Grand Prix

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

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.

I won't bore you with the plotline; you can get all that elsewhere. The main reason one should see this film is for the camera effects. And remember too -- these were all done the hard way; there was no computer imaging back in 1966!

If you get the chance to see this in a theater, DO NOT BE LATE!! The opening -- with the driver plugging his ears with cotton before putting on his helmet -- is aptly appropriate. The split-screen and multiple-image effects are first seen in the opening and crop up throughout the movie -- and always to good advantage, not just a "gee whiz, look what we can do" use of technique and technology. ESPN and the other networks, in their NASCAR telecasts, have just now started to adopt techniques first used by Frankenheimer 30-plus years ago.

One of the best scenes in the film is in the early minutes. You are actually *in* the cockpit of a F-1 car as it spins out of control, slides off the track, and launches itself into the harbor. I might add that this was *NOT* done with models, but used real, full-sized cars and took long hours to produce -- and these were truly "state-of-the-art" effects in 1966 (I won't give away the secrets here but will say that if you can locate a copy of the appropriate issue of "Popular Mechanics" [March 1966?] you will enjoy the article about the film and the techniques). The end result was about 15 seconds of some of the best racing footage committed to film. Needless to say, this is a very quick-running sequence!

I saw this picture in Cinerama in 1966, and I too echo the sentiment for a re-release of this picture to the large screen. More is the pity that Cinerama is no more. There are few pictures where Cinerama could be used to its fullest advantage; the in-car and on-track sequences of this film, however, were some of those.

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.