Blake Edwards was a reigning king of comedy during the 1960s with the immense success of "The Pink Panther" films. The director outdid himself with this zany comedy about two competing stuntmen (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) who enter an around-the-world race to prove who is the better man. The competing racers have to deal with the numerous booby traps set by one of them, the natural elements of the global terrains their vehicles traverse and a persistently pesky suffragette reporter (Natalie Wood) who soon falls in love with the good guy stuntmen.The film's leading players are all hilariously entertaining from Tony Curtis as the straight-man (similiar to his role in "Some Like It Hot") 'The Great Leslie', Jack Lemmon as the outlandish and hysterically wacky Professor Fate, Peter Falk as Lemmon's bumbling assistant Max and a lovably snarky Natalie Wood as persistent and pretty Maggie DuBois. A colorful set of supporting characters like Keenan Wynn as The Great Leslie's friend and assistant, there's Maggie's newspaper boss who is reluctant to hire a woman but does due to his suffragette wife as well as wildly eccentric minor characters along the global race. Henry Macini's zany musical score fits perfectly with the film's humor. It is cartoonish at times, but is complimented with lush melodies for tender moments. The score is boosted by Johnny Mercer's Oscar nominated 'Sweetheart Tree' which is sung by Maggie (sung by another actress, not star Natalie Wood) after a zany escape. The best comedic lines from the film are uttered by comedy legend Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate as his schemes humorously fail and he constantly berates Peter Falk's Max. There are memorable exchanges between straight-man Tony Curtis and the snarky Natalie as they spar in a verbal battle of the sexes (just watch the 'duel' scene). You can't walk away from this film without quoting certain lines, particularly Jack Lemmon's iconic "Push the button, Max!"

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.

Some of the hottest stars of 1965 combine to produce a wonderful, comedic adventure movie in the tradition of "Around the World in Eighty Days" and "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." Jack Lemmon is at his very best as Professor Fate, who tries to stop the irrepressible Tony Curtis (he of the sparkling teeth, the ultimate goody-two-shoes). Throw in Natalie Wood and a lot of incredible cliffhanging events, good versus evil, and you have an adventure that surpasses the aforementioned pair of movies. In this one the chemistry is excellent. While it is ridiculously outrageous, we are quickly taken into the realm of the film and it never lets up for a minute. It hearkens to the classic melodrama. At times I thought that while the sixties were one of the most explosive times in history, the movie industry was pretty sterile, especially when it came to the comedy. This one needs to be seen.

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