“Push The
Button, Max!”
.
The Great
Race is an awfully long movie. That is
its one huge drawback in recommending it.
At theaters it was shown with an Intermission (when the Great Leslie and
Dr. Fate share an iceberg).
Thematically, the break should be just before that. Right as the race starts.
.
But I am
getting ahead of myself. The Great Race
is from Blake Edwards. It was the
original “wacky racer” group of movies that sprung up in the late 60’s and
quickly receded from memory. Most were nothing more than chances for Terry
Thomas to chew scenery, but there is no Terry Thomas here. The Great Race is between the Good Guy – Tony
Curtis at his most ironically dashing as the Great Leslie – whose appearance
includes a digitally added twinkle in his eye.
Versus the Very Bad Guy – Jack lemon as Dr. Fate – self pronounced as
DocTOR FATE! An insanely young Peter
Faulk is Max, Dr. Fate’s bumbling second in command.
.
To promote
the new Motor Car, The Great Leslie takes off on a race from New York to
Paris. Dr. Fate joins the race in a
maniacal (and certainly frustrated) bid to outdo the Great Leslie. Blake Edwards is not one for subtlety or
understatement. The Great Race is a
farce from beginning to end. Which is to
say there are a ton of jokes, some of which stick and some just get thrown at
the wall to bounce off.
.
Natalie Wood
is the love interest and prototypical Feminist.
She is the first female reporter and decides to cover the race as a
competitor. She is carries a single
bag, and yet never wears the same outfit twice.
She has a non-ironic ringlet in her hair, which changes sides of the
head as often as Igor’s hump did in Young Frankenstein.
.
The
highlights include Dr. Fate drinking wine with his thumbs bandaged, “Kids.
Damned kids!” A trashy dance hall gal
putting the moves on Leslie in front of Natalie Wood out in the old west. And a bizarre Prince and the Pauper sub-story
set in olden Russia, but filmed in Salzburg the same year as The Sound Of
Music.
.
Either
settle in for a night of fun or, if you have the DVD, watch it over two
days. The DVD preserves the intermission
break.