The Great Race (1965)
Retro Review #49: Blake Edwards’ slapstick epic goes around the world, inevitably visiting a fictional country in the Alps.
The Great Race (1965)
+ Feature film, 2h 40m🎖️⭐
A ^
Grade: A ^ (12.0) / HOF: 50
EQ 👍A | 📖A- 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A+
DW 😎😎10.0 | 🌚10 🌝10
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️1️⃣ 👀⬆️0️⃣ 🛐⬇️0️⃣
Make that four! Yes, The Great Race is our fourth straight film on our overview of Dark Whimsy favorites to be filmed at least partially in the Alps. It’s our second straight to be filmed in Salzburg, Austria, although in this case the Salzburg locations are used to represent the fictional kingdom of Carpania. And that makes this the third of those four films to be partially set in a fictional country. This is our second film in three to be scored by the great Henry Mancini, and our second in three to be directed by Blake Edwards, who intended The Great Race to be “the funniest comedy ever”.
Whether or not you think Edwards succeeded probably depends a lot on how amused you are by slapstick comedy. Dedicated to the comedic duo Laurel and Hardy, The Great Race includes numerous sight gags, some double entendres and plenty of parody and satire. But slapstick comedy is the predominant laugh-generating mechanism used here, so if that’s not for you, then neither is this movie.
As a kid in junior high, this was a favorite movie of mine, and I made plans to watch every time it popped up in the TV Guide listings. But I was more a lover of sports and the idea of a round-the-world race than a slapstick fan, so for me, even back then, the famous pie fight near the end of the film was a little over the top.
The race premise of the film was based on a real-life New York City to Paris race of 1908, with the movie borrowing only the time period and general route of the actual race. Crossing several geographic regions of America and the world allowed The Great Race to cross several film genres as well. For example, overshadowed by the pie fight, there’s also a Western saloon brawl that might be the craziest ever put to celluloid.
The elaborate sets and props in The Great Race, all filmed in Technicolor, may be silly, and, again, are somewhat over the top. But they inarguably add to the Whimsy, and make the movie a feast for the eyes, while also contributing to making the movie the most expensive comedy ever filmed up until then.
Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis play daredevil rivals who are the leading racers in the competition. Lemmon, as Professor Fate, is a villain of the Wile E. Coyote mode—his devious plans usually backfire spectacularly, yet he inexplicably survives the consequences.
Peter Falk (later known for his role as the rumpled detective, Columbo) plays Fate’s sidekick Max with a performance reminiscent of another Peter, namely Peter Lorre. Between the two, their dastardly deeds, their creepy costumes and their gloomy lair, we have more than enough Dark to couple with the slapstick Whimsy and earn a Pure Dark Whimsy reading on our Dark Whimsy Meter.
Meanwhile, Curtis as clean cut hero Leslie Gallant shares a predictable but sweet romance with Natalie Wood playing Maggie DuBois. Maggie is the stereotypical girl-who-doesn’t-need-a-man, and as we expect she finds it difficult to resist the charms of “The Great Leslie”.
Recently divorced from actor Robert Wagner, Wood hid her emotional turmoil from her co-workers and delivered a positively playful performance as Miss DuBois, only to need an emergency hospital visit due to overdosing on pills after her film work ended. Many people, including friends of Wood and film critics alike, agreed she was at her peak of beauty in this film, all the more amazing under the circumstances.
It should be mentioned that this peak of beauty does include some scenes in which Ms. Wood is, shall we say, scantily clad. So although The Great Race is considered a family film, if your teenage son is old enough that he’s started noticing girls and what they are, or are not, wearing, you might want to steer him away from this one. There’s also a lot of smoking and drinking, including drunkenness, in the movie, so consider that too. Otherwise, the slapstick humor is great fun for kids. Now I don’t personally remember noticing what Natalie was barely wearing when I watched as a junior high boy, but perhaps the film was edited for television. 😉
So is The Great Race a great movie? Not quite, but it’s great fun, with a perfect fun ending. On that note, I hope I’ve enticed you to give it a chance. “Push the button, Max!” What do you have to lose?
Onwards!
+ last viewed (3+) 2025-02-24, HDX7, 2.35, 2D
+ first viewed 1970s, sd2, 2.35vv, 1
+ ⏳👨👩👧👦🍌⚔️🤠🚗🏆🏁💥🛡️🥰💘🥸😛
+ ✅0️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. | Approved
+ 😡+1 😵💫-0^ 🤬+1 🤭+0 🫣-0^
+ 👀⬆️0️⃣
+ ✝️ +0 ➕(💒) ➖(♀️👙)
+ ✡️ -0 ➖(🖤)
+ 🗽 +0 ➕(🇺🇸)
Last updated 2025-04-14
Please do not include spoilers in the comments.
Spoilers are permitted in the Chat for this work.