Everything I'd read about this film indicated it was a bloated, unfunny waste of cash which does no one credit. I was delighted to find it was a fun, free spirited homage to old silent film gags, an obvious inspiration for Wacky Races, with its cast and director Blake Edwards in fine form.
Tony Curtis has a fun old time sending up his 50s Universal hero image, and he's well matched by Natalie Wood, who never looked prettier (in a variety of fetching outfits, including some relatively racy underwear) or as though she was having more fun (even though she attempted suicide once the film was over); plus Jack Lemmon hamming it up as Professor Fate. There's also Peter Falk as Lemmon's sidekick and Keenan Wynn, as Curtis' sidekick. I did wish they'd focused on some other people in the race - it wasn't that though three wasn't enough running time.
It's bright and colorful and genuinely funny and charming - I enjoyed The Prisoner of Zenda bit thrown in at the end, and winding up on the ice floes, and the pie fight. It is very long, far too long, and really shouldn't have cost all that money - there's plenty of production value but it all could've been done on the studio backlot.
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