|
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s installment of A Movie A Day.
[For those now joining us, A Movie A Day is my attempt at filling in gaps in my film knowledge. My DVD collection is thousands strong, many of them films I haven’t seen yet, but picked up as I scoured used DVD stores. Each day I’ll pull a previously unseen film from my collection or from my DVR and discuss it here. Each movie will have some sort of connection to the one before it, be it cast or crew member.]
So here’s my challenge. I spent 2 hours and 41 minutes watching this film after having woken up at nearly 11pm (I’m on a fucked up sleep schedule right now if you couldn’t tell) and now I have to get my review written up in as timely a manner as I can so Thursday’s AMAD doesn’t post well into Friday morning.
And I have a whole lot I want to discuss with this movie. So here’s hoping the below comes out reading somewhat rational and not the early morning rushed ramblings of a guy trying to say a whole lot as fast as he can.
Where the hell do you start with this movie?
The plot is incredibly simple though the situations and slapstick gets incredibly complex. A dying man tells a group of 5 strangers he buried $350,000 in a park 200 miles from them and the other 2 hours and 20 minutes of the film is the mad-cap dash to this park, every man (and woman) for himself (or herself) and more and more joining in the rush before the end.
Spencer Tracy plays Capt. Culpepper, who has been trying to track down this money for 15 years and finally knows all he has to do is sit back and watch these fools as they race across California and they will lead him to the money.
Jimmy Durante kicks all this off, starting the movie weaving across a twisty highway, passing cars at dangerous speeds. He flies off the road (or “sails” as Sid Caeser keeps saying) in a spectacular crash of metal, glass and rubber. Five people run down to see if he’s okay.
These people are Sid Caeser (who we follow over from yesterday’s misfire William Castle comedy THE BUSY BODY), Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett, leaving wives and mothers-in-law up with the cars.
Durante tells them all that there’s $350,000 buried under a giant W in Santa Rosita Park, 200 miles away before he kicks the bucket… both literally and metaphorically speaking.
These five, average, nice people keep this information from the cops and start to drive away, but they notice no one is letting the others out of sight. Of course the wives are told, including Edie Adams and the gorgeous Dorothy Provine as well as one of the highlights of the movie, the bitchy, harping mother-in-law, Mrs. Marcus, played by Ethel Merman.
They pull over and decide to try to talk it out, but no matter how many ways they figure it someone feels short changed… should only the 5 people who heard it get a share? Or everybody, including the wives and mother-in-law? Jonathan Winter is always fucked over because he was traveling alone, so his share is less than everybody else’s…
Slowly the realize it’s every man for himself and half an hour into the movie it becomes a crazy chase movie as everybody is doing whatever they can for an edge on the others… which, naturally, resorts in everybody getting fucked over, usually multiple times, over the course of the movie.
Lots of cars wrecked, lots of rides thumbed (which brings in more and more characters hunting for this buried treasure as people like Terry-Thomas, Phil Silvers, Dick Shawn, Jim Backus, Peter Falk and Don Knotts pop in and out of the chase), some planes hired, cars stolen, gas stations demolished, cars drowned, small children’s bicycles ridden and hardware stores blown up.
I loved everybody in this movie, but I have to highlight a few individuals.
I thought I was a Jonathan Winters fan before I saw this movie and then I realized I had no real idea just how fucking awesome he is. It was about the time he was hulking out in the gas station, tearing it apart beam by beam, punching through walls, trying to kill a pair of bumbling mechanics who unwittingly helped fuck Winters over that I really fell in love with this movie.
It’s a ri-goddamn-diculous scene, but I love random, over-the-top humor so much and seeing Winters go nuts really did just put me over the top with this movie.
As much as I love Winters he might have to fight with the corpse of Buddy Hackett for my affections. I love Buddy Hackett’s schtick. I’m sure it annoys the piss out of some people, but not me. His voice, his attitude, his wonky eye… just all works for me.
Buddy is perfectly teamed in this movie with Mickey Rooney, another big personality and one that I have a lot of nostalgia for. I’ve seen precious little of his early work with Judy Garland, but I grew up with ‘70s and ‘80s stuff, with a particular love for PETE’S DRAGON where he plays a drunk lighthouse keeper. In fact, Jim Backus, who plays the mayor of Passamaquoddy in Pete’s Dragon, plays a boozer friend of Rooney’s in this movie.
Backus can’t stop drinking even when he’s supposed to be flying a jet, leaving Buddy at the controls in one of my favorite segments in the flick.
Everybody is great in this movie, especially the leads. Terry-Thomas is hilarious as a proper British flower collector who picks up Milton Berle, his wife (Provine) and mother-in-law Ethel Merman early in the flick and becomes one of the main people chasing down the money. He has a great fight with Berle over which country is better, America or Britain, that had me laughing out loud… especially Thomas’ assertion that America is obsessed with bosoms and if women ever stopped wearing bras then the American economy would fail.
There are cameo appearances by everybody from Buster Keaton to the The Three Stooges to Jerry Lewis (perhaps my favorite cameo, where he goes out of his way to drive over Spencer Tracy’s hat) to Jack Benny (my second favorite cameo as he stops to offer help and is verbally assaulted by Ethel Merman… and his face just drops)… pretty much anybody who was funny between 1900 and 1963 that was still alive and willing to work is in this movie.
The filmmaking is top notch as well as the comedy in front of the camera. Shot in animorphic widescreen and in beautiful Technicolor, this flick really does feel epic. Do I think it needs to be 2 hours and 41 minutes? No, not really. There was probably half an hour that could have been cut from the movie and it wouldn’t have been too tragic, but there is something to the brisk, but assured pace that doesn’t falter that really does give this film its unique identity.
In fact, one piece of trivia about this flick is that it was the first film to premiere at the Cineramadome in Los Angeles. Pretty sweet, huh?
Final Thoughts: Director Stanley Kramer had a Herculean task here, juggling some of entertainment’s funniest personalities without short-changing anybody and he does a spectacular job, aided by a great and fun script by William and Tania Rose. From the opening credits, designed by the great Saul Bass, to the closing scene I was invested and laughing along, some 45 years after this film was initially released. If you haven’t yet given it a watch, do yourself a favor and set aside some time over the holidays and give it a spin.
Here’s what we have lined up for the next week:
Friday, November 7th: LIBELED LADY (1936)
Saturday, November 8th: UP THE RIVER (1930)
Sunday, November 9th: DOCTOR BULL (1933)
Monday, November 10th: JUDGE PRIEST (1930)
Tuesday, November 11th: TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1965)
Wednesday, November 12th: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974)
Thursday, November 13th: DANIEL (1983)
There, I did it! And I have enough time to get some ducks in a row before I go out and buy GEARS OF WAR 2 and lose myself in it for the rest of the day… I know I should be doing more work instead, but… Wait… I’m just doing some research for the Holiday Gift Guide! That’s it! I am working! I swear! (PS If you haven’t already, send me in some suggestions on what you’re looking forward to this year… stuff you’d like to see make an appearance in the Holiday Gift Guide! I’ve gotten some great suggestions so far… I think it’s going to be a great one this year, but there’s always room for more!)
Next time we jump back to 1936’s LIBELED LADY, following Spencer Tracy. See you folks then!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Previous Movies:
June 2nd: Harper
June 3rd: The Drowning Pool
June 4th: Papillon
June 5th: Gun Crazy
June 6th: Never So Few
June 7th: A Hole In The Head
June 8th: Some Came Running
June 9th: Rio Bravo
June 10th: Point Blank
June 11th: Pocket Money
June 12th: Cool Hand Luke
June 13th: The Asphalt Jungle
June 14th: Clash By Night
June 15th: Scarlet Street
June 16th: Killer Bait (aka Too Late For Tears)
June 17th: Robinson Crusoe On Mars
June 18th: City For Conquest
June 19th: San Quentin
June 20th: 42nd Street
June 21st: Dames
June 22nd: Gold Diggers of 1935
June 23rd: Murder, My Sweet
June 24th: Born To Kill
June 25th: The Sound of Music
June 26th: Torn Curtain
June 27th: The Left Handed Gun
June 28th: Caligula
June 29th: The Elephant Man
June 30th: The Good Father
July 1st: Shock Treatment
July 2nd: Flashback
July 3rd: Klute
July 4th: On Golden Pond
July 5th: The Cowboys
July 6th: The Alamo
July 7th: Sands of Iwo Jima
July 8th: Wake of the Red Witch
July 9th: D.O.A.
July 10th: Shadow of A Doubt
July 11th: The Matchmaker
July 12th: The Black Hole
July 13th: Vengeance Is Mine
July 14th: Strange Invaders
July 15th: Sleuth
July 16th: Frenzy
July 17th: Kingdom of Heaven: The Director’s Cut
July 18th: Cadillac Man
July 19th: The Sure Thing
July 20th: Moving Violations
July 21st: Meatballs
July 22nd: Cast a Giant Shadow
July 23rd: Out of the Past
July 24th: The Big Steal
July 25th: Where Danger Lives
July 26th: Crossfire
July 27th: Ricco, The Mean Machine
July 28th: In Harm’s Way
July 29th: Firecreek
July 30th: The Cheyenne Social Club
July 31st: The Man Who Knew Too Much
August 1st: The Spirit of St. Louis
August 2nd: Von Ryan’s Express
August 3rd: Can-Can
August 4th: Desperate Characters
August 5th: The Possession of Joel Delaney
August 6th: Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx
August 7th: Start the Revolution Without Me
August 8th: Hell Is A City
August 9th: The Pied Piper
August 10th: Partners
August 11th: Barry Lyndon
August 12th: The Skull
August 13th: The Hellfire Club
August 14th: Blood of the Vampire
August 15th: Terror of the Tongs
August 16th: Pirates of Blood River
August 17th: The Devil-Ship Pirates
August 18th: Jess Franco’s Count Dracula
August 19th: Dracula A.D. 1972
August 20th: The Stranglers of Bombay
August 21st: Man, Woman & Child
August 22nd: The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
August 23rd: The Young Philadelphians
August 24th: The Rack
August 25th: Until They Sail
August 26th: Somebody Up There Likes Me
August 27th: The Set-Up
August 28th: The Devil & Daniel Webster
August 29th: Cat People
August 30th: The Curse of the Cat People
August 31st: The 7th Victim
September 1st: The Ghost Ship
September 2nd: Isle of the Dead
September 3rd: Bedlam
September 4th: Black Sabbath
September 5th: Black Sunday
September 6th: Twitch of the Death Nerve
September 7th: Tragic Ceremony
September 8th: Lisa & The Devil
September 9th: Baron Blood
September 10th: A Shot In The Dark
September 11th: The Pink Panther
September 12th: The Return of the Pink Panther
September 13th: The Pink Panther Strikes Again
September 14th: Revenge of the Pink Panther
September 15th: Trail of the Pink Panther
September 16th: The Real Glory
September 17th: The Winning of Barbara Worth
September 18th: The Cowboy and the Lady
September 19th: Dakota
September 20th: Red River
September 21st: Terminal Station
September 22nd: The Search
September 23rd: Act of Violence
September 24th: Houdini
September 25th: Money From Home
September 26th: Papa’s Delicate Condition
September 27th: Dillinger
September 28th: Battle of the Bulge
September 29th: Daisy Kenyon
September 30th: Laura
October 1st: The Dunwich Horror
October 2nd: Experiment In Terror
October 3rd: The Devil’s Rain
October 4th: Race With The Devil
October 5th: Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom
October 6th: Bad Dreams
October 7th: The House Where Evil Dwells
October 8th: Memories of Murder
October 9th: The Hunger
October 10th: I Saw What You Did
October 11th: I Spit On Your Grave
October 12th: Naked You Die
October 13th: The Wraith
October 14th: Silent Night, Bloody Night
October 15th: I Bury The Living
October 16th: The Beast Must Die
October 17th: Hellgate
October 18th: He Knows You’re Alone
October 19th: The Thing From Another World
October 20th: The Fall of the House of Usher
October 21st: Audrey Rose
October 22nd: Who Slew Auntie Roo?
October 23rd: Wait Until Dark
October 24th: Dead & Buried
October 25th: A Bucket of Blood
October 26th: The Bloodstained Shadow
October 27th: I, Madman
October 28th: Return to Horror High
October 29th: Die, Monster, Die
October 30th: Epidemic
October 31st: Student Bodies
November 1st: Black Widow
November 2nd: The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
November 3rd: Flying Tigers
November 4th: Executive Action
November 5th: The Busy Body
| 
