In the good guy camp there’s The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis (Winchester ’73)) with his impeccable
white outfits, worldly knowledge, sophisticated demeanor, top of the line
automobile and perfect teeth that sparkle when he smiles. In the bad guy camp there’s Professor Fate
(Jack Lemmon (Grumpier Old Men)) with
his all black attire, mean spirited attitude, propensity to clumsily fail in
every endeavor, self-made monstrosity of a racecar and long twirl-y mustache. Basically he’s a Snidely Whiplash rip off
(that character debuted six years earlier).
Natalie Wood (Miracle
of 34th Street) plays a reporter and fierce women’s rights
advocate who covers the race from start to finish. This could’ve been a much stronger character
but unfortunately she keeps getting into situations over her head and eventually
becomes the typical damsel in distress. Making
this move is a bit of a slap in the face because she bails both The Great
Leslie and Professor Fate out of some dicey situations throughout the race and
her reward is to get stripped down, tied up and threatened by some eurotrash
asshole.
But overall this is an incredibly fun adventure comedy. And there’s a huge emphasis on both of those
parts. For instance the movie opens with
The Great Leslie and Professor Fate trading off daredevil stunts like
parachuting out of a hot air balloon and rocketing down a stretch of railroad
track at hundreds of miles per hour. The
race itself is filled with colorful settings like the American west, the Antarctic
and eastern Europe. And the two opponents
have to overcome adversity around every corner.
Remember this takes place in the early 1900’s so if their car breaks
down they have to fix it themselves, rely on their own navigation skills as maps
aren’t totally reliable and finding gas is a recurring issue.
The comedy is a different thing. I mean I love it but not everyone is gonna go
for the extremely zany jokes like Professor Fate using a comically large
crossbow to shoot at The Great Leslie, or staging a colossal pie fight with everyone
getting plastered head to toe in custards and preserves. All of the jokes are very old timey, even for
when the film was made in the mid 60’s.
Every time I go back to this picture it just amazes me how big
of a production it is. The idea is
ambitious and luckily we get the full treatment that matches the true scope of
the premise. This sucker is two hours
and forty mins long with an overture, an intermission, two musical numbers and
the last half hour turns into The Prisoner
of Zenda which involves a plot to have Professor Fate impersonate a prince so
that evil folks in the regime can gain power.
It’s jam packed with so many mini storylines and grand set pieces and great
actors and a fantastic score by Henry Mancini and etc.
Blake Edwards did this after making the first two Pink Panther movies back to back so he
was on a helluva roll. His films tend to
get a little sidetracked after a while though.
It’s like he gets bored two thirds in, his mind wanders and then suddenly
he snaps out of it and realizes he has to wrap this thing up. But his cartoonish yet dry sense of humor coupled
with his straightforward way of filming is something I really dig. He lets his actors, costumes and sets do all
the work. He’s simply there to make sure
everyone is in frame and in focus.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say The Great Race is an acquired taste. Either you’re gonna enjoy the exaggerated
craziness or find it annoying from the first scene. It’s not really a “just stick with it, trust
me” kinda picture. But in my book this
is a tremendous big time Hollywood type film with star power and enormous
vision and all that shit that goes into the making of an epic. It lives up to the title. This race right here is pretty damn great
guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment