History Film / TheGreatRace

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Professor Fate can design and construct a rocket vehicle, a human-powered dirigible, a torpedo that can track loud noises, a sophisticated security system, and a car capable of matching a professionally-designed one in a race around the world with additional offensive and defensive equipment. In ''1908''. If he'd stop trying to outdo Leslie, he'd be rich.

--->'''Max''': Necktie?! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Well what kind of cheap present is that?]]

* TheExile: Kuhster is banished from Carpania for his role in the attempted coup -- during the pie fight, no less.

'''Fate:''' Car #5! Ha ha ha ha!...Hey, Max...''we're'' #5.\\

* GorgeousPeriodDress: 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.

* HereWeGoAgain: The film ends with the newly-married Leslie and Maggie facing off against Professor Fate and Max in a new race. The same race in fact, but in reverse, Paris to New York going in east.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Professor's specialty. He gets bonked on the head by the hot air balloon he shot down, dropped into a barn by his under-powered airplane, blown up by his own torpedo, launched into the air by his over-powered rocket sled, falls down a open manhole in a failed HighDiveEscape, nearly mauled by his own attack dogs, gassed by his own security system, blown-up repeatedly by his car's own cannon and is sidelined early in the race by his and Max's own mechanical sabotages.

* IgnoreTheFanservice: Professor Fate is too busy trying to win the race to care about such frippery. Examples include how ''all'' the men in the bar were going ga-ga over [[HeadTurningBeauty 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). He also shows no interest in peeking on [[MsFanservice Maggie]] bathing in the lake, and even gets frustrated at Max for peeking.
* TheIgor: 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.

* {{Intermission}}: (2 minutes long, with music)

* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler: General Khuster is committing treason by trying to use Professor Fate to impersonate the Prince and then abdicate in Khuster's favour... but on the other hand, Prince Hapnik is a {{Cuckoocloudlander}} at best, idiot at worst, who drinks far too much either way. He's going to be a really bad ruler.]]

* LargeHam: Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate. His [[EvilLaugh laugh]] takes this up to eleven - and it's ''awesome''.

** Max Meen, Fate's henchman
** Hezekiah Sturdy, Leslie's trusty mechanic
** The leader of Carpania's military is [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhCavalry General Kuhster]]

* OminousPipeOrgan: Professor Fate has one in his mansion, complete with the requisite rendition of [[Music/JohannSebastianBach Bach's]] Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] 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.

* OppositesAttract: The Great Leslie - charming male chauvinist. Maggie [=DuBois=] - militant women's libber.

* PieInTheFace: ''See'' FoodFight, ''above''. Every major player gets at least one pie in the face -- Max gets 8 in the first round.
* PluckyGirl: Maggie, of course
* ThePrecariousLedge: Played for laughs. Henry Goodbody, the editor of the New York Sentinel newspaper, sends his assistant Frisbee out on the ledge of a skyscraper to retrieve a messenger pigeon with information about the progress of the title race. The assistant almost falls but manages to retrieve the pigeon.

* ProtestByObstruction: Maggie Dubois chains herself to a men's bathroom door in the New York Sentinel newspaper building to protest the paper's policy of not hiring women. She tries to force the editor to hire her as the first female reporter for the paper.

* RewatchBonus: Lily Olay's song ''He Shouldn'ta, oughtn'ta, hadnt'a swang on me'', which is all about her knocking down men who tried to abuse her, actually gets much less comedic and much more tragic when it turns out Lily is an relationship with an abusive outlaw whom she is helpless against.

* StealthPun: 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 the very bald Hezekiah.)

* TheSuffragette: Maggie Dubois is a suffragette who wants to become the first female reporter for the New York Sentinel newspaper in order to promote women's rights, including the right to vote. She joins the race in order to get a great story and prove herself.

* TaeKwonDoor: Leslie slams a door on one of the Baron's {{mooks}} -- and doesn't seem to realize it until he opens the door and said mook collapses.
* TagalongReporter: Maggie sets out to be one, but when neither Professor Fate nor The Great Leslie will take her with them, she enters her own car in the race. Ends up being a tagalong reporter through most of the race anyway, with one group or the other, when her car breaks down.

** Maggie Dubois to The Great Leslie with a champagne bottle (accidentally).
** Max to Hezekiah with a window bar (also accidentally - he thought Hezekiah was a guard).
** Max KO's 3 castle guards (and possibly a monk) with the window bar.

'''Fate:''' Car #5! ''(laughs loudly)'' Hey, Max...[[ThisIsGonnaSuck we're #5]].\\

** A following car then swerves to miss the dropped engine, and crashes. Max observes that he had sabotaged that one too, so that it's wheels would come off. Sure enough, all four wheels then simultaneously pop off the wrecked car.

* VillainousBreakdown: The Professor suffers an incredible breakdown, upon finding out he [[spoiler: only won because Leslie chose to lose in order to prove a point]]

* WeWillMeetAgain: Von Stuppe: "He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day" before escaping.
* WorldTour: New York City to Paris, via the American Midwest, the Bering Strait, and eastern and central Europe.

''The Great Race'' is a 1965 epic comedy film about a car race around the world, directed by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starring Creator/TonyCurtis, Creator/JackLemmon, Creator/NatalieWood, Creator/PeterFalk,Creator/KeenanWynn and Creator/RossMartin. Edith Head designed Wood's wardrobe, and Music/HenryMancini composed the music score.

''The Great Race'' is a 1965 epic comedy film about a car race around the world, directed by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starring Creator/TonyCurtis, Creator/JackLemmon, Creator/NatalieWood, Creator/PeterFalk and Creator/KeenanWynn. Edith Head designed Wood's wardrobe, and Music/HenryMancini composed the music score.

The film is (''{{very|Loosely Based On A True Story}}'') loosely based on the RealLife 1908 New York-to-Paris automobile race. The protagonist is The Great Leslie (Curtis), a dashing and wealthy daredevil known for setting speed records and other dangerous stunts. His evil nemesis Professor Fate (Lemmon) and Fate's sidekick Max (Falk) try to outdo him, but [[EpicFail always fail hilariously]].

** It comes even early. In the very first scene: "A PARACHUTE!?!"

* EpicRace

* InformedAbility: Texas Jack is described as the toughest man in the area. 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 even his own goons for that matter.

* ArtisticTitle: The opening credits are presented in the form of a turn-of-the-century slideshow, complete with exaggerated caricatures (with an audience on the soundtrack alternatively A. boo-ing the villain, B. cheering the hero, and C. wolf-whistling for the heroine), as well as humorous simulated projector jams and slides burning from the hot lamp. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9k60u46xU It can be seen here.]]

* OperaGloves: Maggie wears them several times.

* ChewingTheScenery: Pretty much every scene with the Professor. Best example, though, is probably his [[VillainousBreakdown rant]] at the end of the film.

* BattleStrip: When the {{pie|In The Face}} [[FoodFight fight]] begins, Maggie ditches the vest she was wearing, leaving her with only her [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]] and {{stocking|filler}}s.

When Leslie enters a westward race from New York to Paris to promote a new car, Professor Fate promptly joins the race as well, hoping to finally defeat his hated 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 himself, Leslie, and Maggie. Later on, Maggie's car breaks down and she is forced to ride with Leslie... and not too long after that, Leslie's mechanic Hezekiah Sturdy (Wynn) gets "conveniently" sidetracked. Should anyone be surprised that a relationship starts forming between the two of them?

When Leslie enters a westward race from New York to Paris to promote a new car, Professor Fate promptly joins the race as well, hoping to finally defeat his hated 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 himself, Leslie, and Maggie. Later, Maggie's car breaks down and she's forced to ride with Leslie... and not too long after that, Leslie's mechanic gets "conveniently" sidetracked. Should anyone be surprised that a relationship starts forming between the two of them?

When Leslie enters a westward race from New York to Paris to promote a new car, Professor Fate promptly joins the race as well, hoping to finally defeat his hated 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 himself, Leslie, and Maggie. Later, Maggie's car breaks down and she's forced to ride with Leslie... and 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'' is a 1965 epic comedy film about a car race around the world, directed by Creator/BlakeEdwards and starring Creator/TonyCurtis, Creator/JackLemmon, Creator/NatalieWood, Creator/PeterFalk and Creator/KeenanWynn. Edith Head designed Wood's wardrobe.

* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Leslie smokes a white one (naturally).

* HonorBeforeReason: At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: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.]]

* {{Intermission}}: (2 minutes long, with music)

* OurNudityIsDifferent: Maggie daringly exposes her stockings to the shocked newspaper editor, Mr. Goodbody.

* BedsheetLadder: When Maggie is imprisoned, she makes one out of her clothes. Though her escape attempt was unsuccessful, it certainly wasn't [[{{Fanservice}} pointless]]. The Baron himself was too amused to even be annoyed.
-->''(Baron Von Stuppe has just seen Fate off and turns around just as a yellow rope drops in front on his face. He looks up just in time to hear a ripping sound, followed by him holding out his arms and catching Maggie in nothing but her underwear, corset and stalkings. The Baron is wearing a rather large grin on his face while Maggie has a subdued OhCrap expression)''

* BedsheetLadder: When Maggie is imprisoned, she makes one out of her clothes. Though her escape attempt was unsuccessful, it certainly wasn't [[{{Fanservice}} pointless]].

* LargeHam: Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate. His [[EvilLaugh laugh]] takes this UpToEleven - and it's ''awesome''.