Factual error: When the race starts, the people are waving American flags with 48 stars: 6 rows of 8 stars each. However, in 1908, when the race took place, there were only 46 states.
The Great Race (1965)
1 factual error
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Musical, Romance, Sport
Continuity mistake: This takes place at the beginning of the race, right after Prof. Fate's car breaks down. Maggie Dubois drives up, then she gets out of her car to take a picture of Prof. Fate and Max. After Maggie takes the picture, she goes to her car and sends a bird off. Then when she climbs back into her car, the camera is conveniently folded and lying in her car, although no one ever put it back.
Max: Rise and shine, Professor.
Professor Fate: You rise! You shine.
Trivia: Natalie Wood attempted suicide during the making of The Great Race.
Question: How exactly did Leslie initially intend on crossing the Bering or Chukchi Sea from Alaska into Russia? I know he and Professor Fate end up floating on a large mass of ice to do so, but that's not exactly something you can plan for.
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Chosen answer: The cars and drivers were supposed to make the trip by ship from North America across the Bering Strait to a Russian port, where they would resume the race. As it happened, Leslie and Fate were stranded in a blizzard on the North American side before they reached the ship. The ice beneath their cars unexpectedly broke away and drifted across the Bering Strait, improbably arriving at the intended destination port in Russia. As they drift into port, we see Leslie's right-hand man, Hezekiah, waving at them from the Russian dock, which is only possible if Hezekiah made the journey by the very ship that Leslie and Fate missed.
Charles Austin Miller