The Great Race (35mm)

(Blake Edwards, US 1965, 160 min., 35mm)

Professional daredevil and white-suited hero The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) convinces turn-of-the-century automakers that a race from New York to Paris — the long way around — will promote automobile sales. But our hero's arch-rival, the mustachioed and black-attired Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), vows to beat Leslie to the finish line. Dedicated to Laurel and Hardy, The Great Race pays tribute to Stan and Ollie through the hilarious interaction between Fate and his cohort Max (Peter Falk), as well as in the operatic Pottsdorf pie fight. Following up on their success six years earlier with Some Like It Hot, Curtis and Lemmon were born within four months of each other in 1925.