Million Dollar Mystery

We've all heard of product placement, when a big company pays a lot of money to have there product put into a movie as many times as possible. This was really bad in the 80's when Coca-Cola owned Columbia Pictures. I mean seriously, how many Cokes did Bill Cosby drink in Leonard Part 6? And were any of them laced? Ok, I'm sidetracking. On occasion, the movie would end up being one long commercial for the product. McDonald's did it with the E.T. knockoff Mac And Me. But since that one has a cult following, I thought I'd take a look at one that nobody remembers, and is even a more blatent advertisement. 1987's Million Dollar Mystery.

Glad Trash Bags had what they thought was a brillaint idea. They would hide a million dollars in one of their trash bags. You would have to see the movie though to get the clues on were it was hidden. So now it's not only an hour and a half ad for Glad, but it's a gimmick too. Gimmick's rarely work in movies. Even a great movie like Clue, that had three different endings in hopes of people paying to see it three different times, didn't work.

Where Mac And Me was an E.T. ripoff, Million Dollar Mystery borrows, basically steals, it's premise from It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Scavenger Hunt and Rat Race had a similar premise too, but with better effect. A horny, old White House aide, Glad spokesman Tom Bosley, steals four million dollars from the government and is on the run. He stops off at a roadside diner to grab a bite and hit on a waitress. Yes, it is a little disturbing to see Mr. C playing a lecherous old man. What would Marion Ross think? Or Chachi? After sampling some spicy chilli, he suffers a heart attack. Before he dies, he tells the staff and diner patrons of the first million he has hid.

It's a mad dash for the cash, but it is lost as soon as it is found due to a mishap. There are clues left for the other millions, which leads to more high speed antics and more lost cash. When the movie ends, there is still one bag out there with a million for the viewer to find. The problem was that nobody went to see this movie. Glad still received about a thousand right answeres and a 14 year old ended up winning the loot in a random drawing.

When compared to the other knock offs of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, this one is definately the weakest. There are a few things I like about it though. I especially like the supporting cast, which includes Eddie Deezen, Kevin Pollack, Rich Hall and Rick Overton. Unfortunately the script doesn't give them a lot to work with. It was also the last film directed by legendary filmmaker Richard Fleischer. Kind of sad that the man behind Tora, Tora, Tora ended his career with this.

I can't really recommend Million Dollar Mystery for entertainment purposes, but I will say it's definately one worth checking out for curiosity.

Available on dvd.