The Great Race

Blake Edwards (1965), Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie’s arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate’s own invention. The Blake Edwards style of slapstick and song originated with this movie. A dedication to Laurel and Hardy appears at the beginning of the film. Edwards’ tribute to Stan and Ollie can be seen most clearly in the interaction between Professor Fate and his cohort Max, as well as in the operatic Pottsdorf pie fight., Fast-moving comedy about a 22,000-mile road race from New York City to Paris. The good guy and his arch-villain enemy battle fiercely to win the race, but the contest becomes even more personal as they each fight for the affections of a suffragette newspaper reporter., Fast-moving comedy about the rivalry between a professional daredevil and his villainous arch-enemy as they compete to win a 22,000-mile road race from New York City to Paris. The fierce contest between the two competitors heats up as they each fight for the affections of a feisty suffragette., A slapstick comedy film which revolves around cars, two rivals and a suffragette. Leslie and Fate, a typical hero-anti-hero duo, participate in a 20th-century road race from New York to Paris that spans over three continents. There is also a token female protagonist, Maggie DuBois who rides a newspaper’s car and is a suffragette. The seven-car race commences but soon has only 3 survivors. How will this race end?, Comedy about an early 20th century car race across three continents., A slapstick comedy film which revolves around cars, two rivals and a suffragette. Leslie and Fate, a typical hero-anti-hero duo, participate in an early 20th-century road race from New York to Paris that spans over three continents. There is also a token female protagonist, Maggie DuBois who rides a newspaper’s car and is a suffragette. The seven-car race commences but soon has only 3 survivors. How will this race end?, It’s 2008 and Great Leslie and Professor Fate are leading contenders in the first New York to Paris car race., Tony Curtis stars as The Great Leslie, a hero among heroes whose purity of heart is manifested by his spotlessly white wardrobe. Leslie’s great rival, played by Jack Lemmon, is Professor Fate, a scowling, mustachioed, top-hatted, black-garbed villain. Long envious of Leslie’s record-setting accomplishments with airships and sea craft, Professor Fate schemes to win a 22,000-mile auto race from New York City to Paris by whatever insidious means possible. The problem is that Fate is his own worst enemy: each of his plans to remove Leslie from the running (and from the face of the earth) backfires. Leslie’s own cross to bear is suffragette Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood), who also hopes to win the contest and thus strike a blow for feminism. The race takes all three contestants to the Wild West, the frozen wastes of Alaska, and, in the longest sequence, the mythical European kingdom of Carpania. This last-named country is the setting for a wild Prisoner of Zenda spoof involving Professor Fate and his look-alike, the foppish Carpanian king. When Leslie and Fate approach the finish line at the Eiffel Tower, Leslie deliberately loses to prove his love for Maggie. Professor Fate cannot stand winning under these circumstances, thus he demands that he and Leslie race back to New York. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk as Fate’s long-suffering flunkey Max, Keenan Wynn as Leslie’s faithful general factotum, Dorothy Provine as a brassy saloon singer, Larry Storch as ill-tempered bandit Texas Jack, and Ross Martin as Baron Von Stuppe. The film also yielded a hit song, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s The Sweetheart Tree. The Great Race was dedicated to “Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy”., Bitter rivals participate in an early 20th-century road race from New York to Paris that spans three continents., Blake Edwards’ wild and inspired comic extravaganza is set in 1908 where villain Jack Lemmon and heroic Tony Curtis vie to win the first 22,000 car race from New York to Paris., Academy Award winner Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood star in a slapstick farce about a 22,000-mile road race from New York to Paris set in 1908.