Great appreciation of Kramer, thank you. Just had to comment about his 'lesser' film It's A Mad Mad (etc.) World. Rented it for my kids to watch and was really struck by how delightfully misanthropic it is. A confection it might be, but it worked better for me as a grown up than I expected it to, and has a kind of neurotic energy about it that keeps all the star studded cameos flowing. Great fable about greed, and what a downer of an ending! My kids (8 and 11 years old) loved it. The thing about humanists like Kramer is a willingness to explore what is venal and petty and downright evil about humanity as well as our more positive potential. Vonnegut also comes to mind for this.
stasw   posted 02.09.11