THE GREAT RACE Best Comedy / Family Movie, 1965 - 4 stars Sixties Spoof of Early Slapstick Featuring Turn-of-the-Century Auto Race Two films were made in 1965 that catered to both the current interest in turn-of-the-century history and wacky humor: The Great Race and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines. The former was also a spoof on slapstick humor, such as the Keystone Cops, and early melodramas that featured heroes in white hats and villains in black. Most of the slapstick comes from bad guys Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk. Tony Curtis provides the white hat, and Natalie Wood offers a bodice bountiful, along with the most costume changes ever seen in the same movie. Director Blake Edwards is known for his off-the-wall humor, as evidenced by the Pink Panther series; but here he tips his hat to the icons of early film, as well as glorifies the cliches: barroom brawls, pie fights, booby-trapped cars, crazy racing machines, feats of daring; he even lifts the mistaken identities, the sword fight scene and the escape from a castle prison almost wholly from the 1939 version of The Man In The Iron Mask - and it works, for the most part. The basic plot is a loosely historical auto race, set at the turn of the last century, from New York to Paris in order to determine the greatest manufacturer of automobiles. It is also to prove who the greatest daredevil is: The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) or Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon). The course offers many interesting locales, including the old west, Russia and a generic Bavarian kingdom with an emperor that looks like Professor Fate, also played by Jack Lemmon. Natalie Wood is the emancipated lady reporter that wants to be accepted by men as their equal, but ends up torn between her desire to compete with Leslie and the compulsion to swoon in his arms. Keenan Wynn plays Leslie's assistant, who has no time for women and believes Wood has been planted by Professor Fate to cause them to lose the race. Peter Falk is Fate’s assistant, who is not above sabotaging the other competitors’ vehicles, or doing anything else devious or underhanded in order to win. It’s all a lot of fun. It's amazing how many parallels there are between Ken Annakin's Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines and Blake Edwards' The Great Race. One might almost think they were looking over each other's shoulders. But there is quite a different flavor to each. Those Magnificent Men is strongly British and very realistic, whereas The Great Race is strongly American and very tongue-in-cheek. As wonderful as both films are - especially for art, costume and other technical achievements - it's hard to believe that the only Oscar either of them won was for sound effects, which went to The Great Race. But, when you consider that they were competing against The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago, maybe it's not so incredible. In their own right, they're both very entertaining. Waitsel Smith, March 24, 2006 Text, © 2006 Waitsel Smith. Pictures, © Warner Home Video. All Rights Reserved.

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