Sorry, this movie sucks

Admirable film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I just love this movie. I've seen it many times over my life, and it never gets old. The contrast between squeaky-clean Tony Curtis and dastardly Jack Lemmon is wonderful, and Lemmon in particular delivers a hilarious performance, both in his main role as Professor Fate, as well as the Crown Prince of Pottsdorf later in the movie. The laughs and mannerisms of both characters are memorable. The scene in the Arctic snowstorm always cracks me up, Fate's mustache being snapped off by his henchman (Peter Falk, who's also great), and him showing he's not exactly a 'morning person' when he's asked to 'rise and shine'. Professor Fate is so bothered by everything that he'll even snarl at cute little pugs in a lavish bed. Natalie Wood is in a deceptively tricky role, needing at the same time to be funny, serious as a suffragette, and secretly attracted to Curtis as a love interest – and she absolutely shines. She's also incredibly beautiful, simply a dream, as always. The 'big' moments of slapstick in the film are done very well, including an epic pie fight and barroom brawl, but there are also a large number of 'small' moments – little lines of dialogue, inflections, and facial expressions – that keep me smiling throughout, even when I know it's silliness that would appeal to children. The film is 160 minutes but Director Blake Edwards keeps it lively, and it never drags. Great film.

Blake Edwards has one of the most overblown reputations among critics and film buffs, and this lavishly produced, star and cameo studded, box office smash is long, loud and tedious. Seemingly inspired by the success of Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Great Race, 2 hours and 40 minutes long, is a seemingly endless series of elaborate set pieces populated by annoying characters played by Curtis, Wood, Lemon and Falk who are one-note and overbearing. Since the outcome of the race doesn't matter, the race lacks any excitement; there's no one to root for and it becomes sidetracked with songs and an elaborate pie throwing fight while all of the other participants in the race apparently fall off the map. Edwards' films The Days of Wine and Roses, Experiment in Terror, S.O.B. and Ten are all over rated and Darling Lili like The Great Race is almost impossible to underrate. Breakfast at Tiffany's is probably his best film even though it turns sentimental in the last third.

Some of the hottest stars of 1965 combine to produce a wonderful, comedic adventure movie in the tradition of "Around the World in Eighty Days" and "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." Jack Lemmon is at his very best as Professor Fate, who tries to stop the irrepressible Tony Curtis (he of the sparkling teeth, the ultimate goody-two-shoes). Throw in Natalie Wood and a lot of incredible cliffhanging events, good versus evil, and you have an adventure that surpasses the aforementioned pair of movies. In this one the chemistry is excellent. While it is ridiculously outrageous, we are quickly taken into the realm of the film and it never lets up for a minute. It hearkens to the classic melodrama. At times I thought that while the sixties were one of the most explosive times in history, the movie industry was pretty sterile, especially when it came to the comedy. This one needs to be seen.

Other reviews have good information about the plot and acting in "The Great Race." So, my comments will cover some things that I didn't see in reviews. Blake Edwards used a lot of past events in this movie – from Hollywood and elsewhere, to lampoon those events and some topics of the times. He used the real Great Race of 1908 as his overall comedy "vehicle" (a pun by coincidence?). The real event probably had very little comedy for the participants. Although when one reads the details of the finish, it seems obvious that at least one entry tried some shenanigans. The race was a big deal in its time, and we have some interesting artifacts from that event, which I'll mention later. I'm sure some similarities with the movie will be obvious here, as well as some scenes that may have been inspired by the real race. The real race was sponsored by the New York Times and Le Matin of Paris. Six cars were entered in the race from four countries. France had three entries and one car each came from the U.S., Italy and Germany. The race was to cover 22,000 miles. The best of roads at the time were poor by today's standards, and most places had no roads at all. Wherever possible, the cars straddled and followed railroad tracks. Where there were no tacks, the cars drove cross country. The original plan was to drive the entire distance by crossing the frozen Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia. But it was changed to ferry the cars from Seattle to Valdez, AK. Then, when the leading car arrived there, the Alaskan conditions were so bad that it was impossible to proceed further by land. So, from Valdez, the race went by ship to Japan, then by ferry across the Sea of Japan to Vladivostok, Siberia.So, who won? The U.S. entry, the Thomas Flyer, driven by George Schuster, was the first to cross the U.S., and it entered Paris on July 30 – 169 days after starting. The German Protos had arrived in Paris four days earlier, but was penalized 30 days because it didn't go to Alaska. The Italian Züst was the only other car to finish the race. It arrived in Paris on September 17. None of the three French entries made it past Vladivostok. The cars had teams of three or four men, and some of the men were replaced along the route. George Schuster was the only American to go the entire route. When the Americans returned to the U.S., they had a heroes welcome and ticker-tape parade in New York City. Now for the artifacts. The winning Thomas Flyer and the race trophy are in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV. The trophy is a large pyramid made out of marble from the four nations that had cars competing. I saw these and many cars and other items when I spent a day in the museum in 1997. This world-class museum was begun with 175 of the nearly 1,400 automobiles of the William Harrah auto collection. The museum opened in 1989 and ranks among the top five automobile museums in the U.S., and in the top 16 in the world. That's according to "AutoWeek" magazine. "The Great Race" cost $12 million to produce over five months. It was then the most expensive comedy ever made. This globe-trotting farce didn't go quite as far as "Around the World in 80 Days," but it sure is a close second. It was filmed in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria; Paris, France; Frankfort, KY; the Oregon coast; and in locales and studios up and down California. Before the big race begins in the movie, we get some hilarious comedy warm-ups. We see a number of individual performances by The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon). Kennan Wynn and Peter Falk play their sidekicks, Hezekiah Sturdy and Maximilian Meen. These hilarious scenes have some goofy gimmicks and interesting inventions. Fate is a great – if diabolical inventor. We have scenes with a bicycle- powered dirigible, a railroad track rocket, a mini-submarine and a land and water mobile torpedo. Other adventurous scenes add to the humor, with Fate's attempt to beat Leslie by trying to cause Leslie's stunts to fail. The hijinks continue during the race. I had to pause my DVD when I laughed so long at this exchange. General Kuhster: "The Great Leslie has escaped." Prof. Fate: "Escaped?" General: "With a small friar." Fate: "Leslie escaped with a chicken?" General: "No, you idiot, with a friar. A monk. A priest."Henry Mancini's music for this film is excellent. The ominous theme each time Fate comes on the scene prepares us for some sort of hijinks that are sure to make us laugh. Jack Lemmon is riotously funny in his double performance in this film. He and Falk make an unbeatable comedy pair. I can see that match up as Blake's tribute to Laurel and Hardy. Lemmon should have been nominated for an Oscar that year. His role was much funnier, and much more demanding, than that played by Lee Marvin who won the best actor Oscar for "Cat Ballou." "The Great Race" also has the best pie throwing scene of any movie ever made. "The Great Race" won the Oscar for best effects and sound effects, and it received four other nominations in 1965. That was a year that had many great films. This is a wonderful madcap comedy adventure that will delight the whole family.