The Rat Race (1960)Maybe this will help: Tony Curtis is himself, really strong, and if you like him, you'll like him. Debbie Reynolds is kind of at her best, for me, less trivial than she is sometimes portrayed. She doesn't dance or sing, but is just a girl trying to make it in New York. Throw in Don Rickles at an exaggerated but believable role, with less humor and more grotesqueness. Finally, though big sax man Gerry Mulligan gets big letters in the credits, he appears, as himself, only briefly (though we do get to hear him play for a few seconds).But let's turn this around and talk plot. In a very broad way, this is a kind of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" a year earlier. Nice guy lands in New York without a clue and local woman is braving it on her own and having to compromise her principles in the process. Even the music, by Elmer Bernstein, is in a Henry Mancini style (only rarely dipping into any real jazz, for those looking for that). Though painted as a story of boy meets girl and the improbable follows the unlikely, the basic premise is heartwarming and true to a lot of our dreams of making it, and making it with the right person (both).I liked this movie a lot. It's even photographed by Alfred Hitchcock's cinematographer, Robert Burks, and so it looks good, too, in mildly widescreen Technicolor. It's a situation drama/comedy--there is no sensing that this is actually real. In that sense it's really a 1960 era movie, when artifice had reached a truly plastic kind of height (sometimes with wonderful results, but even classics like, say, "West Side Story" have a style from the times that is neither classic 1940s Hollywood in its believability nor totally creative invention as with those rare movies here and there all through the decades). The point is, you have to like this kind of set-up style to start with. You probably know whether movies like some of the Doris Day classics or even Marilyn Monroe movies are up your alley. Or "Breakfast at Tiffany's," or the black and white counterpart in a different sense, "The Apartment." I think this Curtis/Reynolds romantic comedy is totally overlooked, and deserves a close look. There are ever some fabulous if fleeting shots of busy New York City. And if you've never heard of the director, Robert Mulligan (no relation to Gerry), don't worry. He did pull off one all time classic handled with similar panache--"To Kill a Mockingbird." Yeah, don't underestimate this one.

if you're thinking of Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds with their Hollywood glamor - you're in for quite a surprise - this is grittier stuff than they usually did - altho - not guttery or depressing - as it would be in todays milieutry to overlook the residue of Tonys Bronx accent - and enjoy his eager Midwestern saxophonist arriving in the jazz musicians mecca - Noo Yook Cityexcept he's not in a typical Hollywood success story - here the emphasis is on disillusionment - and its actually risqué for its time - with Tony and struggling dancer Debbie Reynolds sharing an apartment - both actors are very good - Debbie could have used more such rolesthe script is too talky perhaps - too much like a stage play - the most memorable thing for me beside the stars is the music - especially the throbbing theme song played over the opening scenes of Tony's cross country bus ride - from the plains of the Midwest - to smog shrouded NYCand i can still hear in my mind the driving version of THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC played with real life saxophonists Sam Butera and Jerry Mulligan - and Joe Buskin at the keys - that scene demonstrates how convincing Curtis was at faking playing a saxophone - notice his red face while playing the large baritone sax - when i was in the school band - i could barely get a sound out of one of them

Not quite innocent,but not really guilty either;that's Miss Debbie Reynolds in "The Rat Race".Many men are susceptible to a woman with a slightly bruised aspect to her and Mr Tony Curtis is no exception. It's a movie where "10 cents a dance" meets "Scrapple from The Apple" as cool jazz man Curtis shares an apartment with broke and weary taxi dancer Reynolds who has unwisely accepted a large loan from her boss Mr Don Rickles who is keen on her repaying him in the traditional showbiz manner. Daring for its time in its acceptance of the ambivalence of the character played brilliantly by Miss Reynolds,the movie gives a fairly bleak view of New York nearly fifty years ago,an era we are frequently led to believe nowadays was a golden one indeed.Clearly not if you were struggling in the lower stratum of the entertainment profession. Garson Kanin's play was 20 years ahead of its time.Less bleak than its contemporary "The Connection",but quite shocking for mainstream audiences with its portrayal of the bottom feeders of show business,the bullies,the pimps,gangsters and the compromises decent young people were forced to make to follow their chosen paths.Not to mention an unmarried couple living together. There is some fairly belicose Elmer Bernstein music diffused by an extract of typical late 1950s West Coast cool and Mr Curtis is very convincing as the aspirant jazzer with integrity (i.e.no money) Sedate by today's standards,"The Rat Race" marked a transition from 1950s movies to 1960s movies in content and tone.Not until "New York,New York" was there a more impressive portrayal of an average saxophone player and his showbiz lady,and my goodness how the movies - and the world - had changed by then.

DEBBIE REYNOLDS and TONY CURTIS are excellent as two young people in 60's-era New York City facing adversity with street smart skills developed after abuse from thugs like DON RICKLES (a savage performance), and other so-called big shots.Curtis takes pity on Reynolds and invites her to share his flat--but his luck fades when his musical instrument is stolen. True love blossoms as Reynolds tries to help him with lots of obstacles thrown in their way by assorted no-gooders.Garson Kanin directed from his play and he keeps the action moving and the stylish backgrounds show New York City scenes that would make any New Yorker nostalgic for "the way it was".A downbeat, sometimes bitter dose of comedy/drama that has so much energy and such appealing performances from Reynolds and Curtis, that you'll be drawn into it from the start. Well worthwhile.