Once upon a time, in the days before talentless actors commanded millions of dollars per film fiasco, they made "big budget pictures" with a "cast of thousands". The Great Race is a classic example.
This movie is a ride on the Hilarity Express, from the opening credits to the closing scene. You laugh so hard, and so long, at every scene that you're actually glad to take a breather during Natalie Wood's love song "The Sweetheart Tree", just so your ribs have a chance to stop hurting! The large ensemble cast is packed with a glorious list of award winning actors well able to carry any movie alone. Together, they produce a potent mix of frivolity and timeless innuendo. These are truly the screen giants, not only of their time, but arguably of ALL time.
Tony Curtis as "The Great Leslie", our hero, all in white, is just the right mixture of gentlemanly elegance, knightly chivalry, and the period's chauvinistic disregard of "the weaker sex". He's the perfect foil for Wood's Maggie DuBois, a "modern woman" reporter. She smokes, she cusses, she punches! Leslie is at once fascinated, repulsed, and astounded by her. When circumstances throw them together during the race, sparks fly but the heat sizzles. It is plain to see why these two were the box office "hotties" of their day.
Now, no good story can have a glorious hero without a contrastingly evil villain, right? And Jack Lemmon, as the utterly detestable Professor Fate, is at his comedic pinnacle. ("Max! Maaaaax!") Fate is all baddie and Lemmon joyously takes the role over the top. From the moment we first see him, secretly building the earliest urban assault vehicle on record, the amazing Hannibal 8, to every cheating, sabotaging, dastardly stunt he pulls, Fate is the villain we love to hate! Peter Falk is perfect as poor Max, the Professor's idiot henchman. I swear, the adorable cluelessness of Falk's immortal Columbo was born here, in this role. Unlike Columbo, however, Max never gets it, never ever figures it out. Which makes him all the funnier.
These four people alone would make for a funny film. Now, add to that an around the world tour which includes London, Paris, Rome, and the Arctic Circle, the largest pie fight ever recorded on film (something like 2500 pies were used!), pub brawls, kidnapped royalty (watch Lemmon here in a dual role as Fate and the besotted kidnapped prince. You will CRY with laughter!), smashes, crashes, explosions, escapes, a blockbuster supporting cast including Arthur O'Connell, Blake Edwards, Marvin Kaplan, Ross Martin, Dorothy Provine, Larry Storch, Vivian Vance, Keenan Wynn, a host of of cameos that will delight movie buffs, and its easy to see how Hollywood legends are born.
I don't care if YOU weren't born when this picture was made (1965). You will never truly know what movie comedy is all about if you go through life without seeing this film! In fact, DON'T rent it! Just go ahead and BUY it, because once you see it, there is no way you will not want to own it forever.
This movie is loaded with classic quotes destined to become a part of your own tag line collection. For example: I guarantee you, after seeing this film, the next time you see a Pug, you will at least THINK, if not say outright: "I HATE YOU! Get off of the bed!" This is a movie that never gets stale, no matter how many times you see it. Now on DVD, it will last forever, a true example of the timeless magic of Hollywood!
This movie is a ride on the Hilarity Express, from the opening credits to the closing scene. You laugh so hard, and so long, at every scene that you're actually glad to take a breather during Natalie Wood's love song "The Sweetheart Tree", just so your ribs have a chance to stop hurting! The large ensemble cast is packed with a glorious list of award winning actors well able to carry any movie alone. Together, they produce a potent mix of frivolity and timeless innuendo. These are truly the screen giants, not only of their time, but arguably of ALL time.
Tony Curtis as "The Great Leslie", our hero, all in white, is just the right mixture of gentlemanly elegance, knightly chivalry, and the period's chauvinistic disregard of "the weaker sex". He's the perfect foil for Wood's Maggie DuBois, a "modern woman" reporter. She smokes, she cusses, she punches! Leslie is at once fascinated, repulsed, and astounded by her. When circumstances throw them together during the race, sparks fly but the heat sizzles. It is plain to see why these two were the box office "hotties" of their day.
Now, no good story can have a glorious hero without a contrastingly evil villain, right? And Jack Lemmon, as the utterly detestable Professor Fate, is at his comedic pinnacle. ("Max! Maaaaax!") Fate is all baddie and Lemmon joyously takes the role over the top. From the moment we first see him, secretly building the earliest urban assault vehicle on record, the amazing Hannibal 8, to every cheating, sabotaging, dastardly stunt he pulls, Fate is the villain we love to hate! Peter Falk is perfect as poor Max, the Professor's idiot henchman. I swear, the adorable cluelessness of Falk's immortal Columbo was born here, in this role. Unlike Columbo, however, Max never gets it, never ever figures it out. Which makes him all the funnier.
These four people alone would make for a funny film. Now, add to that an around the world tour which includes London, Paris, Rome, and the Arctic Circle, the largest pie fight ever recorded on film (something like 2500 pies were used!), pub brawls, kidnapped royalty (watch Lemmon here in a dual role as Fate and the besotted kidnapped prince. You will CRY with laughter!), smashes, crashes, explosions, escapes, a blockbuster supporting cast including Arthur O'Connell, Blake Edwards, Marvin Kaplan, Ross Martin, Dorothy Provine, Larry Storch, Vivian Vance, Keenan Wynn, a host of of cameos that will delight movie buffs, and its easy to see how Hollywood legends are born.
I don't care if YOU weren't born when this picture was made (1965). You will never truly know what movie comedy is all about if you go through life without seeing this film! In fact, DON'T rent it! Just go ahead and BUY it, because once you see it, there is no way you will not want to own it forever.
This movie is loaded with classic quotes destined to become a part of your own tag line collection. For example: I guarantee you, after seeing this film, the next time you see a Pug, you will at least THINK, if not say outright: "I HATE YOU! Get off of the bed!" This is a movie that never gets stale, no matter how many times you see it. Now on DVD, it will last forever, a true example of the timeless magic of Hollywood!