On January 9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_9), 2007 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007), Karen Sharpe Kramer (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karen_Sharpe_Kramer&action=edit), widow of Stanley Kramer, and film producer Edward Bass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bass) announced that a sequel entitled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World is in the works (http://www.edwardbassfilms.com/). The film would be, like the original, a large ensemble movie mixing comics and dramatic actors. The story follows the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money after it is revealed that the bills found in the first movie were counterfeit. Original cast members Sid Caesar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Caesar) and Jonathan Winters, among others, may reprise their original roles.

From the Wikipedia on the Internets: two reasons it must be true.

The horror.
The Horror!

:confused:

Okay, I'm goin' back to bed for the next ten years. Wake me when it's over.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies. I'm firmly in the latter camp; I've never found a single scene, character or line of dialogue in it that's funny. Regardless, doing a sequel seems even more utterly pointless than most Hollywood sequels. And, with due respect to Sid Caesar, if they're counting on his participation they'd better start production pretty soon. Isn't he like 90 by now?

When it comes to madcap, cameo-filled chase movies from the 60's I'm more of the Around the World in Eighty Days/ The Great Race type.

In any case, the proposed remake seems like a dreadful idea for any number of reasons.

I have the perfect title for it...

Rat Race!

Or Scavenger Hunt.

I've never found a single scene, character or line of dialogue in it that's funny.

While there are a few scenes that make me chuckle (pretty much any scene with Dick Shawn or Jonathan Winters), this is a movie that I've always wanted to like more than I actually do. I don't think I've ever been able to make it all the way through the movie in one sitting - and I've tried several times.

Give me The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming any day of the week. Or International House for that matter.

I love the original film. I can't imagine a remake or a sequel doing any justice. That's why I never bothered to see Rat Race.

While there are a few scenes that make me chuckle (pretty much any scene with Dick Shawn or Jonathan Winters), this is a movie that I've always wanted to like more than I actually do. I don't think I've ever been able to make it all the way through the movie in one sitting - and I've tried several times.


Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about it. If it's on, I'll tune in for a while, flip back every now and then, but from start to finish, I can't do it.

Give me The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming any day of the week. Or International House for that matter.You mean the 1933 Paramount comedy with W.C. Fields piloting an autogyro and landing at a hotel in Wu Hu, China? The one with Burns and Allen, Cab Calloway singing "Reefer Man," and professional golddigger Peggy Hopkins Joyce, the Zsa Zsa Gabor of her day, playing herself?

So someone else has actually heard of that movie!

You mean the 1933 Paramount comedy with W.C. Fields piloting an autogyro and landing at a hotel in Wu Hu, China? The one with Burns and Allen, Cab Calloway singing "Reefer Man," and professional golddigger Peggy Hopkins Joyce, the Zsa Zsa Gabor of her day, playing herself?

So someone else has actually heard of that movie!

I love that movie! It was my first introduction to W.C. Fields. Fields' exchange with Franklin Pangborn is classic: "Don't let the posey fool you!"

I have friend who's, like, the biggest MMMW fan on Earth. In fact, he was instrumental in getting the DVD released, and worked on either the liner notes or the commentary.

Gotta ask him what he thinks of the idea.

I'm in the camp of 'Oh God I hate the original'. So I see no need for a remake, or sequel, that's evidently a remake disguised as a sequel. BTW Savanah the cat says she agrees with this, and thinks they should do a film about cat litter. But she also thinks that would require WAY more imagination and originality than any troll in Hollywood has.

Maybe they should have Don Rickles star in this one. He's still p.o.'d about being left out of the first one.

I'm in the camp of having a definite fondness for the original IAMMMW. Of course, I've not seen it in quite a few years, so take that with a grain of salt.

Rat Race was alright, but not nearly as good as it could have been, IMNSHO. I have no clue how well it did at the box office, but saw it on HBO or Showtime one night. Some parts were hilarious while a lot of others were "meh..." moments. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Bean - tho love most all other British humor that I've seen over the years - so that sorta spoiled it for me. A lot more of it felt contrived then I remember from IAMMMW.

As to a sequel...? I'm not really interested nor have an opinion one way or the other.

I loved IAMMMMW as a kid. The theme song is permanently ingrained in my head and it must have been torture for my mom to have me retell the final scene over and over and over again. But as an adult... well, let's just say it only confirms my suspicion that I shouldn't trust the opinions of a little kid... especially if the kid was me.

Why bother with a sequel, though? Why not be "imaginative" and create a prequel? :rolleyes:

Even if one doesn't care for it as a movie, MMMMW is still good if one considers not just what's on screen but everything behind it too. Given the numerous financial, technical, logistic and personal complexities Kramer and crew had to juggle (the egos of the stars not the least of them) it works as well as a movie of its type and scale could work. Sure, MMMMW is a uneven in spots and over the top in others -- valid observations that, incidentally, are about the worst I've ever heard reasonable people say about it. But that's pretty good, given the staggering scope and size of the production! Nothing like it was done before, and nothing like it has worked since. I love the flick, but beyond that I'm amazed every time I pop it in that it works as well as it does, which causes it to hold up as well as it does (for those who like it, anyway).

To even consider making a sequel/remake/whatever is a bad idea no matter how you cut it. It can't possibly do all that the first one did pretty darned well...be funny, clever, largely coherent, well-crafted, inexpensive (relatively), star-packed, appealing to audiences, timeless due to the funny but unsympathetic portrayal of PURE GREED, etc etc). Just ain't gonna happen. Today you couldn't escape some cheap, cowardly, falsely moralistic cop-out...just like you had at the end of RAT RACE *puke*. What was the primary motivation in MMMMW? LOVE OF ILLICIT MONEY, and a willingness to cut the other guy's throat to get it. A clear core that held throughout the picture, even if other things didn't. Wouldn't happen today. You'd end up with a smaller, lesser, cheezier picture, which RAT RACE already is. Or if you're really a pessimist, something simply brainless like SCAVENGER HUNT, loved by half-wits and simians everywhere.

If the Wikipedia report is true, it's a really bad idea because it just won't work, not simply because some don't care for MMMMW (tho there's nothing wrong with that...I always disliked The Beatles and THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR will never, ever bore me...our opinions vary and the sun still comes up in the morning).