The Great Race (1965)

The Great Race
Directed by Blake Edwards
Written by Arthur A. Ross from an original story by Ross and Blake Edwards
1965/USA
Warner Bros./Patricia/Jalem Productions/Reynard
First viewing?/Netflixrental

[box] Maggie DuBois: And because I consider myself sexually free and morally emancipated, I am still a responsible, discriminating woman who does not intend to jump into bed with the first wavy-haired, muscle-bound, egocentric male who thinks he can seduce me by agreeing with some of the things I believe in.[/box]

Any movie dedicated to “Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy” has set itself a high standard.  Not quite up there in my opinion.

On the lines of Around the World in 80 Days (1956), the story takes place in the late 19th/early 20th Century and concerns a race, this one proposed by hero The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) from New York to Paris by automobile.  His archrival, the dastardly Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) takes up the challenge accompanied by his faithful assistant Max (Peter Falk).  Natalie Wood plays would-be journalist suffragette Maggie Dubois, who worms herself into one car and then the other to get an exclusive.

The remainder of the movie follows the participants’ comic adventures during the race. This is the kind of thing that culminates in a pie fight.  With Keenan Wynn as Curtis’ assistant.

This was 2 hours and 40 minutes of very broad comedy that I tired of after the first hour. The cast might have saved it but I thought both Wood and Lemmon, fine as they can  be, overdid it here.

The Great Race (1965) won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Sound Effects.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Original Song (“The Sweetheart Tree”).