Grand Prix

Forget about cinematic technique or even plot: This movie will blow you away. Yeh, the plot is cookie-cutter, but they took the trouble to hire performers who could make it work well enough to not detract from the outrageously realistic action sequences. Part of the whole point is that personal lives become somehow smaller (and thus dearer) next to something like the Grande Prix F1 circuit.

I don't recommend pairing this in a screening with _Days of Thunder_ for two reasons: First, GP is LONG; second, DoT will pale by comparison.

BTW, if you can rent it in DVD, get it that way and watch it on as big a TV as you can find. The soundtrack is incredible and the widescreen work is like nothing you'll ever see anywhere else.

It's hard to rate this film. Its got a soap opera plot pasted on to some really fine cinematography, editing, music and racing sequences. The real stars of this film are the cars, the beautiful F1 'cigar' cars of the 60's with their exposed engines and elegant lines. Within a handful of years aerodynamics and advertising would change the look of racing forever. Even the plot hints at the change taking place at the time-- from the gentlemen's league of the 50's to the ravenously commercial and brutally competitive environment that Formula 1 was to become. Frankenheimer followed the tour through a season, to the storied old tracks such as Nurburgring, Spa and Monza (before safety and television considerations changed them to much shorter, less idiosyncratic shadows of their former selves). There are cameos by Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark and Lorenzo Bandini, names tinged with tragedy in retrospect. Technically this film is quite an achievement. Many of its developments, however, did not really take, such a multiple images, and the splicing of soft music to intense action scenes. The film, then, is not one of great importance in movie history. But there are a lot of racing fans who hold a special, if not top, place for Grand Prix in their lists of favourite films.

Grand Prix is one of those films that simply couldn't be made today. This fact is mentioned over and over in the extras on the excellent DVD-edition, and rightly so. Back in the 60s, F1 racing was still much more "innocent" (and more exciting) than the multi-billion-dollar media-circus it is today. Just imagine someone trying to get Bernie Ecclestone and the teams to allow a film-crew to use F1-tracks on a race-weekend or even to film in the pits/paddock-area of today's F1 - for free! Or imagine having a bunch of actors drive around in real race-cars on real tracks at break-neck speed in today's safety-obsessed world - impossible.

Well, Frankenheimer did all that back in the 60s and for that reason alone the movie is required watching for anyone who has even a slight interest in cars or motor sports. GP offers us a pretty realistic glimpse of an era gone-by - and it doesn't shy away from the gruesome reality and dangers of motor-racing in the 60s. This realism alone makes GP stand out. The filmmakers didn't simulate races, they actually had the actors racing cars on the original tracks and filmed it. The result is astonishing and really gives a feeling of what it must've been like to sit in one of those beautiful deathtraps at speeds of around 300 km/h. The excellent cinematography, editing and music add to this unique experience and they also give the picture that typical 60s-feel (the opening credits alone are worth the price of admission in my book).

On a side note: Being a racing-fan myself, I can't help but wonder why Frankenheimer didn't include the race at the Nürburgring. Back in those days, F1 still used the 20km+ Nordschleife-version of the track, possibly the most demanding and "scary" circuit ever.

Naturally: Between races the movie loses momentum. That's not so much caused by some weak dialog or the predictable plot - it's s just that those incredible scenes on the tracks simply steal the show. No wonder that I find myself fast-forwarding through a lot of the dialog.

In short: 10/10 for the action on the racetracks - 6/10 for the scenes off the track = 8/10

This movie simply put, is the greatest racing film of all time. Filmed during F1's glory days of the 1960's. I saw it a the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood in 1967 when I was 7 years old. My brother and I made our father take us back several time more, and to this day it's wonderful action sequences and amazing score (by Maurice Jarre) have never left my top 5 list. It was filmed in Super Panavision (a format log gone because of cost), ULTRA wide screen. The lives and loves of 4 drivers are followed during the Grand Prix season, with authentic racing scenes, fantastic locations (especially Monza's old bank turns & Spa's road circuit) and a good story line. Eva Marie Saint & Jessica Walter are great.

Nothing ever attemped since has even come close. Drivin is a pathetic joke next to it.

Just waiting for the DVD to come out!

The plot is ho-hum, the acting is superb, with Jessica Walter and James Garner especially terrific, but the movie is about formula 1 racing, and there has never been anything like it. The racing scenes merge image and movement and music and become transcendent. Even on the small tv screen, this movie is remarkable. But if you ever find it playing in a theatre, you'll be amazed.