Ford v Ferrari

The only car movie I can recall seeing is Grand Prix, which we saw on some sort of family outing when it came out because the movie we had intended to see -- Khartoum -- had just left the theater.  (I'd rather have seen that instead, and in fact still haven't seen it.)

In reading reviews about this movie, I came across mention of the movie, Rush, which one reviewer says is a better bet for a racing movie. Here is my old review of that from StubbornThings from April of 2014:

Movie Review: Rush

Formula 1 racing has always been a bit of a bloodsport. It is common to say, derogatorily, that people go to NASCAR races for the crashes. And that may be true, in part. The crashes and wrecks are an exiting part of the sport…and mostly a quite harmless part of the sport. The drivers are extremely well-protected inside their reinforced cages. Tragic accidents do happen, such as the death of Dale Earnhardt. But they are rare.

But Formula one is an entirely different thing. As this movie points out (which is set in the 1970's), in Formula 1 racing, on average, two of 25 drivers could be counted on every year to be killed in a crash. Those are tough odds. One of the drivers in the film referred to his car as a coffin surrounded by explosive fuel. It's a bit of a crazy sport where even the spectators have been known to be killed by flying tires and other debris.

Either because of this or despite this, Formula 1 racing has always been a big draw. This movie captures some of that on-track excitement. But this is not strictly a racing movie, per se. Ron Howard and writer Peter Morgan have crafted a film that tells an interesting story. The racing is the venue, but the focus is on the drivers — two of them in particular, James Hunt (played by Chris "Thor" Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (played by Daniel Brühl).

Even having followed my share of Formula 1 racing, I admit that I didn't know the details of this story so it was all excitingly new. I wasn't sure who lived and who died (if anyone). I wasn't sure who would win the trophy in the end. But what I was surprised by most of all was that someone had crafted a racing movie that actually had a human story that was not just a sideline — filler for in between the racing sequences.

In Rush, Hunt (the Brit) and Lauda (the Austrian) start the movie both as upstarts in Formula 3, trying to work their way up to Formula 1. And they are a contrast in styles. Lauda is intense, obnoxious, and lacking any charm. He's all 100% racing all of the time.

Hunt, on the other hand, is a highly-skilled playboy…both on and off the track. He is like a running "go for the gusto" beer commercial. He's as competitive as Lauda but is not as single-minded. He loves boozing and women too much…and they love him too.

It's a great contrast of characters and this contrast is generally played well. It's somewhat surprising to me that Howard didn't go over-the-top. There's not a lot of schmaltz in this film. And you'll spend the first half of the movie laughing at the bluntness of Lauda and the playboy spirit of Hunt.

This is a sexy movie set in a sexy age. There are beautiful broads all over and Hunt is a magnet for them. Lauda, on the other hand, is all business and speaks his mind as bluntly as someone with Tourette's.

The one dill-wad who "won" the race by default put on a show of very bad taste after he "won." Fox had the good sense not to do an interview knowing the seriousness of the crash. And these guys have radios. I’m not buying the excuse of either Joe Gibbs or the dill-wad who won the race that they were unplugged from it all.

I also wonder, in retrospect, if Fox holding the camera on this jerk while he did donuts in the infield wasn’t a soft “eff you.” We do know they didn’t do the interview afterward. I wonder.

I’m not asking for crocodile tears. But a man of class (and it’s obvious to me that this guy is a jerk who is awful full of himself) would have parked his car at a respectful and safe distance to Newman’s car, got out, and attempted to find out how he was.

I generally haven’t watched much NASCAR since the 80’s. My heroes all mostly retired and the corporate cut-out automatons took over. And with all respect to Jeff Gordon in the booth, he’s a prime example of one. Darrell Waltrip did a better job of being outspoken as an analyst. I mean, Jeff is a perfectly nice guy. No points marked down for that. But I longed for a Howard Cosell to make some appropriate comment while this asshole pseudo-winner was spinning donuts in the infield and whooping it up while for all we knew, Ryan Newman was dead or fighting for his life. And we still don’t really know his condition.

I watched it with my brother and he said afterwards he felt like he needed to take a shower. I know how he felt.

And I’m not buying the asshole excuse of the asshole who rammed Newman from behind and caused the wreck. He said he was just trying to push him to victory. Oh, please.

In the old days — and I remember either Richard Petty or some other patriarch mentioning this once — they would take aside a rookie who was making dangerous moves and let him know in no uncertain terms that that’s not they way they do things here. You might have to guess and wonder at how they enforced it. But you can believe they did. That kind of reckless driving was much rarer in those days.

Now it’s a free-for-all. Eff 'em. I'm done.

This belongs next to the Mona Lisa:


1974 Dodge Charger, sold at auction in 2018 for $490.000.

You know, that’s a pretty good basic point right there. Get the visuals right. Then think of a piece of tissue paper or clear acetate over which you lay a plot. On top of that is another layer on which you put characters.

I doubt that’s the hierarchy they teach in film school. As usual, I’m making it up as I go along. But the point being, if you’re going to make a movie about racing, you’d better nail the visuals of the cars.

That’s my same objection (or one of them) to the horribly over-rated Gravity. One of the dumbest scenes of all time is where George Clooney is at the end of a tether that Sandra “Boom Boom” Bullock is holding onto. This is happening in the weightlessness of earth orbit. But they play it like he’s holding on for dear life, fighting slipping into the abyss, and she’s barely able to hold him.

But there is no centripetal force here. It’s just a guy on the end of a tether being pulled by nothing. You could real him in easier than you could a salmon.

Granted, Le Mans is more of a minimalist film (and God bless them for that in this age of over-stuffed baloney). It’s a case of less-is-more, addition by subtraction. It’s where a look between two rival drivers in a corridor can mean something because the movie isn’t a hyperactive kaleidoscope of bouncing-off-the-walls mayhem in HD.

There’s a good scene in this where the widow of a driver who was killed is asking Lightning McQueen why they take such risks. How can racing mean so much? McQueen gives a good answer:



I’m particularly in awe about the honesty of the “not a 1000-in-one shot…it’s a blood sport” comment.

I don't recall that particular scene.  I do recall him discussing the races with Garner, and the fact that he was losing (at the time) to a seriously injured driver.  (I was rooting for him, I think.)  Indeed, Garner ultimately wins because his competitor is pulled out after another driver is killed in a crash.  (In essence, the movie begins and ends with crashes, both of which are important plot elements.  Only one is fatal.)

“Will you give me a lift back to the hotel?” said the spider to the fly. It would appear that James Garner is going to have an affair with the wife of the man he put into the hospital.

Jessica Walter is quite a nice dish.