tomgillespie2002 The early 1960s saw the beginning of a rivalry between two competing films set amongst the world of Formula One. Lee H. Katzin's Day of the Champion, starring Steve McQueen, was to focus on a particularly gruelling 24-hour race, France's Le Mans, while John Frankenheimer would shoot Grand Prix, a luxurious ensemble piece boasting a handful of the industry's biggest names, on 70mm Cinerama, in what would be one of the final films to showcase the technique before it became defunct. It was a race to hit the cinema screens first, with both movies experiencing issues during production. Day of the Champion would later be re-titled Le Mans, and wouldn't see a release until 1971, a whopping five years late. Grand Prix emerged as the winner, winning multiple Academy Awards in the technical department and boasting racing scenes that haven't been matched since.While Le Mans' focus was solely on the racing, Grand Prix has larger ambitions. On top of a number of extended racing scenes, the story also gets bogged down by various melodramatic sub-plots involving a few of the drivers and their romantic engagements. Our main heroes are Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand), a French multiple champion reaching the end of a decorated career; Pete Aron (James Garner), an American looking to salvage his career after he signs up with Yamura Motors; Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabato), an arrogant but promising rookie who plays second fiddle to Sarti; and Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford), a British driver looking to get back behind the wheel following a horrific crash. Away from the track, their personal lives resemble a soap opera. Aron grows close to Pat (Jessica Walter), Stoddard's estranged wife, while the married Sarti embarks on an affair with American journalist Louise Frederickson (Eva Marie Saint).This is the sort of lavish, star-studded production that was so common in the 1960s, offering a new familiar face in what feels like every scene. There's also an international flavour to the impressive cast, with the likes of Adolfo Celi, Toshiro Mifune and Claude Dauphin popping up, to name but a few. The hysterical dramatics drag the running time to just shy of three hours - complete with intermission - and Grand Prix ultimately succeeds on the strength of its racing scenes alone. Strapping a camera on top, on the side, and seemingly everywhere but underneath the vehicle, Frankenheimer thrusts you straight to the head of the action. Also employing split-screens, this is one of the most dazzlingly stylish films of its day. Despite not being a Formula One fan in the slightest, I found the time spend on the track exhilarating. The growls of the engines combined with the angles of the camera place you front and centre, almost as if you were right there behind the wheel. As a pure thrill ride, it's one of the very best, it's just a shame that we have to sit through 90 minutes of melodramatics in between.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Chase_Witherspoon Epic soap opera combines the elements of tragedy, courage and competition to document the trials and tribulations of the elite motor racing fraternity. James Garner stars as the subdued track star, his rivalry with former team mate Brian Bedford not only confined to the cockpit with Jessica Walter's sultry influence pitting the pair against one another following an acrimonious split. Yves Montand and Antonio Sabato provide solid, watchable supporting performances as Garner & Bedford's nearest rivals, the ageing Montand beginning to question his place in the sport, whilst the brash, youthful Sabato seeks to shine in its luminosity.Diverse cast and some compelling race sequences just manage to go the distance (3 hrs) as our heroes make sacrifices for the obligations of their sport, becoming increasingly disdainful of its commercialisation at the expense of their safety in what has become a familiar rhetoric for these types of movies since.You won't need to be a fan of formula one to enjoy Grand Prix, though it's epic duration and moments of melodrama and romantic interludes sometimes stifle momentum. Though dated, Grand Prix is colourful, picturesque and tells a rather straightforward if bittersweet tale of professional racing that is long overdue for a decent remake.

Spikeopath In truth the plot of Grand Prix is pretty wafer thin, with not enough story to fully justify the gargantuan run time, yet it's both thrilling and fascinating all the same. Plot essentially centers around the 1966 Formula 1 motor racing championship, with James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, Eva Marie Saint and Toshiro Mifune heading up the large ensemble cast list. It deals with the trials and tribulations of the drivers, both on and off the track.The human drama is a bit soapy, of which there is much, yet these narrative characterisations help to make us care and understand the protagonists at the core of the story. And of course when the drivers are out there on the track, we know their psychological make-ups, their driving mirroring their motives and emotional fortitude.The racing segments are superbly filmed by Frankenheimer, with multi-angles used to maximise the experience, while he also uses split screen sections to fully immerse us with the key characters. Two crash sequences are genuinely heart stopping, filmed with a clarity that makes us realise that people actually do die in this sport. While the sound work and editing is quite simply stunning.See it on the biggest screen you can, and for home formats get the best possible disc available. 8/10

mtloans Want to know the difference between Formula One today (2014) and in 1966? The last death on track was Aryton Senna in 1994. (2016 edit) Well, that didn't last long. At the Japanese GP in 2014, the rain was coming so fast the stewards pushed the race along, one car went off in the rain and before the giant tractor could get that car off the track, Jules Bianchi's car submarined the tractor and he was killed after a long battle in the hospital.Watch the documentary "Senna" and the new movie about Lauda/Hunt called "Rush" and you will have the essence of F-1 racing from the mid 1960's to the mid 1990's.In 1966 when this film was made open wheeled racing was extremely dangerous. There are cameos by about 30 Formula One drivers in the movie. Within 5 years 1/3 of these men had been killed.I drove on the old course at Spa Francorchamp in Belgium (featured in this movie) in the 1960's and used to do Club Racing in the US. There were no run-off areas at Spa to speak of and houses were right on the edge of track. One little slip and your 1400 pound car hit a cement/stone/concrete three story house. The house would win. Driving back then on these courses was insanely dangerous. The cars were unsafe compared to today and the tracks were crazy. Watch this movie and you will see why Jackie Stewart and others decided that driver safety is paramount and changed the sport for the better. You will have no better idea of those days than to watch this movie.I watch this movie every 5 years or so and it just as good every time.