''The Great Race'', 1965 - art by Jean Mascii
by Movie World Posters
Title
''The Great Race'', 1965 - art by Jean Mascii
Artist
Movie World Posters
Medium
Mixed Media - Vintage Movie Poster
Description
A vintage French movie poster of ''The Great Race'', a classic American comedy film released in 1965, directed by Blake Edwards and starring a stellar ensemble cast. The movie is known for its slapstick humor, extravagant production design, and its homage to the golden age of silent cinema and early 20th-century slapstick comedy.
Plot:
The film is set in the early 20th century and revolves around a wild and wacky automobile race from New York to Paris, with the grand prize being the title of the world's greatest driver. The main competitors in this epic race are:
The Great Leslie (played by Tony Curtis): A dashing and heroic daredevil who represents the embodiment of chivalry and sportsmanship.
Professor Fate (played by Jack Lemmon): Leslie's arch-nemesis and a comically inept villain who is determined to win the race by any means necessary.
Maggie DuBois (played by Natalie Wood): A suffragette journalist who becomes an unexpected participant in the race and adds a touch of romantic tension to the story.
As the race progresses, it becomes a series of hilarious and over-the-top competitions, with Professor Fate constantly trying to sabotage Leslie and seize victory. The film is filled with outrageous stunts, elaborate contraptions, and comedic set pieces.
Highlights:
The film is known for its elaborate and costly production, including a massive pie fight scene that has become iconic in film history.
It pays tribute to the silent film era with its physical humor and slapstick comedy reminiscent of the works of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
The memorable and whimsical score by Henry Mancini adds to the film's charm.
"The Great Race" is a family-friendly comedy that embraces a nostalgic and larger-than-life style of filmmaking. It received mixed reviews upon its release but has since gained a cult following and is appreciated for its old-fashioned, high-spirited humor and impressive set pieces. It remains a beloved classic in the genre of screwball comedies and is fondly remembered for its memorable characters and comedic sequences.
About the poster artist:
Jean Mascii was a French painter, poster artist, and illustrator. He was born on July 5, 1926, in Mirandola, Italy, and died in Paris on November 16, 2003. His poster design career spanned over three decades into the 1980s, during which he created over 1,500 posters.
The son of Italian immigrants, Mascii scored his first design job in 1943 when he was 17, making panels for cinema facades at Déco Star. After designing his first poster in 1947, he worked at Pathé Cinéma before setting up his own art studio in 1955. He then designed posters primarily for Warner Bros.
His primary medium was gouache, which lent itself well to reproduction by lithography. On his creative process, he said, "I was given a synopsis or photo sets, and I would get to it." Starting in the 1960s, however, posters were printed with offset. He then began using a technique of accentuating the facial realism of his models against an enriched background. He was one of the first poster artists to depict the hero's face standing out against a series of background sketches, mirroring the twists and turns of the film’s plot.
Once the newer designs of photomontage and computer graphics took hold after the 1980s, Mascii stopped painting poster art. From 1990 on, he primarily designed book covers and devoted himself to painting. He was one of the last portraitists to use the classical style of original paintings.
He also created over 250 book covers, in addition to designing nearly 1,500 cinema posters along with visuals for advertising and press.
Search by the artist's last name to see more of their art.
Uploaded
February 8th, 2022
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