Sometimes, it's good to think that certain movies have no purpose except to be funny. "The Great Race" is one such movie. You know how in "Dr. Strangelove", the characters' names describe who they are? Well, in this movie, it's even more exaggerated. Set in 1908, Tony Curtis plays eternally kind stuntman Leslie Gallant III, Jack Lemmon plays the dastardly Professor Fate, Natalie Wood plays photographer Maggie DuBois, Peter Falk plays Fate's assistant Max Meen, and Keenan Wynn plays Gallant's assistant Hezekiah Sturdy.
Think that all sounds crazy? Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. After Fate and Gallant try to best each other in some stunts (with the latter always doing better, of course), Gallant proposes a New-York-to-Paris race, and so Fate and Maggie enlist. Throughout the race, a series of wacky things happen: a brawl in an old western town, an unwanted trip across the Bering Sea, and a pie fight.
When I first saw "The Great Race" when I was eight, the only cast member whom I recognized was Dorothy Provine, as a singer in the old western town - I had previously seen her in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"; in the process of watching the movie, I learned the names Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk (Falk also starred in "IAMMMMW", but he didn't appear until very late in the movie, so I hadn't picked up on it). Now, when I look at "The Great Race" cast, it's almost hard for me to believe that it also stars Ethel Mertz, Artemus Gordon, Gen. Batguano, Col. Agarn (from "F Troop") and Otis (from "The Andy Griffith Show). Whoa...
It's pure hilarity from start (one of Fate's dirty tricks) to finish (the French are probably glad that this isn't a true story).
Think that all sounds crazy? Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. After Fate and Gallant try to best each other in some stunts (with the latter always doing better, of course), Gallant proposes a New-York-to-Paris race, and so Fate and Maggie enlist. Throughout the race, a series of wacky things happen: a brawl in an old western town, an unwanted trip across the Bering Sea, and a pie fight.
When I first saw "The Great Race" when I was eight, the only cast member whom I recognized was Dorothy Provine, as a singer in the old western town - I had previously seen her in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"; in the process of watching the movie, I learned the names Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk (Falk also starred in "IAMMMMW", but he didn't appear until very late in the movie, so I hadn't picked up on it). Now, when I look at "The Great Race" cast, it's almost hard for me to believe that it also stars Ethel Mertz, Artemus Gordon, Gen. Batguano, Col. Agarn (from "F Troop") and Otis (from "The Andy Griffith Show). Whoa...
It's pure hilarity from start (one of Fate's dirty tricks) to finish (the French are probably glad that this isn't a true story).