So much for the personal nostalgia portion of our program. What about the movie? Well, I think it's hilarious. Not everyone agrees with me, and I don't think it got great reviews when it was released. It's about an around-the-world auto race that has three competitors (six, originally, but sabotage takes out three before the race begins): The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis), Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), and Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood). Prof. Fate's henchman, Maximillian, is played by Peter Falk, and Wood's sidekick, Hezekiah, is Keenan Wynn. Lots of other familiar faces in the cast, too.
The movie's a tribute to silent films, with many of the sight gags lifted from the silents. Are they too much of a good thing? Not for me. Is the Prisoner of Zenda bit too much? Not for me. Lemmon is hilarious all the way through, and so is Falk. Natalie Wood is beautiful and funny. Curtis seems to be having a great time. Just thinking about this movie makes me laugh. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. If you aren't laughing by 15 minutes in, it's clearly not for you. Forget it and watch The Hangover, instead.
8 comments:
I think it's a great one, but not totally to my taste (currently) and I have not brought this out to watch in a good while...
Seems this was a movie (and PINK PANTHER ones) put Edwards the director on the map. My Dad used to talk about this movie and we'd go "... push the button, Max" any time we thought of it!
Nice nostalgia! Now you're going to tell us you still have the original VCR.
I remember exactly where I saw it too. When Jackie and I were dating we'd go visit her parents' in the bungalow colony most summer weekends, getting a ride Friday after work (or school) and another home on Sunday nights.
One of the activities they had there was the Friday night movie, shown outdoors while we sat on blankets or beach chairs. One of the movies they showed was THE GREAT RACE. (This was probably in 1967. They did not get new movies.)
I thought, as far as I can remember now, that it was...OK. Not terrible, not great, just another overlong big budget movie that didn't live up to the hype.
And no, I didn't like THE HANGOVER.
Jeff
I believe we paid $850 for our first VCR back in 1980-81.
Jeff
Yeah, for the overly broad comedy, catching a bit of DR. STRANGELOVE on IFC this morning while attending to the cat chores rather trumps THE GREAT RACE, which in turn was vastly better than THE HANGOVER. But I, too, like the circumstances of the story at least as much as I do THE GREAT RACE. Shucks...I don't have time this morning, as too often, to comment on all the poast, and since I run through these alphabetically, I find myself doing so...though if I've read it before, I don't know if this was an early encounter with James, or if you guys met through literary fandom or writers' interaction?
Poast Tosties, my fave. All the posts, of course.
James and I had corresponded, and we'd met once before, I think, when he came to Brownwood. But this could have been the first time. My memory is no longer reliable.
My memory says that was the second time we'd met, too. We'd been trading letters for several years by that point. That VCR was huge and heavy. The remote control had a cord on it that had to be plugged into the machine. Things have certainly changed. We still have some machines that will play videotapes, and I watch one now and then.
A wonderful movie. The opening alternating between the Great Leslie's triumphs and Professor Fate's debacles is brilliant. The entire film is a wonder, if not up to its opening (what could be?), with THE PRISONER OF ZENDA spoof especially great. I don't know why this movie gets such short shrift -- it was a big hit at the time. Also, it's the only other pairing of the great SOME LIKE IT HOT team of Curtis and Lemmon. I've always wondered if Natalie Wood's role was originally intended for Marilyn. Now Natalie adds her own bittersweet poignance. I am among those lobbying Warner Archive to bring this out on Blu-ray.
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