The Great Race | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Blake Edwards |
Produced by | Martin Jurow |
Screenplay by | Arthur A. Ross |
Story by | Blake Edwards Arthur A. Ross |
Starring |
Jack Lemmon Tony Curtis Natalie Wood Peter Falk Keenan Wynn Arthur O'Connell Vivian Vance |
Music by | Henry Mancini |
Cinematography | Russell Harlan |
Edited by | Ralph E. Winters |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
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160 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | US$12 million |
Box office | US$25,333,333 |
The Great Race is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, and with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, Arthur O'Connell and Vivian Vance. The movie cost US$12 million, making it the most expensive comedy film at the time.
It is noted for one scene that was promoted as "the greatest pie fight ever".
The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) are competing daredevils at the turn of the 20th century. Leslie is the classic hero – always dressed in white, handsome, ever-courteous, enormously talented and successful. Leslie's nemesis, Fate, is the traditional melodramatic villain – usually dressed in black, sporting a black moustache and top hat, glowering at most everyone, maniacal evil laugh, grandiose plans to thwart the hero, and dogged by failure. Leslie proposes an automobile race from New York to Paris and offers the Webber Motor Car Company the opportunity to build an automobile to make the journey. They design and build a new car named "The Leslie Special". Fate builds his own race vehicle, the Hannibal Twin-8, complete with hidden devices of sabotage. Others cars enter in the race, including New York City's most prominent newspaper. Driving the newspaper's car is beautiful photojournalist Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood), a vocal suffragette.