Much more fun than the critics of the day would lead one to believe. In the early 1900s, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood compete in a race between New York and Paris using the then new fangled automobile. Chaos ensues. Curtis plays straight-man to the shenanigans of both Lemmon and Wood. As a Black Bart type, Lemmon is a hoot and as a militant suffragette, Wood has never been lovelier. Director Blake Edwards creates a rollicking farce that holds a multitude of pleasures, not the least of which is the undeniable chemistry between not only Curtis and Wood, but between Curtis and Lemmon. They prove that their teaming in SOME LIKE IT HOT was no fluke. The various set pieces include a pie fight, a wild west saloon fight, as well as many ill-advised attempts by Lemmon to sideline Curtis. The supporting cast is very colorful and includes Peter Falk as Lemmon's hapless assistant, Larry Storch as an unlikely town menace, Arthur O'Connell, Marvin Kaplan, a cigarette-smoking Vivian Vance, and, in a very sexy musical number, Dorothy Provine.
Review of The Great Race
