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The Great Race (1965)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would love to have seen a sequel to TGR. Perhaps the race from Paris to NY that they are just about to embark upon at the end of this movie?

I've read that a sequel was considered but due to a dispute between the director & the studio it never happened.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
I would love to have seen a sequel to TGR. Perhaps the race from Paris to NY that they are just about to embark upon at the end of this movie?

Hmmm . . . what could the sequel be about that would be just different enough from the first film so that it had its own originality, but not so different that it didn't have the same sort of fun flavor?

How 'bout a story in which a dastardly insane villain steals something from a brilliant scientist in Paris and intends to take it from Paris to New York to destroy the city?

Perhaps the villain kidnaps Natalie Wood, too, and intends to use her as a hostage if he thinks he's about to be captured.

Leslie and Fate team up to stop the villain, "racing" to catch up with him, prevent the tragedy, and rescue Natalie. Leslie convinces Fate that he (Leslie) can't do it alone, but if Fate helps him, it will prove that Fate is the "greatest daredevil in the world" — which is THE most important thing to Professor Fate.

There would be moments when Leslie gets into trouble and it appears that Fate won't rescue him, but then he changes his mind and does so.

When the final confrontation comes between the villain, Fate, and Leslie, the two men work brilliantly (but comically) together to save the day.

We could call this one The Great Rescue!

I know that's not much, folks, but hey — ya gotta start somewhere! Very Happy

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:10 am; edited 3 times in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brilliant idea Bud!

This was such a fun movie in the first place. Perfectly cast with the actors at the absolute peak of their abilities!

Jack Lemmon was fiendishly funny, Peter Falk the perfect henchman, Tony Curtis the dashing hero and Natalie Wood....Well, just perfect!

A remake today would be impossible. Although...The sequel playing in my mind is incredible!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

By a strange coincidence, yesterday I came up with the perfect sequel to Smokey and the Bandit.

I'll post a description of my idea in the thread for that other "Great Race" movie!

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I watched it on TCM this weekend, the first time in years. What I realized was that despite his rant on Leslie's automobile hood that he had to win his way, Fate's plan worked! He planted Miss Dubois with Leslie so she would be such a distraction to Leslie, that he would win. And it worked! Fate just didn't realize that he DID win his way.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And just to make the sequel interesting, Bud, how's about we make the evildoer mad scientist a female?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
And just to make the sequel interesting, Bud, how's about we make the evildoer mad scientist a female?

Perfect!

And when they catch up with her, Fate falls in love and wants to join her plot, but Leslie and Max manage to get him away from her and talk sense into the poor, love-sick man.
Very Happy
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting idea. How would you cast this movie?

Dr.Fate - Maybe Jim Carry?

Leslie - Hum....Maybe ….Chris Pratt

Who could do the Nat Wood part?

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I always visualize ideas like this as movies made a few years after the original, in a "parallel universe", as they say these days.

We're not really talking about making this sequel in the present, so why talk about living actors we could be cast in these fantasy movies?

In other words, the cast of The Great Race will return as the cast of The Great Rescue! It's just a fun fantasy we're sharing.

Frankly I have no interest in modern day versions of sequels from the 1960s. When I took my daughter and grandchildren to see the Mary Poppins sequel, I was gravely disappointed. It was not a worthy successor to that great movie. Just a lot of CGI special effects, with an actress who tried to imitate Julie Andrews, and a bunch of songs that weren't enjoyable the first time I heard them . . . much less in the years to come. Rolling Eyes

Forgive me, Gord, but I just had to clarify why I don't feel the need to try to figure out which modern actors would be cast in a movie I really wish had been made back in the 1960s. Sad

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2019 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You have no argument there from me. There are few if any contemperary artists that have the "gravitas" that the stars of the past poccessed.

There is no one to compare the likes of Chuck Heston, Steve Mc Queen, Humphery Bogart, Natilie Wood, And so many others.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
You have no argument there from me. There are few if any contemporary artists that have the "gravitas" that the stars of the past processed.

There is no one to compare the likes of Chuck Heston, Steve McQueen, Humphrey Bogart, Natalie Wood, And so many others.

That brings up and interesting idea, Gord. I'm wondering if the differences between the famous stars of the 30s through the 60s and the modern stars is really because of a difference in talent, or is it because acting styles have changed so much.

Take for example the somewhat "theatrical" way dialog was delivered in the old movies, and the more "realistic" way the people in movies talk now. Back then the dialog was loud and clear, no mumbled lines we can barely hear, the way they are in modern movies.

In the classic movies we see actors performing a bit like they're on stage -- and sometimes a LOT like they're on stage! Part of his was because the audio in the older movies was not the sharp stereophonic sound we have now, so the dialog had to be delivered succinctly so the audience could understand it.

I've heard young people say that the acting in the classics was "so different than it is today", and the first time I heard that I really didn't know what they were talking about!

Eventually I realized that it wasn't just a shift in our culture, it was also the result of technical improvements like the one I just mentioned.

And of course there's the fact that the directors in the past had to deal with those technical difference in the movie making process, so they shot their movies in ways that compensated for the less advanced cameras and audio systems.

What I'm suggesting is that you and I appreciate the more "stylized" type of film-making, and this stylization was partly the result of technical considerations, as well as the cultural differences.

Since audiences expected movies and the characters in them to act very differently than "real people", it was also perfectly acceptable for actors to add on their own distinctive styles to there performances. Actors were encouraged to find unique mannerisms, speech patterns, and gestures that would set them apart for the rest of the actors.

That "unreal quality" is what younger people today find odd about "old movies". And yet it's that same quality that make people who are our age love them so much.

Ironic, ain't it?

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
___________

___ The Great Race - Original Theatrical Trailer


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One of the very early Steampunk adventures, which usually had a comedic streak (the other famous one that year was Those Magnificent Young Men in Their Flying Machines).

The Great Race has minimal sci-fi elements, unlike, say, The First Men in the Moon (64), which was all-out sci-fi speculation. This race film takes place in the very early 20th century, just after automobiles had been introduced to the general populace.

It concerns the competition between the heroic Leslie (Tony Curtis) and the diabolical Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon). Leslie proposes an automobile race around the world. He's aided by the tough Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn), while Fate's assistant is the dopey Max (Peter Falk). Also thrown into the mix is a gorgeous, emancipated journalist (Natalie Wood).

_______________

The film naturally becomes a travelogue of sorts — the contestants soon reach a town in the American Old West, then they're in the Arctic and drive through Asia before reaching a small kingdom in Europe, whereupon director Blake Edwards aims for a parody of The Prisoner of Zenda, with Lemmon in dual roles.

The highlight here is the debonair villain played by Ross Martin and his climactic duel with Leslie (Curtis).

But Lemmon steals most of the movie — his Professor Fate is straight out of some bizarre cartoon, the prototypical mustache-twirling villain, and Lemmon plays him perfectly. Most of his and Falk's stunts are straight-up fantasy & sci-fi, with the two neer-do-wells surviving numerous setbacks which would be fatal in real life.

Wood was at her prettiest — and that's saying a lot. But she also proved to be quite adept at frothy comedy. The whole thing ends in Paris, with one final spectacular sight gag.

BoG's Score: 8out of 10


______ The Great Race 1965 Curses! Foiled again


__________




BoG
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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From Wikipedia & IMDB.

Director Blake Edwards wanted Robert Wagner as Leslie the Great, but Jack Warner insisted on Tony Curtis. Warner may have based his decision upon Natalie Wood & Robert Wagner's divorce.

Sidebar: Ya think? I cannot imagine what Edwards was thinking by having Wood & Wagner together as romantic leads in the same movie!! That could have created all types of tensions and problems, and that's something you don't need while shooting a big budgeted and complex film.

Natalie Wood did not want to make The Great Race. Jack Warner convinced her by promising the lead role in the production Inside Daisy Clover, which Natalie wanted to do very much.

The film started with a $6,000,000 budget which ballooned to $12,000,000.

Natalie's sister, beautiful actress Lana Wood, felt that Natalie looked the prettiest she'd ever seen her in the movie.

Friday, November 27, 1964, Natalie wrapped up the last bit of dialogue she had to do for the film, she then went home and swallowed a bottle of prescription pills.

The Leslie Special built for the film was meant to resemble a Thomas Flyer. The Flyer had been the winner of the 1908 New York to Paris Race.

The Hannibal Twin-8 cost $150,000 do build.

For the epic pie fight scene there were 4,000 pies used. The scene cost $200,000 to shoot, with $18,000 going to the pastry required.

The pies were cream pies filled with raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and lemon.

Blake Edwards told the cast & crew that a pie fight by itself is not funny. To make it funny they would build the tension by having Leslie, dressed all in white, fail to get hit by a pie as the massive battle went on.

The audience would be clamoring for Leslie to get hit by a pie, and that's when they would finally let him have one right in the face.

The filming of the pie fight was halted while the cast and crew had the weekend off. Over the weekend the pie residue on the bakery set spoiled. When everyone arrived for work on Monday they discovered the set stank so badly that the set required a thorough cleaning with large fans used to blow out the sour air.

Sidebar: So nobody in the production saw this coming? Amazing!

At the completion of the pie sequence, the actors pulled out pies that they had hidden and Blake Edwards was barraged by pies.

Sidebar: Revenge is a pie best served in the face.

Sidebar: The Great Race has to be the last feature film to have a massive pie fight. I cannot think of any other movie since then who has tackled anything like this.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I could have sworn that this thread included a trivia which stated that Curtis' white outfit had to be changed-or-cleaned several times during the pie fight because it picked up a few splattered pieces of pie during the numerous scenes in which he walked among the pie fighters but (allegedly) never go hit once until the very end. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Mar 11, 2022 1:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2022 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're memory isn't playing tricks on you, Bud.

IMDB confirms that Tony had to change his white clothes several times during the pie fight scene due to him getting some splatter on it before he was to receive the pie in the face.

Producer Jack L. Warner asked Tony Curtis if he would give a percentage of his film royalties to Natalie Wood as an enticement to star in TGR.

Tony refused saying "I couldn't give her anything to make her want to do the movie."

Sidebar: In his autobiography, Curtis said he & Natalie had an acrimonious relationship while filming TGR. He said that they got along well when they shot Sex and the Single Girl earlier.
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