Scavenger Hunt (1979)

"Play to win!"

Director
Michael Schultz

Cast
Vincent Price - Milton Parker
Richard Benjamin - Stuart Selsome
Cloris Leachman - Mildred Carruthers
Roddy McDowall - Jenkins
Tony Randall - Henry Motley
Cleavon Little - Jackson
Meat Loaf - Scum
Scatman Crothers - Sam
James Coco - Henri
Ruth Gordon - Arvilla Droll
Robert Morley - Charles Bernstein
Richard Mulligan -Marvin Dummitz
Richard Masur - Georgie Carruthers
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Lars

The 1979 comedy "Scavenger Hunt" is a movie made in the midst of a subgenre trend I call "chase and race" flicks. I don't know if that's the right term, but that's what I call them.

These "chase and race" movies are generally comedies with a cast of big-name actors, maybe some celebrity cameos, and a story involving characters divided into groups racing for an ultimate prize or goal of some kind. 

Movies such as "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," "The Cannonball Run," "Midnight Madness" and "Death Race 2000" are perfect examples of these chase and race comedies. 

"Scavenger Hunt" has all the elements of a chase and race movie, beginning with its star-studded cast being divided into groups and then competing against each other. 

The reason "Scavenger Hunt" jumps out at me and why I wanted to watch and review it, is because of a 1983 Milton-Bradley board game also called "Scavenger Hunt." 

My family owned this game during my youth, and I remember enjoying it. So much so that a few years ago, I ordered the game online and didn't have to pay much for a complete copy.

My kids and I play it from time to time, and they enjoy it, especially my daughter. So, "Scavenger Hunt" has come full circle in my family. 

It's a fun game in which players need to strategize in finding a variety of random items such as trombone, a comic book, a wooden Indian, a birdcage, and other various objects located in different parts of various houses in a neighborhood. Players use cards to maneuver through front yards and rooms, find the items they selected in a particular order, and then race back to their own house to win. The game requires players to make a list of their objects in the order they're picked before game play and then find those objects in the order they've listed them. 

Cloris Leachman, Richard Masur, and Richard Benjamin in "Scavenger Hunt." 

It's worth mentioning that the box art is designed by one of my favorite comic artists, Jack Davis. His caricature artwork was and still is found in practically every issue of MAD Magazine. That's a big plus for me!

I had never heard of the movie "Scavenger Hunt" until I was looking into another movie for a previous post on this blog and stumbled upon the title. 

Of course, I was intrigued. I wanted to know if the board game is based on the movie, or the movie is based on the board game. The answer to both is no. But the game does have enough similarities to the film, aside for the title, to make me wonder if the game which was released in 1983, takes some inspiration from the movie. 

For instance, my kids and I spotted most, if not all, of the objects from the game within the movie. And the center of the movie's plot centers around a board game creator. Also, the characters are given a list of objects which they have to fund in order, if I'm not mistaken. And the characters have to return to a house to finish the hunt. The similarities are there. 

In this movie, Vincent Price plays Milton Parker who's an immensely wealthy game inventor. While playing an electronic game with his nurse, he drops dead. Or, rather Milton Parker passes "Go" for the last time! 

No sooner does he croak that his relatives come barreling to his estate in the hopes of getting at least some inheritance. 
Parker's lawyer, Charles Bernstein (Robert Morley) informs them that Parker's Will states that his $200 estate will be given to whomever wins a scavenger hunt. The rules to this scavenger hunt are all laid out in the Will. 

The beneficiaries will have to form five teams, with each team given a list of 100 items they'll have to find and bring back to a partitioned section outside Parker's house. 

Each item on the lists are worth different points, ranging from five points up to 100 points, depending on the item. 

They can obtain their respective items through any means necessary except purchasing. So, aside from buying the items, anything goes!

Each team has until five pm on the day of the hunt to get as many points as they can. Whichever team has all their items unloaded in their team section and scores the most points by 5:00 will inherit Milton Parker's estate. Let the laughs ensue!

There's a lot of slapstick action followed by more slapstick action. It starts to get exhausting to watch, leaving the audience with an eagerness to see the movie hurry up and end. 

The movie has its funny moments, got some laughs out of me, and has a cast that make the general experience of watching "Scavenger Hunt" engrossing. But none of the celebrity cast manage to save the movie, not even the legendary Vincent Price. He's only on screen for a few minutes at the beginning of the movie. As for the comedy, the humor is thin and repetitive. 

Speaking of cameos, Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up for a cameo as a body builder named Lars. That's a trip!

It's constant movement from start to finish that's all combined into one confusing cluster of cinematic catastrophes. I couldn't keep up with what teams found what objects, or what their schemes were, or what subplots the movie was jumping to. 

The dialogue is just as jumbled as the comedy. The flow shifts around so much, the movie ended with me slack jawed and glassy eyed. There's no room for anyone to pause a moment and catch their breath. 

Its nearly two-hour run time didn't help in that regard. There's just a lot packed into that near two-hours with insane dizzying scene after scene of non-stop goofiness as if it doesn't want the audience to pause from laughing, even for a moment. 

Even the final scene with all the points being counted dragged on. 

"Scavenger Hunt" is an unforgettable film but largely for the wrong reasons. At least the board game allows players to take their time.