A poor man's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," This is a laugh riot of a film with many of the comedy stars of the 70s.

The Plot: Millionaire Milton Parker (Milton Bradley/ Parker Brothers) owner of a game manufacturing empire, expires, leave a sum of 200 million dollars to be awarded to the person or persons who can score the most points in a five hour scavenger hunt. The people to be included are his hated sister and her obnoxious son, her neglected step daughter; parker's inept son-in-law and his three kids. Two other cousins who are brothers, the family servants, and an idiotic taxi driver, who helped him keep his fortune by making his partner miss a vital business meeting. With various allies picked up along the way, the wacky crew spreads out seeking to follow the riddles to find the objects in question.

Starring Vincent Price, Robert Morley, Richard Benjamin, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowell and James Coco, among a cast of many more well known names (including a very young Arnold Schwartzenegger as the operator of a gym) The mayhem is soon at hand. Another star of the film is the city of San Diego, which is the background for much of the goings on. I can't say enough about how well this film holds up even after a score of viewings. Almost as much fun as taking part yourself.

Poor Vincent Price (or lucky if you consider that he's on and off screen in the first ten minutes) as the patriarch of a large and mostly greedy family whom he gets even with through his last will and testament where he organizes a test to decide legally which branch will inherit his estate. All the usual suspects of comedy, good and bad are there, and in spite of the many major names, not one of them is worthy of praise, just pity for finding anything remotely amusing in this script for one of the biggest fiasco comedies of the 1970's.

Such well respected actors like Richard Benjamin, Richard Mulligan, Cloris Leachman, Tony Randall, James Coco, Roddy McDowall and Robert Morley are among those who suffer through the bad material and cliched characters they are forced to play. Poor Avery Schrieber runs around like a lunatic whining over stolen ostriches. The bizarre things that they must steal just get worse and the efforts they go through to get them just give an indication of how low people will go. I've suffered through this several times over the years trying to find one truly funny thing, and the only benefit I found this third time was deciding to toss away the disc where no one can find it.

While not one of my favourite movies of all time, Scavenger Hunt is one that I do consider very underrated. The ending is predictable sure and some people may find some parts too on the cruel side. But the backdrop is lovely and it does look good still. While the story has a premise done a lot before and since and may feel thin to some, I personally found it never dull. If I were to compare it to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World(which I've seen a lot of people comparing it to),which I do like very much, Scavenger Hunt is a lot shorter and the pace brisker, so first-time viewers of both movies may find themselves less exhausted-feeling depending on their patience levels watching this. I do agree that Scavenger Hunt is hilarious, the dialogue is plentiful, endlessly quotable and often enough to split the sides though you may be in danger of missing things from laughing. It isn't just the dialogue though, Cloris Leachman in 3-inch heels, Georgie's nasal whining("They killed Buzzy"),the laughing gas scene, the four servants overflowing the lab with suds, Scatman Crothers with the wedding veil and Richard Mulligan's priceless facial expression, James Coco trying to rob the market and the toilet-stealing scene are enough to raise a number of laughs. The cast show great comic timing and have plenty of star power. I personally don't think this is a case of a great cast working against the script. And this is not just the main parts(James Coco, Richard Benjamin, Stephanie Faracy and Scatman Crothers stood out),but also the cameos especially from Arnold Schwarznegger and Vincent Price. All in all, a hilarious and underrated if not perfect or award-worthy movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox