Posted on 06/11/2023 6:29:05 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Well, I had a difficult time tolerating Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby, but overall it was a great flick.
Killed by asbestos.
“pleural mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure for which there is no known cure.”
Though a lot of speculation attributes its to his racing uniform and face cloth, he personally thought it was from removing pipe insulation aboard US Navy ships.
Revson was the son and nephew of the two brothers who founded Revlon Cosmetics in 1932, just after the worst year of the Great Depression.
Revson was killed in 1974 taking practice laps before the South African Grand Prix. At the time, Revson was engaged to be married to a previous Miss World.
The single best auto racing movie every made. Simply brilliant. The cars are the characters. It does come off as a documentary and it is true there is no plot. Sturgis did walk off the production because it seemed a mess with no plot.
Yet I rewatch LeMans at least once a year, if not twice a year. It is like being at the race. It covers all aspects and makes you feel like you are in the pits with the team.
The movie flies by like nothing. One hallmark of great movies is that they seem brief. You are so caught up in the movie, suddenly it is ending and you can’t believe you have watched an entire movie. That is “LeMans”.
People knock it for having no plot, but they completely miss the point. The cars are the characters and the movie is just brilliant and has held up fantastically over itme. Grand Prix is weak by comparison.
In my college Freshman year, before the McQueen movie, the guy across the hall from me had a LP vinyl record of the sounds of Le Mans.
The entire record - about 40 minutes - was just race car sounds, from microphones placed all around the track.
We got stoned a couple times and sat around listening to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Shelby——
Patron Saint of Muscle Cars-—
.
Who Could fill is Drivers Gloves???
;)
Coincidentally, I just rewatched “LeMans” last weekend. Just as great a movie as the first time I ever saw it. It holds up wonderfully over time, or maybe it just gets better every time I rewatch it.
I went to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1973, but left around dawn when it got to raining pretty hard. Never have seen the movie.
I believe the camera car was a Ford GT40 it can be seen in the early scenes in traffic entering the parking area. The Porsche 908 is leading the race early on and then is retired.
The Tracks,
The Drivers,
The Fans——
I worked Indycars for 10 years and
I can confirm that It’s the Cars!
There will never be another movie like it, racing is at high speed and not CGI. However, Rush and Ford vs Ferrari are both excellent IMHO, but they are about the story and not the so much the racing.
Hilarious. Your own version of the Cronkite “you were there” reels.
The great thing about America is that patriots, like yourself, are free to be totally insane about their personal likes/dislikes.
Only a total gear head would proclaim that 'Lemans' was a great movie, but if you love it, that's OK with the Constitution, and I personally don't care about it, and in the immortal words of the Duke, in Big Jake, "Not one bit".
So go ahead and re-watch it again, and it will get better {for you}.
Had one until the dog killed it.
I haven't seen Grand Prix, but I expect James Garner to be more talkative, more of a character in a plot, and Steve McQueen to be less talkative and more of a brooding presence. I don't know how much Yves Montand I can take, though.
Most people confuse it with the four cylinder Volkswagen 914 that was manufactured in much larger numbers in later years.
Porsche manufactured just enough 914-6s for two consecutive years to qualify for SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) races in the USA.
From memory, the 914-6s finished 1-2-3 in almost every SCCA race for two years, including two years in a row at Watkins Glen.
I was managing the parking concession at a major beach hotel at that time, and I had driven almost every car model that was street legal.
My best friend bought a 914-6, and I had no idea that was the same car that Porsche raced for two years.
My friend let me drive it for five minutes around town late at night.
Incredible! Every feature of the car - steering, braking, acceleration, road traction, shifting - was the best I have ever experienced.
Grand Prix is just a soap opera by comparison. The camera work is great but the cars don't compare with Le Mans. I did really like Jessica Walter in it though.
McQueen and Garner were neighbors and shared a passion for auto racing. When Garner got that part in Grand Prix McQueen didn't speak to him for years.
I loved it but I love racing and well, Steve McQueen. 😏
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