The Great Race

The Great Race
by Blake Edwards

List Price: $5.86
Our Price: $5.82
You Save: $14.12 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.94 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

DVD details

• At the turn of the 20th century a host of colorful characters set out on a 20,000-mile auto race from New York to Paris, and hilarity ensues. (1965)Running Time: 164 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR Age: 085391109129 UPC: 085391109129 Manufacturer No: 11091

DVD Reviews of The Great Race

DVD Review: Superb
Summary: 5 Stars

What "The Great Race" is not, is a gag-a-minute clone of "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". The race is important only as a McGuffin to get the action rolling and bring the characters together for their mutual interests. "The Great Race" is a clinic on various types of movie genres -- slapstick, western, adventure -- that were antiquated by the mid sixties (a time when most moviegoers probably had a nostalgia for those types of movies, which they'd have seen as children). "The Great Race" not funny in the way 1990's and 2000's movies are, with the unearthly wildness of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey or the "if-this-laugh-doesn't-work-another's-coming" approach of Abrahams and Zucker and the Farrelly brothers. Rather, the comedy is is the lighthearted approach to the various subjects introduced (though there are plenty of wisecracks to go around). The only problem is that, along the way in the "Prisoner of Zenda" spoof, Blake Edwards seemed to have forgotten he was making a comedy. Even that does not particularly detract from the movie as a whole, as Max (Peter Falk) comes into his own in this segment and Tony Curtis' "Great Leslie" proves he's more than just a pretty face, but will put his life on the line for Right with a dueling scene foreshadowed much earlier.

And there are two -- count 'em, two -- places where the movie pauses for a breather to give a fine Mancini/Mercer song. Mancini may be the best movie composer ever; certainly his incidental music is wonderful throughout this movie.

The cast makes the movie hit on all cylinders. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, reteamed a few years after their comedy success "Some Like it Hot", fully understand their roles and play them to the hilt (Lemmon's Fate is quickly tiresome, but since Lemmon has the duel role in the "Zenda" spoof he must work hard to differentiate the characters). Natalie Wood is refreshing and brings excitement to every segment she's in. Along the race route, some excellent supporting players make cameos: Arthur O'Connell, Vivian Vance, Marvin Kaplan (New York); Larry Storch, Denver Pyle, Hal Smith, Dorothy Provine (Boracho); Ross Martin (Pottsdorf). And, as the sidekicks of Leslie and Fate (respectively) Keenan Wynn and Peter Falk couldn't have been better chosen for their parts. Falk, whose part at first looks small and unrewarding, becomes one of the funniest characters in the movie; while Wynn's character, mostly buried in blustering, provides one of the biggest (and necessary at that point) laughs in the movie. And director Blake Edwards, just coming off "The Pink Panther" and "A Shot in the Dark", is at the pinnacle of his career.

If you haven't seen this movie in widescreen, you've never seen this movie. Repeated television showings have cropped fully a third of the movie by taking away both ends of the screen. To be fully appreciated, "The Great Race" requires viewing on the canvas Blake Edwards envisioned for it. The DVD is remarkably well done, with vibrant colors (Natalie Wood's wardrobe is one of the finest things in the movie), and the whole shebang looks good as new. The sound effects (for which, believe it or not, the movie won an Oscar) were given a good brush up and sound great. Extras for the DVD release are so disappointing they're barely worth mentioning; except to say that the original trailer is one of the worst I've ever seen. An audio track with Blake Edwards and Tony Curtis would've been welcome, and maybe a comment or two by Peter Falk if he'd do it.

All in all, "The Great Race" is a superb movie, with the caveat that it must be taken for what it is, rather than judged by what it's not.

Description of The Great Race