THE GREAT RACE
US, 1965, 163 minutes, Colour.
Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Peter Falk, Natalie Wood, George Macready, Ross Martin, Vivian Vance, Dorothy Provine, Keenan Wynn.
Directed by Blake Edwards.
The Great Race was one of the spectacular comedies of the '60s. It was directed by Blake Edwards who had made his mark with some bright comedies in the late 1950s and early 160s as well as some dramas e.g. Days Of Wine And Roses. By the mid-'60s he had made The Pink Panther and A Shot In The Dark and was to take up the Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers in the '70s. His films in the late '60s and early '70s were not successful but he made a spectacular comeback with the Pink Panther films and '10' in the '70s - all satirised in his S.O.B.
The Great Race fits into the race genre - similar to such films as Those Daring Young Men In Their Flying Machines. Tony Curtis is all genial and dazzling white as the hero, Jack Lemmon in black as the villain (with the chance to do a parody of The Prisoner of Zenda as an effeminate European monarch). Natalie Wood is the vigorous heroine. There is a good supporting cast. Special effects are spectacular - and there are many homages to the film traditions especially with The Prisoner of Zenda, the western brawl and the most colourful pie-throwing sequence in cinema history. There is a Henry Mancini score with The Sweetheart Tree and Dorothy Provine singing a vigorous He Shouldn't-a. Entertaining in its way - but it does go on for a long time.
1. The popularity of the spectacular race film - cars, planes? The spectacles and comedies of the '60s? The tradition of American comedy - visual, slapstick? The Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Keaton techniques and Blake Edwards' homage to them?
2. Blake Edwards and his comic talent - visual, slapstick, boisterous? The stars and their status in the '60s - hero and villain? Heroine? Their comic abilities? The parallels to the comedy tradition, cartoons - e.g. The Road-Runner? Romance? Suffragette films? Parody of westerns and The Prisoner of Zenda?
3. Panavision colour photography, the titles and their tone? Special effects especially in the introduction to Professor Fate and The Great Leslie? The spectacular accidents? Period, variety of locations - American, Alaskan, European? Henry Mancini's score and songs?
4. The basic comic plot and competitive plot? Hero and villain, jealousies and rivalries? The dramatic momentum of the race and the dirty tricks? The conventions of the newspaper reporter - with the feminist touch? The European car pursuit? The Prisoner of Zenda?
5. Villain and hero in black and white? The conventions of the American hero - talk, dress, teeth sparkling? The villain with clothes, moustache, henchman? The allusions to the Road-Runner? cartoons in the initial accidents? Peter Falk and Keenan Wynn as the henchman and assistant?
6. The newspaper background - and the conventions of harassed editors, editors' wives., demonstrations? The suffragette issue? The demonstrations and Maggie and her being chained? Her push, capacity for talking? Going on the race, using the pigeons? Being stranded in the west? The clashes with Professor Fate, his kidnapping her? Her power over The Great Leslie? The jealousies? The happy ending kiss - the spirit of The Sweetheart Tree!
7. The presentation of machines, inventions,, cars? Development of the various models of cars and the ingenuity of the times? Races and speed? The history of the development of the car? Nostalgia for old cars?
8. The range of American landscapes? The dirty tricks within the landscapes? Indians, the open road, the bar-room song and the long bar-room brawl, Alaska and the ice floes?
9. The humorous contrast with Russia (in the spirit of the '60s?) and their seriousness? Potsdorf and The Prisoner of Zenda? Jack Lemmon's performance as the twitty king? The baron and his plot, the general and his allegiance? The substitution of the king? Jack Lemmon and his contrasting styles as Fate and the king? The duel and Tony Curtis paying homage to his own films of the '50s? The spectacle of the coronation? The culmination in the pie-throwing sequence - quantity, colour and the visual designs on the screen?
10. The build-up to the finish of the race, Professor Fate and his wanting to win a race, Maggie and Leslie kissing? The only possibility for Professor Fate to want a new race?
11. How effective was the comedy, the quality of the laughs? The delineation of the characters - human or comic strip types? Caricatures? comic situations and their effectiveness? The length of the film, boisterousness - comments that it was a rather bloated comedy?
12. The American issues - heroes and heroines, villains, competitiveness~,1 traditions of good and evil, good overcoming evil? The feminist touch of the '60s?
