Question #14 CLOSED

[Crossbones Dennis]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

When I was a kid, There was a movie that seemed to be on every Thanksgiving.
It had cartoony heroes and villains while telling the story of a real-life road race "around the world" in 1908. Starting in New York, the racers traveled across America, crossed the Pacific Ocean, then continued through Russia and Europe into Paris. But that's really just a framework for Edwards' broad farce about good guys and bad guys.

At the center of it all is "The Great Leslie," played by Tony Curtis, a dashing (and popular) daredevil who always wears white. Leslie's arch nemesis is the jealous "Professor Fate," played by Jack Lemmon, wearing a melodramatic black cape and a moustache. Fate conspires to sabotage the daredevil stunts with his henchman, "Max," but his nefarious plots are remarkably ineffective. One elaborate scheme involves hurtling an exploding dart onto Leslie's stunt from Fate's pedal-powered flying machine. Unfortunately, the dart becomes lodged in Fate's bicycle tire, and he suffers his own explosion instead - then pedals away in defeat.

What was the name of the movie?

[deadmoneydenny]

The name of the movie is "The Great Race" and my favorite line is "Push the button, Max!" its been awhile since I seen that one.

[bobby]

Denny, quit setting your alarm clock to the trivia questions. ;D

[Crossbones Dennis]

2 pts for denny



The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis), whose full name is Leslie Gallant III, is a wealthy daredevil and showman who is famed for such things as setting speed records and performing escape feats worthy of Harry Houdini. Deliciously devilish Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) is Leslie's nemesis, whose own daredevil shows usually end in failure or at least embarrassment. Leslie has the respect and admiration of businessmen and the media, while Fate sulks behind the walls of his dark mansion and is not taken seriously in general; hence, he bears an eternal grudge against his white-suited rival. On several occasions, Fate attempts to sabotage Leslie's stunts, but each attempt backfires and he ends up a victim of his own scheme instead.

Leslie proposes that the Webber Motor Company promote its brand-new open-top tourer by sponsoring, entering and (hopefully) winning a race from New York to Paris. Fate is at pains not only to build his own supercar, the Hannibal Twin-8 (complete with features reminiscent of James Bond's movie cars), but also to sabotage Leslie's preparations. Meanwhile, the editor of New York City's most prominent newspaper--The Sentinel--is cajoled by Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood), a young female photojournalist and suffragette, into entering a car with her as the driver, since her previous attempts to insinuate herself into either Leslie's or Fate's cars have failed.

As the race begins, Fate's sidekick Maximilian Meen (Peter Falk) carries out his master's instructions to sabotage all the other cars except the Leslie Special (and DuBois' car, since she was late to the starting grid). Fate's motivation is for the race to be a one-on-one standup-fight between himself and Leslie. Max mistakenly sabotages his own vehicle as well, but eventually takes the lead on the road. Fate antagonizes the officials of Boracho, a small western-frontier town where the racers stop to refuel. DuBois' car breaks down in the desert, and she is given a ride by Leslie; she continues the race as a demanding passenger, and switches teams several times throughout. Fate steals the fuel he needs and sets the rest on fire (which destroys half of Boracho), consigning Leslie to a long delay. Yet, in due course, this is erased when both cars reach Alaska and park side-by-side in the snowbound middle-of-nowhere.

DuBois has conned Leslie so she can remain in his car, at the expense of his loyal mechanic Hezekiah Sturdy (Keenan Wynn). As the two cars sit out a snowstorm, Leslie begins his first real efforts to break down Maggie's resistance (which is merely a hard-to-get act; her attraction to Leslie was made obvious earlier in the story). But with both cars parked alongside each other in the snowstorm, a few mishaps compel all four (Leslie, DuBois, Fate and Max) to sleep in Leslie's car. They awake to find themselves adrift on a small iceberg no bigger than their two cars. Fortuitously, as the iceberg melts close to the point of submergence, they drift right into their intended Russian port. There Hezekiah is waiting. To avoid her being left behind ("She is his Achilles-heel! She is our ace-in-the-hole! She must not be left behind!"), DuBois is snatched by Fate who drives off in the lead.

After an uneventful trip across Asia, both racers (now out of contact with each other) enter the small European kingdom of Carpania and its capital of Potsdorf, where Fate's exact resemblance to Crown Prince Hapnick (also played by Lemmon) leads to a significant — and dangerous — interlude, which parodies (at some points literally) the 1937 film version of The Prisoner of Zenda. Rebels under the leadership of Baron Rolf von Stuppe (Ross Martin) and General Kuhster (George Macready) kidnap the Prince. They hold Maggie and Max prisoner, forcing Fate to masquerade as the Prince during the coronation so that the Baron and the General can gain control of the kingdom. The plot is foiled after Max escapes and convinces Leslie to attempt a rescue. Leslie (narrowly) bests von Stuppe in a swordfight, and the main characters go through the (reputedly) biggest pie fight in cinema history (where Leslie's untouchable panache is tainted for the first, and only, time with a white pie).

As the five escape (with Maggie now in Leslie's car), it becomes a straight road race to Paris. Within the city of Paris itself, Leslie and Maggie have a raging argument over the relationships and roles between men and women (one of the film's main themes). The argument ends when Leslie stops his car, just meters from the finish line under the Eiffel Tower, to prove his love for Maggie by sacrificing the race. Fate drives past to claim the winner's mantle, but when it becomes apparent that Leslie let Fate win ("You cheated!"), Fate demands a rematch. The film ends with the start of that race back to NYC (Leslie and Maggie are in his car with a "Just Married" sign hung on the rear), and in the sight gag to end all sight gags, Fate tells Max to fire the cannon, and they knock down the Eiffel Tower. Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the collapsing of the tower was removed from public airings of the movie for sympathetic reasons, but has since been shown again.

[sp7128]

That's where the cartoon "wacky racers" came from...with dick dastertly and muttley............