OK for kids 8+
It's a long, long, long, long classic comedy chase-epic.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that drinking (in the case of one character, comical nonstop drunkenness) and smoking are fairly common. There is an abundance of slapstick roughhousing, reckless driving, and cartoonish violence, with most of the cast ... in a cast by the end. A few minor off-color verbal jokes -- one is so sneaky you wonder if censors even noticed it. Main characters are driven by all-consuming greed, with only one showing conscience and disgust for the corrupting influence of the treasure hunt. You need to watch this in widescreen to get the panoramic scope of the comedy, not a full-screen cropped version. And be prepared for a long sitting.
- Families can talk about the corrosive effects of avarice. It's more absurd now because the $300,000 involved -- these days -- is rather small for all the havoc it inspires. The ending of the movie seems to suggest something about the healing power of laughter (though a classic movie called Sullivan's Travels did it rather more successfully). What modern-day TV contests does this movie remind you of?