!Main Characters

!!Capt. T. G. Culpeper
->Portrayed by: Creator/SpencerTracy
A Santa Rosita police captain who has been tracking "Smiler" Grogan for years. When he finds out about the chase, he intends to confiscate the money and have it returned to the proper authorities, hoping to retire soon after. Unfortunately, his lack of an increased pension and a disastrous home life take their toll on him, forcing him to come up with his own plans for the money.
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* AntiVillain: His straight-edge efforts seemingly not paying off drives him to steal the briefcase of money for himself instead.
* BigBad: In the sense that he'll intercept the winner. [[spoiler: Played straight in the end.]]
* BigScrewedUpFamily: His wife and daughter.
* CoolOldGuy: Affable enough to blend in with the main characters without anyone pressing him on his presence until it's too late.
* FaceHeelTurn
* FallenHero: At the end.
* HenpeckedHusband: He is often being belittled by his wife on the phone. [[spoiler: This leads to his Face Heel Turn.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Only played straight in the first and second acts, [[spoiler: subverted in the last act]].
* LawmanGoneBad: Becomes this in the climax.
* OnlySaneMan: [[spoiler:Subverted]]
* {{Retirony}}: Of sorts. [[spoiler:While he doesn't die, he's certainly not going to enjoy his retired life.]]
* [[spoiler: SanitySlippage: The stress of his BigScrewedUpFamily is what led to this FaceHeelTurn, to a point he starts to show signs of a mental breakdown by telling his colleagues about having an ice cream sundae.]]
* TemptingFate: All of his comments on how everything will go right for him today. [[spoiler:By the end of the day, he loses his job, pension, and family.]]
* TheScapegoat: [[spoiler:He makes clear as he laments how bad things have gotten for him that he expects the judge to throw the book at him for the whole mess and leave the rest of the cast alone]].
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler:His home life collapses all around him and political forces screw him out of a proper pension, so he decides to steal the money for himself and flee to Mexico, causing him to lose everything. The audience gets to hear Al call him on the radio to tell him his efforts to get his pension raised have worked, and he will get everything he asked for. Culpepper never hears this, as he was away from his car stealing the money already.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: His character can't be discussed fully without giving away a big twist in the ending.

!!Melville Crump
->Portrayed by: Creator/SidCaesar
A dentist who was originally travelling on a second honeymoon with his wife before joining the chase. He initially wanted to divvy the money equally between himself and the others, but was forced into the "every man for himself" mentality when the others shot him down.
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%%* ButtMonkey
* CoveredInGunge: He winds up getting covered with paint while in the hardware store.
* StraightMan: Melville acted this way when trying to divvy up the money between himself and the others, before negotiations broke down.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Melville Crump, destroyer of a hardware store basement and the adjoining part of a laundromat.

!!Monica Crump
->Portrayed by: Creator/EdieAdams
Melville's devoted wife, who sticks by her husband in spite of the madness that unfurls during the chase, regardless of how many factors of it she hates.
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* ClothingDamage: She rips her dress while boarding (and then unboarding) the rickety biplane.
* CoveredInGunge: Not as much as her husband, but...
* MsFanservice
* OnlySaneWoman: Even after the mishaps with the biplane and being trapped in the hardware store, she still manages to keep her composure.
* ScreamingWoman: Whenever Melville was in danger.

!!J. Russell Finch
->Portrayed by: Creator/MiltonBerle
The head of an edible seaweed company who was planning to take his wife and her mother to Lake Mead for a vacation before entering the race for the money. He doesn't have much in terms of a spine, usually being belittled by his shrewish mother-in-law.
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* ButtMonkey: He is often being belittled by his mother-in-law.
* ExtremeDoormat: He's so desperate for consensus that he chimes in with agreement to every other person's method for splitting the money as it's proposed.
* HenpeckedHusband: Although his mother-in-law does most of the henpecking and his wife just takes her side against him. Hawthorne lampshades this in his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about America in which he claims that American men have been emasculated by their wives and mothers.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: He is the head of an edible seaweed company.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He [[BerserkButton openly insults Britain in front of Col. Hawthorne]], but finds it unthinkable when Hawthorne says one critical word against America.
* RageBreakingPoint: When his mother-in-law tests his limits by taking Col. Hawthorne's keys and dropping them between her breasts, he and the Col. ''[[NotHyperbole literally]]'' shake her down to get them back.
* [[WouldHitAGirl Would Hit a Woman]]: Downplayed with Russell, who thinks Mrs. Marcus is being unreasonable when she stuffs the keys down her blouse, until he loses his cool and starts assaulting her, telling Emmeline afterwards that he didn't really want to do it, because he believed his mother-in-law was acting unreasonably.

!!Emmeline Marcus-Finch
->Portrayed by: Dorothy Provine
Russel's wife, who acts as a voice-of-reason throughout the chase, which she never wanted anything to do with. She's usually told by the people around her to shut up when she tries speaking her mind.
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* ButtMonkey: Any time she tries to speak up, expect her to be ignored or told to shut up.
%%* DeadpanSnarker
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Exaggerated. By the final act, she really is sick and tired of everybody else within her family and, being the first to figure out what the "big 'W'" clue means, tries to tell Culpeper in exchange for half the money so she can get the hell away from them right now. When everybody else figures out the clue and start to march to where they are, she has only this to say, in a very sad tone of voice:
-->It was a nice dream [to escape her family]. Lasted almost five minutes.
* OnlySaneWoman: Keep in mind that she was the only one who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the whole search. However, her notion of needing a whole fortune to enter a convent probably establishes her as just a more sympathetic kind of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
%%* {{Tsundere}}

!!Mrs. Marcus
->Portrayed by: Creator/EthelMerman
Emmeline's mother, a loathsome, loudmouthed shrew who is prone to lashing out at people who anger her by way of smacking them with her purse.
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* TheChessmaster: When she, Emmeline and Russell are joined by Hawthorne, she stuffs the keys in her dress. Later on, she blackmails Lennie into taking her and Emmeline along for a ride, and Sylvester arrives on the scene when she calls him and he thinks it's an emergency.
* ControlFreak: Always tells Russell what to do and explains why he's wrong about everything.
* EvilMatriarch: A classic stereotypical mother-in-law.
* HandbagOfHurt: Mrs. Marcus has a habit of hitting other people with her purse when 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.
* HateSink: She's perpetually annoying and the cause of a few problems.
* {{Jerkass}}: Oscillates between calling people spineless and demanding that they do as she says.
** JerkassHasAPoint: She's the one that suggests simply splitting the $350,000, but if anybody listened to her, we wouldn't have had a movie.
*** Also no one could agree on a fair way to split the money. Some of them were there alone, while others were with a spouse or friend. So if it was per person, the Finches would get more, while if it was per car, the Finches would get less.
* LargeHam: Shouts loudly and dramatically.
* MotorMouth: She NEVER shuts up.
* [[MyBelovedSmother My Beloved Smother-In-Law]]
-->'''Mrs. Marcus:''' "Oh, Emmeline, shut up!"
-->'''Russell:''' "Mother..."
-->'''Mrs. Marcus:''' "And you too!"
* NoIndoorVoice: None whatsoever.
* NeverMyFault: She's quick to blame others for all the misfortunes, even ones that are technically her fault, without ever accepting any responsibility for her actions.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: They really don't come more obnoxious than her.
* PerpetualFrowner: Not once in the entire movie does she smile.
* SuddenlyShouting: Inverted. When Sylvester tells her he's coming for her and hangs up on her, she repeats to the others what he said in a quiet, neutral voice, then goes back to her usual hollering in a tirade about how he doesn't listen.

!!Lennie Pike
->Portrayed by: Creator/JonathanWinters
A trucker who works for a moving company that was supposed to deliver a load of furniture to Yuma before getting caught up in the chase. He demonstrates a large amount of physical strength, which he prefers to use instead of his words.
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* BerserkButton: Never, ever make Pike mad, or else he will threaten to kill you.
* TheBigGuy: He can take and dish out an awful lot of punishment.
* ButtMonkey: Has a tough time getting to the big W.
* DumbMuscle: Is better at fighting his way out of a situation than talking out of one.
* EurekaMoment: When they're in the park, Lennie finally notices the Big "W" is the crossed palm trees.
* HairTriggerTemper: Pike becomes really angry when he gets tricked by Meyer.
* HardHead: Breaking bottles over his head only makes him angry.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: He starts out this way, as he's horrified at the idea of tax cheating. Later on, not so much. He even had a selfless plan for the money if he found it, which was to do something nice for the old lady who owns the boarding house he lives in.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Most notably during the scene where everyone is scrambling back into the taxis after finding out that Culpepper double-crossed them.
* TranquilFury: After getting hit in the head by two bottles, he says "if that's the way you want it, that's the way you're going to get it." with a tone of only mild annoyance, then proceeds to demolish the two attackers and their whole store.
* UnstoppableRage: Takes down an entire gas station with his bare hands.

!!Dingy Bell
->Portrayed by: Creator/MickeyRooney
The best friend of Benjy, who was accompanying him on a road trip to Las Vegas before the chase began. He acts as the smart one between the duo, usually taking charge when something goes wrong.
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* CoolShades: He wears these at the beginning of the film
%%* DeadpanSnarker
* DopeSlap: Dingy did this a few times to Benjy.
* FatAndSkinny: The skinny to Benjy's fat.
* PunnyName
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Benjy.

!!Benjy Benjamin
->Portrayed by: Creator/BuddyHackett
The best friend of Dingy, who joined him in a road trip to Las Vegas. He's not quite the brightest bulb around, and has to constantly be reminded of what to do.
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* AlliterativeName: And the only one in the entire movie with one, oddly enough.
* TheDitz: Benjy manages to be the dimmest bulb in the entire film.
* CaptainObvious:
* CowardlySidekick
* FatAndSkinny: The fat to Dingy's skinny.
* FatIdiot
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Dingy

!!Otto Meyer
->Portrayed by: Creator/PhilSilvers
A slick con man who manages to trick several people with his silver tongue. He finds out about the money when Pike, who he meets on the side of the road, tells him about it, and he joins the chase to ensure that he gets all the cash to himself.
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* ConMan
* ConsummateLiar: Deceives Pike, and later the gas station attendants, to keep Pike away from the prize, and tries to trick everyone into giving him an extra share.
* {{Jerkass}}: Wants all the money to himself, and berates any confused strangers who slow him down.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Suffered after tricking Lennie, by having his car wrecked by Lennie, having a car falling into the river and getting thrown in a hole by Sylvester and Lennie when trying to get himself an extra share of the money after digging it up.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: He does this before he drives his car into the river.
* TheRival: To Pike
* SmugSnake

!!(Lt.) Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
->Portrayed by: Creator/TerryThomas
An officer of the English Army on holiday in the United States. He joins the treasure hunt when he gives Russel, Emmeline, and Mrs. Marcus a ride to Santa Rosita, but he and Russel quickly abandon the women to take the money themselves.
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* BerserkButton: Insulting England in front of him.
* BrakeAngrily: Hawthorne does this when Russell says something bad about England.
* BrutalHonesty: He gives a lengthy speech to Russell in regards to American men becoming henpecked milquetoasts who go out of their ways to pamper and please women.
* ButtMonkey
* DeadpanSnarker: His noteworthy moment is when he urges Russell to "press on with all possible dispatch":
-->'''Hawthorne''': I earnestly recommend we forget your good ladies, and press on with all possible dispatch.\\
'''Russell''' [''sarcastically'']: All right, we'll press on with all possible dispatch.\\
'''Hawthorne''': And I don't really think that personal rancor is going to help the situation.
* ExtremeDoormat: He takes ''a lot'' of verbal abuse from other characters before he finally loses his temper.
* FunnyForeigner
* GenreBlind: He's utterly confused at the idea that Mrs. Marcus might renege on her deal with him if she gets to the money first.
* IAmVeryBritish
* TheRival: To Russell, at first.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Has shades of this with Russell.

!!Sylvester Marcus
->Portrayed by: Creator/DickShawn
Mrs. Marcus and Emmeline's dim-witted son and brother, respectively, who works as a lifeguard in Santa Rosita. Mrs. Marcus calls him so he can look for the money for them, but a misunderstanding has him thinking that his devoted mother is in trouble, and he joins the chase in a pursuit to save her.
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* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Though he at first exclaims worriedly when his mother slips on a banana peel, even he can be seen laughing with the others.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny
* {{Beatnik}}: Talks like one, but he's kind of a proto-SurferDude.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Sylvester was more worried about the safety of his mother than actually joining in the search for the money.
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: At least from Mrs. Marcus's perspective; any time he opens his mouth to ask what's going wrong, she'll tell him to shut up because he should listen to what she's saying, instead of asking pointless questions.
* {{Determinator}}: He was really determined to find out what happened to his mother.
* TheDitz
* DumbMuscle
* LargeHam
* ManlyTears: Spends several scenes (and InUniverse hours) constantly crying as he drives like a bat out of hell to rescue his “mama".
* {{Manchild}}
* MommasBoy
* PsychopathicManChild: HE'S BUGGED NOW!
* TheSlacker

!!The Cabbies
-->Played by: Creator/PeterFalk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
The last people to join the chase. A pair of taxi drivers in Santa Rosita who end up driving Dingy, Benjy, and the Crumps to Santa Rosita State Park. Confused by their customers' behavior and the digging tools they were carrying at the time, the cabbies follow the others in the park, not so much to find the money, but more to find out what the source of the commotion is.
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* BadassDriver: Both of them are able to keep up with Culpepper's car in the final chase. While it looks more like an example of DrivesLikeCrazy, somehow neither of them hit any other cars (except each other a few times).
* DeadpanSnarker: The one played by ''Series/{{Columbo}}''.
* MotorMouth: The one played by Peter Falk.
* NoIndoorVoice: The one played by Peter Falk, as demonstrated during the chase to catch [[spoiler:Culpepper.]]
* NoNameGiven
* ThoseTwoGuys
* TheQuietOne: The one played by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson says about a handful of lines in his iconic voice.
* TokenMinority: The one played by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson is the only major black character throughout the whole film.
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