GRAND PRIX (1966)

Centering around a fictionalized version of the 1966 Formula One season GRAND PRIX tells the story of four drivers and all of their adventures both on and off the race track.  Of course you got the expected girl troubles and rivalries, but all of that stuff is only so-so.  The main attraction here is the racing scenes!  Filmed in 70mm with cameras actually strapped to race cars going fast as fuck it's almost enough to take your breath away.  I bet people who saw this in a proper theater back in 1966 couldn't believe their eyes.  I know I couldn't and I ended up watching all of the racing scenes multiple times.

James Garner is an American driver looking to make a comeback but when some gearbox trouble inadvertently leads to the injury of another driver he does the only honorable thing and starts sleeping with injured guys wife.  At the same time French driver Yves Montand is cheating on his wife with a reporter (Eva Marie Saint).  There's as a young Italian driver, but he's pretty boring, even though his girlfriend is hot as fook! 

Toshiro Mifune speaking in English (even though his lines are dubbed), Jessica Walter looking young and sexy, great title sequence by Saul Bass, Yves Montand speaking in English, James Garner doing all of his own driving, nice musical score, strong direction by John Frankenheimer.  I really enjoyed GRAND PRIX and even the melodrama between the races wasn't so bad thanks to believable acting and the beautiful photography.

THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE (1975)

Two years after he won the Academy Award for his heartbreaking performance in SAVE THE TIGER as a man on the verge of ruin, Jack Lemmon returns to the same emotional territory, but this time with a dark comedic edge to it.  Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft are a middle-aged couple living in New York City.  Both are stressed due to a heat wave, but when their apartment is robbed and Jack looses his job he has a nervous breakdown and Anne is forced to work to make ends meet.

As depressing as that sounds the screenplay by Neil Simon based on his own play is pretty funny and I really enjoyed seeing Lemmon flipping out and screaming at his wife, his neighbors and pretty much anybody within earshot.  Lemmon has always had a talent for expressing his character's inner emotions and that talent is on full display here.  That said, I think Anne Bancroft's performance might have been even better!  The entire movie she's toe-to-toe with with Lemmon and holding her own. They were both fantastic.  It was almost like they were feeding off of each others awesomeness.

The movie might be a product of it's time (living in NYC in the 70's), but I think it still holds up well today.  I've never been to NYC, but I still identified with both Lemmon and Bancroft's stressed out existence.  Recommended.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (1966)

Capitalizing on the Cold War paranoid of the time, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING tells the story of a Soviet sub that accidentally runs aground while the captain was innocently sightseeing along the coast of a small New England island.  Stuck like Chuck, the captain sends 9 sailors onshore to get a boat big enough to pull the sub off the sandbar.  Almost immediately they're spotted and their presence understandably causes quite a ruckus.

Seeing as TRACTRAC was written by the same guy who wrote IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD just a few years earlier and even stars a few of the same people, I mistakenly thought that it was going to be the same over-the-top insanity that Mad World was, but no.  This movie was dead in the water right from the very beginning.  The jokes are all tired and flat, the ending is completely unbelievable, Jonathan Winters is wasted, Brian Keith has nothing to work with, none of the Russians have any character and the townsfolk are all morons.  Unfunny morons that clutter up the screen running around like chickens with their dicks cut off.  And that kid at the church!  Oh my god, the excessive sentimentality of that scene made me wanna slam my dick in a car door.  Preferably an orange 1986 Ford Escort.

According to the DVD special features, this film caused quite a stir when it came out (it was the #8 box office draw for 1966 and received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture!!!), but I honestly have a hard time seeing what the excitement was about.  Outside of enjoying seeing the familiar faces, I say skip it.

If you need me I'll be in my room watching DR. STRANGELOVE.