Million Dollar Mystery (also known as Money Mania) is a 1987 American film released with a promotional tie-in for Glad-Lock brand bags. While performing a routine stunt for this film, legendary stuntman Dar Robinson lost his life on November 21, 1986.
Plot summary
Tom Bosley has the starring role as Sidney Preston, a disgruntled White House aide who took off with $4 million that belonged to the government. While on the run, he stops at a roadside diner and has their world famous chili. He suffers a fatal heart attack and before dying, reveals to onlookers the location of the first million dollars.
The occupants of the diner head out on a mad dash to find the loot. When they find the loot, they lose it in a mishap. They follow clues to the next million and lose it as well. After finding and losing the third million the movie ends. During the closing credits, one of the characters informs the audience that there is a million dollars somewhere in the USA and if they follow the clues in specially marked Glad-Lock bags, they have the chance to win $1,000,000.
The plot was not unlike a similar movie made in 1963 entitled: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Cast
The Glad-Lock contest failure
Glad Bags and DeLaurentiis Entertainment co-sponsored a real-life million-dollar "treasure hunt" to coincide with this film's release. At the end of the movie, the cash is still missing, and moviegoers were invited to find the location of the hidden stash, using clues provided in the film (the sponsors also emphasized that the money wasn't PHYSICALLY hidden anywhere, lest anyone injure themselves or damage property while searching for the loot; the audience just had to GUESS where the money was hidden). Ticket buyers were even given game cards shaped like American currency—with a big photo of Dino De Laurentiis where the President should be. In the end, it was a big disaster for the studio. The film was one of the major flops of the 1980s, barely grossing a million dollars at the box office, which the studio wound up forking over to the contest winner, a woman in Bakersfield, California. (Incidentally, the money was hidden in the bridge of the Statue of Liberty's nose).
Award nominations
Golden Raspberry Awards
- Nominated: Worst Original Song, Barry Mann & John Lewis Parker (1988)
- Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor, Tom Bosley (1988)
- Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor, Jamie Alcroft (1988)
- Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor, Mack Dryden (1988)
External links
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