What is the name of this movie?

April 15, 2016 6:52 PM

Asking for my boyfriend: What is the name of the movie in which a ragtag bunch of people search for a buried treasure? These people are competing to find this treasure, driving recklessly, and attempting to stop the others from finding it. I think the treasure winds up being buried by palm trees, having to do with a certain geometric pattern (an "I" beam shape, or perhaps an "H"? I don't remember). The whole debacle winds up being a misunderstanding if I remember correctly, and the treasure is something priceless or worthless. Thanks!
posted by lunch to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Best answer: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:54 PM on April 15, 2016 [9 favorites]

Best answer: It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
posted by The Deej at 6:54 PM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: (The treasure was buried under a "big W.")
posted by The Deej at 6:55 PM on April 15, 2016 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: You guys are amazing. Thank you so much.
posted by lunch at 7:00 PM on April 15, 2016

Best answer: Oh! So that's what that Simpsons episode was referencing.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:04 PM on April 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Best answer: It was remade in 2001 into a stunningly mediocre movie called Rat Race with an ensemble cast including Seth Green, Rowan Atkinson, and Whoopi Goldberg and featuring a surprise musical performance by Smash Mouth, which decades from now will be held up by historians as a near perfect cultural example of what the turn of the millennium was like.
posted by phunniemee at 7:11 PM on April 15, 2016 [19 favorites]

Best answer: Although Rat Race was the first time I had ever heard the phrase "prairie doggin", so it has that going for it.
posted by chainsofreedom at 7:13 PM on April 15, 2016 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Three cheers for "prairie doggin" - I still use that term!
posted by Toddles at 7:14 PM on April 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I love that movie.
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus is among my favorite parts.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:16 PM on April 15, 2016

Best answer: Not strictly relevant, but Its A Mad, Mad, Mad, Max World - Mad Max Fury Road Parody Trailer. Spoilers for both movies.
posted by cgc373 at 7:20 PM on April 15, 2016 [6 favorites]

That trailer is the best thing ever.
posted by intermod at 8:11 AM on April 16, 2016