The Rat Race **** (1960, Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, Jack Oakie, Kay Medford, Don Rickles) – Classic Movie Review 7,150

The unjustly forgotten 1960 romantic comedy film The Rat Race stars Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds as a struggling saxophonist and a taxi dancer, who live together and struggle to get ahead in the dog-eat-dog environment of soulless New York City.

Director Robert Mulligan’s unjustly forgotten 1960 romantic comedy film The Rat Race stars Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds as two demi-monde Bohemians (struggling saxophonist Curtis and his soul mate, dance hall taxi dancer Reynolds) who live together and struggle to get ahead in the dog-eat-dog environment of the soulless big city of New York City.

Curtis plays Pete Hammond Jr, who tries to make good in the tacky club managed by Nellie Miller (Don Rickles). Reynolds plays penniless model Peggy Brown, who has just been evicted from an apartment rented to Pete, so he offers to let her stay with him.

The Rat Race is an appealing, generous-spirited and tender Sixties slice-of-life comedy drama, based in Manhattan, that is full of rich detail and warm humour, though lacking in plot. Curtis and Reynolds are very likeable as the jazzy couple, excellently supported by a cast of fine character actors, and it is all held together by Mulligan’s driving direction and a bouncing Elmer Bernstein score.

Garson Kanin’s rather cute and nifty screenplay is based on his own stage play.

Curtis recalled: ‘I liked working with Robert Mulligan, who was just starting to direct. His pictures always had a lot of atmosphere. He tried to deal with real people and situations. I had to learn how to play the saxophone.’

Also in the cast are Jack Oakie, Kay Medford, Joe Bushkin, Sam Butera, Gerry Mulligan, Marjorie Bennett, Hal K Dawson, Norman Fell and Lisa Drake, and tenor saxophonist Sam Butera and jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan have minor roles as saxophonists as Carl ‘Tip’ and Gerry, while the film’s composer Elmer Bernstein appears as a member of The Red Peppers.

The Rat Race is directed by Robert Mulligan, runs 105 minutes, is made by Perlberg-Seaton Productions, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Garson Kanin, based on his play, is shot in Technicolor by Robert Burks, is produced by William Perlberg and George Seaton, and is scored by Elmer Bernstein.

It was shot in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Times Square, Manhattan; and the Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

Release date: July 10, 1960 (US).

It took a healthy $3,400,000 at the North American box office.

The cast are Tony Curtis as Pete Hammond Jr, Debbie Reynolds as Peggy Brown, Jack Oakie as Mac, Kay Medford as Mrs ‘Soda’ Gallo, Don Rickles as Nellie Miller, Marjorie Bennett as Mrs Edie Kerry, Hal K Dawson as Bo Kerry, Norman Fell as Telephone Repairman, Sam Butera as Carl ‘Tip’, Joe Bushkin as Frankie Jay, the pianist in the band who took Pete’s instruments, Gerry Mulligan as Gerry, and Elmer Bernstein as a member of The Red Peppers.

Previous notable taxi dancers in cinema include Joan Crawford in The Taxi Dancer (1927) and Barbara Stanwyck in Ten Cents a Dance (1931).

Debbie Reynolds died on 28 December 2016, aged 84. Don Rickles died on 6 April 2017, aged 90.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,150

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