Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I got nothin'

It has been raining for a good four days now. While I love love love the rain and so does my garden, it does cramp my gardening style. And beyond not gardening, I haven't been doing much. Low energy has led to naps and some quality time with netflix.

Blake Edwards may be more well known for A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther, but The Great Race is one of my favorites - a historic race from New York to Paris with stops in the wild West, old Bavaria and a melting iceberg, among other places. Tony Curtis is our hero, the Great Leslie, Natalie Wood is the ardent feminist and Jack Lemmon is the villain and the prince who happens to look just like Jack Lemmon - this scene is the pie fight after the failed coup with the Jack Lemmon characters.



If you can spot him, that's a very young Peter Falk as the bad guy's sidekick (who keeps yelling Hey Professor). And I don't know how they shot it so Tony Curtis is so pristine for almost the whole pie fight.

And Henry Mancini did the music. How could it get any better?

4 comments:

scb said...

How delightful that Blake's "The Great Race" is your favorite of his films! It's very interesting to learn what others enjoy of a particular director's work. (I'm partial to Blake simply because he's Blake...) I must point this post out to my friend A.C., who is a film buff. Did you know that Turner Classic Movies is doing a Blake Edwards Day on June 19th? (Check out the link to A.C.'s blog, "The Reel World" in my friends list for details.)

scb said...

I finally got a chance to watch the Pie Fight. Should have won an award for choreography! (I'm glad I didn't have to clean up the set after that, though...)

Thanks again for sharing this!

A.C. said...

I think I "heard" my name! ;)

I agree "The Great Race" is one of Blake Edwards' best comedies. Jack Lemmon is hilarious in his dual roles! "Push the button, Max!"

In the DVD commentary somewhere, they mention that Tony Curtis had to change clothes several times to remain so clean during the pie fight. It's one of the greatest slap-stick comedy sequences of all time, IMO.

Anne At Large said...

I believe the clothing changes in the pie fight, AC, that makes total sense. And scb - I just realized that Blake Edwards also did my favorite surreally weird Julie Andrews movie - Victor Victoria. I wish we got TCM as I would love to watch Blake Edwards day!