Behind the Scenes with Blake Edwards' 'The Great Race'

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Ladies and gentlemen...

...you are about to witness

the most spectacular feat...

...ever attempted by the greatest daredevil

in the world.

The Great Leslie.

He will be strapped in a straitjacket

before your very eyes...

...and lifted up into the clouds...

...where eagles soar and

no sparrow dares to venture.

Hey, bull's-eye.

There's a hole in the balloon.

- He'll never make it.

- He'll never make it.

- A parachute.

- A parachute.

A parachute!

A parachute!

What?

Ladies and gentlemen,

you are about to witness a feat...

...so dangerous that only one man

would dare attempt it.

The Magnificent Professor Fate.

Attach the hooks.

The professor will defy death

as his assistant...

...swoops down from the sky,

snares the professor...

...on the ground and lifts him into the air.

Contact.

Switch on.

Up, Max! Bring it up!

Coming up.

Max, up, you idiot! Up!

She's up!

Up, you idiot, up!

Too much weight.

I'd like to see The Great Leslie try that one.

After today you will have broken

every existing speed record.

What are your future plans?

That depends on my success today.

Gentlemen, will you excuse me please?

Be careful, you idiot,

you'll blow us both to kingdom come.

He's getting in the boat.

- You sure you tested the mechanism?

- It can't miss.

All you have to do is throw this switch,

it homes in on the loudest engine noise.

You see, it's picked up Leslie's boat!

Farewell, Leslie.

Away.

Golly!

Look at the pretty face on that...

Get away from there.

I intend to cover the measured mile

in approximately twelve seconds.

Activate the rockets.

One hundred and fifty!

Two hundred and fifty!

- I'll go down in history!

- Three hundred.

They'll erect a monument to me!

I've done it!

- Professor? Professor?

- What?

Well, there's another one Leslie

can try on for size.

Gentlemen.

I've requested this meeting in order

to make you a proposition.

In my opinion your company manufactures

the finest automobile in the world.

The automobile represents progress,

in the most profound sense of the word.

The ultimate example

of American ingenuity and enterprise.

This great nation cannot take a back seat

to competitors like Daimler...

...Mercedes, Napier, Rolls-Royce,

Dietrich or Panhard.

Gentlemen, I propose to prove

that the American automobile...

...your automobile, is without peers.

And just how do you propose

to prove that, sir?

A race.

Really, sir, you surprise me.

Automobile races

are becoming most commonplace.

I mean, a long race. A very long race.

Buffalo to Albany? It's been done.

Chicago to Cleveland? That's been done.

New York...

...to Paris?

You must build an automobile

to the most precise specifications.

Absolutely no!

For a company of this repute,

a great company the likes of this one...

...entrusting its entire automobile future

to a man like Leslie, it's disreputable.

A cheap carnival performer,

a fraud, a trickster.

Help! Don't! A madman!

I apologize.

I thought you were someone else.

Pulling it out by the roots. I warned you.

The madman. Did you see him trying

to pull my beard out by the roots?

Leslie will lose!

Your automobile will lose! I will win!

He jumped!

I shall build the greatest automobile

in the world and I shall win!

Okay, Professor.

This time it will not be Leslie.

It will be I, Professor Fate!

Fate the Magnificent!

And it is with no little pride

that the Webber Motor Car Company...

...unveils its latest

and greatest achievement.

Gentlemen, behold the motor car

of the future!

Holy cow!

Holy Toledo, look at that car!

Yes, it's quite a car.

- I never saw a car like that in my life.

- You never will again either.

Give me the bomb.

Professor, be careful.

After you activate the mechanism,

you only got ten seconds.

I know that. Give me the cord.

We have taken the liberty of naming it

after the man who inspired its creation.

- The Leslie Special.

- I'm deeply honored.

What took you so long?

I had to go to the Rolls-Royce agency.

I had to steal a spare magneto.

It's ready.

Yes, it's ready.

There has never been anything like this.

- Professor, your greatest creation.

- The work of genius.

The finest parts from the greatest

automobiles in the world.

The Hannibal Twin 8.

When the blizzards and snow storms come,

we will continue on just as planned.

Push the button, Max.

When the rains come,

and when the snow melts...

...we shall continue to rise above it.

Push the button, Max!

Nature will chase us, we will beat her.

And brigands, thieves, cutthroats

of all nations may hound us.

But we are ready for them.

We will blast them to kingdom come!

We can melt, we can blast.

We can rise above! We are invincible!

Take us down.

Push the button, Max.

Yes.

- Mr. Goodbody.

- What is it, Frisbee?

- You have to come.

- What's the matter?

Well, it's a young lady, sir.

- What about the young lady?

- She's handcuffed herself to the door.

- Handcuffed herself to the door?

- Of the men's room.

What?

Gentleman!

Return to your assignments.

This is a newspaper office.

There will be no lollygagging

in this hallway.

There will be no lollygagging

in this hallway.

Now, young lady, who are you?

I am a female past the age of consent.

I'm the first woman to edit

the newspaper at my college.

I'll remain handcuffed until I'm the first

female reporter of The New York Sentinel.

Over my dead body.

Unlock those handcuffs and get out.

I will unlock the handcuffs

when you give me the job.

Never!

- Never?

- Never.

But, sir, if she remains here,

handcuffed to the men's room.

You men may use the washroom

on the next floor.

- They can't keep running upstairs forever.

- They can until you get hungry.

That would make a story

for your competition.

Woman starves to death in the men's room

of The New York Sentinel.

- You wouldn't dare.

- I would dare anything for women's rights.

- Give me an assignment. If I fail, fire me.

- You're fired.

Frisbee, post a bulletin.

Suffragettes are not permitted.

- Let me cover the great race.

- It's covered by experienced reporters.

No, I mean really cover it.

From start to finish, mile by mile.

Reporters are not permitted on the trip,

only contestants. Those are the rules.

We run a newspaper,

not a school for revolutionaries!

Enter the race. Enter your own car.

We are running a newspaper, a newspaper,

not an automotive agency!

Are you afraid of losing?

Give me the money and I'll enter the race.

I despise suffragettes.

I am not just trying to get

the vote for women.

I'll emancipate them from

the drudgery of being servants or saints.

Out of the laundry rooms

and off the pedestals!

You're mad, young woman, you're mad!

And you, sir, are a slave

to your puritanism.

Does your wife wear silk stockings?

- I won't discuss such an intimate subject.

- She does, and they're very expensive.

But has she raised her skirts

for you and shown her calf?

A woman's leg in a silk stocking

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