The Great Race

1965

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Family / Romance / Sport / Western

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 83% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 83% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 21346 21.3K

slapstick new york city paris, france car race inventor slapstick comedy

Plot summary

Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.

Director

Blake Edwards Photo
Blake Edwards

Top cast

Frank Ellis Photo
Frank Ellis as Barfly
Arthur O'Connell Photo
Arthur O'Connell as Henry Goodbody
Harry Harvey Photo
Harry Harvey as Executive Board Member
Johnny Silver Photo
Johnny Silver as Baker
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.44 GB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 39 min
Seeds 10
2.95 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 39 min
Seeds 57

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by robfollower 9 / 10

Comedy, action, drama, romance, gadgets, cars, swordfights, pie fights, dopplegangers, clichés, and more!

Lemmon is brilliant in his dual roles of Prof. Fate and Prince Hoepnick. Completely different characters, yet easily two of Lemmon's best. I always rooted for Prof. Fate to win :) Natalie Wood's Maggie Dubois is energetically comedic, a "modern woman" reporter. She smokes, she cusses, she punches! Natalie Wood was never more beautiful. Tony Curtis' Great Leslie is preposterously perfect. The completely calm eye at the center of this storm, yet the irritant in the eye of the other two principle characters. Peter Falk is perfect as poor Max, the Professor's idiot henchman. The settings are beautiful, the costuming is superb - no wonder it garnered an Academy Award nomination for Cinematography."The Great Race," a delightful parody of silent film, is still one of my favorite epic comedies. The adventures of Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk as they compete in the early twentieth century to win a New York to Paris auto race. This movie is a ride on the Hilarity Express, from the opening credits to the closing scene. Always make me laugh hysterically . And has any other film even approached the firing in rapid salvoes of 2,357 pies in the biggest food fight in cinematic history !!If you haven't seen this, I highly suggest you rent it. Yes, it is long, but it is one of the few comedies I have seen that keeps up the laughs consistently... it never sags or has dull moments. It is downright hilarious from start to finish. And to top it all off, it has some very cool cars."Push the button, Max!" 9/10
Reviewed by AlsExGal 7 / 10

Like "Around the World in 80 Days" except not boring...

... and not as many cameos and not as much emphasis on shooting world locations. It's actually like a cross between that film and "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and is a a lavishly produced homage to the slapstick comedy and exaggerated villains and heroes of early silent films.The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) are competing daredevils at the turn of the 20th century. Leslie is the classic hero, Fate the classic villain. Leslie proposes an around the world automobile race and Fate sees this as a chance to - finally - best Leslie by fair means or foul. Complicating matters is a suffragette (Natalie Wood) who insists on entering the race so she can report on it. Arthur O'Connell plays the newspaper editor whom she comically browbeats - and shocks - into employing her.The most impressive aspect of The Great Race is the lively performance by Jack Lemmon who dominates the film in every frame in which he resides. Lemmon had done comedy and drama up to this point, but it was a departure for him to do farce and do it as the villain, although there are plenty of spots where he is humanized to the point that you don't really think of him as such. He also had tremendous support from the sidekick role of Max as played by Peter Falk. While Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood may have been considered the leads of the film, in the end it was Jack who stole the whole show.
Read more IMDb reviews

2 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment