Grand Prix

According to a recent biography of Steve McQueen, Grand Prix was supposed to be a project that he and John Frankenheimer were originally to work on. But the two had creative differences and went their separate ways doing separate racing pictures. What McQueen eventually did was Le Mans. I think Frankenheimer wound up with the far better product.

Grand Prix is a Grand Hotel type film involving several people and their lives over the course of a few months on the European racing circuit. Many of the types fans of the sport will most likely recognize.

James Garner is the American driver who's had a run of bad luck. A car crash has forced him to try and be color commentator for television, a role he can't fit in. Japanese auto industrialist Toshiro Mifune is offering him a way back into the circuit.

Brian Bedford's sustained a serious crash and even before's he's healed he's driving through a lot of pain. His wife Jessica Walter thinks he's certifiable and she drifts into an affair with Garner whom she thinks is showing good sense in going for the life of sports television commentator.

Antonio Sabato, father of the famed Calvin Klein model of the last decade, is the Epicurean live for the moment driver who doesn't take anything seriously except for the time he's actually competing. Definitely not his women as Francoise Hardy finds out.

The veteran of the circuit, the Michael Jordan of the profession, is Yves Montand. The only real happiness he has is driving, not even an affair with journalist Eva Marie Saint is bringing him that. Montand is trapped in a loveless marriage to Genevieve Page who's the daughter of another automobile industrialist. His name means more prestige for daddy's firm, so she'll tolerate all infidelities.

Montand is getting old and like many afraid his reflexes won't be there for him at one critical point too many. Back then these guys were racing at speeds of 180 miles an hour. Your life saving decisions at some point are taken out of your hands at those speeds.

Whether it's the NASCAR circuit in the USA, the Grand Prix of Europe or even midget go cars, auto racing may in fact be the only truly international sport there is. It's stars come from every corner in this world except Antarctica. The sport is held in just about every country there is. It's also never become has politicized as the Olympics have become on occasion. The drivers who compete and the supporters and sponsors around them are an international fraternity that national boundaries have no meaning for.

Despite the presence of so many international names, the star of the film is the sport itself. All the stories of the players are done against that backdrop. It's a tribute to John Frankenheimer that the individual stories did not get lost in the making of Grand Prix. The film won three Oscars, for Sound, for Sound Effects, and for Film Editing.

Grand Prix is the best film on auto racing ever done. And it's presented in such a way that even people who don't follow the sport, can appreciate what the drivers go through. If possible see this one on the big screen.

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

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.

If you are a car racing fan, you'll love this movie automatically. If you are a cinephile, you will appreciate it technically. If you are a writer, you will spit on the script. No matter.

"Titanic" wasn't about that pathetic love triangle story. It was a vehicle to get you into the night the great ship was lost. Grand Prix uses a relatively lame storyline about the private lives of the drivers to get you into their circle. I think it's all just a part of putting the audience into the car.

And I DO mean the car. Not a green screen half car and a CGI effect. A car. Several cars. At high speed, with cameras mounted and actors trained to actually drive them. No phony backgrounds projected. Watch NASCAR or INDY coverage on the SPEED Channel any weekend and you will see on-board shots from vidcams in real time. We're used to that now. Prior to "Grand Prix", there was NO such thing. Grand Prix stands with "Bullitt" and "The French Connection" as the greatest "cut to the chase" movies of all time.

Nothing is done like this any more. If you want to see the masters at work, rent these movies. This is pure analog fun at it's best, and it just doesn't get better with the switch to digits, because the thrill leaves along with the risk factor.

So tolerate the maudlin romantic claptrap. Laugh as you watch some of the stars of Formula 1 racing standing around grimacing into the camera at the infidelities of the British driver's wife (it is a riot), but stand and applaud in awe at the astounding achievement of John Frankenheimer and company at shooting a fictional Grand Prix season against the background of an actual Grand Prix season. It is awesome and worthy of your viewing time, even though the basic story falls short of Oscar caliber scripting.

Without a doubt, the greatest motor racing movie of all time! Steve McQueen's Le Mans doesn't come close. The storyline is OK but where this movie excels is in the groundbreaking cinematography. The shots of the old tracks particularly Spa and Monza are truly superb. Ever wanted to know what it's like to blast along the Masta straight down to Stavelot at Spa, you'll see it here. Want to know what driving on the steep Monza banking was like at 160+ mph, you'll see it here with in car footage. On top of that you've got circuits like Zandvoort in Holland which is not used for today's F1. These were the days when drivers partied the night before and after the race, when the sport was glamorous and exciting. The soundtrack is also brilliant. When oh when will we get the DVD version?