 [Larger view] | The Great Race
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Average user rating:  | |
 Not So Great | |
| In theory I should have loved this Blake Edwards film. I'm a big fan of slapstick comedy. And I understand what type of movie Edwards was trying to make but "The Great Race" seems to be too many things at once. And that hurts its.
The first half hour or so of the film reminds me of the wilde coyotte road runner cartoons. We see Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) try out his inventions just to see them one by one fail. The opening scenes are built around a single joke at the end. It's set-up punchline set-up punchline, set-up punchline. And this goes on for a half hour. That's wasted film. They didn't have to show us the same thing over and over. We're smart, we get the picture. We understand who these characters are from the very beginning. Because we know what Edwards is doing. Tony Curtis (The Great Leslie) is the hero. How do we know? Because he wears white, women like him and when he smiles his teeth sparkle. Jack Lemmon is the villian. How do we know? Because he wears black and has a mustache. Remember all the villians in those 1920 comedies always had a mustache. So it's all very easy. I going to let you in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. I'm actually not a big Blake Edwards fan. You may find this odd but I find that I enjoy his more serious films more. I think "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a great film. I enjoy "Days of Wine & Roses", and I like "Victor\Victoria". This is a comedy I suppose but I always think of it more so as a musical. I never really had too much with his "Pink Panther" movies. I enjoyed the first two "A Shot in the Dark" and "The Pink Panther" but I think Edwards made too many sequels. He tried his hardest to cash in. I don't like "A Fine Mess" or "Switch" either. So I guess I'm not the right audience for this movie. "The Great Race" starts off with a caption "For Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy" is those names mean nothing to you, you too are no the right audience for this movie. As I first started watching the movie I wonder how is this even related to Laurel & Hardy's comedy. Then I noticed Lemmon and Peter Falk (Lemmon's trusted sidekick Max) are Laurel & Hardy. As I said "The Great Race" wants to be too many things at once. It wants to be a slapstick comedy\adventure\romance and I think if they had more time secretly it also wants to be a musical. Edwards has too much on his plate. The movie never quite sets a proper tone. And I have to admit, no matter how mad people get, I didn't find the movie all that funny. But this is not to say the movie is a complete dud. It's not. I like Lemmon's performance as Prince Hapnik. It's a little over the top, and too cartoonish, but in a movie like this he fits right in. I also enjoyed Natalie Woods' performance, who spends much of the second half of the film in her underwear (wink, wink). And if you're going to make an old-fashion comedy like this you just gotta have a great pie fight. And I like the score by Henry Mancini, who's music is always pleasing. But that about does it. I see I'm the odd man out here, everyone seems to like this movie. But if I went along with the parade I wouldn't be honest with myself. I'm simply think the movie is too long, not funny, and tries to do too many things at once. I don't hate this movie, but I don't like it either. I'm sort of in the middle of the road. Bottom-line: Not a very funny Blake Edwards comedy. Goes on way too long and combines too many different genre without setting a proper place. One of the best things about the film is Natalie Woods in her undies. | |
 NATALIE shines | |
| This DVD is worth having just to see the late NATALIE WOOD in a comedy. She worked well with Tony Curtis, and she even does a song in the film called "The Sweetheart Tree" (vocal by Jackie Ward, who did some of the singing for Natalie in the previous INSIDE DAISY CLOVER) that became a hit for Johnny Mathis. She is so luminous on the screen that you forget that the movie itself is, well, rather forgetable ~ some cute bits here and there,and a rather funny routine from Dorothy Provine as a dance hall Singer. This movie is worth a look. | |
| Must-have for any Natalie Wood fan | |
| This is the other half of the knockabout comedy duo she starred in with Tony Curtis (see also _Sex and the Single Girl_, which has a multiple-auto chase sequence as zany as any scene in this film). Truth to tell, I spent so much time mooning after Natalie in her gorgeous 1900's costumery - some of the prettiest I've seen in any film set in that period - that I had to back up again and watch the movie to catch all the funny bits. |
