The Racing Scene

This film has some great in-car racing footage in it, but between the racing scenes, we're treated to James Garner walking around and doing a bunch of self-important stuff, some of it racing related. A ten minute scene devoted to Garner getting out of bed, showering, and shaving is just one of the ridiculous non-events that add up to make this film a major bore.

I saw this on SpeedVision, which usually bores me to tears. A year in the life of James Garner, his car, and his racing team. Garner's narration really lets you know the strategies, the problems, the stresses of running such an operation. Note: these are endurance races, where mechanics and engineering count for at least as much as drivers.

Sports docs don't come duller than this James Garner vanity project, which was the first film directed by Andy Sidaris. He would go on to helm some very diverting B movies but diversion is about the last thing in evidence here as the movie is basically a series of monotonous and unremarkable races with second and sixth place finishes (kinda like this film). I bailed somewhere between the contest in Connecticut and wherever the final race was after becoming officially sick of Garner's droning narration which thinks it's funnier and more perceptive than it is, even dragging in poor old Walt Whitman for poetic validation. I also wearied of the film's draggy pace that makes the races seem like they're being run under water. And if an auto racing pic cannot move at a good clip, with a sense of danger in the air, which is also absent in Sidaris' vision, then why bother making it? To flatter its star, I suppose. Solid C.

PS...I also could have done without the film's sexism which renders women as either eye candy or clueless, poky drivers.

Garner's motorsports quest gave him a life of real intentionality. Here he is immersed in a community that shares his passion that oh by the way comes with the risk of death. From the love of the sport, teamed with experts he trusts, captured in close ups. Nothing is missed of the drama unfolding. And most of it happens as just matter of fact like a home movie in the Garner narration. This quest for elite performance with his team leads to a a notable denouement in Quebec. Talk about living with breakdowns. The inside story is these performers have a very short time frame to prepare anything and nothing is for certain.

Andy Sidaris directed this documentary about the racing team that James Garner sponsored. Garner narrates.

I'm not terribly interested in automobile racing, but I watched this, first because it was a movie I had never seen before, and second, to understand the attraction of it. I have known some people so into horse racing they have bought shares in a race horse, and I can understand an enthusiasm for the sport -- even though, like auto racing, it doesn't appeal to me. But my friends spent a few thousand dollars, while Garner spent hundreds of thousands of 1960s dollars. Millions by current standard. And while he talks about his enthusiasm, the calm measured tones of his narration amidst near wins and disastrous crashes, the quotes from Walt Whitman, they reveal an enthusiasm, but no clear impression of why.

I suppose if anyone asked me why I looked at every movie I can, I would be hard pressed to explain that.