Synopsis
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Jack LemmonProfessor Fate / Crown Prince Frederick Hoepnick
- Tony CurtisThe Great Leslie
- Natalie WoodMaggie Dubois
- Peter FalkMax
- Keenan WynnHezekiah Sturdy
- Arthur O'ConnellHenry Goodbody
- Vivian VanceHester Goodbody
- Dorothy ProvineLily Olay
- Larry StorchTexas Jack
- Ross MartinBaron Rolfe Von Stuppe
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Reader
It's highly inventive, self-conscious camp, made in 1965, well before the genre wore itself out in superciliousness. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
While many of the jokes don't pay off, it's still funny enough to merit your attention. Mancini's score adds pace and flow. This spectacle is almost totally uncontrolled, and therein lies much of its charm. - 70
Variety
The Great Race is a big, expensive, whopping, comedy extravaganza [from a screen story by Blake Edwards and Arthur Ross], long on slapstick and near-inspired tomfoolery whose tongue-in-cheek treatment liberally sprinkled with corn frequently garners belly laughs. - 70
The New York Times
Natalie Wood is on hand as a cheroot-smoking suffragist (with a phenomenal wardrobe), but the movie is largely powered by Lemmon’s energy, roaring like Jackie Gleason as the bombastic Professor Fate and later appearing as his double, the klutzy crown prince of a Ruritanian kingdom. - 70
Orlando Sentinel
An uproarious piece of fluff about a turn-of-the-century New York-to-Paris automobile race complete with a noble hero, a snarling villain and a spirited suffragette. The Great Race, while not in a league with Some Like It Hot, is deftly directed by Blake Edwards. [02 Apr 1995, p.75]
