Reviews (30)

Star-Studded Recounting of Legendary Nazi Trials
This star-studded film vividly captures the characters on all 3 sides of the spectrum: The accused, the victims, and the international tribunal judging the perpetrators of unspeakable atrocities against fellow human beings. It is shocking to see how many of the people responsible for the gruesome deaths of millions justified their actions.

After hearing witnesses who often were tortured, mamed by sadistic doctors, and had their loved ones murdered, I can not grasp the fact that the majority of those on trial were released after serving minimal prison terms. Some of them are still among us, while millions of victims lie in their graves at the hands of an evil minority!

Stellar performances by an International cast. Most noteworthy are Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland as testifying victims, Maximilian Schell as Prosecutor (Oscar Winner), Marlene Dietrich as wife of a defendant, and an elderly Spencer Tracy, trying to make sense of it all.

Effective use of B&W photography, first rate sets and costumes, along with many other production values, make this a timeless Classic. Although considerd over-long by some, I recommend this film to be shown to high school classes as a reminder that these things happened in a not so distant past.*****

SCHELL, TRACY, GARLAND, LANCASTER, CLIFT & WIDMARK GREAT!
This is a superb film by Stanley Kramer with an unbelievably great cast at the height of their craft. Each of the legendary actors were at the top of their performances in the reinactment of the Judge's Trial at Nuremberg. The world was tired of the Nuremberg trials. This one was a mopping up operation. Against a backdrop of an escalating Cold War with the Soviet Union, the selling out of justice by prominent Nazi judges serving the Third Reich is put on trial. Spencer Tracey plays Judge Dan Haywood, a retired Maine circuit court judge brought out of mothballs to serve as the chief justice. Amazingly, the usual action actor Burt Lancaster plays the top Nazi judge who at first does not recognize the Nuremberg tribunal's authority to judge him. For some mysterious reason, critics over the years failed to acknowledge the tremendous acting job he did in convincingly carrying off what was perhaps this film's most dynamic character change. However, my personal favorite was Maximillian Schell whose quintessential Germanic Hans Rolfe, the defense attorney released the full range of this incredible actor's virtuosity. For this he deservedly won an Academy Award Oscar.

One thousand words are not enough to celebrate this timeless film: Judy Garland (in perhaps her last film role) delivers a heartbreaking middle aging Irene Hoffman, reliving her experiences of Nazi cruelty on the witness stand; once again. However, not very good was the young Canadian actor, William Shatner playing Army Captain Byers, the aide de camp to Judge Haywood (Tracy). [The Starship Enterprise didn't seem to improve Shatner's skills any.] Richard Widmark (the moody, hostile prosecutor) and Montgomery Clift [who begged for the role he was willing to play without pay!] were excellent. Clift plays a slightly retarded German laborer, sterilized by Nazi doctors because of his mental slowness. This is among the very best films made by Kramer in the decade of the 1960s. Amazingly, it was released one year after INHERIT THE WIND, another Tracy-Kramer classic!

MASTERPIECE
What happens when Stanley Kramer teams Tracy, Dietrich, Garland, Schell, Clift, Lancaster and Widmark in a drama based on the trials in pos-war Nuremberg??? It`s vintage Hollywood; still 1 IF not THE BEST about the horrors from World War II ..... The film should be in every school-library across the world

MASTERPIECE
What happens when Stanley Kraner teams Tracy, Dietrich, Garland, Schell, Clift, Lancaster and Widmark in a drama based on the trials in pos-war Nuremberg??? It`s vintage Hollywood; still 1 IF not THE BEST about the horrors from World War II ..... The film should be in every school-library across the world

Wooooooooow
Ok, you`ll get Garland, Dietrich, Clift, Tracy, Widmark & Schell - the production headed by Stanley Kramer.... the result is pure Hollywood vintage combined with horrors from the 2nd World War??? But indeed; it is a masterpiece.... It should be in every school-library all over the world:-) ... Read more

Reviews (60)

Don't monkey around with religion
This film is based on the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee about the 1925, Scopes Monkey Trial. It is tricky to keep the differences between this play and the real trial apart in one's mind. Spencer Tracy (Henry Drummond) and Fredric March (Matthew Harrison Brady) spar over the legality of teaching of evolution in Tennessee. This combination is guaranteed to keep you glued to your seat. In this movie Scopes, while teaching evolution to a high-school biology class is arrested and placed in jail.

Some time the other characters get lost in the shuffle yet one other will show through. That is Gene Kelley who plays E. K. Hornbeck who reports the trial.

I will not give a blow by blow of the trail but to say it gets rather heated and is broken up with several adjournments with time to reflect on what was said and going to be said.

If you are interested in the real thing then read Scopes Autobiography "Center of the Storm."

Pr 11:29... "HE WHO TROUBLES HIS OWN HOUSE WILL INHERIT THE WIND."

"Sit down, Sampson, you're about to get a haircut"
Although Inherit the Wind was made in 1960 about a trial in 1920, it retains a surprising amount of bite.

In the film, based on the stage play of the same name, in turn based on the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, a biology teacher is jailed for teaching evolution. This sets up the film's centerpiece: a courtroom battle between famed attorneys, portrayed by acting heavyweights Spencer Tracy and Frederic March.

Gene Kelly is surprisingly good in a non-dancing role, and gets the best lines as the cynical journalist from Baltimore ("Sit down, Sampson, you're about to get a haircut," he says to the teacher when his girlfriend is called to testify).

Directed by the great Stanley Kramer, the film works well on a number of levels: comedy, courtroom drama, and commentary on religion's place in society.

A unforgettable tour de force and superb script!
This film is a triumph against the intolerance and the dark sides of the reason. The dreams of the reason produce monsters.
The generated legal battle between a Mathew Brady the hard fan religious and politician and Henry Drummond an opened mind lawyer about the Darwin ideas , keep full intensity all the film.
This historical process lets you thinking about the imaginary circunstance about what would the destiny of USA if Brady would have been President?
Spencer Tracy and Frederic March are like the alpha and the omega in this match . One timeless classic film in any age.
Don't even doubt it. This film is for you and for a wide target in the social spectre.
A must and a winner movie!

Incredibly Boring at Best
This movie is terrible. When people make a movie, you assume they would try to make it entertaining at the very Least. Don't waste your time viewing this film. It lasts way too long and you'll be happy when its over. Even if you do like the movie, it has a terrible ending. Hardly any of the conflicts are solved, and you're left with a feeling of disgust. That is only if you manage to make it through the entire movie. The songs in it as well are way too long and sound terrible. To sum it up, this movie is terrible.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND
As previous reviewers have noted, _INHERIT THE WIND_ is a work of fiction that is based on what came to be known as "The Scopes Monkey Trial." Also previously noted is the fact that Spencer Tracy, as Henry Drummond, the character adapted from the real life Clarence Darrow, and Frederic March, playing the role of Matthew Harrison Brady, whose character is based on William Jennings Bryan, engage in a carefully choreographed and outstandingly acted "pas de deux" that, to this day, has rarely been matched in any movie.

It should be understood that this is a work of fiction, and is not meant to duplicate the facts of the Scopes trial. That's why the names have been changed -- to allow literary license for dramatic purposes.

With this as background, one needs to understand the political climate that prevailed when the play from which the movie was adapted was written. The play was written in 1950, in the middle of what has come to be known as the "McCarthy Era." The anti-Communist hysteria of the time was seen by many as a threat to intellectual freedom. It was politically dangerous, at that time, to directly take on those threats to freedom of ideas, so the playwrites (Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee) came up with the idea of using the Scopes Trial, which was safely in the past, as a vehicle to express the importance of the constitutional guarantees of such things as freedom of speech. That the play they wrote in 1950, and its 1960 movie version, were of such dramatic intensity was just icing on the cake.

I think that looking at _INHERIT THE WIND_ from the standpoint of historical perspective should do away with some reviewers beliefs that it is some sort of atheistic plot to challenge their belief systems. Also, repeating myself, I believe that it is important to realize that it is a work of fiction and need not accurately reflect the details of the real trial.

It's worth seeing from several perspectives. As a well acted movie; as one that creates an atmosphere that makes the viewer feel that he is in that hot, humid courtroom; and as one that expresses how important our freedoms really are. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love, and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (64)

An All-time Classic
Aside from calmly, reasonably confronting a social taboo of the '60s -- racially mixed marriages -- in a thoughtful, touching manner, this film features career-high performances from several of Hollywood's finest. Spencer Tracy is absolutely brilliant in his final screen appearance as the avowed liberal newspaper publisher Matt Drayton, who, along with his idealistic wife (a role that earned Katherine Hepburn her second Best Actress Oscar) learns that their barely-20-year-old daughter is planning to elope with a black physician (played with cool passion by Sidney Poitier). The story evolves from Poitier's confidence in the two shocked parents that, without their full approval, the marriage will not go on -- and there are only hours to decide. Add his parents to the mix, and as the list of dinner guests grows so does the tension. Aside from the marvelous script, memorable performances and outstanding direction, photography and music there is a chemistry in the mix that truly creates an energy greater than the sum of its parts -- and when the parts are this good, the result is a film for the ages that goes straight to the heart of themes like love, passion, prejudice and family conflict. In the end love does conquor all in Tracey's powerful final speech, made more poignant by a visibly moved and misty Hepburn -- perhaps cognizant that she was witnessing the final curtain call of a great actor. This is the magic Hollywood is capable of, a movie that re-affirms one's faith in the ideals of love and equality, and certainly belongs in every collection.

4.5 Stars; Needs Historical/Cultural Context Remembered
The Story: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play the parents of young Katharine Houghton, who brings home her well-educated fiancee to meet the parents. The parents are not expecting their daughter's fiancee, a physician, to be African-American, but Sidney Poitier certainly is. The film focuses on the parents' discomfort over the biracial marriage.

When the story begins, it's easy to think that the movie studios were aiming to do two things: make one more movie with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (this was his last film, and he was quite ill during its making); and make a simple statement about racial tolerance. This film could easily have ended up with a very contrived, forced air to it. But, that doesn't happen when you put Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Sidney Poitier together in a film. The cast rises above the simplicity of the premise. Some have said that making Poitier's character a well-educated doctor weakened the racial conflict potential, but I lived just outside of Detroit in 1967, and ANY biracial marriage was a controversial idea to base a film upon. It also put the race issue right on the table, as the parents had no basis upon which to object to their daughter's marriage, except for their discomfort over the race issue.

Overall, if the viewer remembers when this film was made, the quality of the cast makes it a real winner.

Bit Prepackaged for My Taste
More like 3.5 stars. There's nothing particularly wrong with this movie but it's not the genius its been made out to be either. It's not nearly as daring as it likes to think it is. He's a wealthy, smart, sophisticated mature professional. She's an airhead. He's black and she's white. He's a catch and a half and she's a twit. The real question should not be why does she want to marry a black man but rather what he sees in her. Of course they will have problems with the intolerant aspects of society. Of course their children will be teased and mistreated by racist adults and ignorant children. But this film was made in the late 60's, not the late 30's. It's also set in San Francisco (Liberal Heaven) and not in rural Mississippi. The white girl's parents are liberals through and through. Poitier's character's parents are a working man & his wife from Los Angeles. Notice how Tracy's character does not object to his daughter marrying a black man but is deeply concerned by how a mixed couple & their children will be received in society. This movie gives itself every break it possibly can to ease its way down a receptive audience's throat.

Boring...
This movie has been hailed as being a great piece of work; I tried to watch it. I really did and I could not do it. Portier plays his role well; but then again it is not like he has to act; he just has to be himself. Stay away from this miserable piece(...).

Landmark film about racial prejudice
Considered a landmark film, it addresses racial prejudice and interracial marriage in a time when sixteen states in America still upheld laws that made miscegenation a crime. It is important to pay attention to past racial and ethnic issues, in order to understand those today and to see whether any 'progress' towards a more 'tolerant' society has been made. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is an entertaining, straightforward and well-meant film that will hopefully make students aware of the controversy of interracial relationships throughout the decades and centuries even. Being a child of mixed race parents, I find the film meaningful in showing two people of different races, being very much in love and very willing to face all the social obstacles their interracial relationship is bound to encounter.
Summary
In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner the 23-year-old, white, upper class Joanna "Joey" Drayton (Katharine Houghton) brings home her fiancé John Wade Prentice (Sidney Poitier) to meet her parents. When he turns out to be a distinguished 37-year-old black doctor, the "liberal" progressive parents (Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) are forced to re-examine their beliefs regarding interracial marriage and are given one single day to do so. Before the parents can get all of their objections sorted out, they have John's parents coming to dinner as well. Both sets of parents have reservations about this union, but try to come to terms with the interracial marriage.
Discussion
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? raises several questions or issues that might be interesting to discuss after viewing it. The film's main themes are interracial relationships and prejudice, and it advocates a mixed race marriage, which makes it a very progressive movie for the 1960s. Considered progressive as well are Joey's 'liberal' parents who have raised their daughter not to be prejudiced and they have done this successfully, with her 'lack of' prejudice extending to her being able to fall in love with an African American. The parents are then left to consider whether they really believe in their acclaimed 'liberal thinking' and this may raise important questions with the viewing audience. Are human beings really as liberal or conservative as they think they are when it comes to practicing what they preach?
If it is not race that prevents the parents (the fathers in particular), both Joanna's and John's, from approving the marriage, what is?
The only objection to the interracial marriage vocalized in the film is the harsh treatment they will most likely receive from society. Although this is a valid and probably accurate objection, it is debatable on whether the fathers do not have more personal objections. The movie glosses over the subject of interracial marriage without getting too detailed, but the concern on whether the couple understands the adversity they will face if they go ahead with their interracial marriage is very clear.
The themes addressed in the film were still much of a taboo in the 1960s, so in order to merely create a 'mild controversy', the director seems to have made the relationship between John and Joey as 'acceptable' as possible. Infallible and with impeccable credentials as a prize-winning doctor and working for the World Health Organization, John is portrayed as an in-laws dream. The character is in every socioeconomic sense a 'good catch': What parent would not want him as a son-in-law? But what if the director had made the fiancé a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship?
Also, to reduce the seriousness of the racial themes, the film is presented as a comedy. This means that conservative viewers can laugh about it while telling themselves that these events would never really happen. Finally, Joey and John avoid their biggest challenge by intending to live abroad for John's work. Therefore, they will not have to cope with the racial tensions in the country and they will not have to combine two communities and identities or have to pick one over the other.
When it was released it 1967, Guess Who`s Coming to Dinner reflected upon the changing race relation in America. Interracial intimacy and marriage in particular were delicate themes to discuss, which makes this film so important, both at that time as well as today. The individual right to choose a sexual partner, select a spouse and raise a family could not be fully exercised in all of the United States up until the Loving decision in 1967, which banned anti-miscegenation laws. Although these laws disappeared, the prejudices that had always accompanied them, could not be banned so easily. They persisted, despite the colour blind ideal.
The fact that the Joey's father is an intellectual liberal forced to face his own buried prejudices gives the film an important message that should still be considered today. On some deeply personal level many people are still prejudiced, no matter how hard they try to tell themselves otherwise. In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Spencer Tracy's character comes to this realization, but is able to put his objections for his daughter's happiness. The film chooses to be colour blind like Joey's father and lets pure and simple love instead of race be the basis for a successful marriage. Or as Matt Drayton argues in his 'final analysis' in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner:
"[...] in the final analysis it doesn't matter a damn what we think. The only thing that matters is what they feel, and how much they feel for each other. And if it's half of what we felt ... that's everything". ... Read more

Reviews (212)

Comedy For All Eternity
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a comedy for all eternity. This is one of those big box, big budget, long-running-time, cameo-loaded, expensive, broad-canvas farces of the 60's that I love so much. Released in 1962, this was one of Stanley Kramer's greatest and last movies. This award-winning movie is a timeless masterpiece for the whole family.

After a bouncy, splashy Saul Bass animated title sequence, the story begins with a brief car chase in the California desert. Bank robber Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) wrecks his car, and with his dying words reveals a secret about buried treasure to the seven strangers who stopped on the roadside. 'Look for the big W' in Santa Rosita, he says, and then he kicks the bucket.

After a brief attempt at cooperation, the treasure hunt is on and it's every man for himself, in four teams. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett decide to take to the air but their pilot, Jim Backus, gets hammered on Old Fashioneds. Husband-and-wife Sid Caesar and Edie Adams can only find a biplane cropduster. The lone truck driver, Jonathan Winters, can't get gas. And his mother-in-law Ethel Merman fatally hampers Milton Berle, with his wife Dorothy Provine.

So all four teams scamper across the landscape, across the broad canvas of this movie, wound tight by desperate greed and calmly monitored by a Sergeant Culpepper, Spencer Tracy. This is the framing story for an amazing string of billed appearances and unbilled cameos so many that at last your senses are sort of dulled. Oh, it's Carl Reiner in the control tower. Oh, look, it's Stan Freberg, yeah. The best cameo, hands down, is Jerry Lewis, who comes barreling down Long Beach Boulevard in a moment of exuberant stupidity and runs over Spencer Tracy's hat.

Probably my favorite, I have so many, co-star was Terry Thomas who plays a vacationing Englishman in a rattling station wagon, who picks up Milton Berle. He's talkative. He prattles away (accurately) about why it is that the American male is positively preoccupied with booo-sums, and says things like, "I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!" This sequence, within the context of the movie so far, has a single funny moment when this whole vast farce might come alive, find its voice, and this circus might make sense - Terry-Thomas finds the tone for the rest of the movie. I find it compelling that the aesthetic success of all this footage, all these appearances, all this thoroughly American spectacle, suddenly pivots around a few fussy syllables about breasts. But once the moment passes, Terry-Thomas is efficiently neutralized and dismissed by Ethel Merman, and on we go.

The array of challengers eventually reach Santa Rosita, and several unexplainably humorous events occur. These I will not reveal to you and allow you to view the movie on your own time. I must add though, that if you do see this movie, reserve several hours. Like most from its decade its LONG... VERY LONG... But allow me to assure you, you wont be disappointed.

Madness is Genius
Eight traveling vacationers witness the sudden car-crash and slow final death of con-man Smiler Grogan in the hills above Palm Desert, Cal.. Grogan's dying words reveal the secret location of $350,000 hidden in Santa Rosita Park, near San Diego. This sparks a wild, hectic race for the dough. Pure greed,buried treasure, and car crashes. It's all here. "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World" was the most successful movie directed by ace Stanley Kramer. All of the famous television and film comics from 1963 appear in this wild comedy. Only Bob Hope is missing. The cast includes Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, and Spencer Tracy. Ernest Gold composed an original booming, wonderful soundtrack you'll be humming for days. At two hours and 41 minutes, "Mad World" is too long, but an incredible cast and mad-cap action propel the story along. This new MGM DVD is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect. The colors are crisp and vibrant. The "Mad World" DVD includes an excellent 1991 documentary with all the major surviving cast members. There's also 1 hour of "out-takes", faded and damaged, from the original Cinerama 70mm release. And there's two trailers. The year 2001 produced an obvious remake of "Mad World" called "Rat Race", a modest hit. Stanley Kramer and Spencer Tracy made 4 classic films together. The last was the inspiring "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967. In ill health, sadly, Tracy died just days after shooting ended. Stanley Kramer himself died in Feb. 2001. His genius is now gone. His legacy lies before you.

It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad DVD
I would give this DVD 5 stars if all the movie was here, but it isn't, hence 3 stars. There's no excuse for this considering that no major restoration has been attempted here, the storage capabilities of DVDs are huge, and MGM has already released the full-length movie on VHS. The deleted scene feature is a mess. Watching the scenes seperately is tedious and not much fun. The least they could do would be to put the deleted scenes in the order that they appeared in the original film. The third and fourth scenes appear to be exactly the same as do others later on. Sometimes the scene appears the same only zoomed in. Others scenes have no sound. Some of the last scenes go on and on up to 10 minutes and contains everything that is included in the feature except for very minor snippets of dialogue. Sometimes you can't detect anything new, like in the money dividing proposal scene.

I can see why MGM would want to keep their pristine 35mm print whole and transfer that to DVD but perhaps they should have included a 2nd disc and a 2nd version that patched together all the missing scenes, no matter what condition, and reconstructed the film as best as they could to the longest originally released version.

MGM, when you finally "Special Edition" this movie offer a rebate with the proof of purchase from this inferior edition!

Best, Most Memorable Comedy Ever Made !!
I originally saw the movie in '63. I was 8. Dad started my Birthday party with it. After the movie, Dad drove the route of the Santa Monica portion of the car chase(yes, there really was a "Big W").
Just finished watching the movie on Turner TV. The narrator came on after the movie and said that THE ORIGINAL WAS 5 HOURS long(Just too much "good stuff"). The movie studio had it edited to the shortened current version of three hours.
Back in '63 it was a terrific movie-In '04 it is still a terrific movie.

An all star cast of comics, great comedy

Director: Stanley Kramer
Format: Color
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: September 26, 1995

Cast:

Spencer Tracy ... Capt. T.G. Culpeper
Milton Berle ... J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar ... Melville Crump, DDS
Buddy Hackett ... Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman ... Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney ... Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn ... Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers ... Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas ... Lt.Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters ... Lennie Pike
Edie Adams ... Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine ... Emeline Marcus-Finch
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Second cab driver
Jim Backus ... Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue ... Biplane pilot
Joe E. Brown ... Union official
Alan Carney ... Police sergeant
Chick Chandler ... Detective outside Chinese laundromat
Barrie Chase ... Sylvester's girlfriend
Lloyd Corrigan ... The Mayor
William Demarest ... Police Chief Aloysius
Andy Devine ... Sheriff of Crockett County
Selma Diamond ... Ginger Culpeper
Peter Falk ... Third cab driver
Norman Fell ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Paul Ford ... Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg ... Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn ... Billie Sue Culpeper
Leo Gorcey ... First cab driver
Sterling Holloway ... Fire Chief
Edward Everett Horton ... Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan ... Irwin
Buster Keaton ... Jimmy the boatman
Don Knotts ... Nervous man
Charles Lane ... Airport manager
Mike Mazurki ... Miner
Charles McGraw ... Lt. Matthews
Cliff Norton ... Reporter
Zasu Pitts ... Switchboard operator Gertie
Carl Reiner ... Tower controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue ... Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts ... Policeman outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Arnold Stang ... Ray
Nick Stewart ... Migrant truck driver
Joe DeRita ... Fireman
Larry Fine ... Fireman
Moe Howard ... Fireman
Sammee Tong ... Chinese laundryman
Jesse White ... Radio tower operator at Rancho Conejo
Jimmy Durante ... Smiler Grogan
Roy Engel ... Patrolman/Police radio voice unit F-14
Nicholas Georgiade ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Stacy Harris ... Police radio voice unit F-7
Don C. Harvey ... Policeman in helicopter
Allen Jenkins ... Police officer
Tom Kennedy ... Traffic cop
Harry Lauter ... Police dispatcher
Ben Lessy ... George the steward
Jerry Lewis ... Man who runs over hat
Bob Mazurki ... Eddie (miner's son)
Jack Benny ... Man in car in desert
Eddie Ryder ... Air traffic control tower staffer
Paul Birch ... Policeman
Doodles Weaver ... Dinckler's Hardware Store clerk
Stanley Clements ... Detective in squad room
Bobo Lewis ... Pilot's wife
Minta Durfee ... Bit Part

Intended to be the comedy to end all comedies, with a cast including virtually all the name comedians at the time.

Jimmy Durante plays a guy who is in a fatal auto accident, but before he dies, tells 5 bystanders where there is $350,000 hidden under a "W", whuch leads to a chase to find the money.

Meanwhile, Capt. T.G. Culpeper (Spencer Tracy) is aware of the stolen money and he and his policemen observe the chase with interest through the desert, mountains, and along the California coast, with the contestants using aircraft, cars, trucks, a bicycle and every method of transportation in their attempt to be first to reach the money.

Tracy was ill when the film was shot, and so only worked four hours per day. The long shots and physical stuff was performed by stand-ins.

This is a fun movie. If there is a criticism, it is that the comedy is perhaps overdone. With so many top comedians, there is certainly no dearth of funny lines, pratfalls, and laughs--that's for sure.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

... Read more

Reviews (42)

An excellent movie, of it's own era.
I suspect that the reason so many ... customer reviews of On the Beach are negative is that the expectations of today's audiences, particularly younger audiences, are entirely different from when this movie was released, in 1959.

The movie is based quite closely on Neville Shute's excellent novel, with just a few differences. The rather strange denial of impending death, shown by most of the characters in the book, has been wisely omitted from the movie. The scientist, John Osborne, has had his name changed to Julian in the film, and is given more depth, beautifully played by Fred Astaire.

I think today's movie goers have difficulty relating to this movie because it is not an action movie and it is not a science fiction movie. Yes, it deals with the last survivors of a nuclear war as they await their own deaths. But the genre of science fiction films requires that the heroes and/or heroines confront the Problem and conquer it, whether that Problem be giant ants, invading Martians, or mutant carnivorous plants. In On the Beach, it is made plain from the beginning of both the book and the movie that there will be no triumph or escape. Instead, the theme is the maintaining of human decency and integrity in the face of imminent death. This is not the sort of stuff for young audiences raised on Bruce Lee movies.

I think it is important, too, that today's young movie-goers watch this movie with the idea firmly in mind that people in 1959 believed that they might very well be the last generation of human beings, before a nuclear holocaust wiped us all out. I was nineteen when I first saw the film, just after its release to theaters and long before the advent of VHS and home video. It was powerful stuff back then, and I don't think there's any doubt that it was an important element in the nuclear disarmament movement.

I highly recommend this movie. The acting and direction are excellent, and it deals with powerful themes. But keep in mind that you'll be watching a film from another era, when books and movies were deliberately slower paced and the depth of characterization was considered to be much more important than fast paced action.

Brilliant Human Story
To me, the poignance of On The Beach lies not in it's anti-nuclear war message, which mercifully was proved wrong by events in the real world (Julian's speech railing against the idea that nuclear weapons could keep the peace is the one dated part of the film. It's now evident that the reason why there never was another ground war horror on the order of WWI and WWII was *because* of the atomic bomb) but in it's human elements, and exploring how people react to the reality that life is fast coming to an end for all of them. In this instance, a nuclear war is simply a convenient duex ex machina to see how ordinary people react to the trauma facing them. There are fine performances all around, but to me the real strength of the movie is Ava Gardner's touching performance as Moira Davidson. Indeed, there is an almost eerie autobiograhic quality to it since Gardner had many things in common with her character.

I think sooner or later, people will look back on "On The Beach" and realize that it's timelessness lies in it's exploration of the human condition and not it's political statements which in my opinion are no longer relevant to the real world.

Worth viewing, even if not realistic
On the Beach fails the realism test in two ways: scientifically and behaviorally. The first is forgivable; 40+ years ago, there was less understanding of what nuclear war would do the planet. But the second aspect -- human behavior -- is where the story fails. The idea that people would get up, wash and shave and dress, go to their jobs, peacefully obtain their rations of food and so on, with a cloud of certain death getting closer every day... it just doesn't ring true. Looting, pillaging, murder, and general anarchy seem much more likely.
Nevertheless, the movie -- while very melancholy (or depressing, as many reviewers have said), is worth watching. (Especially, as some have noted, for Astaire's performance).

the ultimate Cold War film
This is the film that for me captures the terror I felt as a child, growing up at the height of the Cold War; it is bleak and intense, with scenes that are forever etched in my mind. It's one of the great films of that era ("Seven Days in May" and "Fail Safe" are others) that I can watch repeatedly, and their power and impact are never diminished.
Based on Nevil Shute's best seller, and brilliantly directed by Stanley Kramer, the use of sound effects combined with Ernest Gold's Oscar nominated score is very effective. Sometimes the simplest noise set against complete silence is ominous, and gives the feeling of the desolation of empty cities.
As time runs out, people try to avoid the "morbid discussion" of what awaits them, and some make the most of those precious days, weeks and months, like the elderly scientist Julian (in an exceptional performance by Fred Astaire), who completes his dream of being a race car driver.

Both strong and tender, Gregory Peck is fabulous as Dwight Towers, the commander of a submarine, who has trouble accepting that he is alive, while his family are victims of the "monstrous war". The woman who falls in love with him is Ava Gardner, who has spent far too much time being consoled by a bottle of brandy. The plot is filled out by Anthony Perkins and Donna Anderson, a young couple facing the fact that their baby has no future.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the scenario in this film was all too real; we face other dangers now, but there was something truly chilling about those Cold War years, and this film vividly brings back the memory of them. Total running time is 134 minutes.

The end of the world as we know it...
An unforgettable movie that is as important and as powerful today as when it was first released.

Shute took his title from a stanza from T S Eliot's The Hollow Men:-

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river...

The tumid (swollen) river is metaphorical, as is the beach, given that Eliot's bleak, desolate landscape is a spiritual one, as in his classic work, The Wasteland.

Shute's movie is utterly compelling all the way through, partly due to the subject matter, helped along by a stunning cast, and very capable production and direction.

The scene in which the Sub arrives in the US to check on the erratic morse signal was actually shot in Australia, as they could not obtain permission to film it in the US.

There was a very creditable 2000 Showtime version with Rachel Ward and Armand Assante, which was truer to the book, although set closer to present time, but the Peck version is still the definitive one.

You cannot top this movie for dramatic content, brilliantly delivered by Peck, Gardner, Perkins and Astaire above all.

Yes, this could still happen, and yes, nuclear deterrence may well have worked so far, but I always remember a line from Bob Dylan's "If God's On Our Side", which goes...

If God's on our side,
He'll stop the next war...

Maybe he did.

Peace y'all. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Sidney Poitier -- NEED I SAY MORE -- From Las Vegas, NV
All I need to see is that Sidney Poitier is in a movie and it WILL BE A GOOD MOVIE. I thought that this movie with him and Tony Curtis was GREAT! I own almost every movie that is available that has Sidney Poitier in it. I was hooked on his movies and intrigued by Mr. Poitier when I saw "To Sir, With Love" for the first time. I have yet to see Sidney Poitier do a bad movie. This movie was done as a lot of his movies during the times when there was a lot of racial tension. I think that Sidney Poitier picked his movies carefully and all of them have had a very good point to make and in making the point on each of his movies they have all been good story lines. I really think that Sidney Poitier should have won a lot more academy awards than just the one for "Lilies of the Field"! I realize that this is more a commentary than a review, just wanted to put my thoughts down.

Poitier/Curtis Jail-Break Classic
Sidney Poitier continues to break race barriers with this formula jail-break drama. Teamed with Tony Curtis, the escaped prisoners encounter many situations, where their difference in color seems to matter more than the fact that both are fugitives from the law. Throughout the film, the viewer empathizes with the escapees, figuring that they always got a bum deal in life.

A scene towards the end, where a single mother sees a chance to "hook up" with Curtis, shows how Curtis, although often disagreeing, even physically fighting with Poitier, still sees Poitier as an equal in their quest for freedom. Rather than "sell out" his friend, he would rather die trying to save him. The inevidable ending (remember that one of the rules in Old Hollywood was that the bad guys can never win)is quite moving.

Definitely among the established Hollywood Classics. Although many of the "old ways" have changed drastically since the late 50s, this film offers insight into a piece of Americana many people living today can still recall. An important piece of Film Hostory, and highly recommended!*****

Curtis and Poitier Perfect Together
Typical felons on the run movie in all but the racial aspect. Curtis' character grows and matures throughout the movie. A fine acting job by Curtis. This is the 1st in a series of classic performances by Poitier. For nearly ten years, starting with The Defiant Ones, he was just about the best actor in Hollywood. Definately worth a look.

A great drama in black and white
This tough, gritty film may be tame by today's standards but was a bold cinematic statement when it was released in 1958. Two escaped convicts, one white and the other black, are chained to each other and in their break for freedom are forced to confront the harsh realities of racism at close quarters. Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier provide expert characterizations of the two desperate men who are also chained by their fears and prejudices about each other's race, with each step in their journey to freedom brimming with venom and animosity. Ironically, it is a white woman who seals the bond of friendship between John Jackson and Noah Cullen by deliberately directing Cullen's escape route through a quicksand-filled swamp so she can run off with Jackson, with whom she's become smitten. Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw and Lon Chaney Jr. are good in supporting roles and a real find is Cara Williams as the shapely, love-starved country woman so desperate to have a man in her life. Other than Poitier's sporadic warbling of "Long Gone", the only music of note in the movie is provided by Alfalfa's transistor radio that greatly annoys Capt. Gibbons.

About the love of two men
Both men love each other. One of them gives up freedom and the love of a woman to be with his man.
The last scene is the beautiful picture of both men holding each other tightly, their faces touching, and their eyes looking at the next 20 years when they will be always together, happy ever after. ... Read more

Amazon.com

An all-star drama in the grandest of Hollywood traditions, Ship of Fools is now a glossy, Oscar®-nominated relic from a bygone era, when actors were valued more than special effects. "Prestige" is the keyword in describing this high-toned Stanley Kramer production, and the passage of time brings the pros and cons of Kramer's filmmaking into stark relief. In adapting Katherine Anne Porter's acclaimed novel set aboard a German liner sailing from Mexico to Germany, Kramer and screenwriter Abby Mann (who shifted the story from 1931 to 1933) attempted to display the oncoming horror of Nazi Germany in microcosm, as represented by the ship's colorful variety of passengers, including maritally combative artists (George Segal, Elizabeth Ashley); a has-been baseball star (Lee Marvin); a pair of illicit lovers (Oskar Werner, Simone Signoret); a despondent divorcée (Vivien Leigh, shockingly garish in her final film); and several others who play symbolic roles with varying degrees of obviousness. Porter's potent themes are somewhat deflated by Kramer's pompous, heavy-handed approach, but powerful acting remains. Having lost what relevance it had in 1965, Ship of Fools is still fascinating as a showcase for well-drawn characters (including an observant dwarf, played by the late, great Michael Dunn) whose inner lives and outward interactions reflect a turbulent world irrevocably headed for war. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Looking For Fulfillment and Purpose
The setting of this tale is a ship en route from Mexico to Germany in 1933, carrying a disparate group of people, many of whom are unhappy or unfulfilled, living in a time of great political uncertainty. Oskar Werner is the ship's doctor who considers his life a failure and dull, until he meets drug-addicted Simone Signoret, on her way to political imprisonment. They are the standout performers in this film, delivering heartfelt and touching performances, sometimes just needing a knowing glance to communicate so much. Vivien Leigh is terrific as a southern divorcee, bitter about life, men, and marriage, who has some strange encounters aboard, especially with Lee Marvin, an aging ex-athlete who never achieved the glory he wanted. Jose Ferrer pulls out all the stops as an anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer, who stirs up trouble and alienates almost everyone with his crassness and attitude. George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley star as lovers at odds with each other, but their part of the story is the least interesting. Michael Dunn as a philosophic dwarf and Heinz Ruhmann as a tolerant, kindly Jew also contribute good performances, and if you look carefully, you will also see Kaaren Verne, an actress from Warner Brothers' heyday (All Through The Night, Kings Row) in the role of an insecure girl's mother. The film is fairly long, but it moves along well, since most of the characters are so interestingly drawn and acted, and there is also a good amount of action on board as people go through various crises. Credit goes to director Stanley Kramer for balancing the storyline and ensemble cast so well, and for creating an effective atmosphere that reflects the mood and the real sense of the world at that time in history just before so much would change. It's a classy film.

Excellent adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter novel
A stunning, powerful examination of how racism and xenophopia, if unchecked, can overtake society, Ship of Fools is set aboard a German liner sailing from Mexico to Bemerhaven just after the Nazis have taken over. Among the passengers are Vivien Leigh as an embittered divorcee, Lee Marvin as a down-on-his-luck baseball player, George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley as an artist and his lover, Jose Ferrer as a vociferous anti-Semite, Simone Signoret as a Contessa having an affair with ship's doctor Oskar Werner, and Michael Dunn as Greek Chorus. With few exceptions, the entire cast is terrific. Leigh, in her last film, seemingly assimilated all the heartache of her life into this role, and her Charleston near the end is a highlight. The standouts, in my opinion, are Signoret and Werner; they inject their love affair, obviously doomed from the start, with an emotionalism that is genuinely heartbreaking. Ship of Fools is undeniably Stanley Kramer's finest hour as a director, though, ironically, he was passed over for an Oscar nomination, despite a Best Picture nomination. Ship of Fools is required viewing, particularly for those wanting to find some reason for World War II and the Holocaust.

"Tell them I have to fix the toilet"
First of all, I must say that this is an outstanding adaptation of an excellent satirical novel. Some characters were modified, perhaps for the better: the minor hunchback character is now a good-looking dwarf with significant observational powers, sort of a Greek chorus in miniature, while the ill-tempered Jewish merchant is now an all-too-ironic benevolent and patriotic German who believes that the (believe it or not, Amazon censored this word) are a passing fad. Kudos especially to Jose Ferrer for his brilliantly obnoxious role as the anti-Jew who's not an anti-Semite - he loves the Arabs. Sweet stuff. Indeed, all of the characters have something so contribute, to the point that the opulence of the movie is nearly overwhelming.

Yes, Kramer had a tendency to overdo everything he touched. Nonetheless, I strongly feel that this movie is not as dated as some people seem to feel. It is a candid snapshot of a cultural mileau that reflects not only a specific period of time, but the human condition in general. Soapy, ironic, moving, and pointed at times, there are lessons for all of us.

' folly to be wise ......'
STILL memorable after almost 40 years, and richly nominated, this slightly butchered version of the original lavish wide-screen masterpiece is still fairly effective. ESPECIALLY Vivien Leigh - possibly condensing the essence of her tumultuous life in this vignette - the Charleston sequence leading up to her 'mirror-monologue' is s stunning piece of work! AS is the romance between Simone Signoret and the lamented Oskar Werner [they broke the mould here ~ just revisit that death scene and the grand economy].

IN ANY CASE - there's so much more to this little tale of misplaced strangers circa 1930ish on their way back to the fatherland [Germany] before 'you know who' really plunged it all into the toilet!

Costume design, cinematography, score [just WHERE is that album?], direction - all superior ~ cannot be duplicated today!

AND where is the original wide-screen version - with that great title sequence - slightly lost on us with this version?
Would great to have the choices....an interview or two perhaps .. and the ORIGINAL Theatrical Trailer??

Oh yes - the title? Refers to an old habit of removing the mentally impaired from dry-land and confining them shipboard - then there's also the Hieronymus Bosch painting .......

AN INSULT!!!!!!
Pity! A BLATANT insult to the Memory of this milestone mid-sixties production ....

SHAME! Rethink, remaster and re-issue the original MASTERPIECE.

Blatant sabotage of this work. ... Read more

Reviews (212)

Comedy For All Eternity
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a comedy for all eternity. This is one of those big box, big budget, long-running-time, cameo-loaded, expensive, broad-canvas farces of the 60's that I love so much. Released in 1962, this was one of Stanley Kramer's greatest and last movies. This award-winning movie is a timeless masterpiece for the whole family.

After a bouncy, splashy Saul Bass animated title sequence, the story begins with a brief car chase in the California desert. Bank robber Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) wrecks his car, and with his dying words reveals a secret about buried treasure to the seven strangers who stopped on the roadside. 'Look for the big W' in Santa Rosita, he says, and then he kicks the bucket.

After a brief attempt at cooperation, the treasure hunt is on and it's every man for himself, in four teams. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett decide to take to the air but their pilot, Jim Backus, gets hammered on Old Fashioneds. Husband-and-wife Sid Caesar and Edie Adams can only find a biplane cropduster. The lone truck driver, Jonathan Winters, can't get gas. And his mother-in-law Ethel Merman fatally hampers Milton Berle, with his wife Dorothy Provine.

So all four teams scamper across the landscape, across the broad canvas of this movie, wound tight by desperate greed and calmly monitored by a Sergeant Culpepper, Spencer Tracy. This is the framing story for an amazing string of billed appearances and unbilled cameos so many that at last your senses are sort of dulled. Oh, it's Carl Reiner in the control tower. Oh, look, it's Stan Freberg, yeah. The best cameo, hands down, is Jerry Lewis, who comes barreling down Long Beach Boulevard in a moment of exuberant stupidity and runs over Spencer Tracy's hat.

Probably my favorite, I have so many, co-star was Terry Thomas who plays a vacationing Englishman in a rattling station wagon, who picks up Milton Berle. He's talkative. He prattles away (accurately) about why it is that the American male is positively preoccupied with booo-sums, and says things like, "I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!" This sequence, within the context of the movie so far, has a single funny moment when this whole vast farce might come alive, find its voice, and this circus might make sense - Terry-Thomas finds the tone for the rest of the movie. I find it compelling that the aesthetic success of all this footage, all these appearances, all this thoroughly American spectacle, suddenly pivots around a few fussy syllables about breasts. But once the moment passes, Terry-Thomas is efficiently neutralized and dismissed by Ethel Merman, and on we go.

The array of challengers eventually reach Santa Rosita, and several unexplainably humorous events occur. These I will not reveal to you and allow you to view the movie on your own time. I must add though, that if you do see this movie, reserve several hours. Like most from its decade its LONG... VERY LONG... But allow me to assure you, you wont be disappointed.

Madness is Genius
Eight traveling vacationers witness the sudden car-crash and slow final death of con-man Smiler Grogan in the hills above Palm Desert, Cal.. Grogan's dying words reveal the secret location of $350,000 hidden in Santa Rosita Park, near San Diego. This sparks a wild, hectic race for the dough. Pure greed,buried treasure, and car crashes. It's all here. "It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World" was the most successful movie directed by ace Stanley Kramer. All of the famous television and film comics from 1963 appear in this wild comedy. Only Bob Hope is missing. The cast includes Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, and Spencer Tracy. Ernest Gold composed an original booming, wonderful soundtrack you'll be humming for days. At two hours and 41 minutes, "Mad World" is too long, but an incredible cast and mad-cap action propel the story along. This new MGM DVD is presented in widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect. The colors are crisp and vibrant. The "Mad World" DVD includes an excellent 1991 documentary with all the major surviving cast members. There's also 1 hour of "out-takes", faded and damaged, from the original Cinerama 70mm release. And there's two trailers. The year 2001 produced an obvious remake of "Mad World" called "Rat Race", a modest hit. Stanley Kramer and Spencer Tracy made 4 classic films together. The last was the inspiring "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967. In ill health, sadly, Tracy died just days after shooting ended. Stanley Kramer himself died in Feb. 2001. His genius is now gone. His legacy lies before you.

It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad DVD
I would give this DVD 5 stars if all the movie was here, but it isn't, hence 3 stars. There's no excuse for this considering that no major restoration has been attempted here, the storage capabilities of DVDs are huge, and MGM has already released the full-length movie on VHS. The deleted scene feature is a mess. Watching the scenes seperately is tedious and not much fun. The least they could do would be to put the deleted scenes in the order that they appeared in the original film. The third and fourth scenes appear to be exactly the same as do others later on. Sometimes the scene appears the same only zoomed in. Others scenes have no sound. Some of the last scenes go on and on up to 10 minutes and contains everything that is included in the feature except for very minor snippets of dialogue. Sometimes you can't detect anything new, like in the money dividing proposal scene.

I can see why MGM would want to keep their pristine 35mm print whole and transfer that to DVD but perhaps they should have included a 2nd disc and a 2nd version that patched together all the missing scenes, no matter what condition, and reconstructed the film as best as they could to the longest originally released version.

MGM, when you finally "Special Edition" this movie offer a rebate with the proof of purchase from this inferior edition!

Best, Most Memorable Comedy Ever Made !!
I originally saw the movie in '63. I was 8. Dad started my Birthday party with it. After the movie, Dad drove the route of the Santa Monica portion of the car chase(yes, there really was a "Big W").
Just finished watching the movie on Turner TV. The narrator came on after the movie and said that THE ORIGINAL WAS 5 HOURS long(Just too much "good stuff"). The movie studio had it edited to the shortened current version of three hours.
Back in '63 it was a terrific movie-In '04 it is still a terrific movie.

An all star cast of comics, great comedy

Director: Stanley Kramer
Format: Color
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: September 26, 1995

Cast:

Spencer Tracy ... Capt. T.G. Culpeper
Milton Berle ... J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar ... Melville Crump, DDS
Buddy Hackett ... Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman ... Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney ... Ding 'Dingy' Bell
Dick Shawn ... Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers ... Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas ... Lt.Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters ... Lennie Pike
Edie Adams ... Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine ... Emeline Marcus-Finch
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Second cab driver
Jim Backus ... Tyler Fitzgerald
Ben Blue ... Biplane pilot
Joe E. Brown ... Union official
Alan Carney ... Police sergeant
Chick Chandler ... Detective outside Chinese laundromat
Barrie Chase ... Sylvester's girlfriend
Lloyd Corrigan ... The Mayor
William Demarest ... Police Chief Aloysius
Andy Devine ... Sheriff of Crockett County
Selma Diamond ... Ginger Culpeper
Peter Falk ... Third cab driver
Norman Fell ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Paul Ford ... Col. Wilberforce
Stan Freberg ... Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn ... Billie Sue Culpeper
Leo Gorcey ... First cab driver
Sterling Holloway ... Fire Chief
Edward Everett Horton ... Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan ... Irwin
Buster Keaton ... Jimmy the boatman
Don Knotts ... Nervous man
Charles Lane ... Airport manager
Mike Mazurki ... Miner
Charles McGraw ... Lt. Matthews
Cliff Norton ... Reporter
Zasu Pitts ... Switchboard operator Gertie
Carl Reiner ... Tower controller at Rancho Conejo
Madlyn Rhue ... Secretary Schwartz
Roy Roberts ... Policeman outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
Arnold Stang ... Ray
Nick Stewart ... Migrant truck driver
Joe DeRita ... Fireman
Larry Fine ... Fireman
Moe Howard ... Fireman
Sammee Tong ... Chinese laundryman
Jesse White ... Radio tower operator at Rancho Conejo
Jimmy Durante ... Smiler Grogan
Roy Engel ... Patrolman/Police radio voice unit F-14
Nicholas Georgiade ... Detective at Grogan's crash site
Stacy Harris ... Police radio voice unit F-7
Don C. Harvey ... Policeman in helicopter
Allen Jenkins ... Police officer
Tom Kennedy ... Traffic cop
Harry Lauter ... Police dispatcher
Ben Lessy ... George the steward
Jerry Lewis ... Man who runs over hat
Bob Mazurki ... Eddie (miner's son)
Jack Benny ... Man in car in desert
Eddie Ryder ... Air traffic control tower staffer
Paul Birch ... Policeman
Doodles Weaver ... Dinckler's Hardware Store clerk
Stanley Clements ... Detective in squad room
Bobo Lewis ... Pilot's wife
Minta Durfee ... Bit Part

Intended to be the comedy to end all comedies, with a cast including virtually all the name comedians at the time.

Jimmy Durante plays a guy who is in a fatal auto accident, but before he dies, tells 5 bystanders where there is $350,000 hidden under a "W", whuch leads to a chase to find the money.

Meanwhile, Capt. T.G. Culpeper (Spencer Tracy) is aware of the stolen money and he and his policemen observe the chase with interest through the desert, mountains, and along the California coast, with the contestants using aircraft, cars, trucks, a bicycle and every method of transportation in their attempt to be first to reach the money.

Tracy was ill when the film was shot, and so only worked four hours per day. The long shots and physical stuff was performed by stand-ins.

This is a fun movie. If there is a criticism, it is that the comedy is perhaps overdone. With so many top comedians, there is certainly no dearth of funny lines, pratfalls, and laughs--that's for sure.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

... Read more