The Great Race

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Great Race is a 1965 comedy film about a car race around the world. It was directed by Blake Edwards, and starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and a pre-Columbo Peter Falk.

The film is (very) loosely based on the 1908 New York to Paris automobile race. The protagonist is The Great Leslie (Curtis), a wealthy daredevil known for setting speed records and other dangerous stunts. His nemesis, Professor Fate (Lemmon) and his sidekick, Max (Falk) try to outdo him, but always fail hilariously. When Leslie enters a race from New York to Paris to promote a new car, Professor Fate promptly joins the race as well, hoping to finally defeat his rival. Photojournalist and suffragette Maggie DuBois (Wood), intent on covering the story, enters the race too. Shortly after the start, Fate's dirty tricks eliminate all contestants except Leslie and Maggie. Later, Maggie's car breaks down and she's forced to ride with Leslie -- not long after that, Leslie's mechanic gets "conveniently" sidetracked. Should anyone be surprised that a relationship starts forming between the two of them?

The Great Race contains many silent movie-era slapstick and visual gags and parodies. While not a big success in its own time it has since become something of a Cult Classic. It was also a major influence on the cartoon series Wacky Races.

Not to be confused with H.P. Lovecraft's Starfish Aliens.

Tropes used in The Great Race include:
  • The Ace: Leslie.
  • And Another Thing: Maggie attempts this but never gets to finish it as Hezekiah drags her from the tent. She does manage to get in a nice air-kick though.
  • Artistic Title: The opening credits are presented in the form of a turn-of-the-century slideshow.
  • Asexuality: Possibly Professor Fate. Nowhere does he show any interest in anything other than inventing ridiculous artillery / machinery to outdo Leslie. Examples include how all the men in the bar were going ga-ga over Lily... except him. He seemed to find her extremely annoying, and kept avoiding her - she had to actually pull him over to her in order for her to act like he was trying to put the moves on her (to go in sync with her song). And then there's how he shows no interest in peeking on Maggie bathing in the lake, and even gets disgusted at Max for peeking. This could be because of his profound childishness.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: Played for laughs; when Fate impersonates the prince and is about to be crowned, he abruptly leaves in the middle of the ceremony.
  • Bar Brawl: One of the greatest. "Now who's gonna give a man some FIGHTIN' ROOM?"
  • Battle Butler: Max and Hezekiah both act as domestic servants to their employers, in addition to their duties as bodyguards and assistants in their daredevil acts.
  • Bedsheet Ladder: When Maggie is imprisoned, she makes one out of her clothes. Though her escape attempt was unsuccessful, it certainly wasn't pointless.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Maggie and Leslie to the point where he throws the race just to make a point to her.
  • Be Quiet Nudge: Done by Leslie to Hezekiah during the Laugh with Me moment mentioned below.
  • The Big Race: Obviously.
  • Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate: The Great Leslie's clothes never get stained. Lampshaded continually throughout the movie, culminating in a very funny rant by the Professor.
    • They do at one point - during the massive pie fight. Even then, he makes it mostly through clean. Then Maggie hits him with one completely by accident. And that one pie is the same color as his outfit - quite possibly the only pie in the entire pie fight that didn't have a colorful filling.
  • Car Fu: Max storms the Baron's castle using the Hannibal 8; he rams down the main gates and uses the car's cannon and smoke dispenser to take on the Carpanian infantry.
  • Catch Phrase: Professor Fate's "Push the button, Max!" (It even has its own Leitmotif: sample here.)
    • That music (more strictly a "theme" than a motif) is associated rather with Professor Fate himself than with the button. If you listen to the track called "A Royal Waltz," you'll hear the same theme transformed into a Viennese style waltz-tune, reflecting how Prince Hapnick is the mitteleuropäisch version of Professor Fate, in a context where there is no button and no Max.
    • As well as his other catch phrase he screams whenever something goes wrong: "MAAAAAAAAAAAXXXXX!!!"
  • Chekhov's Skill: The film early on sets Leslie up to be a master swordsman. Baron Von Stuppe as well is introduced as being a proficient duelist. A duel is imminent.
    • Maggie mentions in passing her ability to speak, read and write in Russian, French and Arabic. Then, she, the Professor and Max end up in Russia and the two men are both comically unable to get anything whatsoever across to the stoic populace until Maggie intervenes.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Pretty much every scene with the Professor. Best example, though, is probably his rant at the end of the film.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Leslie, who can't resist the good will of any woman.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Leslie wears white and all his gear is white. Professor Fate wears black and his car is black.
  • Conservation of Competence: Max is completely ineffectual as Professor Fate's sidekick. Though when he isn't by the Professor's side, he actually does display competence: namely, during the rescue mission for Professor Fate (and the others), he actually manages to effectively disguise himself as a fryer friar, go ninja on everyone, and defeat / distract 99% of the guards, thereby aiding the escape immensely.
  • Cool Airship: Professor Fate has an exceptionally small one - two-person, pedal-powered. It works pretty well, except that the bomb-releasing mechanism is slightly misplaced.
  • Cool Car: The Hannibal 8 and the Leslie Special. Both were built for the movie.
  • Covered in Gunge: Everybody (except, of course, Leslie) after a large pie fight.
    • Even Leslie gets this by the end. Not as bad as everyone else, but still...
  • Dastardly Whiplash: Professor Fate. Dick Dastardly is actually based on him.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Professor Fate, yet again (though he's far from deadpan).
    • On being told the iceberg he's stranded on is sinking: "Of course I'll keep it to myself... until the water reaches my bottom lip and then I'M GONNA MENTION IT TO SOMEBODY!!!"
  • Decoy Damsel: When her car breaks down, Maggie lies down on the ground as if she had fainted, so Leslie would stop and help her.
  • Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Professor Fate in spades.
    • In point of fact, Dick Dastardly was clearly based on Professor Fate, so this is fact the trope's origin.
  • Dirty Coward: The Sheriff of Boracho. Once the saloon fight starts, he pins his badge on a semi-conscious cowboy and quickly runs out the door.
  • Driven by Envy: Professor Fate's jealousy towards Leslie is his main motivation. He's driven to drive.
  • The Edwardian Era
  • Epic Race
  • Escalating Brawl:
    • In the town of Borracho, a fight between The Great Leslie and Texas Jack quickly turns into an all-out Bar Brawl.
    • The pie fight scene in develops this way; people walk in to the bakery, see what's going on, get hit by a missile intended for someone else and join the scrum--except, of course, for The Great Leslie, who walks through the crossfire unscathed until someone gets him in the face at close quarters. Obviously, this is Played for Laughs.
  • Evil Chancellor: General Kuhster and Baron von Stuppe.
  • Evil Laugh: Professor Fate has a particularly memorable one.
  • Fake King: In a subplot, parodying The Prisoner of Zenda, Prince Hapnik, crown prince of a fictional kingdom is replaced by Fate, who looks exactly like him.
  • Flynning: The sword duel. Lampshaded when the Count suggests they switch to sabers and they trade their fencing foils for movie foils; still foils, only with elaborate, saber-like hilts.
  • Follow the Bouncing Ball: When Maggie sings "The Sweetheart Tree".
  • Food Fight: Contains the largest pie fight in cinematic history. The scene used 4000 pies and took five days to shoot.
  • Frankenstein's Monster: Professor Fate's marvelous Hannibal-8 racer is a variant of this trope. It's a car made from the finest parts of other cars, much as the Monster is a patchwork of other people's parts; the scene of its unveiling in the Professor's gothic manor is reminiscent of similar ones in various Frankenstein movies; and Max's appearance with a stolen Rolls Royce magneto in that scene is suitably Igor-like.
  • Gorgeous Period Dress: Edith Head, the costume designer for the movie, really went to town on the splendid 1900's outfits (from riding habit to motoring costumes to evening gowns) that Natalie Wood wore.
  • Grand Romantic Gesture: Leslie loses the race on purpose (stopping right before the finish line) to show Maggie that he cares about her more.
  • Harmless Villain: Professor Fate is all talk, but for intents and purposes he is relatively harmless; his numerous weapons and plans always do more damage to him to than to anyone else.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: The trailer calls the film the gayest comedy in the world.
  • Heel Face Turn: Max does one very briefly when working with Leslie to free the others.
  • Henpecked Husband: Maggie's editor, Mr Goodbody.
  • Honor Before Reason: At the end of the movie, Fate wins the race, but only because Leslie threw the race to make a point to Maggie. Fate immediately rants at Leslie for this and demands another race so he can win on his own terms.
  • Hyperspace Wardrobe: Maggie must have a truck following her on the race with her entire wardrobe in it.
  • Identical Stranger: Fate and the Prince (both played by Jack Lemmon).
  • The Igor: Max is one, albeit one that is a lot easier on the eyes than most. His sneaky hunched over walk makes do for his lack of a true hunchback.
  • Incoming Ham: "I AM PROFESSOR FATE!"
    • Met with dead silence by the (Russian-speaking) villagers.
    • It comes even early. In the very first scene: "A PARACHUTE!?!"
  • Informed Attribute: Texas Jack is described as the toughest man in the area and everyone is scared of him when he first shows up at the bar, and even the sheriff backs down from his threats, but once the fight starts he's not any better than Leslie, Hezekiah, or his own goons for that matter.
  • Intermission: 2 minutes long, with music.
  • Intimate Healing: In Alaska, Leslie explains to Maggie that they have to sleep under the same blanket to keep warm.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Professor Fate and Max.
  • Kiss Kiss Slap: Maggie slaps Leslie, after he kisses her.
  • Kiss of Distraction: Leslie pulls one on Maggie early on; after she handcuffs herself to him and declares, essentially, that she's going to keep talking at him until he gets her into the race, he grabs her, kisses her, and uses the distraction to slip out of the cuff and put it on her other wrist.
  • Laughably Evil: Professor Fate, yet again. The submarine gag and the iceberg scene are good examples.
  • Laugh with Me: When The Great Leslie and Hezekiah meet Crown Prince Hoepnick. The prince makes several jokes, each time gesturing for the crowd to laugh, which they dutifully do. At one point Hezekiah keeps laughing after every one else stops, until The Great Leslie elbows him in the ribs. Watch it here.
  • Literal Cliff Hanger: Early in the film, Professor Fate jumps out a window. When the horrified observers rush over and look down, they see him hanging from a pole below the window.
  • Man in White: Leslie.
  • Meaningful Name: Borracho. Which is Spanish for drunk.

Lily: If by now, you haven't mastered
The gentle art of getting plastered,
You're just a Low-Down, you ain't mastered
The motto of our town!

  • Mister Big: Texas Jack, despite having a fearsome reputation and being the scourge of Boracho, is a tiny man. In fact, both the main characters and Jack's minions are bigger than he is.
  • Mobile Shrubbery: We get our first glimpse on Professor Fate and Max when he is following Leslie's latest deed inside a shrubbery.
  • No Indoor Voice: Professor Fate, once again. He does a disproportionate amount of shouting, and aims it at everyone.
  • Odd Couple: See Opposites Attract below.
  • Of Corsets Sexy: Maggie wears pretty much only her corset (with attached garters and stockings) throughout the final major sequence of the film. She also has her clothes blasted away, revealing her corset, when she pays a visit to Professor Fate's lair early on in the proceedings.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Professor Fate has one in his mansion, complete with the requisite rendition of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Partially subverted in that it's a player pipe organ -- all he does is pump the pedals.
  • Omniglot: Maggie boasts to Leslie that she can speak, read and write Russian, French and Arabic. He responds that so can he - plus five other languages.
  • Our Nudity Is Different: Maggie daringly exposes her stocking to the shocked newspaper editor, Mr. Goodbody.
  • Opera Gloves: Maggie wears them several times.
  • Operation: Jealousy: Maggie gets fed up with Leslie's flirting with other women... so she decides to play this out. With Professor Fate of all people. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Opposites Attract: The Great Leslie - charming male chauvinist. Maggie DuBois - militant women's libber.
  • Outdoor Bath Peeping: Max takes a peek at Maggie when she's bathing in a lake (though she's not naked). The Professor throws a bucket of water on him.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Professor Fate tends to don these. Most notably an instance where all he does is add a fake beard.
  • Parasol of Prettiness: Maggie has one.
  • Pie in the Face: See Food Fight, above. Every major player gets at least one pie in the face -- Max gets 8 in the first round.
    • Considering that Maggie is wearing little more than Victorian lingerie, many consider this scene Ground Zero for so-called "wet and messy" Fetish Fuel.
  • Plucky Girl: Maggie, of course.
  • Pretty in Mink
  • Prisoner of Zenda Exit: Parodied: after the evil Baron von Stuppe realizes that Leslie has defeated him, he says that he has a boat waiting, adds a We Will Meet Again, and jumps out the window. Unfortunately the boat is right under the window, so he smashes through the boat and sinks it.
  • Put Their Heads Together: While The Great Leslie is infiltrating a castle he knocks out two guards by slamming their heads together.
  • Road Runner vs. Coyote: Leslie and Professor Fate.
  • Ruritania: Prince Hapnik's country of Carpania.
  • The Savage Indian: Subverted. The Professor and Max are chased into Boracho by what they assume are savage Indians. It turns out they were just the Mayor's welcoming group dressed up.
  • Say My Name: Professor Fate always screams Max's name whenever something goes wrong. It's pretty funny, actually.
  • Shout-Out: The dedication: "To Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy".
  • Show Some Leg: Maggie convinces her editor to give her the assignment of covering the race with showing him her leg in silk stockings.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: The Great Leslie and Maggie DuBois.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Leslie smokes a white pipe.
    • Maggie smokes cigars to demonstrate that she's an emancipated woman.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Maggie originally wanted to travel with Leslie, but he rebuffed her. So she entered the race herself.
  • Stealth Pun: Perhaps not so much a pun, but definitely a stealthy joke - it may take you a minute to think about Natalie Wood's line 'If you harm one hair on his head...' (she is talking about Hezekiah).
    • This troper missed the joke because he assumed she was talking about his mustache...
  • Stocking Filler: Maggie abundantly displays her black-stockinged legs (said stockings being held up by garters attached to her corset) during the kidnapping and pie-fight sequences.
  • Storming the Castle: Leslie and Maximilian storm the Baron's castle in order to rescue Maggie and the Professor. See Car Fu above.
  • Straw Feminist: Maggie has some shades of this. For example, despite her stated goal of "taking women off the pedestal", she is not above pretending to be a Damsel in Distress when it suits her. She also makes a habit of reading misogynist undertones into the comments of other characters where none exist, such as insisting that Leslie's genuine compliments about her driving ability are all secretly suffixed with "for a woman."
  • Strolling Through the Chaos: Leslie during the pie fight, though he eventually gets one in the face.
  • Sword Fight: Von Stuppe vs Leslie. Neither wins, surprisingly; Leslie is obviously the better swordsman, but Von Stuppe pulls a Villain Exit Stage Left and jumps out the window.
  • Tap on the Head: At least 11 people altogether.
  • Tempting Fate:

Prof. Fate: Do you realize the odds against a storm in this part of the ocean at this time of year?
Max: No, what?
Prof. Fate: 100-to-1.
THUNDER BOOMS

  • With approach in all his (painfully) failed attempts in various daredevil feats, Professor Fate is constantly tempting... well, fate.
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