Movie 'Mad'-ness

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 29, 1998 / 9:52 AM EST / CBS

For more than 45 years, the editors of Mad magazine have been publishing what they call the dumbest magazine in the world.

Now, CBS News This Morning's Russ Mitchell reports, they have published a book, Mad about the Movies. The collection of movie spoofs from the pages of Mad magazine commemorates the 75th anniversary of the publication's parent company, Warner Brothers.

"We're sort of the black sheep of the Warner Brothers family, and we thought, what better way to show we are the black sheep than by making fun of their movies," says Mad Editor John Ficcara.

The pages of Mad about the Movies are filled with most of the spoofs of Warner Brothers movie that Mad has done over the years, with a few classic extras.

"I have a favorite, because it's my favorite film of all time," says Ficcara. "Casablanca, which we call Casabonkers. We had Bogart just drinking throughout the whole thing."

Mad editors Ficcara and Nick Meglin have developed a keen eye for a spoofable movie, both the good and the bad. Meglin says it's sweet justice: "Very often, you go see a pretentious film and you've paid, what, $8.50 or $9 to see a film, and you come out with a clenched fist and say, 'My God, was that garbage!' But then you say, 'Ah, we'll get our revenge.'"

Even CBS News This Morning film critic Gene Siskel and his partner Roger Ebert have been spoofed. But they enjoyed it so much they wrote the book's introduction. Both have also purchased original art from the Mad spoofs of them.

Says Meglin, "We did so many take-offs on them where they're fighting and calling each other names. Well, they loved it. We got such nice letters from them through the years. Every time we used them, they felt they reached a certain level of acceptance."

Although most movies aren't safe from Mad's "usual gang of idiots," as they like to call themselves, not every movie is an easy target.

"Believe it or not, Mad does have standards, however low," Ficcaro says. "For example, we saw Private Ryan and we came out and said there's probably not much we could do with this."

The January issue of Mad introduces the first "Mad 20," the magazine's choices for "the dumbest people, events and things of 1998."