Curator Watchlist
A sprawling, old-school comedy spectacle that trades tight joke-writing for sheer scale, stunt work, and manic ensemble energy. It’s uneven and very long, but the big set pieces and parade of comic personalities make it a landmark if you enjoy oversized road-movie chaos.
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 3h 12m
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
Stanley Kramer
Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar
A sprawling, old-school comedy spectacle that trades tight joke-writing for sheer scale, stunt work, and manic ensemble energy. It’s uneven and very long, but the big set pieces and parade of comic personalities make it a landmark if you enjoy oversized road-movie chaos.
It’s a giant comic traffic jam: a treasure hunt that keeps multiplying characters, vehicles, and disasters until the whole movie feels like it’s careening downhill. The pleasure is less in elegant plotting than in accumulation—one absurd encounter after another, with the scale of the production becoming part of the joke.
The film is famously bloated, and that criticism is fair. Some stretches drag, and the humor can feel very broad by modern standards. But when it clicks, it clicks hard: the physical comedy, the destruction, and the sheer commitment to escalation give it a kind of manic grandeur that few comedies attempt anymore.
What makes it endure is the sense of event cinema. This is a comedy built to be watched big, with a crowd, and with enough star power and stunt choreography to turn nonsense into spectacle. If you’re in the mood for a classic studio-era madhouse, it’s still a blast.
Carlos Valladares (4★) · 1417 likes
I had one of the most exciting encounters at a movie theater EVER yesterday, so bear with me. Yesterday, I re-watched It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Bland-ley Kramer, 1963) in glorious 70mm at LACMA! It's gotten a lot of hate around these parts for being cataclysmically unfunny. And while I can see why people would think so (Kramer has an awful eye for comedic direction, and the sheer pomposity of his statement that he would make "the comedy… more
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 1181 likes
Holy shit dude lmfao
demi adejuyigbe (4.5★) · 806 likes
gas station scene and the ending are some of the best, most insane, aspirational set pieces i've ever seen. what a blast. jonathan winters mvp
Karsten (3.5★) · 663 likes
some advice for those who don’t enjoy this: LIGHTEN UP
demi adejuyigbe (5★) · 587 likes
Watched this movie just two months ago and jumped at the chance to watch the 192 min version in 70mm at the Egyptian tonight. What a stunner. Beautiful, dangerous, madcap silliness, packed with cameos I only somewhat understand. Genuinely loved how much the older crowd lost their minds every time a new white guy showed up, like a million back-to-back Glup Shitto moments at a Star Wars fan event. I can't express how giddy it makes me to watch Phil
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A later all-star race comedy that channels the same freewheeling, crowd-pleasing chaos and road-trip energy.
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Another broad, high-energy farce that thrives on frantic pacing and comic excess.
A period ensemble comedy built on competition, contraptions, and large-scale physical humor.
A large-cast comedy of confusion and escalation that turns panic into farce.
A lighthearted caper with ensemble charm, comic momentum, and playful pursuit mechanics.
A broad, gag-driven chase comedy with a similar taste for absurd escalation and set-piece construction.
A pure chaos comedy that leans on physical mishaps, social collapse, and escalating disaster.
ensemble chaos, treasure hunt, road movie, slapstick, greed, escalation, spectacle, mid-century America
ensemble comedy, road movie, slapstick, chaotic chase, practical stunts, 1960s, broad humor, all-star cast, treasure hunt, spectacle