motorist attempting to reach the big W in their own way. Who will get there first? That's all part of the fun.

Of course, haste always makes waste, so have the hilarity is seen in how much misfortune these motorists find themselves in, when attempting to make it to the buried fortune ASAP. One pair attempt to rent a plane, only to have the drunken pilot pass out, leaving them at the empty wheel! A young couple find themselves getting there before anyone, only to attempt to steal a few digging supplies, and get locked in the store basement. Then there's the man who must drive with the constantly bickering mother-in-law, played by Ethel Merman. In time, even more people learn of the buried treasure, and want in on the deal, leading to even more mayhem.

Of course, this film is often belittled in modern times, due to so many attempts to "clone" it in forgettable fluff pieces like the Cannonball Run movies (whose first --yet sadly, not last-- film even made it on my lst of Top Ten Worst Comedies of All Time). However, just because the film led to a few truly ghastly clones, doesn't mean we shouldn't respect this classic comedy film for what it is; a classic. After all, it even received six Oscar nominations in its day, and how many comedies can say that?

The DVD : Not unlike the recent DVD releases of Terminator and Terminator 2, this is a two-sided disc, with side one being the film, and side two containing the bonus features. However, this seems necessary only because the unedited, fully restored film is over two and a half hours. Even though there are only 4 types of bonus features to choose from, it's the thought that counts to include them, right?

For one, there's a documentary, titled "Something a Little Less Serious." This is a collation of live interviews with the cast and crew of the film, and is an hour in length! However, with a copyright of 1991, I can't say I saw it before. Perhaps it was made for a cable channel airing of the film, that I missed?

Next there are "Extended scenes." The film as originally intended was considered too long for theatrical distribution. By 1963, the film was transferred from 70mm to 35mm for theatrical release, and the excess negative was destroyed. This disc offers a glimpse at the original, 70mm version. The collation of video clips offered is a total of an additional hour, and more than worth a look for fans.

On the one hand, with the only added materials being the Trailer and 1970 re-release trailer, some might say that's about it. However, with over two hours to play with on side 2, this is more than enough. There's only a few movies that my family often asks me to look for on DVD. It's nice that one of their most frequent requests is finally available, in the format it was meant to be seen in.

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. A classic! Some critics may say it isn't, though why then is it always attempted to "clone" this picture, over and over, without success?
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