Hacker Cinema
Grand Prix
1966 · Film · 176 min
Directed by John Frankenheimer
The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a series of races, American wheelman Pete Aron is dropped by his sponsor. Refusing to quit, he joins a Japanese racing team. While juggling his career with a torrid love affair involving an ex-teammate's wife, Pete must also contend with Jean-Pierre Sarti, a French contestant who has previously won two world titles.
4 positivefrom 4 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
7 comments on Hacker News
There was an era where CGI was used to simulate somewhat real or imagineable behavior.
If it’s a fantasy movie, I don’t care about bizarre effects. But something like Fast and Furious it’s just completely ridiculous to me. It’s just boring and lazy. Films like Grand Prix or Ronin have spectacular car scenes w/o being stupid.
Grand Prix (1967), at the Ferrari factory:
"What means far more to me than anything else is: our good name! Our reputation represents desire for perfection of the highest quality. I gamble that reputation gladly, because I have absolute faith in every car that leaves this factory. But I will not risk it on a driver in whom I cannot have an equal faith. There are fewer than thirty men in the world qualified to drive Formula One; a mere half-dozen, perhaps, to win. At this moment, I am inclined to think you are not one of them."
Ferrari was the shiznit for me after I saw that movie.
For anyone watching that video, and are interested in watching more classic racing in incredibly high fidelity, I recommend this collection of clips from the 1966 movie "Grand Prix". It's a proper old-school Hollywood movie.
They entered actual Formula 1 cars into a grand prix, strapped it with cameras, and recorded the whole thing. Other times they added new bodywork to a Formula 2 car and had the actors driving around on track - again with cameras strapped to the car. Being recorded in 70mm it's some of the best footage of on-board Formula 1 racing until well into the 2010s, and the advent of small 4k on-board cameras in modern races.
https://youtu.be/7HA71tYl640
I loved that documentary. But doggone it, the racing scenes were all quick cuts. I could barely focus on it before it cut to another view.
In the movie "Grand Prix", the greatest shot in it was one continuous shot of a lap in the Monaco race, from the driver's POV. No added music, just the engine sounds. I wish that documentary would add such a scene for each track.
Ronin has good driving sequences, but the cars aren't cool. The two best movies for cars are Bullitt and Grand Prix. Everything else is way, way down. Too bad, actually. I don't understand why Hollywood simply cannot make good car movies.
Edit: I forgot to add in the original "Gone In 60 Seconds", not the pathetic remake.
I have an old muscle car with a built V8. The crackling sound of the engine start, and the sound it makes when it 'digs in' under acceleration, is viscerally thrilling.
The smell of a hot engine, and the shaking of the car also add a lot of fun.
One of the best movie montages ever is the opening sequence of the movie "Grand Prix" where they start the engines and warm em up.
In "Rush" they ruined the movie by having a rock soundtrack laid over the sounds of the cars.
"Bullitt"s car chase has never been equaled because the director had the guts to let the V8s and various car noises be the whole soundtrack. The music overlay stops when the chase starts, the complete opposite of every other movie.
Unless you watch it in Frankenheimer's classic movie "Grand Prix" - in which case it is mind blowing.