It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Dir: Stanley Kramer

1963

*****

Stanley Kramer's 1963 film was the first to truly pair comedy with what is known as the epic. I absolutely adore it, it's one of the films that made me into the cinephile I am today and it is without a doubt in my top ten favourite films of all time, maybe even in the top five! I must have watched it over a hundred times, I never get tired of it and I can remember every line, every facial expression and every single detail and I probably quote it on a daily basis. The collective cast is ridiculously good. It includes Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Terry-Thomas, Phil Silvers, Spencer Tracy, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Dick Shawn, Don Knotts, Jim Backus, Barrie Chase, William Demarest, Paul Ford, Jack Benny, Ben Blue, Marvin Kaplan, Carl Reiner, Arnold Stang, Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges, to name but a few. That is probably the greatest cast ever put together. To think it nearly had Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Stan Laurel (who declined, stating that he would never perform again following the death of his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 1957), Red Skelton (he asked for too much money), Lucille Ball, Martha Raye, Joan Davis, Imogene Coca and Jack Benny in it too is amazing, though as much as I love them, I'm glad that Terry-Thomas replaced Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis replaced Jack Paar and Marvin Kaplan got the role over Jackie Mason. It tells the story of a group of unconnected characters who are all driving through Highway 74 close to Palm Springs one sunny morning. Suddenly, each car is overtaken by a speeding black Ford Fairlane that is being chased by a police car, it loses control and crashes through the roadside barrier, and lands down a steep hill in spectacular fashion. The drivers, Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters), Dingy Bell (Mickey Rooney), his passenger Benjy Benjamin and J. Russell Finch (Milton Berle) all stop and head down the hill to see if they can help. They find that the driver has survived after being thrown from the wreck. The driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), tells the men on his death bed that he's a criminal, on the run and that there is $350,000 of stolen money buried in Santa Rosita State Park near the Mexican border under a "Big W". He dies before the police arrive and the men go about their business without mentioning it to the officers. Later down the road the men stop and discuss a plan of action but bickering between them, Crump's wife Monica (Edie Adams), Finch's wife Emmeline (Dorothy Provine) and his mother in law Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman) soon turns the situation into a free-for-all and the group clamber over each other to try and get to the money, which is over two-hundred miles away. The group separate and each acquires the assistance of third parties, all who are promised a share of the treasure. The group steal cars, crash cars and even sink cars, they fly airplanes, destroy garages and even get themselves locked in hardware stores, all under the watchful eye of Captain T. G. Culpeper (Spencer Tracy) who has been on the Smiler Grogan case for many years, waiting to take the money for himself. It's full of mad-cap adventure and manic comedy, the actors all received two scripts each, one for the dialogue and one for physical comedy. The most common release is 160 minutes long after Stanley Kramer's original cut was edited from 210, to 192 for the premiere and much of the footage was lost. A recent restoration has saved much of the original film and it now lasts 197 minutes, just 13 minutes shy of what was intended. There are many different versions out there, some better than others and some almost unwatchable. It claimed it was the first film to be shot using 'One-projector' Cinerama but it wasn't quite the case, although how it was shot led to issues when transferring it to different formats. It could be said that such an epic way of filming was unnecessary for a comedy film but I would disagree, considering the scope of action and the amazing backdrops the film had. The legendary William Rose wrote the screenplay and pitched it to Kramer in 1960. The original idea was set in Scotland but was quickly moved to America. 'So Many Thieves', 'Something a Little Less Serious', 'Where, but in America?', 'One Damn Thing After Another' and simply 'Mad World' were all considered as titles before Rose and Kramer added additional Mads as the project progressed. Kramer considered adding a fifth Mad in the title but thought it would be redundant so didn't, something he said he later regretted. The title sequence is the work of the great Saul Bass and the best example of his work I would argue and the brilliant soundtrack is one of Ernest Gold's most beautiful, I hear it all the time. The money it cost to make makes the $350,000 treasure in the film look like small change but it certainly made it back and then some. It was a huge success and has gain a massive global following, influencing everything from movies, TV and music. The stunts are insane, it is amazing to think that many of the actors performed them themselves but you can see quite clearly on screen when they got hurt. Everyone plays their part and each actor, main or cameo, is amazing. I adore everything about it and I would say that it has the best ending to a film ever in the history of cinema. A truly golden comedy.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Dir: Stanley Kramer

1967

*****

Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a masterpiece and I don't use the term lightly. It was a huge first in the history of cinema. The first mainstream film to tackle the huge taboo of interracial relationships and the first film on the subject to be universally excepted by the majority of viewers. It is amazing to think that interracial relationships (marriage and sexual), were still illegal in many states in America while the movie was being filmed. Interracial relationships were only legalised across the country two weeks after filming and six months before the film was released. It's an intelligent and beautifully crafted film, dealing with a subject that would have the majority of the country examining their own prejudices and in some cases, ignorance. Who better to tell the story than two of the biggest, dependable and respected names in Hollywood. Stanley Kramer really needed the weight that only Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn could bring to the film and this was understood through friendship and mutual respect and because the story needed to be told. In many respects, casting Tracy and Hepburn was the easy bit, although Kramer had worked with Sidney Poitier before he had a tough time convincing others that he was the man for the job. He certainly proved himself right, although Poitier would often get so star struck by Tracy and Hepburn, who he saw as giants, that he would do a lot of his own scenes alone with Kramer once everyone else had left. Tracy and Hepburn were both nominated for Oscars for their brilliant performances, Poitier was not and although he was good, I think that's probably fair. The whole cast are good, Cecil Kellaway is great light-relief and an interesting voice of reason to a faithless family as Monsignor Mike Ryan and Isabel Sanford is wonderful as the family's black maid, against the relationship, tackling a out dated way of thinking from a totally different angle. Katharine Houghton was perfect for the role in her acting debut, she got the job after her aunt, Hepburn, suggested her to Kramer. I've always thought that Roy E. Glenn deserves a lot of respect for being somewhat of a stooges in one of the cinema's greatest films but nominations aside, it is the beautiful Beah Richards, who plays Poitiers gentle mother, who I believe really steals the show. It's not just the performances that make it a classic though, it's the way Kramer handles stereotypes and often turns them around that make the film so great. This is down to the wonderful creative talent of one of my personal favorite screen writers, William Rose. Unfortunately, Spencer Tracy, who died just two weeks after the films completion. Tracy would never see the film and Hepburn later admitted that she had never and would never watch it as she knew it would be too much for her to bare, it being the last of nine films the secret lovers would collaborate on. It's one hell of a swansong though and easily one of his best performances, especially considering how gravely ill he was during the filming. Comedy and drama don't always go hand in hand but when they work, they really work and this is probably the best example of that. Like I said, a true masterpiece.