An Argument For Watching A Movie On Television

At the risk of being branded a heretic, Grand Prix is the “Lawrence of Arabia” of racing films. Epic in scope and lovingly executed, it is a movie we will not see the likes of again. (Sylvester Stallone-a passionate fan of Formula One-recently gave up on making a movie about the series after years of trying to get the cooperation of the series organizers.)

Director John Frankenheimer came to Grand Prix already acclaimed as one of the top filmmakers of his generation, with Days of Wine and Roses, The Manchurian Candidate, The Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May already on his list of credits. But Grand Prix was the most ambitious undertaking of his career to that point-or since. The movie was fully integrated with the actual 1965 Grand Prix season, the cast and movie crew followed the series across Europe filming scenes during qualifying (in that day most Formula One races were held on public roads, making filming at any other time impossible), incorporating race footage into the film and using many of the drivers as cameo actors. As if this wouldn’t be difficult enough, Frankenheimer shot the movie in 70mm film, greatly increasing the technical complexity of getting the on car footage and raising the stakes to get each shot right with a minimum of retakes.

By happy coincidence, it also captured Grand Prix racing in what would come to be seen as a gilded age in the sport, and in the final years of its innocence. Within a few years of the making of Grand Prix the cars became rolling billboards for team sponsors and the process would begin that has made the top Formula One drivers among the highest paid athletes in the world today. But in the mid 1960’s it was more a sportsman’s game. The cars were painted in the colors of the countries they represented (green for England, red for Italy, blue for France, white for Japan) and the drivers competed in other series like sports car and endurance racing on off-weekends to make a living. And in a move that is inconceiveable today, the organizers of the series gave Frankenheimer full access and remarkable technical support without (aside from an occasional passing reference) “product placements” for any of the actual teams in Formula One.

The meat of Grand Prix is a story arch that uses the career paths of four fictional drivers to explain the men who compete in this sport. Like a war movie, you have the fearless young lion, the wounded soldier who questions his courage, the veteran trying to find greatness and the hero tiring of the battles that have brought him fame. They are stock characters and their stories unwind as you might expect them to. There aren’t a lot of surprises in the plot of Grand Prix but I give Frankenheimer credit for not making the characters into parodies of the people they are portraying. Like The Right Stuff, this is a movie that shows the pursuit of great risk ultimately humbles and shrinks the people who take it on when they are outside the arena. The characters might seem weak but they are honest and portrayed well by the cast. Yves Montand and James Garner in particular turn in very good performances.

But the mastery of Grand Prix is Frankenheimer’s work with the cameras. The footage is simply breathtaking. Fans of Formula One racing will owe an eternal debt to Frankenheimer for the scenes he captured at the legendary old courses at Spa and Monza, but the race footage is riveting even for people who don’t care for the sport. In a masterful touch, Frankenheimer teams the aggression and brutality of the cars at speed with a delicate score to create the proper impression that this is actually a sport of the most subtle nuances. Without speaking a word it gets you inside the drivers head in a way nothing else could, and fills the character development not found in the between race passages in the film. The race is their alpha and omega, the beginning and end for these men, and the choices and moral dilemmas they face away from the track are ultimately decided by what they need to compete and win. Their friendships and fidelity are put aside reluctantly. But in the end it is no contest.

With the creation of the Speedvision cable network, Grand Prix has been brought to generation of racing fans who might not have seen it otherwise. I highly recommend buying the VHS tape (As long as it is the widescreen edition-watching the formatted version would be a crime.) but you should also keep an eye out for it on Speedvision’s “Lost Drive Inn” weekend movie series, which includes interviews with Garner about the making of the film and the sport of racing in the 60’s. Both are worthy of your time and attention.


-Brian Igo