Actors: Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid
Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas,
Jonathan Winters.
Rating: 9 out of 10, That rarest of
all commodities – an epic comedy film. This boasts literally all of the comedy
stars from the early 1960s and holds up very well despite the intervening years.
It’s also a cameo-a-palooza with virtually every bit part featuring a
celebrity, ranging from Jack Benny to Jerry Lewis. I can remember my parents laughing
uncontrollably at this when it first came out and it’s still a very funny
movie. A group of motorists witness a car crash in the California mountains and
the dying driver (Jimmy Durante) sets them off on a wild chase across California
to find some buried loot. Waiting for them is none other than Spencer Tracy
himself. Ethel Merman shouts her way through the movie as the mother in law
from hell with no redeeming value whatsoever. She may have been the single most
important reason the number of marriages declined in the 1960s. A great ride
along with these lovable idiots and I had forgotten what a smoke show Edie
Adams was.
MVP: Jonathan Winters as Lennie, the moving
truck driver
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