Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

SnoopyStyle It's the turn of the century America. The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) are competing daredevils performing for the crowds. The Great Leslie convinces the new car-makers to sponsor a race from New York to Paris. Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood) is a suffragette. Maximilian Meen (Peter Falk) is Fate's assistant. These and many others set off westward towards the Bering Strait and Russia in their automobiles.Director Blake Edwards tries his hand at a road race movie. A few of these comedies got made during this era. It's got some slapstick but it's not that funny. The characters tend to be very wacky especially Jack Lemmon. The production is big and no expense is spared. Despite its pedigree, I do not find enough laughs in this screwball comedy.

Joseph Kearny 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.

hellraiser7 Sometimes villains can be even more fascinating characters than the heroes. Which is kinda strange because they should be people we shouldn't even like since they do things that are amoral or break ethical boundaries. It could be because at some points we can easily emphasize with certain feelings they have or simply they have more persona than the hero or simply more of a life. This is another one of my favorite comedies and I think is also under the radar and a bit forgotten.In a way the film sort of parodies on the notion of the good guy and bad guy motif. The plot is ridiculous feels but that's part of what makes it funny because this film is sort of a live action cartoon. It was a long movie but just as fast as the cars go, the pacing goes by so fast and constantly moves I hardly noticed.The production value was good it was shot in a bunch of location which makes it all the better which means no cheating with any effects. I really like the race sequences and stunts which were all real cars and all real driving. There is a bit of action like a sword fight which is probably on of my favorite one on one battles because of the length of time and the different foils and techniques used.The locations they all go to all pretty much play like a live action Mad Magazine comic. Like in that magazine each of the snafus they get into are random and completely ridiculous, it's almost like for a moment these characters have just jumped into another movie. From a western, "Prisoner of Zelda" dilemma, an epic pie battle, it's just crazy you have to see to believe.I simply like the characters. Tony Curtis is great as Lesile whom is so perfect it's nauseating, he's pretty much a parody on our amount of expectations on what we want our protagonists to be which is to be all so perfect. Lesile is that in spades all so perfect, yet all so dull, simply because this protagonist has that fundamental problem of having a lifestyle but no real life.Natalie Wood is great and hot as Maggie Dubois whom is almost a Lois Lane like reporter that is just so determined by all means to get her point across. And I just love how high she is on her feminist beliefs, which makes her all the more funny because of the double standard to some of them which she is consciously not entirely aware of. It's funny how she delivers grief or unintentional grief toward both sides of the spectrum. Though the only bad thing in the film for me, would be who she falls for in the end, I kind which it was Professor Fate she fell for since he's more interesting and would of made more sense. But then again that might have deterred the villain quality for Fate unless she converted to being a villain, so I can't complain too much about that.But of course the main attraction is Professor Fate played brilliantly by Jack Lemon. This character is my favorite role from him, he's literally a live action cartoon villain. He looks like Snide Whiplash from the cartoon Duddley Do Right with that mustache and wardrobe. he was also a partial inspiration to villain Dr. Horrible in the web mini series "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog".He's character is pretty much a blowhole but a fun one that just simply wants to beat or kill Lesile by any means necessary. It's just funny how much he just puts it out there, not even bothering to keep himself undercover even though logically that is what villains should do, at the rate of exposure it's surprising that he's hasn't been arrested yet.I even like his back and forth with his flunky played by one of my favorite actors Peter Falk and yes for the record I'm a "Columbo" fan; his character himself is hilarious because of how dumb he really is, but a little touching because of how loyal he is to Fate and is probably the Fate's only friend.It's just funny how many tricks he's trying to pull to sabotage and beat Lesile in the race almost more than those power ups you'd get in the "Mario Kart" video games. But just like Wille Coyte's schemes in the Road Runner cartoons they don't work.But he's interesting not just in persona but you can sort of emphasize with him a bit. As he's a person you can easily see he's simply a person that doesn't have all the break in life and is really trying hard to have a piece of the good life. Which is part of why he hates Lesile so much because Lesile is a person that practically has all those breaks in life, without even trying. It's sort of like with us where some of us have to work hard or exercise a painful amount of patience to get what we want, while there are some in a higher class that have things handed to them and not always appreciated it. Yeah, I know it hardly seems fair, but this all the more made me on Prof Fate's side and made us want him to win, despite not entirely deserving it (he is playing dirty after all)."The Great Race" goes the distance.Rating: 4 stars

dugan49 The Great Race has been described as live action cartoon, and that is when it's comedy is at it's most appealing. In the opening minutes Prof fate and Max (Lemmon and Falk)endure cartoonish falls, crashes and explosions, and the comparison to old WB cartoons is apt. Then we get into the plot , and as soon as the racers hit the American west, machinations of the characters take over and the slapstick falters. By the time the story reaches the mythical kingdom of Potsdorf (or something), the plot is dragging the film down badly. It mostly limps home from there. The thing that makes the film watchable is the spectacle, faux early 20th century costuming, stunt work and attention to detail, all of which are outstanding. This is one of the better looking comedies you will ever see, with bright colors everywhere and confident and elaborate staging.It almost doesn't matter that it's not really very funny.