IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963) ** Monument to comedic indulgence. There are a lot of reasons that this film clocks in at three hours, and a better one that similar films typically take half as long. Chase scenes, gratuitous violence, routine stupidity, and physical humour have their limitations. On the other hand there are some very funny moments (Jerry Lewis' fifteen second cameo wins), and it's not at all a movie that you can stay mad at. It's strange that a film engaging approximately twenty easily recognizable stars, involving dishonesty and transportation difficulties of every manner, and debating issues along the magnitude of the relative merits of American and British culture, would leave you with so little to think about, but...the problem may be that the viewer is left exhausted, or at least finished with it all. Among the principals, Ethel Merman probably takes the gold medal for comedic fortitude, with Phil Silvers edging Jonathan Winters, Dick Shawn, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Terry-Thomas, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar in that order. Spencer Tracy would stand victoriously and alone in the pathos of the crooked straight man competition. Among notables in the cameo competition, Jimmy Durante, Don Knotts, Norman Fell, and Peter Falk stand out. Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, and Carl Reiner are also in there somewhere. It's like the real thing those Hollywood parties try to be: things keep happening, it goes on forever, some of it is fairly clever, and if you blink you'll miss a gaggle of famous people.
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