reisen55 I love slapstick. Laurel and Hardy and Inspector Clouseau. My wife cannot stand either but will tolerate some Stan and Ollie on occasion so here I have a personal note. I am a 10 year old fan of this film, saw it in 1965 and in later years since. BluRay now. Such is time. Now at the age of 61, I watch it with my wife every September 11 as I am also a survivor of the South Tower, 101st floor, so my hand is on the selection button for that night. I enjoy it immensely - Fate under the Curtiss pusher, the torpedo, race, the saloon fight and all. Right back to Laurel and Hardy in WAY OUT WEST. So here is a personal note for me here for this group - it has flaws but immensely entertaining. Watch it, laugh and enjoy fine performances from a time long ago.

BA_Harrison I used to enjoy this comedic caper as a kid, but now I find it far less appealing, the broad humour and juvenile slapstick no longer hitting the spot; I guess I really have become more mature as I've gotten older (despite what some people might think). The live-action predecessor to Wacky Races, The Great Race stars Tony Curtis as dashing daredevil The Great Leslie, who proposes an epic automobile race from New York to Paris. Also taking part in the challenge, Leslie's arch rival Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) and his co-pilot Maximilian Meen (Peter Falk), and sexy suffragette Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood).160 minutes of silly sight gags and over-the-top farce, with Lemmon as the Dick Dastardly-style villain whose plans always backfire, this film really tries the patience, especially when it turns into a Prisoner of Zenda-style adventure in the final act. Lemmon is particularly hard to take in his dual role as Professor Fate and drunken Crown Prince Frederick Hoepnick. Wood has a sexy scene where she emerges soaking wet from a lake, and, towards the end of the film, there is a huge cake fight in a Parisian patisserie, with the actress, dressed in corset, stockings and suspenders, getting covered from head to foot in cream: I suppose there is something to appeal to the grown-up me after all.When I was young, I would have rated this an 8/10; now it would struggle to get a 4. I'll be generous and split the difference for IMDb—6/10.

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

Neil Welch An international road race centres around white-clad goodie The Great Leslie and black-clad baddie Professor Fate.Appearing very soon after the similar Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (the two films must have been in production at the same time, what a coincidence, eh?), The Great Race is to my mind the more enjoyable movie.Tony Curtis' Leslie has just enough twinkle (in Curtis' performance, as well as animated) to avoid being insufferable, and Jack Lemmon's Professor Fate, clearly the inspiration for Wacky Races' Dick Dastardly, is hysterical (Peter Falk as henchman Maximilian is every bit as funny). Natalie Wood was never more gorgeous. Professor Fate's car is wonderful, the movie is packed full of gags and, as is well known, the film contains the best custard fight sequence of all time - never subsequently equalled - during the Prisoner Of Zenda spoof.