The Great Race (1965)
Directed by Blake Edwards
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.
3 connections found
View:
3 connections, in both directions
What critics compared The Great Race to
Yet it's virtually joke-free, beyond the sort of easy cultural stereotypes that recall the live-action road-rally outings of my youth: "The Great Race" or, lower down the quality pole, "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies."
The scene is a party… a wild, relentless, profane, profound, heart-pumping, heart-stopping bacchanal with partiers on every level, from the guy who showed up covered in elephant shit - the most extreme cinematic embodiment of the oldest joke about show business and not giving it up - to the movie star who, like Tony Curtis in The Great Race, walks around the pie fight in a white suit without ever being touched.
Ultimately, the rush for Paddington to get out of jail is a merry one and cores the film – think Grand Illusion meets The Great Race by way of Looney Tunes and The Royal Tenenbaums, with a PG rating and loads of pink for good measure.