MovieChat Forums > The Great Race (1965) Discussion > Follow the Bouncing Ball

Follow the Bouncing Ball

posted 17 years ago by bannercaptain_2000
8 replies | jump to latest

I was 10 when TGR came out for those who live here in L.A. it was at the Pantages and I had a great time seeing it,now with the magic of DVD,I know it's out now.
I have two questions,does the dvd come with the INTERMISSION title on it,I believe it just happens when Leslie,Maggie,Max and Fate are on the sinking iceberg.
The other is this,when Natalie Wood sings,"The Sweetheart Tree",there is a brief sight gag of the lyrics with the bouncing ball,the follow the lyrics with the bouncing ball.I know from previous views on t.v. and cable that it does not contain this sight gag,was it only available for the roadshow version of TGR?
Can anyone help me out,please?

Thanks and Cheers

[–] megArnold 17 years ago

The 2006 (region 2) DVD comes with Ouverture, Intermission title (the moment Fate falls into the water), Exit Music and the bouncing ball. Thats what I can say about it. Should be identical with the Region 1 version.

eMM

[–] bannercaptain_2000 17 years ago

Thank You Thank You Thank You.It's quite disheartening to describe this to your friends and you get the "shall we get the net or wait til he stops speaking".
Cheers
Charles

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lhuffman_66 17 years ago

I actually remember the bopun cing ball on some television broadcasts of this movie...as that was all I had back in the 70s when I fell for this movie. I am not sure if the ball was there in more recent viewings...though I have not seen this movie in years. I have never seen it on anything but a TV broadcast...and I definitely remember a bouncing ball and lyrics to 'Tree In The Forest'.

I can understand the idea of the bouncing ball detracting from a movie...but this is a movie where I think a sight gag actually can work. As for romance...yes, there is romance, but I always had the feel...and maybe this is just me...that the movie was just to be fun: got the feeling fromt he writing, setting and the actors themselves...so if a bouncing ball with lyrics shows up suddenly when things are getting heavy romantically...well, that suits it.

[–] bannercaptain_2000 17 years ago

Suites me as well,I could tell that it was making a joke a romantic scene,Edwards was telling us that let's get too romantic,as for myself I was getting steamed up over just seeing bare shoulders of Natalie Wood,and it was breather just after the most epic pie fight ever filmed.
May all you movie watching be awesome.

[–] kesler-b 15 years ago

I was 12 when this movie came out, and the "bouncing ball" was in the theatrical version I saw. It was common on a number of cartoons shown on TV during the early-mid sixties. Just another example that nothing is sacred in this marvelous movie.

[–] keljor-1 15 years ago

Interesting, I just caught a screening of the film at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, billed as a "studio print" no less, and there was no overture, no entr'acte music, no exit music, and no bouncing ball. Though I've seen the old laser disc version put out in the '80s and all that extra music was in, but I don't recall the bouncing ball to Sweetheart Tree. Hopefully, the studio still has a print somewhere that was Edwards' fully intended vision with all of Mancini's music intact.

[–] MissSugarKane 15 years ago

I don't know if it's on everybody's, but on the DVD version I have, the bouncing ball disappears towards the end of the song even though Maggie is still singing! It's not a problem really and I don't mind (everything else is perfect; including the overture and the intermission especially, which is handy for refilling a drink and so on). I just wondered if this was on everybody else's DVD.

Marilyn Monroe: I don't want to be rich. I just want to be wonderful.