THE GREAT RACE (1965) Discussion Group
Added 2026-02-22 20:55:14 +0000 UTC
Comments
This movie was made into a cartoon called The Wacky Races. There was also a Wacky Races board game. I still have my original game from the 60s.
Harry S
2026-02-25 17:27:51 +0000 UTCThis movie is a perfect example of a Melodrama" - a type we don't see any more very often, but the root of the word "melodramatic" which we see too much! A melodrama has over-the-top characters and performers. Good guys inmall white, bad guys in all black, damsel in distress... This was a popular style on stage and on screen in the early 1900s when this film was set. Another classic Melodrama series is the cartoon "Dudley Doo-Right" (vs Snidely Whiplash!) from the old Bullwinkle show. (The names are a melodramatic giveaway to hero and villain.) Melodramas were big in early silent movie shorts to convey hero and villain by sight alone and wasting no time.
John DiGiantomasso
2026-02-24 09:42:52 +0000 UTCThe Leslie Special was a real auto-mobile. It toured the country along with the movie. It was at the theater where I saw the film. It was at least 25 feet long. At the risk of sounding like a dirty old man, but, Natalie Wood in a corset and stockings covered in whipped cream... nuff said.
Keith Johnson
2026-02-23 14:25:31 +0000 UTCAs I’m posting here, I’m watching and loving your reaction. What is interesting about The Great Race is that the three leads: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood have either worked together on earlier films; or worked with the director Blake Edwards. - Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis were in Some Like It Hot (1959) - Lemmon was in Days of Wine and Roses (1962); directed by Blake Edwards - Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood were in Sex and the Single Girl (1964) Ironically, in that film she played Helen Gurley Brown; the woman who later became the head of Cosmopolitan magazine. This was the 2nd time she played a character based on a real person. The first was when she played Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy (1962).
Christopher
2026-02-23 04:00:59 +0000 UTCOnce again, I failed to appreciate the presence of the Discussion Group posting, and added a three-para comment under the Full Watch Along. I'll not repost it here, but if anyone is interested, you can find it there.
Alan Jones
2026-02-23 03:56:35 +0000 UTCAs Coby was trying to figure out who was who I kept kept yelling at the TV. “please look it up.”
Mark Pitta
2026-02-23 03:27:18 +0000 UTC"Throw More Brandy!!" Costumes by Edith Head!! 'White Christmas' 'To Catch a Thief' and 'My Fair Lady'☆☆☆☆☆
Celeste McAllister🍓
2026-02-23 02:02:45 +0000 UTCMy Dad repeatedly used, "Push the Button Max!" - with all the appropriate inflection. Nice memories.
eric clark
2026-02-23 00:24:18 +0000 UTCMy favorite: “You! You’re the cause of it all! It was your idea! I don’t care, I don’t care! You’re banished! I’m getting a new tucker‑inner! Banished, banished, banished!”
Flounder
2026-02-22 23:21:58 +0000 UTCThis is a great movie, thanks Coby!
Harry S
2026-02-22 22:45:20 +0000 UTCProfessor Fate: "Oh, of course I'll keep it to myself... Until the water reaches my lower lip, and then I'm gonna mention it to SOMEBODY!" ---- My favorite line in the movie!
Chase Street
2026-02-22 21:46:21 +0000 UTC
