Ernest Gold -- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

 

When this movie hit the theatres in late 1963, I was unfortunately yet to arrive on this mad, mad, mad, mad world for several more months, so my first viewing of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" was through its rerun on CBS one Saturday night when the network hadn't minded donating three hours of air time to this epic comedy.

And boy, was it epic! From what I learned, the movie industry was in some turmoil at the time since television had been stealing cinema's thunder and viewership. The studios had to throw in every trick ranging from Panavision to humongous casts to bring back bums into seats. So, you had these historical epics such as "The Ten Commandments" and big caper movies such as the original "Ocean's Eleven". Then you had "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" directed by Stanley Kramer who, a couple of years earlier. had helped make the extremely serious "Judgment at Nuremberg" with its own big cast including Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland and William Shatner involved with the theme of fascism and war.

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" then was Kramer's far more jovial take on greed and what it does to people. And in this case, the movie vacuumed up just about every comedian in existence (Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Dick Shawn, etc.) over forty years and dumped them into California with starring and cameo roles. As a kid, I was heaving up my internal organs like a scared sea cucumber as I watched scenes like Jonathan Winters' one-man rampage in a garage.

Then, there was Barrie Chase's weirdly alluring dance (Chase is now the only surviving cast member) along with an unbelievable final car chase which didn't have any action-movie stars but terrified funny people. And that led to the final comeuppance and takedown of almost everyone via a poor fire truck ladder. Spencer Tracy as an escaping police captain? Check. Peter Falk, years before Columbo? Check. Milton Berle as a milquetoast? Check. The Three Stooges in colour? Double check.

And adding to the joyful lunacy of it all? Ernest Gold's soundtrack including the main theme. The Saul Bass opening credit sequence with the theme are worth the price of admission all on their own. Gold got the whole premise of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and reflected that with the crazed circus arrangement of the theme which picks up here and there throughout the movie. 

There was even a sung version with Mack David's lyrics and not surprisingly, the content is appropriately mad. The theme was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song but the actual winner for the movie at the Academy Awards was in Best Sound Effects. After all, Jimmy Durante kicked that bucket really melodiously.

As for the comparison that year in Japan, I'm going with the 5th Annual Japan Record Awards and specifically the winning songwriters this time around in 1963.

Best Composer: Taku Izumi for Kyu Sakamoto's "Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo"（見上げてごらん夜の星を）

Best Lyricist: Toshio Oka for Kazuo Funaki's "Koukou Sannen-sei" （高校三年生）

Best Arranger: Hiroshi Miyagawa for The Peanuts' "Koi no Vacance" (恋のバカンス）