Million Dollar Mystery


Million Dollar Mystery is a 1987 American film released with a promotional tie-in for Glad-Lock brand bags. This was the final feature-length film directed by Richard Fleischer.
It starred an ensemble cast of "America's new comic talent". The film was largely inspired by Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Plot

Sidney Preston, a disgruntled White House aide, takes off with $4 million that belonged to the government. While on the run, he stops at a roadside diner in Arizona and has their world-famous chili,while flirting with the waitress. Two clumsy government spies named Fred and Bob are looking for Sidney. Sidney suffers a fatal heart attack and before dying asks for a kiss from the waitress, then he reveals to the onlookers the location of the first million dollars which he says is "In the city of the bridge".The onlookers are The Briggs Family,nerdy newlyweds Rollie and Lollie, amateur singer Crush and his group of three blonde back up dancers, brother/cook Tugger and sister/waitress Dotty. Soon, they meet professional wrestlers Bad Boris and Awful Abdul, cops Officer Gretchen and Officer Quinn, and deranged ranger Slaughter Buzzard.
The onlookers are skeptical, until Rollie turns on the television which is playing the news talking about Sidney Preston and the buried money. The newsman talks about his life and says he was born in El Puente, Arizona. The onlookers of the diner head out on a mad dash to find the dough. When they find the money in El Puente's famous bridge, Slaughter drops it into the canyon on accident. They follow clues to the next million which is in Sidney's houseboat and lose it as well as it gets shredded in Sidneys table sized paper shredder. After finding and losing the third million as it falls out of the hands of a greedy aeronaut, they all give up as the movie ends. During the closing credits, Bob informs the audience that there is a million dollars somewhere in the US and if they follow the clues in specially marked Glad-Lock bags, they have the chance to win $1 million.

Cast

Parts of the film were shot at Glen Canyon in Utah.
While performing a routine stunt for this film, stuntman Dar Robinson died on November 21, 1986.

Marketing contest

Producer Dino De Laurentiis conceived the idea for Million Dollar Mystery when he visited New York and saw a row of people lining up for what he presumably thought was a movie. A companion told De Laurentiis that they were actually lining up for lottery tickets.
Glad Bags sponsored a sweepstakes timed for the film's release. The company gave away entry forms, and the audience would fill out these forms with their answer to where the last million is hiding, based on clues given in the film. De Laurentiis said of the film:
De Laurentiis had high expectations for the film, but it did not turn out to be a hit. The winner of the contest ended up being 14-year-old Alesia Lenae Jones of Bakersfield, California, who successfully guessed that the loot was hidden in the nose of the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, thousands of contestants had arrived at the same answer, and her entry was chosen in a random drawing.

Reception

Million Dollar Mystery was a box office flop grossing $989,033 against a $9.5 million dollar budget.
The film received negative critical reviews. The film currently holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews.

Home media

The film was released on VHS, Laserdisc, CED videodisc, and DVD.

Award nominations