The Great Race

Leslie "The Great Leslie" Gallant III and Professor Fate are competing daredevils at the turn of the 20th century. Leslie is an archetypically handsome, kind, skillful. and successful hero always dressed in white, often with an American Flag motif when performing. Fate is a stereotypical villain, usually dressed in black, sporting a black moustache and top hat, prone to maniacal laughter, and bent on outdoing Leslie, only to be dogged by failure each time. Leslie proposes an automobile race from New York City to Paris and offers the Webber Motor Car Company the opportunity to build an automobile to make the journey. They design and build a new car for him, "The Leslie Special". Fate builds his own car, "The Hannibal Twin-8", complete with hidden devices of sabotage. Other car owners enter the race, including one owned by New York's most prominent newspaper. Driving the newspaper's car is photojournalist Maggie DuBois, a vocal suffragist. A seven-car race begins, but Fate's sidekick Maximilian "Mean Max" Meen has sabotaged four other cars, plus his own by mistake, leaving just three cars in the race. The surviving teams are Leslie with his loyal valet Hezekiah Sturdy, Maggie driving a Stanley Steamer by herself, and Fate and Max. The steamer car breaks down, and Maggie accepts a lift in the Leslie Special. Fate arrives first at a refueling point, the small Western frontier town of Boracho. "Texas Jack", a local outlaw, becomes jealous of showgirl Lily Olay's flirting with Leslie, and a saloon brawl ensues. Fate sneaks outside amid the chaos, steals the fuel he needs, and destroys the rest. Leslie uses mules to pull his car to another refueling point, where Maggie tricks Hezekiah into boarding a train and handcuffs him to a seat, lying to Leslie that Hezekiah had quit and "wanted to go back to New York". The two remaining cars reach the Bering Strait and park side by side in a blinding snowstorm. Keeping warm during the storm, Leslie and Maggie begin to see each other as more than competitors. Mishaps, including a polar bear in Fate's car, compel all four racers to warm themselves in Leslie's car. They awaken on a small ice floe, which drifts into their intended Russian port, where Hezekiah is waiting for Leslie, who casts off Maggie for deceiving him. Maggie is snatched by Fate, who drives off in the lead. After driving across Asia, both cars enter the tiny kingdom of Carpania, whose alcoholic Crown Prince Friedrich Hapnick is the spitting image of Professor Fate. Plotters under the leadership of Baron Rolfe von Stuppe and General Kuhster kidnap the Prince, Fate, Max, and Maggie. Max escapes and joins Leslie to rescue the others. Fate is forced to masquerade as the prince during the coronation so that the rebels can gain control of the kingdom. Leslie and Max overcome Von Stuppe's henchmen and confront Von Stuppe. Following a sword fight with Leslie, Von Stuppe attempts escape by leaping to a waiting boat but bursts the hull and sinks it. Leslie and Max return the real prince to the capital in time to defeat Kuhster's plan for a military coup. Fate, still masquerading as Prince Hapnick, takes refuge in a bakery, but falls into a huge cake. A huge pie fight ensues involving the racers, the prince's men, and the conspirators. The five racers, covered in pie filling, depart Carpania with King Friedrich's best wishes. As the racers leave Pottsdorf (with Maggie now back in Leslie's car), it becomes a straight road race to Paris. Nearing Paris, Leslie and Maggie have an argument regarding the roles of men, women, and sex in relationships. Leslie stops his car just short of the finish line under the Eiffel Tower to prove that he loves Maggie more than he cares about winning the race. Fate drives past to claim the winner's mantle, but becomes indignant that Leslie let him win. Fate refuses to accept the winner's mantle and demands a rematch, a west-to-east race back to New York City. The return race commences, with newlyweds Leslie and Maggie now a team. Fate lets them start first, then orders Max to destroy their car with a cannon. The shot misses the Leslie Special and instead brings the Eiffel Tower down on Fate and Max.

Plot from The Great RaceCC BY-SA 4.0