Main Characters
Capt. T. G. Culpeper
Portrayed by: Spencer Tracy
A Santa Rosita police captain who has been tracking "Smiler" Grogan for years. When he finds out about the chase, he intends to confiscate the money and have it returned to the proper authorities, hoping to retire soon after. Unfortunately, his lack of an increased pension and a disastrous home life take their toll on him, forcing him to come up with his own plans for the money.- Anti-Villain: His straight-edge efforts seemingly not paying off drives him to steal the briefcase of money for himself instead.
- Big Bad: In the sense that he'll intercept the winner. Played straight in the end.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: His wife and daughter.
- Cool Old Guy: Affable enough to blend in with the main characters without anyone pressing him on his presence until it's too late.
- Face–Heel Turn
- Fallen Hero: At the end.
- Henpecked Husband: He is often being belittled by his wife on the phone. This leads to his Face Heel Turn.
- Hero Antagonist: Only played straight in the first and second acts, subverted in the last act.
- Lawman Gone Bad: Becomes this in the climax.
- Only Sane Man: Subverted
- Retirony: Of sorts. While he doesn't die, he's certainly not going to enjoy his retired life.
- Sanity Slippage: The stress of his Big, Screwed-Up Family is what led to this Face–Heel Turn, to a point he starts to show signs of a mental breakdown by telling his colleagues about having an ice cream sundae.
- Tempting Fate: All of his comments on how everything will go right for him today. By the end of the day, he loses his job, pension, and family.
- The Scapegoat: He makes clear as he laments how bad things have gotten for him that he expects the judge to throw the book at him for the whole mess and leave the rest of the cast alone.
- Tragic Villain: His home life collapses all around him and political forces screw him out of a proper pension, so he decides to steal the money for himself and flee to Mexico, causing him to lose everything. The audience gets to hear Al call him on the radio to tell him his efforts to get his pension raised have worked, and he will get everything he asked for. Culpepper never hears this, as he was away from his car stealing the money already.
- Walking Spoiler: His character can't be discussed fully without giving away a big twist in the ending.
Melville Crump
Portrayed by: Sid Caesar
A dentist who was originally travelling on a second honeymoon with his wife before joining the chase. He initially wanted to divvy the money equally between himself and the others, but was forced into the "every man for himself" mentality when the others shot him down.- Covered in Gunge: He winds up getting covered with paint while in the hardware store.
- Straight Man: Melville acted this way when trying to divvy up the money between himself and the others, before negotiations broke down.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Melville Crump, destroyer of a hardware store basement and the adjoining part of a laundromat.
Monica Crump
Portrayed by: Edie Adams
Melville's devoted wife, who sticks by her husband in spite of the madness that unfurls during the chase, regardless of how many factors of it she hates.- Clothing Damage: She rips her dress while boarding (and then unboarding) the rickety biplane.
- Covered in Gunge: Not as much as her husband, but...
- Ms. Fanservice
- Only Sane Woman: Even after the mishaps with the biplane and being trapped in the hardware store, she still manages to keep her composure.
- Screaming Woman: Whenever Melville was in danger.
J. Russell Finch
Portrayed by: Milton Berle
The head of an edible seaweed company who was planning to take his wife and her mother to Lake Mead for a vacation before entering the race for the money. He doesn't have much in terms of a spine, usually being belittled by his shrewish mother-in-law.- Butt-Monkey: He is often being belittled by his mother-in-law.
- Extreme Doormat: He's so desperate for consensus that he chimes in with agreement to every other person's method for splitting the money as it's proposed.
- Henpecked Husband: Although his mother-in-law does most of the henpecking and his wife just takes her side against him. Hawthorne lampshades this in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech about America in which he claims that American men have been emasculated by their wives and mothers.
- Honest Corporate Executive: He is the head of an edible seaweed company.
- Hypocrite: He openly insults Britain in front of Col. Hawthorne, but finds it unthinkable when Hawthorne says one critical word against America.
- Rage Breaking Point: When his mother-in-law tests his limits by taking Col. Hawthorne's keys and dropping them between her breasts, he and the Col. literally shake her down to get them back.
- Would Hit a Woman: Downplayed with Russell, who thinks Mrs. Marcus is being unreasonable when she stuffs the keys down her blouse, until he loses his cool and starts assaulting her, telling Emmeline afterwards that he didn't really want to do it, because he believed his mother-in-law was acting unreasonably.
Emmeline Marcus-Finch
Portrayed by: Dorothy Provine
Russel's wife, who acts as a voice-of-reason throughout the chase, which she never wanted anything to do with. She's usually told by the people around her to shut up when she tries speaking her mind.- Butt-Monkey: Any time she tries to speak up, expect her to be ignored or told to shut up.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Exaggerated. By the final act, she really is sick and tired of everybody else within her family and, being the first to figure out what the "big 'W'" clue means, tries to tell Culpeper in exchange for half the money so she can get the hell away from them right now. When everybody else figures out the clue and start to march to where they are, she has only this to say, in a very sad tone of voice:It was a nice dream [to escape her family]. Lasted almost five minutes.
- Only Sane Woman: Keep in mind that she was the only one who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the whole search. However, her notion of needing a whole fortune to enter a convent probably establishes her as just a more sympathetic kind of Cloudcuckoolander.
Mrs. Marcus
Portrayed by: Ethel Merman
Emmeline's mother, a loathsome, loudmouthed shrew who is prone to lashing out at people who anger her by way of smacking them with her purse.- The Chessmaster: When she, Emmeline and Russell are joined by Hawthorne, she stuffs the keys in her dress. Later on, she blackmails Lennie into taking her and Emmeline along for a ride, and Sylvester arrives on the scene when she calls him and he thinks it's an emergency.
- Control Freak: Always tells Russell what to do and explains why he's wrong about everything.
- Evil Matriarch: A classic stereotypical mother-in-law.
- Handbag of Hurt: Mrs. Marcus has a habit of hitting other people with her purse when really angry. The following characters she's hit with her purse are: Melville Crump, J. Russell Finch, Col. Hawthorne, Otto Meyer, and a random pedestrian.
- Hate Sink: She's perpetually annoying and the cause of a few problems.
- Jerkass: Oscillates between calling people spineless and demanding that they do as she says.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's the one that suggests simply splitting the $350,000, but if anybody listened to her, we wouldn't have had a movie.
- Also no one could agree on a fair way to split the money. Some of them were there alone, while others were with a spouse or friend. So if it was per person, the Finches would get more, while if it was per car, the Finches would get less.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's the one that suggests simply splitting the $350,000, but if anybody listened to her, we wouldn't have had a movie.
- Large Ham: Shouts loudly and dramatically.
- Motor Mouth: She NEVER shuts up.
- My Beloved Smother-In-LawMrs. Marcus: "Oh, Emmeline, shut up!"Russell: "Mother..."Mrs. Marcus: "And you too!"
- No Indoor Voice: None whatsoever.
- Never My Fault: She's quick to blame others for all the misfortunes, even ones that are technically her fault, without ever accepting any responsibility for her actions.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: They really don't come more obnoxious than her.
- Perpetual Frowner: Not once in the entire movie does she smile.
- Suddenly Shouting: Inverted. When Sylvester tells her he's coming for her and hangs up on her, she repeats to the others what he said in a quiet, neutral voice, then goes back to her usual hollering in a tirade about how he doesn't listen.
Lennie Pike
Portrayed by: Jonathan Winters
A trucker who works for a moving company that was supposed to deliver a load of furniture to Yuma before getting caught up in the chase. He demonstrates a large amount of physical strength, which he prefers to use instead of his words.- Berserk Button: Never, ever make Pike mad, or else he will threaten to kill you.
- The Big Guy: He can take and dish out an awful lot of punishment.
- Butt-Monkey: Has a tough time getting to the big W.
- Dumb Muscle: Is better at fighting his way out of a situation than talking out of one.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When they're in the park, Lennie finally notices the Big "W" is the crossed palm trees.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Pike becomes really angry when he gets tricked by Meyer.
- Hard Head: Breaking bottles over his head only makes him angry.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: He starts out this way, as he's horrified at the idea of tax cheating. Later on, not so much. He even had a selfless plan for the money if he found it, which was to do something nice for the old lady who owns the boarding house he lives in.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Most notably during the scene where everyone is scrambling back into the taxis after finding out that Culpepper double-crossed them.
- Tranquil Fury: After getting hit in the head by two bottles, he says "if that's the way you want it, that's the way you're going to get it." with a tone of only mild annoyance, then proceeds to demolish the two attackers and their whole store.
- Unstoppable Rage: Takes down an entire gas station with his bare hands.
Dingy Bell
Portrayed by: Mickey Rooney
The best friend of Benjy, who was accompanying him on a road trip to Las Vegas before the chase began. He acts as the smart one between the duo, usually taking charge when something goes wrong.- Cool Shades: He wears these at the beginning of the film
- Dope Slap: Dingy did this a few times to Benjy.
- Fat and Skinny: The skinny to Benjy's fat.
- Punny Name
- Those Two Guys: With Benjy.
Benjy Benjamin
Portrayed by: Buddy Hackett
The best friend of Dingy, who joined him in a road trip to Las Vegas. He's not quite the brightest bulb around, and has to constantly be reminded of what to do.- Alliterative Name: And the only one in the entire movie with one, oddly enough.
- The Ditz: Benjy manages to be the dimmest bulb in the entire film.
- Captain Obvious:
- Cowardly Sidekick
- Fat and Skinny: The fat to Dingy's skinny.
- Fat Idiot
- Those Two Guys: With Dingy
Otto Meyer
Portrayed by: Phil Silvers
A slick con man who manages to trick several people with his silver tongue. He finds out about the money when Pike, who he meets on the side of the road, tells him about it, and he joins the chase to ensure that he gets all the cash to himself.- Con Man
- Consummate Liar: Deceives Pike, and later the gas station attendants, to keep Pike away from the prize, and tries to trick everyone into giving him an extra share.
- Jerkass: Wants all the money to himself, and berates any confused strangers who slow him down.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Suffered after tricking Lennie, by having his car wrecked by Lennie, having a car falling into the river and getting thrown in a hole by Sylvester and Lennie when trying to get himself an extra share of the money after digging it up.
- Rage Against the Heavens: He does this before he drives his car into the river.
- The Rival: To Pike
- Smug Snake
(Lt.) Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Portrayed by: Terry-Thomas
An officer of the English Army on holiday in the United States. He joins the treasure hunt when he gives Russel, Emmeline, and Mrs. Marcus a ride to Santa Rosita, but he and Russel quickly abandon the women to take the money themselves.- Berserk Button: Insulting England in front of him.
- Brake Angrily: Hawthorne does this when Russell says something bad about England.
- Brutal Honesty: He gives a lengthy speech to Russell in regards to American men becoming henpecked milquetoasts who go out of their ways to pamper and please women.
- Butt-Monkey
- Deadpan Snarker: His noteworthy moment is when he urges Russell to "press on with all possible dispatch":Hawthorne: I earnestly recommend we forget your good ladies, and press on with all possible dispatch.
Russell [sarcastically]: All right, we'll press on with all possible dispatch.
Hawthorne: And I don't really think that personal rancor is going to help the situation. - Extreme Doormat: He takes a lot of verbal abuse from other characters before he finally loses his temper.
- Funny Foreigner
- Genre Blind: He's utterly confused at the idea that Mrs. Marcus might renege on her deal with him if she gets to the money first.
- I Am Very British
- The Rival: To Russell, at first.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Has shades of this with Russell.
Sylvester Marcus
Portrayed by: Dick Shawn
Mrs. Marcus and Emmeline's dim-witted son and brother, respectively, who works as a lifeguard in Santa Rosita. Mrs. Marcus calls him so he can look for the money for them, but a misunderstanding has him thinking that his devoted mother is in trouble, and he joins the chase in a pursuit to save her.- Actually Pretty Funny: Though he at first exclaims worriedly when his mother slips on a banana peel, even he can be seen laughing with the others.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
- Beatnik: Talks like one, but he's kind of a proto-Surfer Dude.
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Comically Missing the Point: Sylvester was more worried about the safety of his mother than actually joining in the search for the money.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: At least from Mrs. Marcus's perspective; any time he opens his mouth to ask what's going wrong, she'll tell him to shut up because he should listen to what she's saying, instead of asking pointless questions.
- Determinator: He was really determined to find out what happened to his mother.
- The Ditz
- Dumb Muscle
- Large Ham
- Manly Tears: Spends several scenes (and In-Universe hours) constantly crying as he drives like a bat out of hell to rescue his “mama".
- Manchild
- Momma's Boy
- Psychopathic Man Child: HE'S BUGGED NOW!
- The Slacker
The Cabbies
- Played by: Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
- Badass Driver: Both of them are able to keep up with Culpepper's car in the final chase. While it looks more like an example of Drives Like Crazy, somehow neither of them hit any other cars (except each other a few times).
- Deadpan Snarker: The one played by Columbo.
- Motor Mouth: The one played by Peter Falk.
- No Indoor Voice: The one played by Peter Falk, as demonstrated during the chase to catch Culpepper.
- No Name Given
- Those Two Guys
- The Quiet One: The one played by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson says about a handful of lines in his iconic voice.
- Token Minority: The one played by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson is the only major black character throughout the whole film.
