There are reasons to believe that when
the studio cut Stanley Kramer's Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), down from 210 minutes to 154 minutes that much more was
lost than miscellaneous sub-plots. We are told that the studio
took the film away from Kramer because of its length and the effect
that would have on potential boxoffice. But others believe that
something much more evil was behind the studio's actions, that the
studio was upset by the director's dark vision of the greed of the
average American, and conspired to take the film away and transform
it into the shallow, madcap comedy that was released.
Consider the greater body of Stanley
Kramer's work as a director. These are some of the most serious and
acclaimed films of the 1960s including such films as On the Beach
(1959), one of the best films about the dire consequences of
nuclear war, amd Guess Who is Coming to Dinner (1967), an
important film about racial integration in 1960s America. Add to
that Ship of Fools (1965), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and
, Inherit the Wind (1960) and
ask yourself, are these the films of a director of
madcap comedies filled with pointless car chases?
The rage of a frustrated common man?
Degrading sex and drug lifestyle?
Perhaps the "W" stands for Weltanschauung ?
The main story line calls out for a
serious interpretation. The plot is one of greed getting
the better of groups of average Americans who become aware of a
hidden cache of stolen money buried in a little California town
several hundreds of miles away. Their behavior quickly devolves from
one of cooperation to one of vicious and deadly competition, shedding
values like old clothes, and acting reprehensibly towards each other
as they gallop after the money.
The story gets darker as the Spencer
Tracy character who plays a policeman on the Santa Rosita police
force is told to his face that he will not receive a pension on
retirement because everyone on the force hates his integrity and
stern enforcement of the law. Driven to desperation, he chooses to
abandon his values as well, wait for the others to find the money,
then come in and posing as an active duty policeman, take the money
and run for Mexico. Surely this is as tragic a fall from grace as
we can find in all of the American cinema?
The dark irony of this misunderstood
film is only made more powerful by the brilliant choice of lead
actors, an ensemble cast of the country's most noted comedic actors
here at last given a chance to show their serious side in a powerful
parable about greed. Could there be a better choice of ensemble
cast than Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Buddy Hacket,
Ethyl Merman, Dick Shawn, Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Jim Backus and
Edie Adams, all well-known comedians in what may have been their
first and certainly most serious dramatic role?
If we could see the footage that was
left on the cutting room floor, the missing 18 minutes that would
extend the film from the restored 192 minutes to its full 210
minutes, what would we find? Would we find impassioned soliloguies
from a degraded and unrepentant Phil Silvers? Perhaps a secret and
unhealthy S&M relationship involving Dick Shawn and his mother
Ethyl Merman? Was this Jonathan Winter's great opportunity to
demonstrate his worth as an actor of tragedy? Perhaps Edie Adams'
portrayal of a sex-addicted love slave of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar,
Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney would have been the apex of her
career and led to an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting
Actress. We may never know.
And how ironic if these hypothetical
masterpieces of the cinematic art were sacrificed to the greed of the
shallow studio executives in a film nominally about greed!
How often must we hear that the corrupt
and corporate Hollywood system betrays the filmmaker and compromises
his or her vision? It is time to call a stop to this disgraceful
behavior.
We at Global Wahrman believe that the
studios must undo this travesty and restore this important film to
its original vision. If it means remaking it over and over again at
vast expense until we get it right, then that is the price we must
pay in the service of great art.
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IAMMMMW on Imdb
IAMMMMW on Wikipedia
Inflation Calculator of $350K in 1960
adjusted for inflation to 2013
An analysis of the locations used in
IAMMMMW
Imperial Chrysler Club Web Page on
IAMMMMW
On The Beach (1959) on IMDB
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