The Great Race--Jack Lemmon's best role? Yes or No?

[NMDemDist2]

[Archae]

1. "Max, push the button!"

:nuke:

:rofl:

I love that movie.

And the pie fight was sublime.

[triguy46]

2. The odd couple

Where they have the fight because Matthau is late getting home, dinner is cold. What a great juxtaposition. Its now used and trite, but at the time new.

[Bjornsdotter]

12. The best line from that movie

Oscar says.... "You leave little notes on my pillow. Told you a-hundred-fifty-eight times I cannot stand little notes on my pillow. "We are all out of cornflakes. F.U." Took me three hours to figure out "F.U." was Felix Ungar."


Cracks me up every time.

Cheers

[AndreaCG]

19. Yes yes yes!

That was quite daring for its time.

[NMDemDist2]

3. I loved him as the Druken Duke too

:bounce:

[barb162]

37. He was brilliant in that part too

[barb162]

36. Professor Fate, that wasa great role

It's a wonderful movie. I also love the part where he's on the bed with about 20 little dogs

[taterguy]

4. Actually I think his best role was Missing

The movie that the Reagan administration tried really hard to suppress.

[Richardo]

5. "I hope you win! I hope you win!"

"You good Leslie you!"

I love that movie.

[Bjornsdotter]

13. Yep

....me too.

Cheers

[terrya]

6. It's a wonderful movie!

I'm a big fan of "The Great Race". :-)

[NMDemDist2]

7. Max! You Idiot!

:rofl:

[Richardo]

8. "I SAID 'RED SKY IN THE MORNIN', SAILORS TAKE WARNIN'!!"

Peter Falk was the perfect sidekick. :rofl:

[Debi]

9. Mass Appeal

[femmocrat]

10. Doesn't anyone remember "Some Like it Hot"?

or "The Apartment"?

or "The Days of Wine and Roses"?

:shrug:

[Capn Sunshine]

17. I do

I agree

I'd add "The China Syndrome"
and "The Fortune Cookie"

[Lars39]

23. Somehow or other I've always heard of "The Days of Wine and Roses"?

but I haven't seen that one yet. I really like him in the other two movies. :)

[jobycom]

25. Watched it last night. He was in another Billy Wilder film, less well known,

"Avanti!" that for some reason really won me over.

[mzteris]

11. His dramatic role in

Days of Wine and Roses

Jack as Joe Clay to his wife:

"You remember how it really was? You and me and booze--a threesome. You and I were a couple of drunks on the sea of booze, and the boat sank. I got hold of something that kept me from going under, and I'm not going to let go of it. Not for you. Not for anyone. If you want to grab on, grab on. But there's just room for you and me--no threesome.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

14. "Glengarry, Glen Ross"..........

JL as Shelley Levine:

"What the hell are you? You're a fuckin' secretary. Fuck you. That's my message to ya: fuck you and you can kiss my ass and if you don't like it baby I'm going across the street to Jerry Graff, period, fuck you."

Now I gotta go back to work.

[freesqueeze]

31. Agreed...

Glengary Glenn Ross was his best. Loved his version of the schmoozing sales creep.

[Drum]

32. So true.

A strong movie (and play) all around, and I was really glad to see JL in it. :thumbsup:

[edbermac]

15. I was too busy looking at Natalie Wood when I saw that film.

However I thought his funniest bit was when he agreed to impersonate the Prince. He lays down and screams at the little dogs around him, "Get off of the bed!" Then one puppy looks at him innocently and he says coldly "I hate you!"

And playing the Prince was pretty funny too. But I gotta go with Some Like It Hot as his best.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. You can't do 'best role' for Jack Lemmon

Unless you literally mean "best role," i.e. the character that let him do the most with his skills. But I'm taking this to mean his best performance, and with actors like Lemmon, there is no "best performance," because they had so many masterful ones. Same with Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, George C. Scott...

If forced to pick one for Lemmon, though, I'd have to go with "The Days of Wine and Roses," because it's so hard to play a drunk convincingly.

[AndreaCG]

18. I didn't see that film

But the only subpar thing I have seen him in was Odd Couple 2, a bad attempt to repeat the justifiable success of Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men. I think they did something called Out To Sea which was not great but not a total stinker.

He and Matthau are the ultimate comedy couple IMO.

[mitchum]

20. No, that would be his role as fuckin' Shelley Levine in Glengarry Fuckin' Glen Ross

[jobycom]

24. That was a fucking veritable cornufuckingcupoia of great fucking acting

Oddly, without any fucking fucking.

[Joe Fields]

21. Ensign Pulver, in Mister Roberts...

:toast:

[pokerfan]

27. He won a best supporting Oscar in Roberts

Ensign Pulver: Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinkin' palm tree overboard! Now what's all this crud about no movie tonight?

[Joe Fields]

29. That, and the firecracker scene were priceless....

:toast:

[bertha katzenengel]

22. Either "Glengarry Glen Ross" or "The Apartment" -- or

"The China Syndrome" or omg how does one choose?

Okay, he was good in "The Great Race," too.

Hey! Let's ask Kevin Spacey!

[RedG1]

26. played Tony in "Fire Down Below (1957)"

one of my fave 'old movies'...wish they made movies like that today

[Patsy Stone]

28. Wouldn't that be best two roles?

Oh, you Great Leslie, you!

[NMDemDist2]

33. ROFL, where did you find that pic?

I looked all over for one :rofl:

[Patsy Stone]

34. Lucky Googling

:thumbsup:

I loved him in this movie, but Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts was amazing too. As several posts have said, he's such a great actor that there are too many to choose from.

[RushIsRot]

Mr. Roberts!

[RushIsRot]

30. Mr. Roberts!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

35. I think The Apartment had his best performance.

[ironflange]

38. Probably not his best role

But it's clearly the one he had the most fun doing.

[Richard Steele]

39. No way- his greatest roles were later when he was parodying his SELF! nm

[Adsos Letter]

40. I loved that movie...

(to the people in the Russian Village): "I...am Professor Fate!" *silence*

Still cracks me up. :rofl:

[Awsi Dooger]

41. My favorite was The Out of Towners

"I've got all your names and addresses."

That busted me up when I saw it as a kid. And you know what, that really does work. Whenever I'm in a dispute with someone representing a company I ask for their name and immediately they start to sweat and the tide turns in my favor.