43: The Richard Petty Story

The plot gives an insight of how Petty Enterprises started and how Richard became the king. It was told from Lee's point of view and of course Richard played himself.

Yes, this was made on the cheap and you can clearly see Richard was uncomfortable with acting. There were many composite characters that left me a little confused. But I found it enjoyable not only because I have been a Richard Petty fan for forty years (in fact I met Kyle and he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet) and Darren McGavin nailed Lee Petty's character down pat.

Yes if you been a race fan it is kind of a fun little movie to watch. But it was too early because Richard was at the zenith of his career at the time, and it wasn't about Richard as much as it was about Lee. But if you want the real story might I suggest Petty Blue.

Considering Richard Petty is no actor and many of the parts were played by members of the Petty family, it wasn't half bad. Lots of humorous moments, lots of stock car footage, and a fairly accurate historical account of how the Petty's became the First Family of NASCAR.

I particularly enjoyed the way the movie highlighted the sacrifices made by racing wives and the families in general.

If you are expecting an academy award winning movie, this ain't it. The acting is a bit amateurish and it does seem a bit on the low-budget side. Still, if you are a fan of Richard Petty or NASCAR, you'll enjoy this one.

This film is not very well filmed and the acoustic quality of the sound is poor in some scenes. The indoor cinematography is the most disappointing. The only reason any fan of Petty or NASCAR would watch this would be to learn the history of "the King" and the sport he and his father helped build. It is rewarding to watch how the relationship between father and son unfolds, particularly when they become competitors on the track. It is also fascinating to watch how different each woman in the family copes with the hardships of being married to race car drivers. Film buffs won't care much for the C grace filming, but race fans should watch it for the vintage racing footage and close ups of Petty's race cars.

...which is what the film is actually about. I would imagine that it was titled the way it was because Richard Petty is a big name in racing, but no one from that era remembers his father Lee. A very strange and cheesy drive in film on the life of the Petty family. The story is very disjointed, most of the facts are incorrect, the acting is horrible (except for Darren McGavin, who's always good), and the non actors (Maurice and Richard Petty, mainly) don't add a whole lot to the movie. But, it's still watchable, if only for the footage of early Nascar racing that's sprinkled throughout the film (even though you see footage from several different eras in one race, particularly during the 1961 Daytona qualifier race where Lee was critically injured). A few of the incidents shown really did happen, like Lee protesting a win by Richard so that he could win. Less accurate is the portrayal of Curtis Turner, who supposedly got Lee into racing and was banned from Nascar for trying to unionize the drivers. The part about being banned was true, but there's no evidence that Turner and Petty were anything more than competitors. There's a great story out there waiting to be filmed about the Petty family, but this one isn't it.

I agree this movie was filmed with a very low budget, but was also filmed in the 70's, It does give what I believe is a good description for the life of Lee Petty, and Richard Petty, and the building of Petty Enterprise, The movie has a great story, but could have been made a little better. Growing up here in central North Carolina I have always liked the Petty family. This movie to me shows the best of were Nascar started. I really like the scenes that were filmed on location right here in North Carolina, sure as the scenes from early Caraway Speedway in Asheboro North Carolina, this track is still there and still raced every week as part of the Dodge Weekly racing series. Other scenes of local interest include Lee Pettys house in Randleman NC, and Whitts Store in Climax NC. Really cool to see the area as it was filmed in the 70's