All-star Comedy Adventures
TCM, beginning at 8 p.m.
The 1960s were a heyday for epic comedy productions in Hollywood, often featuring all-star casts in a lengthy (usually well over two-hour-long) story set across various parts of the country, or even the world. Three of the most well known and beloved of those titles are airing in a triple feature tonight on Turner Classic Movies. Up first is Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), which is set during the very early days of aviation and follows a variety of international competitors vying in an air race across the English Channel. Among the film’s very large cast are Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Gert Fröbe, Red Skelton and Benny Hill. Next, director Stanley Kramer’s sprawling comic adventure It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) 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). Finally, director Blake Edwards’ The Great Race (1965) comedically depicts another early 20th century race, this one on the ground as two rival daredevils, the Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris. Natalie Wood, Peter Falk and Keenan Wynn also lead the cast.