 |
Over the years Hollywood has made some pretty pathetic attempts to capture the true nature of auto racing. These usually end up being crash and burn shows that have nothing to do with real racing. There are a handful of pictures that do justice to the sport. Paul Newman's "Winning" is ok, Frankenhimer's "Grand Prix" gives a very good look at what Formula one cars looked like and how they raced in the '60's. Ron Howards endevour "Rush" gave a us a good look at the rivelary (though somewhat adjusted for the screen), between Niki Lauda and James Hunt and then there is Steve McQueen's Lemans...McQueen wanted to do a picture that depictited what went into participating in one of the most famous races in the world. With an intentional lack of dialog Lemans does an excellent job of conveying just what it takes to race at the worlds most famous endurance event. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I recently watched the documentary 'SteveMcQueen:The Man & Le Mans' which is a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie, 'Le Mans'. I enjoyed the documentary and I felt that I had to see 'Le Mans' to get the entire story from the making of the film to the completed film. I kept trying to get into 'Le Mans' but kept getting bored and turning it off. The movie suposedly was filmed to look like a documentary. However that made 'Le Mans' seemed to not have much of a story or any characters to relate to. I had read several reviews of the movie so I knew what the plot was supposed to be. But the film seemed very dry and very dated. I felt an obligation to watch the full movie since McQueen wanted it to be his life's work because of his intense interest in racing. But I just felt disappointed. I may try again at some point to give it another try.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_mans/ says 63%-of-critics liked it; 80%-of-general-audience liked it. PLOT: Steve McQueen is ideally cast as a champion race car driver, participating in the famed 24-hour race headquartered in Le Mans, France. Though dedicated to Going for the Gold, McQueen finds time to romance widowed Elga Andersen. The dramatic angle to this plot wrinkle is that McQueen may well have been responsible for the death of Andersen's husband during a previous car pile-up. Director John Sturges, who'd previously helmed Steve McQueen's legendary motorcycle chase scenes in The Great Escape, was originally slated to direct Le Mans, but withdrew from the project; it was then taken over by Lee H. Katzin of The Phynx. A-LIST-STARS: Steve McQueen. Formula-1-Racing-movie-"Rush" (2013) was liked by 89%-of-critics, & 88%-of-audience. My simplified-story line: Like football-movie-BRIANS-SONG, formula-1-racing-style - but neither-of-the-rivals dies at the end. 1 race suffers a bad-injury, but comes back. The story of rivals & friends. In real-life, racers Austrian-Nicki-Lauda & England's-James-Hunt were friends. Great race-scenes. As usual, brilliant-directing from Ron Howard. PLOT-AT-WEBSITE: Two-time Academy Award (R) winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) teams once again with two-time Academy Award (R)-nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) on Rush, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless and legendary 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of The Avengers, Thor) and his disciplined Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl of Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum). (c) Official Site. A-LIST-STARS: Daniel-Hemsworth & Olivia Wilde both gave great performances. Lesser-known-Niki-Lauda also gave a great performance. For racing movies, "GRAND PRIX" was liked by 100%-of-critics & 89% of audience.Read full review
Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. The film is today still popular among race fans as it is a relatively accurate depiction of the era, with a lot of racing but very little dialogue (Indeed, there is no dialogue whatsoever until approximately 35 minutes into the film). Due to this, and partly to the American market's general low awareness of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, it was only a moderate success at the box office there. It followed in the wake of the similar 1966 film Grand Prix. There is very little plot; the movie entertains primarily by the sight and sound of Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, iconic racing cars with lots of visual and audio appeal to racing enthusiasts. There are, however, some elementary plot devices. The race itself is a fierce competition between the Porsche and Ferrari teams. Since it is a 24-hour race and the cars must have at least two alternating drivers, there is time for the resting drivers to have some human interaction. The main character, Michael Delaney (McQueen) has a strong rivalry with Ferrari team driver Erich Stahler. Delaney was involved in an accident the previous year at Le Mans, an accident in which a driver named Piero Belgetti was killed. Early in the movie Delaney spots Belgetti's widow Lisa (Elga Andersen) buying flowers, and drives his 1970 Porsche 911S [1] to the scene of the accident and has a flashback. An interesting film technique is used at the start of the flashback. Perfectly round circles of perfectly white light do a jerky dance against a perfectly black background to the sound of 12-cylinder engines straining at high rpm's, slowly blending into a real scene with real darkness and headlights and cars winding their way toward Maison Blanche, and the viewer. This demonstrates that Le Mans is not a fair weather or daytime-only event. Belgetti, while slightly ahead of Delaney, seems to have lost control of his red Ferrari due to going too fast through this area. Delaney in his white Porsche suffers a lesser crash an instant later caused either by the distraction or having to avoid the wreck. Lisa Belgetti however may think that Delaney is to blame. Lisa is at the race because of her new relationship with a driver named Claude Aurac, although it appears they are friends, rather than romantically linked. The plot develops in the thirteenth hour of the race, just after 5 a.m. on Sunday morning. Erich Stahler spins his Ferrari at Indianapolis Corner, causing his Ferrari teammate Claude Aurac to veer off the track in a major accident. Delaney is distracted by the flames of Aurac's car and suffers an accident of his own. He tries to avoid a slower car and collides with the crash barrier, writing off his Porsche. It is announced that Porsche number 20 and Ferrari number 7 have been involved in an accident. Although these are separate accidents, they were so close in time and place that it appears to the spectators, the pit crews and notably Lisa Belgetti, that the accidents are linked. Delaney and Aurac survive, but Aurac's injuries are far worse. In the hospital after the crashes, Delaney consoles Lisa Belgetti and rescues her from a horde of reporters. After he puts her in a waiting car, a journalist asks Delaney whether his and Aurac's accident can be compared to the one with Belgetti in the previous year's race. Delaney stares the journalist down and does not respond.Read full review
Best race film ever! Two tours in Germany, and many trips to Le Mons to watch the race, this is better than the actual thing!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
![Le Mans [New DVD] Rmst, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ac-3/Dolby Digital, Dolby, Dubb - Picture 1 of 1](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/knkAAOSwiq9bVqTt/s-l500.jpg)
