Line #55 Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/its_a_mad_poster41.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:310:No, actually, we mean it -- it's mad.]]
3
4	->''"It's buried under a big W..."''
5
6	An epic madcap comedy, directed by Creator/StanleyKramer and starring several of the major comedians of its day (1963), with an additional host appearing in [[TheCameo cameos]]: Creator/BusterKeaton, Creator/JerryLewis, Film/TheThreeStooges, Creator/JackBenny, Creator/DonKnotts, Creator/StanFreberg...
7
8	When aging criminal "Smiler" Grogan (Creator/JimmyDurante) sails his car off a cliff in the Mojave Desert, he gives a FinalSpeech to the various strangers who gather around him, informing them as to [[TreasureMap where to find $350,000 in cash]],[[note]]Approximately $2.932 million in 2020 money[[/note]] hidden loot from an old robbery. He then kicks the bucket -- figuratively and [[VisualPun literally]]. After a spirited "negotiation" session regarding the allocation of said money breaks down, the witnesses decide to race each other to Santa Rosita State Park, where the loot is "buried under a big 'W'"... each now hoping to find it and keep it all for themself.
9
10	[[AC:The initial racers are:]]
11	* Milquetoast edible-seaweed salesman J. Russell Finch, his voice-of-reason wife Emmeline, and her [[EvilMatriarch shrewish mother]], Mrs. Marcus (Creator/MiltonBerle, Dorothy Provine and Creator/EthelMerman).
12	** Mrs. Marcus and Emmeline later set out to find the money for themselves without Russell.
13	* Second-honeymooning dentist Melville Crump and his wife Monica (Creator/SidCaesar and Edie Adams).
14	* Vegas-bound friends Dingy Bell and Benjy Benjamin (Creator/MickeyRooney and Creator/BuddyHackett).
15	* Burly moving-van driver Lennie Pike (Creator/JonathanWinters).
16
17	They are subsequently joined in their treasure hunt by vacationing [[FunnyForeigner English Army officer]] Algernon Hawthorne (Creator/TerryThomas), wily ConMan Otto Meyer (Creator/PhilSilvers), Russell's hot-tempered {{Beatnik}} brother-in-law Sylvester (Creator/DickShawn), and eventually a pair of Santa Rosita cab drivers (Creator/PeterFalk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson).
18
19	Before long, all these characters are in deep trouble. The Crumps get locked in a hardware-store basement, and set it on fire trying to escape. Benjy and Dingy have to fly and land a plane after its inebriated pilot (Jim Backus) knocks himself unconscious in midair. Pike demolishes a gas station after Meyer tricks two attendants into attempting to tie him up. Meyer accidentally drives into a river. Mrs. Marcus starts multiple fights.
20
21	Meanwhile, the police are monitoring all this, and betting on who will win the race. The Santa Rosita police chief, Captain Culpeper (Creator/SpencerTracy), intends to confiscate the stolen money after it's found and presumably return it to its rightful owners, but after being buried under an ever-increasing mountain of bad news from his homelife ''and'' regarding his police pension (or lack thereof), he devises ASimplePlan to get the dough for himself and skip on down to [[SouthOfTheBorder Mexico]] for his "retirement".
22
23	Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/MadWorld'' by any means. You are, however, allowed to confuse it with its '00s SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/RatRace''.
24	----
25	!!This film provides examples of:
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27	[[folder:Tropes A-M]]
28	* ActorAllusion: As the drunken pilot, Jim Backus says Western Airlines' slogan "It's the only way to fly!". Backus did voice overs for Western Airlines ads.
29	* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Under incredible stress, Culpeper makes an impulsive decision to take the money himself and flee to Mexico. He didn't do it out of evil or greed, just as a foolish attempt to escape from the disaster his life was becoming. While in the ICU, he makes it clear he understands that he's completely ruined.]]
30	-->'''Culpeper:''' [[spoiler:''(to everyone else in the ICU)'' My wife is divorcing me, my mother-in-law is suing me for damages, my daughter is applying to the courts to have her name changed, my pension has been revoked, and the only reason that you ten idiots will very ''likely'' get off ''lightly'', is because the judge will have ''me'' up there to throw the book at!]]
31	* TheAlcoholic: Jim Backus as Tyler Fitzgerald, who we first meet suffering from a raging case of HangoverSensitivity.
32	-->'''Tyler Fitzgerald:''' ''(flying the plane!)'' You know what I need? I need a drink. There's some ice and stuff back there. Why don't you make us all some Old Fashioneds?
33	-->'''Dingy Bell:''' Old Fashioneds?! Do you think you oughta drink while you're flying? \
34	'''Tyler Fitzgerald:''' Well stop kidding, will ya, and make us some drinks! You just press the button back there marked "booze". ''(laughs)'' It's the only way to fly![[note]]ShoutOut to the {{Slogan}} for Western Airlines, [[ActorAllusion which Backus voiced in many TV ads of the time]].[[/note]]
35	* [[TheAllegedCar The Alleged Plane]]: Which was built in 1916. The pilot's wife deems it necessary to give a sign of the cross before he takes off with the Crumps as passengers.
36	* AlliterativeFamily: Melville and Monica Crump.
37	* AlliterativeName: Benjy Benjamin.
38	** Technically Culpeper counts too, as though we don't find out his first name, his initials, visible on his office door, read "C. G. Culpeper". A rare example of this with a character with OnlyOneName.
39	* AllThereInTheManual: Though never identified in the film, the name of Barrie Chase's character (according to the official souvenir booklet) is Mrs. Halliburton.
40	* AlmostDeadGuy: The whole misadventure is set off when notorious criminal "Smiler" Grogan kicks the bucket (literally) after sending his car flying off a cliff, but not before telling a group of witnesses to the accident about $350,000 he buried in a distant state park. True to this trope, he groans into unconsciousness... then scares everyone by bolting up yelling "Say it don't make no difference, Aunt Belle!" before fading out again.
41	* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Fresno entrepreneur J. Russell Finch invokes this while arguing with British Army officer Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne. It proves to be something of a BerserkButton for the latter.
42	* AmusingInjuries: In the climax, the main characters dangle off of a fire escape and then all fall down in various painful, and yet very funny manners. Also, Mrs. Marcus' tripping on the banana peel, but this is because she's a horrible shrew.
43	* AnimatedCreditsOpening: [[http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world/ Designed by]] Creator/SaulBass, and animated by a team including Creator/BillMelendez (of later ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' specials fame). [[FreezeFrameBonus Watch in slow-motion]] and you'll see several of the animators' names as the credits fall into place.
44	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The Crumps are locked in the hardware store basement and the husband has been trying, ahem, creative ways to escape. When he sets upon a faulty burglar alarm in a rage:
45	--> '''Monica:''' Melville. Melville! ''(finally getting his attention)'' Even if you do get the bell the ring and somebody comes, what about the damage?
46	* ArtisticTitle: The AnimatedCreditsOpening has a cartoon globe being transmogrified into a hen's egg, a shell game, a unicycle wheel, a spinning top, paper dolls, a yo-yo, etc.
47	* AskAStupidQuestion: As the men are gathered around Smiler (who'd just fallen off the cliff in his car, speeding immensely) in the beginning, Melville asks him if he thinks he's hurt badly. Smiler manages to say, "Is he kiddin'?"
48	** A conversation Culpeper has with Billie Sue has him ask her what she's doing in the bus station, to which she irritably replies, "I'm waiting for the bus!"
49	** The officer in the same right before the intermission, who asks Culpeper if something's wrong, while Ginger blames Culpeper repeatedly for wanting to take her to Hawaii, which resulted in Billie Sue wanting to leave home, while Billie Sue is sobbing and screaming in the background. Culpeper slowly turns to look at him with a wordless [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe "What do you think?!" look]].
50	* BackseatDriver: Russell has his mother-in law taking this role to heart in a race to buried treasure. She bellows "We're the ones in the ''Imperial'' and we're in ''last place''?" Later, she continues barking orders to different drivers in different vehicles.
51	* BananaPeel: The very end of the movie, [[spoiler:which triggers Mrs. Marcus' much-deserved comeuppance]].
52	* BandageMummy: A classic one at the ending: nearly the entire male cast is in the hospital, bandaged or cast in plaster and bemoaning their fate. Cue the BananaPeel.
53	* BathroomBreakOut: Culpeper reports that ex-con robber Smiler Grogan gave them the slip that way earlier in the morning while they were tailing him.
54	* BavarianFireDrill: Otto Meyer uses this many times to great effect: at the service station where he pretends to be a psychiatrist, convincing Ray & Irwin that Lennie is an escaped mental patient, and when he stops a motorist and tells him to call the C.I.A., going by the alias of Agent X-27 (poor Don Knotts).
55	* BenchBreaker: Lennie breaks the chair that he was tied to after breaking himself free from the pillar and duct tape that the garage attendants tried tying up him to.
56	* BerserkButton: Don't sass or threaten Mrs. Marcus around Sylvester.
57	** J. Algernon Hawthorne hates it when the English are trash-talked and accused of being ungrateful for needing aid from the U.S. during World War II.
58	* BigApplesauce: Berle hailed from Manhattan; Hackett, Rooney, and Silvers from Brooklyn; Merman from Queens, and Caesar from north of the border in Yonkers.
59	* TheBigRace: On land and in the air.
60	* BigShutUp: At the end when all the men are hospitalized, Dingy gives one to Melville when the latter goes into mathematics again as he did at the beginning when trying to decide how to split the money.
61	** Mrs. Marcus does this to several people, [[EvilMatriarch including to Sylvester and Emmeline]].
62	* BigScrewedUpFamily: Culpeper's wife and daughter, as well as the Finch/Marcuses.
63	* BigWhat: A variation, as Culpeper shouts, "He what?!" into the phone after the Sheriff tells him that Smiler Grogan is dead.
64	** Played straight much later when Russell has an ExplainExplainOhCrap moment when he realises the car behind him and Hawthorne is being driven by Sylvester.
65	-->'''Hawthorne''': I say, what's that chap honking his hooter for?
66	-->'''Russell:''' I don't know, it's probably some road hog who thinks he owns... ''(realises it's Sylvester)'' What?!
67	* BigWordShout: Benjy shouts "Bingo!" when the money is dug up and the suitcase is opened.
68	* BittersweetEnding: Played for laughs, of course, courtesy of the [[BananaPeel banana peel]] reference above.
69	* BlackComedy: HilarityEnsues after an old man dies from injuries in a car crash.
70	* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Subverted:
71	--> '''Police Chief Aloysius:''' "Now you know the word for this, your honor: it's called Blackmail."
72	* BlatantLies: The only way to get to Santa Rosita.
73	* BlindDriving: Melville tells Monica to TakeTheWheel as he attempts to read the map - until it is blown into his face.
74	* BrakeAngrily: Hawthorne and Pike, followed by a GetOut to Russell Finch and Mrs. Marcus respectively.
75	* BrickJoke: Melville's insistence in divvying up the money.
76	** Benjy's [[InventedIndividual dying grandmother]].
77	** Hawthorne's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against America comes back [[spoiler:when riding the cabs to chase Culpeper.]] Russell lampshades it by asking him, "[[SarcasmMode You want to start that again?]]".
78	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: The object of the search.
79	* ButtMonkey: Everyone in the movie is a victim of this, but Lennie Pike and Melville Crump get the worst of it.
80	* ButtonMashing: When the plane is coming in for a landing, but they don't know where the brakes are, Dingy just starts pulling every lever in reach.
81	* CameoCluster: Already a vehicle for an AllStarCast of comedians, it includes cameos from numerous other comedic actors of the day including Creator/BusterKeaton, Creator/JerryLewis, Film/TheThreeStooges, Creator/JackBenny, Creator/DonKnotts, and Creator/StanFreberg.
82	* CaptainObvious: J. Algernon Hawthorne has a clever moment, when he is met by the Finches and Mrs. Marcus:
83	-->'''Hawthorne''': Jolly nasty accident there. Jolly lucky nobody was hurt.\
84	'''Mrs. Marcus''': Where did you get that funny accent? Are you from Harvard or something?\
85	'''Hawthorne''': Harvard? Rather not. I'm English.\
86	'''Mrs. Marcus''': Sounds so foreign.\
87	'''Hawthorne''': [[LampshadeHanging Really?]]
88	* CarMeetsHouse: Seen with a small plane and a restaurant.
89	* TheChewToy: Ray and Irwin.
90	* ChekhovsGun: The Ray & Irwin's Garage truck. When we first see Ray and Irwin, they refuse to let Finch hire it, forcing him, Mrs Marcus and Emmeline to rely on Hawthorne to get them further. After Pike destroys the garage, he steals the truck and uses it to get back on the chase. He then picks up Mrs Marcus and Emmeline in it, and then, eventually, Sylvester, Finch and Hawthorne after their cars get destroyed.
91	** As Melville Crump is lamenting the useless burglar alarm in the hardware store basement, Monica is sitting in front of stacked boxes of dynamite. They later use said dynamite to get out of the basement.
92	* CheshireCatGrin: Otto Meyer breaks out with a doozy when Lennie Pike mentions the 350 grand. He's suddenly [[EstablishingCharacterMoment QUITE interested]].
93	* ChineseLaunderer: The Crumps finally free themselves from the hardware store's basement by dynamiting their way through a wall and right into a Chinese laundry.
94	* {{Claymation}}: Stop-motion animation was how many of the effects of the men falling off the ladder were filmed.
95	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Sylvester employed this trope when Mrs. Marcus tried calling him. He ended up misinterpreting his mother's pleas to come over and help in the search for the money, believing that she was in trouble and needed his help. Even worse: she called him because he was already close to the place the money was buried, so his coming to her just adds a complication to no purpose.
96	** When Ding and Benjy are in the plane, Fitzgerald elects to make his own drinks, so he tells Benjy to take the controls. Benjy asks him, "What if something happens?" Fitzgerald replies, "What could happen to an Old Fashioned?"
97	** When Pike hears about a crook's stolen fortune, he's perfectly willing to go and dig it up for himself. But when Melville tries to explain that the money would not need to be declared (and therefore, would be tax-free), a suddenly conscientious Pike exclaims, "That would be like stealing from the government!"
98	* ContrivedCoincidence:
99	** The distribution of vehicles and passengers make it impossible to equally divide the money without someone feeling cheated. This of course kicks off all the trouble.
100	** How convenient for Otto Meyer that there is a garage in the vicinity just as he gets a flat tire. Of course, things go from bad to worse for him when an enraged Lennie Pike catches up with him.
101	* CoolCar: Pretty much all the cars for their mid-century flash, but especially Sylvester's red '62 Dodge Dart 440 convertible; as he furiously drives it while blubbering for his mama, he gets it airborne over a road dip.
102	* CoolOldGuy: Culpeper [[spoiler:until [[FaceHeelTurn he double-crosses everyone, that is]]]].
103	* CoolPlane: Tyler Fitzgerald's Twin Beechcraft 18.
104	* CoolShades: Dingy wears these for the first 15 minutes of the film.
105	* CoveredInGunge: The Crumps fall victim to this. Mrs. Crump sustains some ClothingDamage, as well.
106	* CrashCourseLanding: Ding and Benjy are forced to make one of these landings after their pilot falls unconscious after drinking too much while flying.
107	* DangerousClifftopRoad: The plot is kicked off when "Smiler" Grogan, speeding along a clifftop highway, accidentally drives over the edge. He lingers just long enough to tell the gathered onlookers where he hid the $350,000 haul from an old robbery, then he dies.
108	* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Benjy and Dingy need a pilot and find Tyler Fitzgerald sleeping off a drunk. The room has the blinds drawn and when he gets up he thinks he's blind and staggers to the window. When he opens the blinds, the blinding daylight sends him flying backward, [[HangoverSensitivity screaming in pain.]]
109	* DestroyTheProductPlacement: Benjy and Dingy fly a plane through a Coca-Cola billboard.
110	* DidntWantAnAdventure: The migrant couple that gets forced off the road by the treasure hunters, once they've finally reached the bottom of the gorge:
111	-->'''Husband:''' "...I said it before, and I'll say it again: ''I'' didn't want to move to California."
112	** Also Emmeline, as a result of her being the OnlySaneWoman.
113	* DisappearedDad: Emmeline and Sylvester's father isn't around any more, probably because of a divorce, as the LikeFatherLikeSon example would imply. Besides, [[FridgeBrilliance who would WANT to stay married to someone like Mrs Marcus]]?
114	* DistinctionWithoutADifference: On their way up to the park in Santa Rosita, Ding tells the cab driver to pass the cab in front, which has the Crumps in it. When the cab driver asks what they're in a rush for, Benjy replies, "We ain't in any rush, we just want to get there in a hurry!"
115	* TheDitz:
116	** Just about every one of them are idiots to one degree or another. None of them stop to realize that the money they're going after is stolen and that they couldn't legally claim it. Plus, they were all in such a rush that by the end all their antics had gotten themselves into serious legal trouble [[spoiler: and the majority of them in the hospital.]]
117	** Mrs. Marcus stands out. Her verbal and emotional abuse and shutting down every single reasonable suggestion (apart from her sensible suggestion to give an equal share to everybody) makes the situation worse. Particularly [[spoiler: during the final car chase, one of the Taxi drivers realizes that Culpeper's heading for the border and all they have to do is pull over and call the police. Mrs. Marcus quickly shuts him down. Had they simply done that, they probably would've avoided the final climatic mess.]]
118	** The police for not pulling them over and placing them under arrest at any point for any number of crimes or holding them as material witnesses. Chances are, ''someone'' would've talked (heck, you can't get [[NoIndoorVoice Mrs. Marcus]] to stop talking anyway - just let her sit for a few minutes and she'd end up giving everything away due to sheer inability to shut up).
119	* DopeSlap: Dingy did this to Benjy a few times.
120	* DownerEnding / ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: Most of the main characters end up in traction, face criminal charges, and don't get any of the money, though they do get an EverybodyLaughsEnding out of it. The police department, who have been working on the case for 15 years, salvage little if any money, the bulk of it being rained down onto a large crowd of onlookers. The Captain misses news of his tripled pension, and loses everything, but at least he gets a laugh too.]]
121	* DriverFacesPassenger: Hawthorne when describing his work to Emmeline.
122	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Four parties of normal, law-abiding types get word of a buried fortune and promptly turn into a mass highway menace. Everyone else who gets involved later acts the same way.
123	* DumbMuscle: Lennie Pike. Also Sylvester.
124	** And the hitch-hiker Phil Silvers picks up at one point (played by veteran heavy Mike Mazurki) in a [[DeletedScene deleted scene]]: "Don't force me to get ROUGH!"
125	* DwindlingParty: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] By the end of the film the number of the treasure-seekers has nearly doubled. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Sylvester Marcus, himself one of the newcomers: "Mama, this thing's like a convention!"
126	* EpicMovie: The comedy take on the genre -- it has a long run time to the point that it has an overture and intermission in the most complete cut, ''many'' more characters than usual for a comedy, an A-list cast, elaborate stunt sequences, and 70mm Ultra Panavision cinematography. The script was [[{{Doorstopper}} so dense]] that it was split in two: one with all the dialogue and one with all the action.
127	* EpicRace: The plot of the movie, because no one wants to share the prize.
128	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Otto Meyer is initially dismissive of Lennie Pike stopping him when they first meet, but is immediately interested (and literally licks his lips) when he hears about the $350,000 buried at Santa Rosita.
129	* EurekaMoment: Mrs Marcus has one in Hawthorne's wagon and suddenly shouts, "Sylvester!", which gives her and the others the idea to try and contact Sylvester because of his proximity to Santa Rosita. Unfortunately for them, it backfires badly when Mrs Marcus finally gets through to Sylvester.
130	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: PlayedStraight, yet effectively. Everybody is battered and broken and has had the worst day ever (especially Culpeper) but when Mrs. Marcus enters and injures herself, they can still muster up the humor to laugh at her.
131	* EverybodyOwnsAFord: Chrysler sponsored the film to showcase its 1963 lineup. Almost all the heroes drive Chryslers. One of Ethel Merman's lines was written with a Cadillac in mind ("''We're'' the ones in the Imperial and ''we're'' running last?"), but was changed because Chrysler sponsored the film and not GM. It has a much more snobbish air with a Cadillac.
132	* EveryoneChasingYou: The entire movie is a snowballing cascade of mob chases, as more and more of Hollywood's top actors join in the fun.
133	* EvilMatriarch: You know who it is.
134	* [[ExplodingCloset Exploding Moving Van]]: Justified in that it's involved in a wild high-speed chase and a collision before Pike opens it up.
135	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Sylvester catches up to Hawthorne and Russell in their rented Chevrolet after initially passing them and turning around. Hawthorne points out that the driver behind is honking his horn a lot. Russell initially dismisses it as a road hog, [[BigWhat then he realises it's Sylvester]]. Uh-oh...
136	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Everything happens over the course of a single day.
137	* EyePoke: Russell does this to Hawthorne during a fight.
138	* FakeShemp: Creator/PhilSilvers injured himself in one of the later scenes and was replaced by a stunt double. In those later scenes, his face is always away from the camera.
139	* FanDisservice: Mrs. Marcus' boobs nearly bobbling out of her dress while she's been shaken upside down.
140	* FatAndSkinny: Benjy and Dingy, respectively.
141	* FatalFireworks: Thankfully not fatal, but ones encountered by Crumps were pretty close...
142	* FelonyMisdemeanor: After Creator/JerryLewis' character drives his car over Culpeper's hat, Culpeper immediately starts yelling for someone to get his number.
143	* FinalSpeech: Grogan, telling the witnesses to his auto crash where to find a huge payoff from an old crime.
144	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Sylvester and Emmeline.
145	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A conversation Culpeper has with Aloysius fairly early on tells us about his pension, which has "not been up one red cent since 1934" and him wanting to take his wife Ginger on a holiday, a decision [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that will backfire badly later]], [[spoiler:and give him a reason as to why he will later try and steal the $350,000 for himself.]]
146	** Hawthorne's Jeep is initially damaged when Mrs Marcus has her EurekaMoment and accidentally causes Hawthorne to swerve off-road, damaging the front right wheel. That same wheel eventually comes off in a tunnel, rolling out the other end of the tunnel before the rest of the Jeep follows and rolls over.
147	** Russell says that if the Crumps, plus Ding and Benjy, hire planes as he feels they intend to, they will get to the park long before the others. [[spoiler:Sure enough, even with their delays, the Crumps arrive at the park first, with Ding and Benjy right behind, while almost everyone else - Russell, Emmeline, Sylvester, Mrs Marcus, Hawthorne and Pike - gets there last in the Ray & Irwin's Garage truck]].
148	** At Ray & Irwin's Garage, Russell tries to hire their van, but they refuse, asking, "How could we do without our truck? We're in business." After destroying the garage, Pike steals the truck and gets back on the chase.
149	** Russell decides not to call Sylvester as Mrs Marcus wants to, because Sylvester is an idiot. Russell is proven right, as when Mrs Marcus finally gets through to Sylvester, he misconstrues the situation and, believing her to be in danger, he rushes towards her rather than towards the money, much to Mrs Marcus's fury.
150	** [[spoiler:After the intermission, when it's revealed at what state the other characters are in, Culpeper is seen staring at the Mexican border on the wall map, with Mexican music playing softly on the soundtrack. As revealed later, he intends to steal the money for himself and escape to Mexico with it.]]
151	* FreeWheel: Hawthorne's jeep has its front end damaged by an off-road swerve, rides more and more erratically until it goes into a tunnel with a large smash - a single wheel rolls out the other end, followed by the rest of the Jeep that finally rolls over and dies.
152	* FrillyUpgrade: Professional dancer Barrie Chase took the role of Sylvester's deadpan girlfriend at the last moment, only finding out afterward that it was to be a bikini role. Chase felt she was ten pounds overweight to comfortably do a bikini scene, so she requested a black bikini with frills, reasoning that the black would be slimming and the shaking frills would draw attention away from her extra weight.
153	* FunnyForeigner: Terry-Thomas as J. Algernon Hawthorne.
154	* GetOut: When Finch loses his temper and accuses the English of being a bunch of {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s, Hawthorne orders him to leave the car; subverted when Finch apologizes for the stress getting to him:
155	-->'''Finch''': You want me to tell you something? As far as I'm concerned the whole British race is practically finished. If it hadn't been for lend-lease. If we hadn't have kept your whole country afloat by giving you billions [[UngratefulBastard that you never even said "Thank you" for]], the whole phony outfit would be sunk right under the Atlantic years ago.\
156	'''Finch''' [''after Hawthorne stops the car'']: What are you stopping for?\
157	'''Hawthorne''': Get out of this machine.\
158	'''Finch''': Get out? You can't...\
159	'''Hawthorne''': It's my machine, I will do as I bloody well please. Out!\
160	'''Finch''' [''apologizing'']: I'm awfully sorry. I've been very edgy today and if I said anything about England, I apologize.\
161	'''Hawthorne''': Glad to hear you say so.
162	** Invoked by Lennie when Mrs. Marcus blames all her misfortunes on his van colliding with Finch's car and totalling the drive shaft system. Lennie unsuccessfully tries to pull her out of the tow truck, and it rolls downhill with her in it.
163
164	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Everybody is out for themselves in this race for the treasure[[spoiler: -- even Culpeper]]. There are no "white" characters in the film (except possibly Emmeline and [[spoiler:Aloysius]]), but there are hardly any "black" ones either - as Culpeper [[LampshadeHanging properly lampshades]], they are not vile people after all. [[spoiler: Of course, this applies to himself as well.]]
165	* GoldFever: Everybody who finds out about the money becomes positively obsessed with getting their hands on it and screwing all the other racers[[spoiler: -- even Culpeper]].
166	* {{Greed}}: The main characters, with Mrs. Marcus threatening to leave the others with nothing; Otto Meyer trying to get an extra share after Lennie Pike tells him where it's located; and Captain Culpeper, who plans to retire with Chief Aloysius telling him that the city is dead set against pension increases. Sadly, Culpeper was unaware that Chief Aloysius had blackmailed the mayor into tripling his pension, leading to Capt. Culpeper's arrest and forfeiture of his pension when he tries to take the loot for himself and the money falls into the crowd below.
167	* GrievousBottleyHarm: Milquetoast gas station owners Ray and Irving knock out a raving Lennie Pike with a bottle... they're not so lucky the next time when he comes to even madder.
168	* HairTriggerTemper: Sylvester Marcus, big time. Definitely inherited it from Mrs. Marcus, who has a ...
169	* HandbagOfHurt: Mrs. Marcus will very often hit other people with her purse when she's really angry. The following characters she's hit with her purse are; Melville Crump, J. Russell Finch, Col. Hawthorne, Otto Meyer, and a random pedestrian.
170	** Apparently in real life, too. After the first take, Milton Berle yelled, "Cut!" and was a little woozy and rubbing his head in pain. When he asked Ethel Merman what she had inside the bag, she opened it up to show it was full of heavy costume jewelry!
171	* HellYesMoment: Ding and Benjy have one when they finally manage to land Fitzgerald's plane. Benjy shouts "Hooray!", and Ding shouts "We've landed!" when the plane comes to a stop.
172	** Pike has one, and by extension, everyone else, when they finally see the big W.
173	* HeroesGoneFishing:
174	** Before Melville and Monica Crump get in on the race to get the money, they were on their way to a second honeymoon.
175	** Also Russell, Emmeline and Mrs. Marcus, as before they were on their way to Lake Mead before they too get in on the race for the money.
176	* HeroicBSOD: Culpeper, at the halfway point. The domestic strife, the denial of pension increase, and the whole Grogan case not closing (and getting exponentially out of hand) just becomes [[FaceHeelTurn too much for him]].
177	* HesDeadJim: The film begins with ex-convict Smiler Grogan careening down a desert highway and flying off a cliff. A number of fellow motorists run down to aid him, but he's clearly dying. As he gasps his last breaths, he tells them the location of a large sum of stolen money he's buried, then fades out... and sits up deliriously shouting at Melville Crump "Tell me it don't make no difference, Aunt Belle!". He's reassured and dies... kicking a bucket downhill. Lennie Pike declares "That guy's ''dead''. You better believe it!"
178	* HiddenInPlainSight: The big W, which turns out to be [[spoiler: a group of palm trees growing at odd angles]] in a park.
179	* HilarityEnsues: Sums up about 90% of this movie.
180	** Especially in the climax, where the treasure hunters are all subjected to cartoon slapstick comeuppance that would absolutely kill them in real life.
181	* HospitalEpilogue: In the wild climax, all of the male main characters suffer serious injuries. The last scene occurs in a hospital, where the men are heavily bandaged. They are visited by the women characters, who are angry about the mens' greediness.
182	* HotPursuit: Inverted. The police car is chased.
183	* HuddleShot: There is a very similar shot, though from the point of view of the treasure that has just been dug up, instead of from a character.
184	* HugeSchoolgirl: Culpeper's daughter Billie Sue is described as being six-foot-five. It was apparently the reason she and her boyfriend Oscar broke up, and why she's inconsolable when she's on the phone.
185	* HumiliationConga: After he ends up in the hospital, Culpeper's wife is about to divorce him, his mother-in-law is about to sue him for damages, his daughter is applying to have her name changed, and his pension is about to be revoked, with the judge about to throw the book at him.
186	* HurtFootHop: Russell and Hawthorne fight each other after crashing the car that they were riding together in, but when Russell attempts to kick Hawthorne after knocking him to the ground, he hits his foot against a rock, causing him to hop in pain while holding his foot.
187	* IdiotBall: It gets passed around but Melville Crump sure has a tight grip on it when he's locked in the Hardware Store basement.
188	* IllKillYou: Sylvester utters this, coupled with road rage, when pursuing Col. Hawthorne and Russell Finch.
189	** Lennie Pike utters this when he catches up with and gets his hands on Otto Meyer.
190	* ImpactSilhouette: Lennie Pike is in a berserk rage in Ray and Irwin's Garage and bursts through a wall, leaving a perfect Winters-shape hole in it.
191	* ImprobablePilotingSkills: The great stunt pilot Frank Tallman actully flew a Beech 18 ''through a billboard'' for this film. He was going nearly 200 MPH and had less than one foot of clearance on either side. The plane was nearly wrecked by the stunt, too. The billboard was supposed to be balsa wood and paper, tough fabric was substituted by accident. The leading edge of the wings and windshields were torn up. Fortunately they had built the billboard right at the end of a runway and he could immediately land.
192	* InelegantBlubbering: Exaggerated. Billie Sue is not only sobbing, but ''screaming hysterically'' over the phone in Culpeper's office in the scene preceding the intermission.
193	* INeverToldYouMyName: This happens at the big W when Meyer says he is going to the police, and after Culpeper addresses him by using his name, Meyer stops himself mid-rant and asks, "How do you know my name?" This then happens again when Pike asks Culpeper if he knows Meyer, and Culpeper uses Pike's name in his answer.
194	* {{Intermission}}: Consists of police calls that gave updates which were played in the lobby and and "Entr'Acte" music.
195	* IntimidatingRevenueService:
196	-->'''Lennie Pike''': Sure, but if we find the money, we still have to report the taxes. Otherwise its like stealing from the government! ... Everybody has to pay taxes. Even businessmen, who lie and cheat and steal every day, even they have to pay taxes!
197	* InvoluntaryCharityDonation: A parodied variant happens when the suitcase full of money flies open and the people below start picking up the dollars.
198	* IronicEcho: "You heard him, mother. Stay here!"
199	* {{Irony}}: Emmeline, who wanted nothing to do with the situation, is the first one who finds the Big W.
200	* IsThisAJoke: One of our heroes suggests that Smiler's FinalSpeech may have just been part of "some big practical joke".
201	* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Hitting Pike over the head with a bottle knocks him out the first time. The rest of the time, it just makes him mad.
202	* {{Jerkass}}: Otto Meyer, a ConsummateLiar, and Mrs. Marcus, who was arguably the most shrewish character in the entire movie. [[spoiler:She gets her comeuppance at the end of the movie when she slips on the banana peel in the hospital.]]
203	** To a lesser degree, Sylvester Marcus clearly takes after his mother with his aggressive and confrontational attitude.
204	* JerkassHasAPoint: It would have to be Mrs. Marcus who came up with the entirely sensible plan to simply split the money equally between everyone, so that it could get an ad hoc dismissal and we can have a movie. [[spoiler: Ironically, it's this very plan they're eventually forced to adopt -- but by that time the number of stakeholders doubled.]] She's also the one who, when everyone finally arrives at the park and are skulking and hiding from each other, calls everyone out into the open and rightly points out that they can't sneak about and search for the money simultaneously; they need to work together.
205	* JustKeepDriving: All the way to Santa Rosita.
206	* KickTheDog: The nameless motorist (Creator/JerryLewis) who deliberately runs over Culpeper's hat after he accidentally throws it into the street, and then laughs about it.
207	** Meyer does it to Pike soon after they meet, when he tells Pike he can come with him, but then tricks Pike into moving the bike out of the road, and just as Pike throws it away, Meyer drives off.
208	* KickTheSonOfABitch: Russell and Hawthorne grabbing Mrs. Marcus upside down and shaking her to get Hawthorne's keys back.
209	* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: A nonheroic example from an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist. Mrs. Marcus attacks Russell and Hawthorne after they attacked her for the keys.
210	* KungShui: Pike versus the gas station attendants. Pike wins. The gas station loses.
211	* {{Leitmotif}}: Ernest Gold's score features several, most notably for the Jonathan Winters and Phil Silvers characters.
212	* LaserGuidedKarma: Otto Meyer spends much of his time tricking and lying to various characters, but he receives a little comeuppance when he's directed by a boy into a river, losing his car in the process.
213	** This could pretty much apply to most if not ''all'' of the main characters in the movie. After hours of scamming, tricking, manipulating, and passing around the IdiotBall due to greed, [[spoiler:They end up losing ''all'' of the money entirely. They do get a cozy spot in the hospital, though]].
214	* LawmanGoneBad: A prime example is Captain Culpeper. At first, he intends to confiscate the stolen money and presumably return it to its rightful owners, but after being buried under an ever-increasing mountain of bad news from his home life and regarding his police pension (or lack thereof), he devises ASimplePlan to get the dough for himself and skip on down to Mexico for his "retirement".
215	* LaymansTerms: Colonel Wilberforce's attempt to speak in these was [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by '''[[TheDitz Benjy]]''' of all people:
216	-->'''Colonel Wilberforce''': Now, the stick that you're holding, that is, I assume that... ({{Beat}}) Men, are you holding that stick? IS SOMEBODY HOLDING THAT STICK?! OVER!
217	-->'''Benjy''': What stick? Oh, the wheel! I'm holding it.
218	--> '''Dingy''': We're '''both''' holding it!
219	* LegFocus: Monica Crump's legs are accentuated with the dress rip she gets early in the movie.
220	* LikeFatherLikeSon: As Mrs Marcus's plan to get Sylvester to get the money badly backfires, she has a moment of TranquilFury, then points at Emmeline and shouts, "Exactly like your father! A big, stupid, muscle-headed moron!"
221	* LiteralMetaphor: At the beginning when Smiler Grogan dies, his leg spasms - and kicks a bucket.
222	* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: BookEnds in the film, early on by Monica and near the end by Emmeline, although both quickly recover them. Also, [[RunningGag any time Mrs. Marcus falls over.]]
223	* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney: The characters spend much of the early part of the movie gradually progressing from "let's be reasonable" to "screw it, every man for himself" regarding the location of a cache they discover in the opening minutes.
224	* MacGuffinLocation: The Big W in Santa Rosita State Park.
225	* MaleGaze: As Schwartz walks by, several of her male coworkers openly leer at her shapely buttocks.
226	* MetaphoricallyTrue: [[spoiler: When Culpeper calls in that he has the briefcase of money, he tells the other police he will need another moment to sort out the situation on his own "because there was a joker in the deck that nobody knew about." What he doesn't tell them is that he is the joker and is buying himself time to flee with the briefcase.]]
227	* TheMillstone: Mrs. Marcus' verbal and emotional abuse and shutting down every single reasonable suggestion (apart from her sensible suggestion to give an equal share to everybody) makes the situation worse. Particularly [[spoiler: during the final car chase, one of the Taxi drivers realizes that Culpeper's heading for the border and all they have to do is pull over and call the police. Mrs. Marcus quickly shuts him down. Had they simply done that, they probably would've avoided the final climatic mess.]]
228	* MissedHimByThatMuch: After leaving Emmeline and Mrs Marcus, Russell and Hawthorne decide to go back to try and find them. As they pull out of the gas station, the van Pike stole from Ray and Irwin's garage, which has Emmeline and Mrs Marcus in it, pulls into the very space Russell and Hawthorne just vacated.
229	* MommasBoy: Sylvester.
230	* MsFanservice: Monica Crump, as well as Sylvester's [[TheStoic incredibly straight-faced]], bikini-clad, go-go dancing lady friend. And the police secretary, Schwartz.
231	* MurphysBed: During the climactic fire engine ladder sequence, Meyer (Phil Silvers) is catapulted from the ladder through a window onto a Murphy bed, which promptly folds back into the wall.
232	* MyBelovedSmother: Sylvester's devotion to his mother is borderline Oedipal.
233	[[/folder]]
234
235	[[folder:Tropes N-Z]]
236	* NeverMyFault: Even though all the main characters are to blame for everything that went wrong prior to the climax, after all the men wind up in the hospital all the blame is put on Culpeper alone for his part in taking the money for himself. See WhatTheHellHero below for details.
237	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Culpeper wants his pension increased so he can go on a holiday to Hawaii with his wife, Ginger. Their daughter, Billie Sue, wanted them to meet her new boyfriend, Oscar, but then told him her parents were going away to Hawaii. This resulted in an argument between the two that saw them break up and caused Billie Sue to angrily decide that not only did she not want to talk to Culpeper again, but she also wanted to leave home. The scene right before the intermission shows Culpeper sitting in shock with Ginger blaming him for the whole thing, with Billie Sue sobbing in the background.
238	** [[spoiler: If Culpeper didn't try to elope with the money, he would see his pension trebled and himself retired with honor...]]
239	* NiceJobBreakingItRivals: Towards the end, the men who were after the $350,000 fight over the money while on an unstable fire escape. The suitcase opens accidentally, the money spills onto the streets, and the men fall from the fire escape and get injured.
240	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Otto's a {{Jerkass}} throughout most of the movie, yet his biggest setback only happens because he let a random guy hitch a ride to deliver medicine to his wife. The man lives at the end of a very rough and very steep jeep trail, and once Otto's driven in, he can't get his car back out. In frustration, he tries to ford a nearby river, under assurance that it isn't that deep - it is.
241	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: After Meyer [[KickTheDog leaves him by the side of the road]], Pike catches up to him at Ray and Irwin's garage and subjects him to one of these before being knocked out with a TapOnTheHead.
242	* NoIndoorVoice: MRS. MARCUS! SHE IS ALWAYS YELLING AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE!!!
243	* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: The suitcase containing the $350,000 gets accidentally opened and the money falls into the streets below, resulting in it getting snatched up almost entirely by random bystanders. The main characters themselves all end up in the hospital, none of them having procured one cent of the money.
244	* NoNameGiven: We don't find out the names of the two cab drivers, the sheriff, or the Crump's pilot.
245	* NoRulesRacing: Whole plot of the movie - the police are astonished at the running tally of felonies and misdemeanors the racers rack up on their way to the money.
246	* NoodleIncident: What "Smiler" Grogan did to his Aunt Belle is left unexplained. We only know that he claims he didn't mean to do it, and he was desperate for her to tell him it didn't make any difference.
247	* NotSoAboveItAll: Captain Culpeper.
248	** Emmeline didn't want anything to do with the money from the very beginning. Yet, when she independently realizes where the money is hidden in the park, even she is not immune to fantasizing what she might do with it.
249	* ObliviousToHints: The morons actually walk THROUGH the "Big W" at one point.
250	* ObnoxiousInLaws: Russell Finch is hounded by his harridan mother-in-law Mrs. Marcus and hipster-doofus brother-in-law Sylvester. In all fairness, his own wife, faced with the opportunity, shows a desire to flee them all.
251	* OfCorsetsFunny: Mrs. Marcus takes a few undignified pratfalls, exposing her foundation garments.
252	** This was a JustifiedTrope in 1963 when it was considered proper for women and girls in First World societies to wear foundation garments, no matter their weight or build.
253	* OffhandBackhand: An inverted one occurs offscreen during the fight between Russell and Hawthorne, when Russell hit Hawthorne when Hawthorne wasn't looking. Hawthorne remarks he won't ever forget it.
254	* OhCrap:
255	** Meyer when, after having left Pike at the side of the road, Pike catches up to him at Ray and Irwin's garage.
256	** Monica when she and Melville are locked in the hardware store basement.
257	** Ding gets one when Fitzgerald falls in the plane and is knocked out. "It's making me-- TapOnTheHead --NERVOUS!"
258	** Monica and Melville when the steps in the hardware store catch fire while they're standing on them.
259	** Dingy and Benjy both get one just before flying the plane through a Coca-Cola billboard.
260	** MassOhCrap: They all get one when find the buried money in Santa Rosita Park and Captain Culpeper identifies himself as a police officer after acknowledging Otto Meyer and Lennie Pike by name.
261	*** The looks on all the faces as they watch [[spoiler: all the bills scatter to the wind]] is absolutely ''priceless.''
262	* OhCrapSmile: Monica flashes a quick one when she emerges from the explosion from the hardware store.
263	* OhNoNotAgain: Captain Culpeper, in frustration,flings his hat out the window of his office instead of onto the hatrack he was aiming for, forcing a deputy to have to run outside and get it; while running out, he turns to the secretary and says "He did it again."
264	* OnlyOneName: We don't find out the first names of Culpeper, Mrs. Marcus, Colonel Wilberforce, Matthews or Schwartz. We do see Culpeper's initials on his office door, but we don't find out his first name, even from his wife.
265	* OnlySaneWoman: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Being the film it is]], one can only speak of relative sanity, but Emmeline Marcus-Finch could probably qualify. Which makes her little talk with Capt. Culpeper surprisingly sad:
266	-->''(intercut with the rest of the cast arguing)'' \
267	'''Emmeline:''' Who are you? Are you with the others, the ones that are looking? \
268	'''Culpeper:''' I am, in a way. Aren't you? \
269	'''Emmeline:''' No. I mean, I didn't want anything to do with it right from the start. And you know what? I know where it is. I'm the only one, and I wasn't even looking.\
270	'''Culpeper:''' You know where it is? \
271	'''Emmeline:''' Yes! What should I do? If you help dig it up, you can have half and I'll have half. Is that okay? I mean, is that fair? If I have half of the money... I can go away somewhere where nobody can find me. Not Russell or my mother or Sylvester, anybody. You don't know what that'd mean. And you know what? If I had enough money... I might be able to live in a convent or something. \
272	'''Culpeper:''' I'm sorry, Mrs. Finch. I'm afraid it's too late. I think they've found it.\
273	'''Emmeline:''' It was a nice dream. Lasted almost five minutes.
274	** Her notion of needing a whole fortune to enter a convent (this in 1960s America, not in European Middle Ages) probably establishes her as just a more sympathetic kind of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
275	* PassThePopcorn: How the police treat TheBigRace.
276	--> '''Sheriff's Deputy, observing the crash between Sylvester, Russell, and Hawthorne:''' I've never seen anything like this bunch! He ran right into them! He ran them right off the road!
277	* PetTheDog: Three of these from Meyer.
278	** After Ray and Irwin sort out Meyer's car after he suffers a blowout, he tells them they did a good job and gives them some extra money so they can have a drink on him. Moments later, he has an OhCrap when Pike catches up to him.
279	** Meyer picks up a man so he can deliver medicine to his wife. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished It ends up costing him dearly when he gets lost and loses his car to a river afterwards.]]
280	** Meyer gets another one later when he congratulates Pike for finding the big W and says Pike should receive an extra share of the money. (Admittedly, this last one may be an attempt to keep Pike from going berserk on him.)
281	* [[CarMeetsHouse Plane Meets Restaurant]]: When Ding and Benjy finally manage to land Fitzgerald's plane, this happens when the plane comes to a stop.
282	* PieInTheFace: Sylvester Marcus falls from a tree, and slides the length of a long (and loaded) picnic buffet table, ending with a faceplant on a cake.
283	* PlotSensitiveLatch: At the end the suitcase carrying the money pops open, [[spoiler:dumping the cash into a crowd of people. Justified as it's been buried for years, and could have weakened due to exposure and water damage.]]
284	* PlotTriggeringDeath: Smiler Grogan's "kicking the bucket" definitely counts.
285	* PoliceAreUseless: [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] The people racing for the money commit a veritable cavalcade of crimes over the course of their trip to Santa Rosita, most of them in full view of the cops who let them get away with ''everything'', supposedly for the sake of closing the Smiler Grogan Case, but really because the [[PassThePopcorn they want to see who wins the race,]] with the uniform sergeant giving the reason that if they helped one of them, they'd have to help the others, so they remain neutral to keep it fair for everyone involved. [[spoiler: And Culpeper wants to steal the money.]]
286	** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by none other than the future [[Series/{{Columbo}} Columbo]]: "The cops in this town are morons, retarded. I'm dealing with moronic people."
287	* PowderTrail: This is one of the many methods by which the Crumps attempt to escape from the hardware-store basement in which they have been accidentally locked. [[spoiler:It works, but not before it triggers some nearly FatalFireworks...]]
288	* ProductPlacement: Lots of it for Coca-Cola, including a billboard asking to pause for a Coke, 30 seconds before the intermission. Also the Chrysler Corporation; see EverybodyOwnsAFord on the Trivia page.
289	* PunchParry: Russell and Hawthorne do this when they get into a scuffle. In a note of realism, it clearly hurts a lot.
290	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: When Sylvester catches up to Russell and Hawthorne in their rented Chevrolet, he starts ramming them and at one point he shouts, "I - SAID - STOP - THAT - CAR!"
291	* PyrrhicVictory: Captain Culpeper, who was almost set to receive a triple pension which Chief Aloysius blackmailed the mayor into granting, ends up forfeiting the pension, his wife divorces him, and his daughter moves away from home and changes her name, gets chewed out by all the other treasure hunters for getting greedy:
292	-->'''Otto Meyer''': I wish I knew what they're going to do to us. But no matter what happens to us... [''turns to Culpeper''] ...what happens to you, I hope will be worse!\
293	'''Culpeper''': I don't think you have to worry too much about that. [[HumiliationConga My wife is divorcing me, my mother-in-law is suing me for damages, my daughter is applying to the courts to have her name changed, my pension has been revoked.]] And the only reason that you 10 idiots will very ''likely'' get off ''lightly'', is because the judge will have me up there to throw the book at!
294	* RageAgainstTheHeavens: As Otto prepares to try to drive across a river that's clearly too deep for his car, he looks heavenward and screams "Why? WHY?"
295	* RampJump: It begins with Smiler careening along a mountain highway in a '57 Ford and then just... sailing out there. Didn't land well.
296	* RayOfHopeEnding: The movie ends with the male characters ending up in the hospital. Captain Culpeper concludes:
297	-->"I'd like to think that sometime, maybe 10 or 20 years from now, there will be something that I could laugh at, anything."\
298	''Cue [[ItMakesSenseInContext a round of deafening laughter]] from everybody, including Culpeper, when Mrs. Marcus slips on a banana peel and gets taken away.''
299	* RealTime: The film manages to juggle this, all while following multiple groups of people and several different sub-plots all at once. Though the film is infamous for having several different cuts, the most recent [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection Criterion]] release clocks in at just over 3 hours and 17 minutes, a realistic length of time it would take to travel the 125 miles from Palm Springs to the Portuguese Bend (especially considering all the constant delays each character ends up having to deal with).
300	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Hawthorne delivers one to the entire [[EagleLand country]], mainly with critical emphasis towards American men for allowing women to emasculate them and having a [[AllMenArePerverts "preoccupation with bosoms"]]. He thinks they're [[{{Eagleland}} America, the Boorish.]]
301	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Ernie Kovacs was going to play Melville Crump (alongside his real-life wife Edie Adams), but he was killed in a car accident before filming. Sid Caesar fills in.
302	* RedOniBlueOni: The Crumps: Melville (red) and Monica (blue, with a dress to match).
303	** Also Dingy Bell (very red, and wears a red sweater) and Benjy Benjamin (somewhat blue, and wears a light blue shirt).
304	** As siblings, Sylvester is the red to Emmeline's blue. Sylvester even wears red shorts (short pants) and drives a red Dodge convertible.
305	* {{Recut}}: The film ran a whopping 210 minutes in its original preview cut. This was trimmed down, in succession, to 192 minutes (for its world premiere at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome), 161 minutes (for its 70mm "roadshow" presentation in select theaters), and 154 minutes (for general theatrical release). The last cut cut is the standard version for home video, although a partially-restored 182-minute "special edition" was made for laserdisc and VHS in the early '90s and occasionally airs on Creator/TurnerClassicMovies. Creator/TheCriterionCollection released a DVD/Blu-ray set including the general release cut ''and'' a restored, 197-minute cut in January 2014.
306	* RightBehindMe: After Pike spots Meyer at the park and starts chasing him, this trope happens when Pike stops dead as he realises where the big W is. Cue him turning around and seeing it.
307	* RuleOfFunny: The movie runs on it.
308	* RunningGag: Russell Finch gobbles up antacids like candy, especially when he's nervous.
309	* SayMyName: Mrs Marcus shouts "Sylvester!" during her EurekaMoment, causing Hawthorne to go off the road briefly, and damaging one of the wagon's wheels.
310	** Ding [[OhCrap screams "BENJY!"]] before the plane they're both in flies through a billboard.
311	** Sylvester does this when he sees Russell and Hawthorne pass him in their rented Chevrolet. He shouts, "Hey, Russell! RUSSELL!" upon recognising him, and turns around so he can follow them.
312	** Russell shouts "Emmeline!" at the end before dropping through part of a building's roof. Sylvester does the same thing seconds later, "shouting "Mama!" before he falls and slides along a table.
313	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Culpeper tries to do this to the country by stealing the money for himself and attempting to flee to Mexico with it.]]
314	* ShakeSomeoneObjectsFall: The keys out of Mrs. Marcus.
315	* SharpDressedMan: Culpeper, Melville Crump (although he gets CoveredInGunge in the hardware store), and Meyer.
316	* ShortCutsMakeLongDelays: Just ask the Crumps.
317	* SideBet: Culpeper and Chief Aloysius make one early on regarding the direction the chase will take. Later it's implied that the rest of the department have been picking out favorites to win among the treasure hunters.
318	* ASimplePlan
319	** Mrs. Marcus is tossed around and abused more than anyone -- but it's not like she doesn't deserve it.
320	* StairwellChase: Near the end, the citizens are chasing [[PursuedProtagonist Culpeper]] up the stairs, and this shot is used.
321	* StealingFromThieves: This trope plays into Captain Culpeper's motivation: steal the money out from under a bunch of marauding treasure-seeking idiots, then cross the border into Mexico to live out retirement in comfort. [[ASimplePlan Simple, right?]] [[HilarityEnsues Not in this movie]].
322	* TheStoic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejDx-zn7M5Y That chick Sylvester dances with]] is probably as close to a dancing robot as is humanly possible. Made particularly funny since her deadpan expression is coupled with frenetic '60s go-go dancing.
323	* SureLetsGoWithThat: Col. Wilberforce is trying to talk Benjy and Dingy through landing a plane. Then he realizes he can't remember where the brakes are:
324	-->'''Wilberforce:''' "On second thought men, you won't need the brakes."
325	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: After their death-defying stunt on the fire ladder, which seemingly only causes AmusingInjuries, all the men end up hospitalised and in excessive traction, lucky to be alive.
326	** Similarly, engaging in a wacky, slapstick-fueled car-chase in pursuit of stolen money involves breaking many, many laws, resulting in the whole cast facing criminal charges for reckless driving, assault, destruction of property, and so on.
327	* {{Tagline}}: "Everybody who's ever been funny is in it!"
328	** In footage included in a "Making Of" video for the DVD, director Creator/StanleyKramer recalled that any time Creator/DonRickles happened to be in the audience of an event he was speaking at live he would heckle Kramer with something to the effect of "Why wasn't I in 'Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'?" With a tagline like that, its kinda hard to blame him.
329	* TakeThat: J. Algernon Hawthorne delivers a massive one of these to American society, specifically how women have become the more dominant gender:
330	-->'''Hawthorne''': I must say, if I had the grievous misfortune to be a citizen of this benighted country, I should be the most hesitant at offering any criticism whatever of any other.\
331	'''Finch''': Wait a minute, are you knocking this country? Are you saying something against America?\
332	'''Hawthorne''': Against it? I should be positively astounded to hear of anything that could be said ''for'' it! Why, the whole bloody place is the most unspeakable matriarchy in the whole history of civilization! Look at yourself, and the way your wife and her strumpet of a mother push you through the hoop! As far as I can see, American men have been totally emasculated. They're like slaves! They die like flies from coronary thrombosis, while their women sit under hairdryers, eating chocolates and arranging for every second Tuesday to be some sort of Mother's Day! And this positively ''infantile'' preoccupation with ''bosoms.'' In all my time in this wretched, godforsaken country, the one thing that has appalled me most of all is this preposterous preoccupation with bosoms! Don't you realize they have become the dominant theme in American culture? In literature, advertising and all fields of entertainment and everything. I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!
333	* TapOnTheHead: Pike's NoHoldsBarredBeatdown is ended when he's hit on the head with a bottle.
334	** Ray and Irwin try to do this to Pike again with two successive bottles, but this time, it doesn't work. It just makes him angrier.
335	** Fitzgerald is knocked out with one of these and remains unconscious for the rest of the film.
336	* TheTaxi: Two of them, driven by ThoseTwoGuys the cabbies.
337	* TemptingFate: Mrs Marcus's line, "Nobody going to get me up in the air." Guess what happens when Pike crashes into the back of their car right after she says that?
338	** Fitzgerald telling Ding and Benjy to take the controls of his plane so he can make more drinks for himself. Less than a minute later, the plane wildly moving about causes him to fall and hit his head, knocking him out, and is out cold for the remainder of his screen time.
339	* ThoseTwoGuys: Dingy Bell and Benjy Benjamin. Also, Ray and Irwin, the two nerdy-looking garage attendants who inadvertently invoked the wrath of Lennie. And at the end, the two cabbie drivers.
340	* ThreeStoogesShoutOut: During their PunchParry, Russell gives Algernon an eyepoke. It may be the only film that features both that and the TropeNamer!
341	* ThrowABarrelAtIt: While the two garage attendants are fighting the truck driver Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters), on two separate occasions one of the attendants throws an empty barrel at Pike.
342	* TooDumbToLive: Fitzgerald tells Ding and Benjy, who have ''no flying experience at all'', to take the controls of his plane so he can make more drinks for himself. Less than a minute later, he's knocked out and remains so for the rest of the film.
343	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer gives away that [[spoiler:the money is lost to the crowd watching them fight over it]].
344	* TranquilFury: Mrs. Marcus slips into this when things go ''really'' bad for her.
345	* TreasureMap: Grogan's last words.
346	* TwoLinesNoWaiting: With new lines being added throughout.
347	* UnstoppableRage: Don't make Pike angry. You won't like him when he's angry.
348	** He ... ''kills'' ... a '''''garage'''''. And when we say "kill", you should read it as '''he leaves no standing structure left whatsoever'''.
349	** Sylvester nearly goes mad with rage when he believes Russell and Hawthorne may have raped his mother.
350	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Mrs. Marcus wants to make sure the menfolk don't lay their hands on those keys.
351	** Subversion: They get the keys anyway by shaking her upside down until they fall out. Bravo, Ethel Merman.
352	* VisualPun: Smiler kicks a bucket as a sign that he's "kicked the bucket."
353	* TheVoice: Culpeper's wife, voiced by Selma Diamond (of later ''Series/NightCourt'' fame). His daughter Billie Sue is one of these as well.
354	* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: See ComicallyMissingThePoint and TemptingFate examples above.
355	* WhatTheHellHero: In this case, it's rather "What the Hell, FallenHero?": When all the men end up hospitalized after losing the money, Culpeper -- who didn't even plan to take the money for himself until much later -- is alone held responsible for the whole thing.
356	-->'''Benjy:''' It's all your fault, all your fault from beginning to end! \
357	'''Col. Hawthorne:''' You know, even for a policeman, your behavior was ruddy outrageous! \
358	'''Sylvester:''' You could have taken a fair share like the rest of us, but no! [[NiceJobBreakingItHero You just had to go and grab up the whole scene, baby]].
359	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Monica when Melville resorts to using dynamite to get out of the hardware store basement, as she hates explosions. The fuse also unexpectedly sets off some fireworks.
360	* WimpFight: Most of them, particularly the one between Russell and Hawthorne, where they take turns running away from each other, and hurt themselves almost every time they actually exchange blows.
361	* WorldGoneMad: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
362	* WoundedGazelleGambit: Downplayed. When an angry Pike catches up with Otto at the gas station and becomes belligerent towards him, the latter attempts to pull this against the former. Otto falsely claims to the gas attendants that he is a psychiatrist, and then he manipulates them into subduing his attacker by claiming that Pike is a mentally deranged patient who has just escaped from an asylum, using that as explanation for his violent behavior. Granted, Pike DOES intend to do bodily harm to Otto, but only because he double crossed him earlier by leaving him stranded on the side of the road.
363	* WorldOfHam: Given it's a WorldGoneMad, everyone's exaggerated too.
364	* XMarksTheSpot: Or a 'W' in this case.
365	* YouExclamation: An angry Pike towards Meyer when he catches up to him at Ray and Irwin's garage after Meyer left him behind in the middle of the road. Cue an OhCrap from Meyer.
366	* YouGetMeCoffee: At one point Culpeper's assistant says this to his secretary, Schwartz... leading to a DistractedByTheSexy moment as he and the other cops admire the nubile young woman's egress.
367	* YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: Melville promises to show the others.
368	* YouSquared: Pike and Mrs. Marcus when she ends up trying to bum a ride from him.
369	[[/folder]]
370	----
371	-->''"I've said it before and I'll say it again -- ''I'' didn't want to move to California!"''

Context Film / ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld