Winning

Taken as a whole, this does not measure up to Newman's later works, but that's not his fault. The story is a weak and draggy at times. Certainly it's not "The Verdict", but then it's not meant to be. It is what it is, a pretty basic story about a race car driver and his relationships; between he and his distant wife, his teammate (and again, his wife) and his stepson. The uneven pacing almost sinks the film as a whole, though the supporting cast is pretty ace. But forget all that for a moment.

For race fans the vintage footage alone is worth the price of admission...Can-Am cars at Elkhart Lake open the show and Indy closes it. Great stuff! What makes it all really work is that PLN did his own driving and it's clear he is enjoying himself and is right at home in the car, not shoehorned in like a Burt Reynolds or Tom Cruise or Sly Stallone. He is a RACER, and it shows. Plus the ending is classic Newman; you just don't know what's going to happen next, and you WANT to know.

Also recommended: "Grand Prix" and "Le Mans".

Most film fans know of Paul Newman's passion for auto racing, something he shared with his fellow rebel hero Steve McQueen. So like McQueen, sooner or later he was going to do a racing film. It's never going to be listed among his best films, but at least it was not as self indulgent as McQueen's Le Mans.

It's also not Grand Prix which had cinerama and dealt with the international racing scene and the glamour therein. This is an American film dedicated to what our president called the Nascar dads in the last presidential campaign. But it also deals with who I would have to call the neglected Nascar Moms.

Paul Newman is an auto racing driver and totally dedicated to his sport. He meets and marries Joanne Woodward who is a divorcée with a teenage son, Richard Thomas. After a while he starts taking her for granted and Woodward drifts off into an affair with rival driver Robert Wagner.

I very much doubt in real life if Paul Newman ever took Joanne Woodward for granted as he does her. I don't think they would have stayed married as long as they did. But Newman gives a solid portrayal of a man who gets quite a lesson in what is really important in life.

Richard Thomas shows some of the qualities that made him such a hit as John Boy in The Waltons. He gives a very good account of himself in scenes with Paul and Joanne.

Nascar Dads and Moms will like Winning, there's enough in the plot to satisfy all concerned.

I am a big fan of Paul Newman but this must be one of his lowest films, even though he is OK at it. I think this movie deserves 5.5 stars.

One of the biggest problems is that it last 120 minutes, it should have lasted 20 minutes less. I think the plot was good but not the way it was developed.

What I liked the most was the final scene between Paul and Joanne, this scene deserved to be in a much better movie. The race scenes are good.

Frank Capua is a car racer who gets married with Elora who has a 16 years old son who gets along with him, but there will be serious problems in the couple when he puts his career before her...........

I recommend watching it if it's on TV and you like old race cars movies or if you are a Paul Newman's die hard fan

This is an odd duck of a film. It has that sixties-film desire to heap oh-so-serious, stagy, acting scenes onto a film ostensibly about racing, action, and excitement. So, for buffs of sixties car racing, there's plenty of stuff to see (and even wax nostalgic about), yet to get to it you have to plow through several draggy domestic drama scenes all about "revealing character" and "emotional symbolism" and all that other creative writing 101 blather that is really meant for an entirely different audience. Would you like to have a 'Jurassic Park' with Dr. Grant and Ellie spending half the film discussing child-care issues and emotional abandonment? You're there for the dinosaur story. And you're watching 'Winning' for the racing material. Granted that there is nothing wrong with presenting the "lonely life on the road" of a car racer, but we understand the issues of Newman and Woodward (and Thomas AND Wagner) very quickly, therefore the almost ceaseless hammering-on about it all becomes depressing. Too bad, because this had the makings of the best film on the subject. There are not exactly a lot of race car films to begin with, outside of a few from the thirties, then later 'The Racers' with Kirk Douglas; 'The Big Wheel' with Mickey Rooney; 'Grand Prix'; and after 'Winning', McQueen's 'Le Mans' in 1971. And of course, 'Days of Thunder' (blah).

Interesting that Newman likes spoken interaction between actors in his films, as in "Harper" where he plays a private eye, whereas McQueen as a cop says little throughout 'Bullitt'; and while 'Winning' is an actor's gabfest, McQueen and his cast are virtual blanks in 'Le Mans.' If you could cinematically combine footage from 'Winning' and 'Le Mans' (maybe even with 'Grand Prix') you could have the best racing film ever. Meanwhile, 'Winning' is debatably the best at this point. And you can't knock the fact that Newman in real life has done plenty of racing and IS married to Woodward. Certainly that adds to the realism. Incidentally, the title credits read: "Introducing Richard Thomas." This was ol' John-Boy's first film role. He's good, too. Oh, and quite the reverse, the music by Dave Grusin is deplorable: it's like some canned soundtrack from a TV action show. Thankfully there's no embarrassing title tune warbled by B.J. Thomas or some other late-sixties cliché singer or rock group.

Of all the racing movies I've seen, this is probably my favorite, as the acting in it matches up with the race scenes provided; it's pretty good, in my opinion.

Paul Newman (as Frank Capua) does an excellent job of portraying the ice-cool race driver who is dedicated to his profession to achieve the ultimate goal, of winning races as often as he can. Joanne Woodward is good in her role as the supportive wife who needs as much attention as Capua's cars do. In the mix is a teen-aged Richard Thomas as Joanne's son from a previous engagement, and his character blends in well as the new 'adopted' son of Frank. Of course Robert Wagner plays well his character of being the cocky teammate/rival of Frank. Not to mention there is also some good stereotype acting of supporting cast members of other people involved in Frank's world of racing, the car owner, mechanics, etc. There's even a cameo of Bobby Unser in the movie, who actually won the Indy 500 of the year in which the movie is placed at, 1968.

I guess I'm partial to "Winning" because it is realistic of what racing was like during the 1960's. Drivers then, weren't committed to strict contracts of not being allowed to participate in a variety of motorsports. Instead, a driver might have competed in a GP somewhere, then be off to a sports car race in Germany, or perhaps a stock car race or USAC Indy car race of some sort in the states. Such practices then weren't uncommon then. I thought that this movie captures this versatility well, by displaying the variety of races that Paul's character is involved in; Can-Am type races, stock car and Indy car races. Also this movie illustrated to some degree, how weekend after weekend would be occupied of setting cars up at certain tracks and, of course, racing them on Sundays, during the tight schedules of the normal racing season. The footage and sounds are great if you have a heart for racing.

Dave Grusin's soundtrack is nice too. Just good ol' easy-listening type music.

If you like auto-racing, then I'd suggest seeing "Le Mans" (1971) with Steve McQueen or "Grand Prix" (1966) with James Garner, as both have some good footage of actual racing as well. But if you want to see a racing movie with realistic scenes and scenarios of people involved the sport, with great acting, I can't think of any other movie to suggest than "Winning." It really is the only racing movie that I know of that blends in acting and action footage rather well.