This is the kind of comedy that basically disappeared after the 60s... a kind of lower wattage version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", with a pair of "appealing" young stars (Jim Hutton and Dorothy Provine) backed by mostly aging but still beloved comic support. The plot concerns a treasury employee who accidentally steals and destroys $50,000, and who decides to break into the mint to print it up again so nobody will notice.The first friend he enlists is a retired printer, played by Walter Brennan. It's always fun to see Brennan in films, but he isn't given as much to do here as he should be. Eventually the two end up enlisting a huge gang to help them, and everybody wants some more of the money. Milton Berle provides some good humorous moments as a selfish pawn shop owner. Joey Bishop is largely forgettable as, I guess, an expert on sewers. Bob Denver provides his usual clowning as an ice cream truck driver (trying to figure out why he is essential to the heist is beyond ordinary reason... but at least it provides a nice small role for the wonderful Jackie Joseph from the original "Little Shop of Horrors"). Victor Buono gives the film's strangest performance, as a psychotic would-be sea captain who must pilot them through the sewers. Jack Gilford is, of course, the funniest of all the support as a deaf safecracker.I found Jim Hutton totally unappealing and not funny. Provine is a very talented woman, and had a few good scenes, but her character was under-developed and certainly not given enough laugh lines. This is the kind of movie that certain people will feel nostalgic about, and try to justify as some kind of great comedy, but there's very little in the script to laugh at. The great supporting actors (OK, great with the exception of Bob Denver) do their best to give it some life.

Who's Minding The Mint as a film proves that while money may not grow on trees, access to the presses can give you an unlimited supply. Director Howard Morris assembled a really bright group of scene stealing players that pretty much overwhelm the leads of Jim Hutton and Dorothy Provine.Hutton and Provine work at the US Mint in Washington, DC which with its many national monuments provides an interesting backdrop for the caper that unfolds. Some fudge that Provine brought to work gets spilled on $50,000.00 of new bills. That's a loss Hutton is going to find hard to make up on his salary. What to do?When Walter Brennan a former printer at the Mint asks Hutton to intercede on his behalf to get his job back, Hutton hits on the brilliant idea to break in the Mint after hours and print up the loss. But the task proves daunting and Hutton has to put more and more members on his team and of course after the first $50,000.00 they can print some additionals for their own use. This is not a team you can keep up with in scene stealing. The rest of the members of the gang consist of Milton Berle, Victor Buono, Bob Denver, Joey Bishop, Jamie Farr, and Jack Gilford. What chance did Hutton and Provine have against this whole group and Walter Brennan although they do get some innings in with the comedy.There is one constant sight gag throughout the caper. Due to some security changes the gang has the caper moved up a day as Hutton tells his team they have to drop all plans and work that night. They all show up in these ridiculous costumes with Denver in his ice cream man uniform, Buono decked out like the captain of the HMS Pinafore, Berle as George Washington, and Joey Bishop as a Boy Scout troop leader. And the idea was to be inconspicuous.It's all bright and amusing and if you want to know what the ending is, let's just say there's a possibility it might work out all around.

As bubbly as a movie can be without being a Disney film...and it's a lot of fun. Jim Hutton stars as an employee of the US Mint who plots to "un-rob" the place with a rag-tag assortment of helpers. Hutton is terrific as always. Nobody played light comedy like him in the sixties...he's clearly a lot more comfortable at it than counterparts like James Garner and Rock Hudson. It's directed by Howard Morris so it has an almost burlesque quality to it. Morris has a comic touch that's like a less edgy Mel Brooks. The supporting cast could have easily made up a late 60s episode of "Hollywood Squares": Bob Denver, Joey Bishop, Jack Gilford, Milton Berle, Walter Brennan. The love interest is played by the effervescent Dorothy Provine. Harmless entertainment to be sure.

Why doesn't this get more respect? Each time I see this (now going on #8) it gets better as surrealism in commercial 1960s America. The cast is stellar and performances are memorable. The plot is sufficiently twisted to make this late-night TV movie a classic of one error that leads to many more errors at ridiculous lengths. I have too many favorite scenes here to claim one as a favorite. The straight man Jim Hutton is more patient than required by the role of the straight man. His attempt to rescue cash lost in a garbage disposal leads to an unlikely but ever-growing payroll of a deaf safe-cracker (Jack Gilford),pompous toy boat captain Victor "My only aversion to vice is the price" Buono, Bob Denver, Milton Berle with a face of green ink mistaken for George Washington by a drunk staring down a sewer, and a pregnant dog in scuba gear.Whatever can go wrong will, including the place of this farce amongst other American farces.