CATCH A CLASSIC
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World TCM, 4:15 p.m.
Comedy films aren’t often produced on a grand and epic scale, nor are they often nominated for Oscars, but once in a while there are exceptions to one or both of these cases. Such an exception is this hilarious 1963 classic from director Stanley Kramer that was one of the first — and is still one of the greatest — epic comedy productions. Nominated for six Academy Awards (winning one for its sound effects), the sprawling film boasts a roughly twohour, 40-minute runtime as it chronicles a wild road trip among various memorable characters racing to be the first to find the location of a stolen fortune divulged by a mysterious stranger they have each come upon while driving along a desert highway. Spencer Tracy heads the unforgettable cast that includes featured roles for some of Hollywood’s greatest comedians and comic actors — Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney,
Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas and Jonathan Winters among them. The film also includes cameo appearances (some uncredited) from nearly every other legendary joker in the business, including Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny and the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and “Curly” Joe DeRita, who get one of the movie’s biggest laughs without even saying a word in a very brief appearance). A comedy this big and star-studded had not previously been seen, and we’re unlikely to experience anything like it again, so enjoy. —