You probably have to be over, say, about forty years of age to appreciate this film if you're watching it today. The story is kind of unexceptional and some of the slapstick is way overdone and cheesy. The merit for Baby Boomers like myself, is seeing so many of the era's comedy greats in one place at one time. The cast is a stellar Who's Who of comedians and comic actors and getting them all together to make the film must have been some kind of whirlwind process. Heading the cast is the venerable Spencer Tracy, who portrays just about the only character who doesn't compete for comedy honors, playing it straight throughout except when it comes time to wrap things up. And they do get wrapped up in a rather serious fashion, but you'll have to see the film to check that out.
Things get under way with Jimmy Durante sailing off a cliff in a speeding automobile, but before he quite literally kicks the bucket, mentions to a coterie of bystanders that he's got a stash of three hundred fifty thousand dollars buried under the 'Big W' somewhere in the Santa Rosita countryside. From there on it's a mad scramble of folks trying to outdo each other to get to and claim the big prize. There's a core group of treasure hunters that includes Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett and Jonathan Winters, but besides them, the fun is in catching all the other players who come and go during the nearly three hour chase. Phil Silvers shows up pretty much doing his Sergeant Bilko schtick, while Jack Benny makes a quick appearance to relay his single word signature line. Some of the cameos are a complete blur, like Leo Gorcey as the first cab driver, and Buster Keaton as the garage attendant near the end of the story when Spencer Tracy's trying to make a quick getaway.
With the all star lineup, and I can't imagine what the payroll would have been for this flick, the film makers did take some noticeable shortcuts, like the flimsy garage operated by Ray (Arnold Stang) and Irwin (Marvin Kaplan). For example, there are no bathrooms behind the 'Men' and 'Women' doors inside the establishment, so when the walls come down in that bizarre melee with Lennie Pike (Winters), all you've got is the surrounding countryside. There's also all that money that's neatly bundled when the core group digs it up, which goes fluttering away as a flurry of bills when it's lost in a 'Sierra Madre' moment near the finale.
None of it matters though if you grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and got to see these greats in their own shows and stand up routines. Jack Benny and sidekick Eddie' Rochester' Anderson were favorites of mine, and I always got a kick out of Andy Devine and William Demarest. They're all here and a whole host of others you'll be trying to pick out amidst all the mayhem going on. And if you're intimidated by the length of the movie going in, watch it in a couple of installments like I did, and it won't seem nearly as long.
Things get under way with Jimmy Durante sailing off a cliff in a speeding automobile, but before he quite literally kicks the bucket, mentions to a coterie of bystanders that he's got a stash of three hundred fifty thousand dollars buried under the 'Big W' somewhere in the Santa Rosita countryside. From there on it's a mad scramble of folks trying to outdo each other to get to and claim the big prize. There's a core group of treasure hunters that includes Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett and Jonathan Winters, but besides them, the fun is in catching all the other players who come and go during the nearly three hour chase. Phil Silvers shows up pretty much doing his Sergeant Bilko schtick, while Jack Benny makes a quick appearance to relay his single word signature line. Some of the cameos are a complete blur, like Leo Gorcey as the first cab driver, and Buster Keaton as the garage attendant near the end of the story when Spencer Tracy's trying to make a quick getaway.
With the all star lineup, and I can't imagine what the payroll would have been for this flick, the film makers did take some noticeable shortcuts, like the flimsy garage operated by Ray (Arnold Stang) and Irwin (Marvin Kaplan). For example, there are no bathrooms behind the 'Men' and 'Women' doors inside the establishment, so when the walls come down in that bizarre melee with Lennie Pike (Winters), all you've got is the surrounding countryside. There's also all that money that's neatly bundled when the core group digs it up, which goes fluttering away as a flurry of bills when it's lost in a 'Sierra Madre' moment near the finale.
None of it matters though if you grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and got to see these greats in their own shows and stand up routines. Jack Benny and sidekick Eddie' Rochester' Anderson were favorites of mine, and I always got a kick out of Andy Devine and William Demarest. They're all here and a whole host of others you'll be trying to pick out amidst all the mayhem going on. And if you're intimidated by the length of the movie going in, watch it in a couple of installments like I did, and it won't seem nearly as long.