It’s no secret I love the movie The Great Race. With star studded cast, director Blake Edwards, and music by Henry Mancini, how could you lose?
My favorite character was Professor Fate, played expertly by Jack Lemmon. He raced in his Hannibal Twin 8s, an unusual car of his own invention, packed with all sorts of dirty tricks and secrets. And to deploy those tricks, Professor Fate would exhort his sidekick Max, played by (another one of my favorites) Peter Falk, to “Push the button, Max!”
And, I’m not Professor Fate’s only fan. His antics inspired a song (below) and the catchphrase from MST3K “Push the button, Frank!”
And, of course, Professor Fate has his own theme song…
They just don’t make villains, or movies, like this anymore.
The Great Race simply has the best pie fight on film EVAR. It starts with Professor Fate (played by Jack Lemmon) falling into a hugemongous cake. He then chucks a cake at his co-conspirator (I won’t go into plot detail here), who then fires back. It slowly escalates until pies are a-flyin’ every where. The white-clad hero of the story, the Great Leslie (played by Tony Curtis), manages to wander through the entire fight without getting so much as a speck of pie on him until… well, I won’t give it away. Watch the clip below.
This movie has a star studded cast and many familiar character actors: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, Larry Storch, Dorothy Provine, Denver Pyle, Vivian Vance, and more.
The Great Race is available on DVD at Amazon. It’s worth the purchase price. Blake Edwards movies usually are.
It’s worth the purchase price. Blake Edwards movies usually are. 
