The Great Race, and a great pie fight

One of our favorite "costumer" movies, with the largest Pie Fight in cinema history. The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis), Professor Fate (Jack Lemon), Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood), Max (Peter Falk) & Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn).

[@billyz5088]

This is the best pie fight scene ever filmed. It may have just been bad timing - but this film was not well received at the box office. Natalie Wood did not even want to make this film from the very start (and it nearly killed her) - but this is one of the best comedies of the 1960's.

[@robertfitzsimmons9428]

How can you not love Natalie Wood?! 😍 Funny, beautiful woman💔

[@sha11235]

Gone from us too soon, sadly.

[@AndorRadnai]

1:22 Leslie walks down the stairs all nonchalantly yet can’t help but flinch…😂

[@ElmoUnk1953]

Push the button Max

[@MaximumRideDrama]

I'm thoroughly convinced that at 1:48, Tony is being himself in shaking his head and suppressing a smile watching Jack as he saunters off.

[@AndorRadnai]

That all looks very much like real amusement! 😂

[@chattyroz2934]

The funniest part of all was Tony Curtis strolling through all that dressed in snow white, without a speck on him. Even when he did get pied in the end, it was still snow white!

[@magesteve]

Years later, Blake Edwards would say that the biggest delay during the entire movie, was when during this scene, Tony Curtis would accidentally be hit by a pie. Assuming it was a good splash with lots of color on his white outfit, they would have to stop filming, and have Tony go change into a spare outfit, so they could continue the scene.

[@MLaak86]

@@magesteve Heard that at one point the whole cast just unloaded on him - not sure if true but I could see it.

[@magesteve]

@@MLaak86 The story I heard said they hid some pies at the end, and unloaded on the Director Blake Edwards. I am sure Tony got hit there too.

[@ChattingwithMarkStise]

I NEVER MIX MY PIES!!!

[@francinesiddaway7191]

I Love this Movie 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 Absolutely Brilliant 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gabrieldjatienza6971]

Jack Lemmon's stunt double did great falling down that huge cake twice...as a disguided Professor Fate and as the Crown Prince!

[@joegaito702]

❤❤😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😊😊😊as always excellent outstanding brilliant true comedy at its very best cried and cried nearly died of laughter couldn't breathe and stop laughing appreciate a good laugh and the memories the 3 stooges are in heaven looking down at us laughing hysterically to the actors and actresses who passed away my thoughts are with your family you may be gone but not forgotten still going strong keep the laughs wonder how is charge of cleaning this mess up still love you guys thanks just need a good laugh thats all thanks !!!! Joe

[@kgreek]

The pie fight scene in The Battle of the Century with Laurel and Hardy is said to have had the greatest number of pies thrown on film, as many as 10,000 may have been used. Of the two, this scene is the most remembered.

[@joegaito702]

Nearly died of laughter and couldn't breathe and stop laughing appreciate a good laugh appreciate the memories the 3 stooges are in heaven looking down at us laughing hysterically nothing like a good pie fight as we know it god bless you guys thanks for a good laugh appreciate you guys thanks !!! Joe

[@schizoidboy]

One of the most underrated comedies of all time. Professor Fate has a kind of Wile E Coyote aspect to him. He's supposed to be the villain but people like me feel sorry for the guy to the point where we can't see him as a villain but a self-inflicted victim.

[@stevesheets8653]

Great comparison...

[@dnf-dead]

Fate is Dick Dastardly

[@gabrieldjatienza6971]

Professor Fate could win the race with his scheming mind...but the writers won't let him.

[@pyromania1018]

HEY PROFESSOR!!

[@stevesheets8653]

Press the button, Max!

[@Michele62184]

THERE I’M U IDIOT!

[@MotorBorg]

I absolutely love this movie and this scene in particular!

[@toddsalvati5694]

At 2:20, Hey Professor, Peter Falk gets pelted, just hysterical. I can not watch this scene enough, Lemmon is one of my all time favorite actors with this being in the top 3 of his performances. I won't even go into the beauty of Natalie Wood.

[@SteveSheets]

He was absolutely fantastic as Max, the under appreciated henchman. When he breaks of Jack Lemon's mustache, is when I lose it.

[@princevultan6589]

I concur. 100% the best Max moment in the film.

[@michaelkupchik3974]

When I feel down and depressed I watch this movie which I have on DVD. 😂😂picks me right up 😉

[@SELAHPAUSE]

I love this movie it's in my top ten.....I never mix my pies......lol

[@mannymacvela3877]

If you listen carefully, you can hear cameras clicking off screen. Likely photographers were on the set taking photos for publicity.

[@indigowolf556]

I've seen this movie so many times and every time I re-watch it I laugh even more. And I think the pie scene is the best I've ever seen. It is so Blake edwards. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@amyfisher6380]

“Brandy! Throw more brandy!” Jack Lemmon was a comic genius.

[@SELAHPAUSE]

a new tucker inner......jack should of got the Oscar that year

[@elizabethramirezsierra3700]

The characters from The Great Race are the origins of Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning cartoon Wacky Races. Professor Fate- Dick Dastardly Max Meen= Muttley Maggie DuBois= Penelope Pitstop 👱🏻‍♀🌺 The Great Leslie= Peter Perfect 👱🏻‍♂❤

[@rtpoe]

Music: "Pie in the Face Polka" by Henry Mancini

[@patricksullivan1410]

Thank you!110 present! Natalie, as The great Leslie!

[@RedHall]

The Best scene of the entire movie

[@robertmasina7388]

This is more pie fights than in all the ones on the Three Stooges combined.

[@wolf-bass]

Great fun… thanks!!

[@luisreyes1963]

Having fun at the ol' Zückerbakerei! 🥧

[@Go4Corvette]

That must have been some clean up job lol. Love this move, I was 4 years old when this came out. Thanks for the video, Mike

[@magesteve]

Mike?

[@TwinTonyz]

the pacing is just right there

[@nathanaellee8356]

“Hey,Professor, where are you!!!” “Right here, you idiot!!!”

[@itiswhatitaintanditaintwha1427]

I'd love to see this in reverse!

[@davidzasloff8797]

Despite what the comment says about Tony Curtis remaining clean throughout - that it was Blake Edwards’ idea - I read that it was actually the result of an accident. The exterior at the end, where the racers tear out of the bakery and into their cars, was filmed on location in Europe. Just before cameras rolled, Curtis was taking a bathroom break. He arrived back on set with only a few moments to spare. Everyone else was covered with pie filling (or whatever they used to look like pie filling), so Curtis smeared some on his face - all he had time for - and they filmed the exterior like that. Somehow, no one noticed that Curtis was comparatively clean until the footage got back to the States, by which time it was too late to reshoot the final exterior, so they rethought the pie fight itself to explain Leslie’s relatively clean state and shot it that way on a soundstage. As often happens, mistakes led to awesome results.

[@starpawsy]

Apparently the giant cake is made "mainly from sawdust". And Tony Curtis needed no less than 38 (!!!!) clean white suits to make sure he stayed clean to the end.

[@MrAdrianaangel]

Welcome to the Sixties :)

[@alanodonnel9063]

Fairy Lady the age of John F Kennedy, James Bond, Thunderbird's and the moon landing. It was also the age of the hippies. And the Vietnam War.

[@khylerbane4523]

ya now this was all done with the actors, no stuntmen, barely(99%)no makeup.

[@alanodonnel9063]

That Professor and his assistant where houlerious in this part of the movie. I even like how they went ha professor where are you? Right hear you idiot! 😬.

[@annoldham3018]

Some of those must have hurt. 🤣 I love this film. I believe Wacky Races was based on it.🥰

[@magesteve]

From Wacky Racer wiki: "It has been said that the feature film The Great Race (1965) was an influence towards three characters in this series: Peter Perfect (after Leslie Gallant III, played by Tony Curtis), Penelope Pitstop (after Maggie Dubois, played by Natalie Wood), and Dick Dastardly (after Professor Fate, played by Jack Lemmon)."

[@acidobarbiturico439]

And Max is Muttley 🤭

[@sha11235]

Yes, after awhile it would feel like getting hit by a bag of cement. But they worked at it and got through it.

[@phatchick96]

That is one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies. I will never not laugh when Tony finally gets pied.

[@gretchennelson7056]

I cheered for five minutes!

[@gkroll8467]

Picture it to fucking long

[@dnf-dead]

Throw more brandy.... 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@magesteve]

Rum? I never mix my pies! I want to play too...

[@BrokenCurtain]

I love the fact that the actors had pies stashed away to pelt the director when the scene was finished.

[@stellertonybeller1972]

Blake Edwards

[@BrokenCurtain]

@@stellertonybeller1972 Yep.

[@sha11235]

And Blake didn't mind either, that was the thing. He knew how hard they had worked so he should have some too.

[@kevinbutler1955NYC]

Poor Natalie..she must have been a mess..by the time that this pie fight was finished and she probably had to take alot of baths or showers to wash away those pie fillings and that pie crust.

[@magesteve]

Actually, it was Tony who kept being cleaned. As the fight went on, he kept accidentally getting hit by a pie, which the director didn't want. They had to stop the scene, clean him off, and continue.

[@rogerthat487]

The best Pie Fight EVER. The actors the doubles who the hell cares? Just enjoy!!

[@princevultan6589]

The 2 people who do not like this have no clue what comedy really is. This movie defined comedy.

[@davidgilmour7664]

The writers must've really run out of ideas by this point. Half the world's population is dying of starvation & it's "funny" to throw food at each other. Pathetic cretinism.

[@princevultan6589]

@@davidgilmour7664 this movie was filmed in 1965 so lighten up. It is hilarious.

[@andrewbaler4028]

Shoutout to the woman for doing this in her underwear

[@litastar2455]

I loved the pies, they looked DELISH, they could have went the cheap route with whipping cream, those were the days

[@joshuabrophy4585]

Two Jack Lemmons

[@victorgillmore3180]

25 percent of the budget was spent on pie and the big cake 🍰

[@Dremeli]

Anyone note the camera shutter sounds at backround?

[@eaglejones856]

I would’ve loved to be in that pie fight. It seemed like a lot of fun throwing pies at each and making a whole mess. I would’ve giggled like a child and just probably gobbled up some pie as well. in fact, I’m working on another story where some of my characters actually have a pie fight, and it ends with them all giggling like children, and then continuing the fight as this machine malfunctions causing pies to come out left and right

[@user-ed3nq5ci3e]

❤❤❤

[@oscarg6260]

Has anyone else heard the motordrive of the still photographer in the beginning??

[@josh8740]

NFL should host a fancy banquet party hosted by Roger Goodell where everyone dresses up neatly and that it has food and pies and that when Andy Reid gets a little bit hungry and stares often into the distance and sees that theirs burgers next to a large cake,he gets up and sneakily tip toes to the food but trips somehow and falls straight into a tall cake that somehow falls on Jackson Mahomes who sitting down on a table with his family and that he screams and everyone stares to which his bro,Pat laughs to see his brother get caked but he gets mad and grabs a pie and smacks Pat with a pie and that Brittany tells the two to stop it but only to get pied by Pat and she gets mad and grabs a pie herself and tries throwing it back at Pat but misses and somehows smacks Taylor Swift with the pie and then Travis Kelce sneakily laughs but that Brittany sees him secretly laughing and grabs a pie herself and smacks him as well with it and then he grabs a pie and tries throwing one himself at Taylor but she ducks and it hits Chris Jones in the face and then gets a little bit angry and gets up and slowly walks over to Travis and he tries saying sorry but Chris aint having it and hits Travis face with a cake and then Roger goodell says you all need to stop it but Chris Jones screams fuck no and grabs a pie and throws it at Roger Goodell who then gets mad as well and wants to throw a pie and throws it at Chris but misses and hits Tom Brady with a pie and then he gets mad as well and grabs a pie to throw back at Roger but misses and it hits Bill Belichick who just sits their and wipes his face off with napkins and then George Kittle says out loud food fight and all hell breaks loose with a food pie fight between The Legends and Top stars of The NFL and that Stephen A. Smith who's their watches from a distance laughing to see a huge pie fight melee going down

[@hartmutthomas989]

Total genial

[@macmooney9136]

Hilarious pie fight

[@warrenvalentino5763]

ROFL!!!! LOL!!! :) :)

[@rayleenkie5610]

I'd hate to be the person in charge of the clean up!!😂

[@starpawsy]

Peter Falk should also have fallen into the giant cake from the top of the stairs after the "Hey Professa" pie-ing.

[@user-cn1rx1hh9t]

Can you imagine the production of all those pies lol. Or after the pie fight!! One of the funniest scenes in the entire movie catalogue!!

[@oliverpaullaoasi1995]

Parang bulagaan ah

[@hellobeautiful5225]

A beautiful woman who’s angry, covered in and throwing pies….is kinda hot! I had a friend who threw a party each year called “Shempfest”! To honor Shemp Howard…his favorite stooge. At the end he would have a pie fight with paper plates filled with whip cream. It’s so much fun.

[@elizabethramirezsierra3700]

The racers are hit with pies except for Leslie

[@goldfing5898]

Very funny, but to be honest, the balloon sinks relatively slowly, so it seems to me that Leslie would have survived even without his parachute jump. But nevertheless a great stunt scene. Regarding Prof. Fate and Max, actually I _expected_ Leslie to parachute out of the balloon anyway, so their attempt was not so well-thought as some other attempts. The torpedo assault was brilliant, but why did they drive away with their car rather than just watching what happens on the lake? :-)

[@sha11235]

Peter Falk is so funny here. Better than Columbo.

[@gordonhall9871]

Natalie Wood was so Beautiful -- gone way too soon

[@jasminnemcdonald94A]

All those pies. Who's gonna clean up the mess?

[@fer..t6687]

What a big waste of food and pies. Making a so good messy pie scene with ONLY ONE girl and a crowd of men. They shoul had done it with more women. So the waste would be for a very good cause

[@ElmoUnk1953]

Ai yi yi... The woke crowd ruins it again 🙄

[@pyromania1018]

They ate it all after filming was finished. Cool your jets, buddy. Besides, I personally believe that pies are meant for throwing, not eating.

[@zacharycat603]

Funny movie for the most part, but this scene is really dumb and seems to go on forever.

[@Martin-iv6lq]

This is stupid