SCAVENGER HUNT
US, 1979, 112 minutes, Colour.
Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon,
Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy Mc Dowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony Randall, Dirk Benedict, Willie Aames, Stephanie Faracy, Stephen Furst, Richard Masur, Meat Loaf, Pat Mc Cormick, Vincent Price, Avery Schreiber, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Directed by Michael Schultz.
Scavenger Hunt is typically broad American humour - unsubtle, slapstick farce - that tends to grate almost as often as it entertains. This hunt is a reworking of the Mad Mad World story, an odd motley star group (including Cloris Leachman screeching, Richard Benjamin bullying and Tony Randall mercifully quiet) after an inheritance, a scavenger hunt, very few holds barred. The tone is loud and breezy and there are some undemandingly funny situations and routines. The theme is greed and reminds us just how ugly greed makes ordinary people. However, without giving any thing away, the end makes the right people win. Director Michael Schultz (Cooley High, Car Wash) is becoming a cult director popular with critics who like small budget genre Americana.
1. The popularity of American comedy? Its particular characteristics? Broad Amerlcan humour,, the comic styles of the comedians - and their influence in the characters, styles and situations in this film? The success of broad farcical comedy in the United States? How well does it translate to overseas audiences?
2. The stars of this film and their popularity, especially from television series? How well were they used? Relying on their television impact? Their own particular manners and presentation? How well did they combine for humour?
3. The precedence of Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad Mad Mad World? The quest for money, the extravagant behaviour. the comic and farcical situations on a large scale? The variety of types?
4. The satirical presentation of human nature - in its uglier forms? Greed and its presentation,, its ugliness? The moral of the story about human greed? For the setting of the tone during the credits - Vincent Price as Milton Parker dying, the irony of his playing games and his death? The place of the nurse and her reaction? - Hints of bad taste and broad humour? The stressing of the obvious?
5. The basis of the scavenger hunt - its popularity: oddness, irresponsibility., encouragement of greedy behaviour? The ugliness of competitiveness?
6. The presence of Robert Morley and his reading of the will? His supervision of the scavenger hunt - his calm with the assistant watching the results? His entering into the frantic atmosphere at the end as the build-up mounted for who should win?
7. The contribution of editing, pace, colour photography in Los Angeles, the variety of settings, the chases? The interaction of the characters? The interaction of the developments of each team for the hunt? The cumulative zany effect?
8. Milton Parker's sister, nephew and the avaricious lawyer? Cloris Leachman and her screeching style.. the caricature of the greedy sister - her grief, determination, her pushing of the group, her mollycoddling of her son and then her exasperation with him? Her pushing of the lawyer? Georgie as the embodiment of the mother's boy? Richard Benjamin and his style as the lawyer? The particular sequences illustrating their greed - the long sequence with getting the safe out of the building, stealing the Indian's false teeth and his pursuing, stealing everybody else's goods? The abandonment of the stepdaughter at the beginning? The villains of the film?
9. Milton Parker's two nephews - genial young men, taking on the stepdaughter in their team? Their calm approach yet their hurrying and becoming involved, the humour of the sequences with the fat boy and his continued eating? Their dumping him and getting the fat lady? The various episodes in which they were involved?
10. Parker's staff and their becoming a team: Roddy McDowall's dapper butler, James Coco's French chef and his moodiness, Stephanie Faracy and the impersonation of the silly French mid, Cleavon Little as the black butler? The parallelling of their behaviour on silent film styles? Their interaction with each other? The long sequence of getting the toilet from the fashionable hotel, the microscope and the laboratory sequence?
11. Tony Randall as the son-in-law and his disrespectful children, their final decision to work as a team? The mishaps for the father?
12. Marvin and his stupidity - his place in the scavenger hunt, the sequences of his being run over, his befriending of the guard in the shop after his having to get dressed in bridal clothes, his stealing the suit of armour and his dressing as the mummy and scaring people?
13. The incidental characters - Ruth Gordon as the Senior Citizens' Defense League President with the firearms and the weapons, the carnival operator, the zealous gym instructor (Arnold Schwarzenegger, the famous muscleman), the football coach, the fortune teller, the zoo keeper and his behaviour with the disappearing of the ostriches, the biker chieftain and his bashing of the lawyer, the Hell's Angels and the San Diego Chargers? The obese people, the policeman who loses his uniform after the episode with the laughing gas? Their contribution to the comedy?
14. The build-up to the frantic finale, the time running out, the villains and the others then combining, the guard in the armour and the his split-second falling into the combined effort of all against Cloris Leachman? The appropriateness of the villains losing out and everybody else getting the money?
15. What was the audience left with at the end - a humorous comedy, a satirical look at human nature?
