Great Race, The (1965) 3

It was not too wrongheaded for director Blake Edwards to make a movie in the style of the silents, as Britisher Ken Annakin demonstrated in his entertaining 'Those Daring Young Men in Their Flying Machines (or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes,' 1965). Edwards' in 'The Great Race' apparently failed to realize that the best comedians who played villains in the silent era, even with the broadest of strokes, performed in apparent earnest, pretending to be unaware of their absurdity. Lemmon (most likely encouraged by Edwards) once again played it over the top, meaning: barely funny at all. In this regard, Peter ('Colombo') Falk as his crony was much more effective.