It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [Criterion Collection]

"This side splitting, non-stop comedy remains one of the all time greats in the annals of cinematic film history. Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, over 7 million dollars went into this timeless comedy classic that employed over 50 major motion picture stars. Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) is the dying gangster who has driven off the road. With his last breath, he reveals the location of a suitcase of buried mob money. A car chase ensues reminiscent of the Max Sennett comedies as Ethel Merman. Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, and Jonathan Winters hear Grogan's last words before he literally kicks a bucket to emphasis his demise. Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) is the embittered police veteran who monitors the mysterious convoy that grows with every turn in the road. Merman is hilarious as the shrill, overbearing loudmouth who forces her husband (Milton Berle) to search for the hidden loot. Dick Shawn plays her momma's boy simpering son who fanatically tries to aid his mother in her hour of need. When their car breaks down, Rooney and Hackett get a plane ride from an eccentric drunken millionaire (Jim Backus). The ever growing group of greedy fortune hunters eventually arrive at Santa Rosa State Park, where they search for the ""big W"" under which the treasure is buried. Comedy screen veterans Buster Keaton, Zasu Pitts, The Three Stooges join Jack Benny and Jerry Lewis in making cameo appearances. Over half the stuntmen in Hollywood were used in the scene where everyone clings perilously to a crane eventually collapsing with the weight of the avaricious advocates. Culpepper seizes the money for evidence, but decides to head for the border prompting yet another chase. All the principle characters end up in traction and penniless at a local hospital. Although the film is over three hours long, there is no let up of the non-stop sight gags and slapstick comedy. This could be the fastest moving, most entertaining epic comedy of all time. Don Knotts, Peter Falk, Eddie ""Rochester"" Anderson, Joe E. Brown. Carl Reiner and Andy Devine also lend their comic expertise. The film did tremendously at the box office, and repeated viewing of the film bring out something new everytime in this madcap comedy classic."