The Great Race

When I was growing up, this was one of our favorite family movies of all time. We were always quoting from it. It got to the point that when Professor Fate, pretending to be Prince Hapnik, sits up in bed and exclaims, "What? Leslie escaped with a chicken?", we couldn't even hear the line because we started howling with laughter ahead of time in total anticipation!"The Great Race" is timeless. Released in 1965, it never grows old because it's a broad comedy done in the format of an old-fashioned melodrama. Jack Lemmon is inimitable as Professor Fate, a total Snidely Whiplash character, dressed all in black, complete with nefarious gadgets to further his evil schemes. Peter Falk is his faithful minion, Max Meen, who frequently makes mistakes, including breaking off part of Professor Fate's frozen mustache.On the hero side, dressed all in white, is Tony Curtis as Leslie "The Great Leslie" Gallant III. Heroes aren't usually as interesting as the villains, but Curtis does a great job of wringing every good-natured joke out of his character. His major domo is Hezekiah Sturdy - love those descriptive names!And tying it all together, Natalie Wood playing Maggie Du Bois, the over-the-top suffragette, dressed to the nines in gorgeous gowns with a waist that couldn't have been more than 18 inches around.Great comedy. Totally PG. The incidental music is terrific. Directed and co-written by Blake Edwards, one of the great comic movie minds. He just passed away in December, 2010. His five Pink Panther movies, with Peter Sellers, are other family favorites.Special Features on this DVD of "The Great Race", originally issued in 2002The Great Race:1. Cast & Crew. This is just a list of the actors and the names of their characters.2. "Behind the Scenes with Blake Edward's 'The Great Race' ". I enjoyed this 20 minute short about the making of the movie. The movie's race is for the 20,000 miles from New York City to Paris. And, according to the narrator, "such a race actually took place in 1908. But any resemblance between that event and the round-the-world hi-jinks in this unique motion picture is purely co-incidental!"There are lots of outtakes from the movie, plus rehearsal footage and promotional events. Locations used included Vienna, Austria, where the Hofburg Palace, home of the Hapsburgs, was used for Prince Hapnik's ballroom scene.Then on to Salzburg, where they filmed in a storybook castle in the middle of a lake, including using it's real dungeons.Last location was the great city of Paris, where 2,000 extras were outfitted in 1908 clothing for the crowd scenes.3. Theatrical trailer. For "The World's Greatest Comedy!" A little hyperbole, maybe, but I'm not arguing much.4. Awards. "The Great Race" won the Oscar for Best Sound Effects, by Tregoweth Brown.Languages available: Original English and French dubbed.Subtitles available in 8 languages.Great entertainment. Highly recommended goofy family movie!Happy Reader