
More things I love about this movie include the fact that it is based around a global race and race movies are awesome (still waiting on a GUMBALL RALLY Blu-ray btw). THE GREAT RACE is further unique in that it is a truly epic production (quite expensive at the time it was made) and runs 2 hours and 40 minutes and even kicks off with an overture (and also has an intermission)! IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD is the only comedy I can think of that was made on this scale and I personally think THE GREAT RACE is the far superior film between those two. It's tough sometimes to not be a little disgusted by the scads of cash Hollywood Studios have and continue to spend on large-scale productions. Throwing money at any creative issues one might encounter seems to only lead to sloppy solutions most of the time. The money being spent ends up on the screen, but not in a very efficient way. With a film like THE GREAT RACE, you can see the money and how it made for some truly wonderful production design that absolutely makes the movie its own unique thing. The fantasy world that Blake Edwards creates is just glorious. The film is really multiple genres rolled into one. Each new stopping point along the way becomes it's own mini-genre set piece. It jumps from being a western to an arctic adventure (complete with a real live polar bear) to a swashbuckler and more. It also includes what is probably the greatest pie fight in cinema history. Seeing a filmmaker like Edwards with his command of craft firing on all cylinders with a sky's-the-limit budget certainly makes for an unforgettable, zany and explosively entertaining spectacle like few others in Hollywood history.
This Blu-ray includes a supplement in the form of a 16-minute vintage behind-the-scenes featurette. It has some neat b-roll of the actors on set and a narrator talks about each of them and briefly walks is through the filming of a few scenes.
Bonus!
Found these interviews from 1965 promoting the release of THE GREAT RACE. The interviewees include Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Tony Curtis, Keenan Wynn, and Natalie Wood among others. Pretty neat:
Bonus!
Found these interviews from 1965 promoting the release of THE GREAT RACE. The interviewees include Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Tony Curtis, Keenan Wynn, and Natalie Wood among others. Pretty neat:
1 comment:
Thanks for such an in depth review - I haven't actually seen this movie, but I will definitely check it out. Like yourself, the gumball rally is one I'm waiting on - the DVD is great quality, so the blu ray should be fantastic. Bannon in the Cobra 427 in 1080P - worth waiting for!
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