THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (1966)

Capitalizing on the Cold War paranoid of the time, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING tells the story of a Soviet sub that accidentally runs aground while the captain was innocently sightseeing along the coast of a small New England island.  Stuck like Chuck, the captain sends 9 sailors onshore to get a boat big enough to pull the sub off the sandbar.  Almost immediately they're spotted and their presence understandably causes quite a ruckus.

Seeing as TRACTRAC was written by the same guy who wrote IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD just a few years earlier and even stars a few of the same people, I mistakenly thought that it was going to be the same over-the-top insanity that Mad World was, but no.  This movie was dead in the water right from the very beginning.  The jokes are all tired and flat, the ending is completely unbelievable, Jonathan Winters is wasted, Brian Keith has nothing to work with, none of the Russians have any character and the townsfolk are all morons.  Unfunny morons that clutter up the screen running around like chickens with their dicks cut off.  And that kid at the church!  Oh my god, the excessive sentimentality of that scene made me wanna slam my dick in a car door.  Preferably an orange 1986 Ford Escort.

According to the DVD special features, this film caused quite a stir when it came out (it was the #8 box office draw for 1966 and received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture!!!), but I honestly have a hard time seeing what the excitement was about.  Outside of enjoying seeing the familiar faces, I say skip it.

If you need me I'll be in my room watching DR. STRANGELOVE.

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963)

What is there not to love about the epic comedy IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD?  In the opening scene Jimmy Durante goes sailing, just sailing, over a ridge next to a desert road.  Some fellow motorists pull over to see if they can help, but he's too far gone.  In his last moments right before he kicks the bucket he tells those gathered around about a treasure of 350 big ones buried 200 miles away underneath "a big W".  The witnesses dismiss it as the ravings of a dying man...but maybe it's true.  Couldn't hurt to check it out.  What follows next is the psychopathic rampage of a bunch of nuts who will stop at nothing to be the first person to the big W.  Also, since the cops don't know where the money is they decide, for whatever stupid reason, to allow these maniacs to destroy half of Southern California to see where the money is.

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD is probably the greatest epic comedy of all time.  I can't think of anything funnier and with such an impressive cast.  The blazing pace, the comic timing, the lines, the scenery, the vehicles and more familiar faces than I even want to name!  It's more than you can take in in just one viewing.  Maybe even more than in a couple of viewings.  If you are at all interested in the classic comic actors/actresses of the 1930's - 1960's then IAMMMMW is a excellent starting point.  Just studying the names involved with this film alone will keep you busy for ages.  My only complaint is Jack Benny didn't have a bigger role...but then again his five word cameo is one of the funniest scenes in the movie.  Every time I think about his expression after she yells at him I crack up.   Why, oh why, didn't the movie gods see fit to have Ethel Merman and Jack Benny in a movie together?!!

Anyway, IAMMMMW is great movie that I think is hysterically funny.  Highly recommended.  Also, even though I appreciate the expanded 197-minute version on the Criterion Blu-ray, I actually prefer the quicker paced 163-minute version.

I seriously love this movie.