MOVIE REVIEW : TREASURE QUEST SPOOFS THE GENRE

Since movies about treasure hunts are usually so crass and contrived, “Million Dollar Mystery” (citywide) is a welcome surprise. Blithe, fast and full of belly laughs, it uses the slenderest of plots as a showcase for an array of young, talented comedians, most of then new to the screen.

Unlike most of its predecessors, it sees the humor in greed instead of bearing down on it with a heavy, hypocritical hand. “Million Dollar Mystery” is out to have fun with human nature and spoof its genre in the process, and it succeeds beautifully. Even the audience-participation gimmick of keying an actual million-dollar sweepstakes contest to the film’s release is handled with unobtrusiveness.

Tom Bosley, playing a crooked government official, drives up to the Apache Acres Motel and Diner in the middle of the Arizona desert and downs a bowl of the house specialty, chile so hot and spicy it triggers a lethal heart attack. With his dying words, Bosley mutters something about $4 million in payoffs from the Libyan government that he’s hidden in four different bridges. What bridges or even what kind of bridges does he mean--those on boats, those in mouths? Displaying deductive powers worthy of Sherlock Holmes, the others in the diner are off and running. Joining the group are the good ol’ boy (Royce D. Applegate) and his smashing auburn-haired sister (Pam Matteson, as funny as she is gorgeous) who own the diner.

These performers and the ones to join them are fresh and hilarious, but the film’s most formidable scene-stealer is Rich Hall, who plays a goofy highway worker who ham-fistedly tries to help Applegate and Matteson when their truck gets stuck during a dangerous shortcut through the mountains. What’s extraordinary here is that Hall gets laughs playing a veteran left unhinged by Vietnam, which must be some kind of first on the screen--especially in a mainstream, big-scale summer comedy. Typical of the film’s inspired throwaway humor is a sequence set in a small-town private eye’s office, treated as a parody of ‘40s detective movies, right down to being shot in black and white.

“Million Dollar Mystery” represents a felicitous blend of film veterans and those still near the beginning of their screen careers. Director Richard Fleischer and cinematographer Jack Cardiff bring to the film a terrific pace and a great, clean look. With young writers Tim Metcalfe, Miguel Tejada-Flores and Rudy De Luca, Fleischer has fashioned a viable context in which no fewer than 18 largely unfamiliar comedians can do their stuff to their best advantage. “Million Dollar Mystery” (rated PG, but fine family entertainment) is a chase comedy in which the people and their humor count for more than the stunts.

‘MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY’

A De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation in association with De Laurentiis Film Partners L.P. Producer Stephen F. Kesten. Director Richard Fleischer. Screenplay Tim Metcalfe, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Rudy De Luca. Camera Jack Cardiff. Music design Tyrell Mann. Original score Al Gorgoni. 2nd unit director Vic Armstrong. Associate producer Kuki Lopez Rodero. Production designer Jack G. Taylor, Jr. Costumes Clifford Capone. 2nd unit photography and camera operator Jack Cardiff. Special effects coordinator John Stirber. Film editor John W. Wheeler. With Tom Bosley, Eddie Deezen, Wendy Sherman, Rick Overton, Mona Lyden, Douglas Emerson, Royce D. Applegate, Pam Matteson, Daniel McDonald, Penny Baker, Tawny Fere, LaGena Hart, Mack Dryden, Jamie Alcroft, Rich Hall, Gail Neely, Kevin Pollak, H.B. Haggerty, Bob Schott, Peter Pitofsky, Greg Travis, Tommy Sledge, Christopher Cary.

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

MPAA rating: PG (Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.)