The Great Race
Comedy about an early 20th century car race across three continents.
- Director: Blake Edwards
- Genre:Action / Adventure / Comedy / Family / Musical / Sport
- Runtime:154 minutes
Cast
Jack Lemmon : Prof. Fate
Tony Curtis : The Great Leslie
Natalie Wood : Maggie Dubois
Peter Falk : Max
Keenan Wynn : Hezekiah
The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis), whose full name is Leslie Gallant III, is a wealthy daredevil and showman who is famed for such things as setting speed records and performing escape feats worthy of Harry Houdini. Deliciously devilish Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) is Leslie’s nemesis, whose own daredevil shows usually end in failure or at least embarrassment. Leslie has the respect and admiration of businessmen and the media, while Fate sulks behind the walls of his dark mansion and is not taken seriously in general; hence, he bears an eternal grudge against his white-suited rival. On several occasions, Fate attempts to sabotage Leslie’s stunts, but each attempt backfires and he ends up a victim of his own scheme instead.
Leslie proposes that the Webber Motor Company promote its brand-new open-top tourer by sponsoring, entering and (hopefully) winning a race from New York to Paris. Fate is at pains not only to build his own supercar, the Hannibal Twin-8 (complete with features reminiscent of James Bond’s movie cars), but also to sabotage Leslie’s preparations. Meanwhile, the editor of New York City’s most prominent newspaper–The Sentinel–is cajoled by Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood), a young female photojournalist and suffragette, into entering a car with her as the driver, since her previous attempts to insinuate herself into either Leslie’s or Fate’s cars have failed.
As the race begins, Fate’s sidekick Maximilian Meen (Peter Falk) carries out his master’s instructions to sabotage all the other cars except the Leslie Special (and DuBois’ car, since she was late to the starting grid). Fate’s motivation is for the race to be a one-on-one standup-fight between himself and Leslie. Max mistakenly sabotages their own vehicle as well, but eventually takes the lead on the road. Fate antagonizes the officials of Boracho, a small western-frontier town where the racers stop to refuel. DuBois’ car breaks down in the desert, and she is given a ride by Leslie; she continues the race as a demanding passenger, and switches teams several times throughout. Fate steals the fuel he needs and sets the rest on fire (which destroys half of Boracho), consigning Leslie to a long delay. Yet, in due course, this is erased when both cars reach Alaska and park side-by-side in the snowbound middle-of-nowhere. Read more
