Le Mans
|
Our Price: $37.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.93 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Le Mans
Movie Review: Living tension
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone who went to the Sarthe circuit for the Le Mans 24 hour in the 1970s this is the film that captures it all, far better than any home video ever could. The cars are the stars, the PA system with its irregular English update provides the commentary, and the drivers are the hired bit players.Anyone who bags this film does not understand the tension and drama of most dangerous motor race in the world, and shouldn't be reviewing the film. Most dangerous motor race in the world? Nudging 400 kph at night in a rainstorm is dangerous!
The dialogue is sparse, and so it should be: the racing engine whose deep bellow rises to a crescendo, the tortured tyres that screech at every misguided change in direction and the chilling sound of shattering fibreglass, perspex and composite alloys tell the viewer what is really happening.
How real is this film? The camera car, which is seen in at least one scene entering the pit straight, came ninth outright. One of the drivers lost his leg during a practice shunt that is caught on film. There are fudges in the filming; note when MacQueen destoys his car the back wheels are still spinning long after the Porsche has bounced off a few armco fences. The accelerator was wedged open to prolong the crash.
Steve MacQueen's legacy to the motor racing enthusiast is one of the purest films made.
Movie Review: The Greatest Car Ever Made...Porshce 917 vs No. 2 Ferarri 512BB
Summary: 5 Stars
The Porsche 917 was the greatest...and many drivers say the scariest... LeMans prototype ever made. Top speed on the Mulsane straight in 1971 was 291 mph. The 1971 winning car still holds the 24 hour distance record...3317 miles!!!! and it held the total laps record until today 6-18-2006 of 379 laps.
The happy news for all of us is that the brilliant chaps that made this movie had the inspiration to capture the essence of the 917 vs Ferrari 512 battle royal raging at LeMans in '69 '70 '71. This was the first movie I saw in a theatre that made the seats vibrate where you could literally feel the raw power of the 5 litre 12 cylinder machines.
The essence of the LeMans event is captured as well. The ultimate and constant danger of the race is part of the allure of LeMans...a 24 hour event in which anything can happen at any second and there are 86,400 seconds to race. One of the great dangers, overtaking slower cars in the 917 at a closing rate of over 150 mph, is captured brilliantly when McQueen has an incident with a 911...one sleepy second and disaster.
When asked by the love interest why he must get into the other team Porsche when asked/told by the team...McQueen delivers a line that has been a mantra in racing circles since
"racing is life...everything before and after is waiting"
Movie Review: Next Best Thing to Owning a Porsche 917
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't have the seven digit coin laying around to own a Porsche 917, this is definitely the next best thing. This movie has amazing cinematography of some of the most classic race cars in the world. The movie is really for racing buffs, and sports car buffs in particular. Yes, there is a contrived love story thrown in to keep the Hollywood brass happy, but this one is all about the cars, and that's what makes it great. I love just throwing in the DVD, skipping to the start of the race and watch the first lap sequence on a large widescreen set with the sound up loud. Set in 1971, it is a way to enjoy the last breed of cars before the days of turbos, fuel consumption rules, and ground effects. You really get to see and hear the power of the 5 liter air cooled flat 12 Porsche engine. Two years later a 5.4 liter twin turbo version was made producing 1100 bhp. The coolest racing story for me was talking to Michael and Mario Andretti and a Porsche engineer at 3 AM in the paddock of the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours. The Porsche 962 they were driving (the first one to race in the US derived from the European rules 956) had just retired due to a blown turbo and the engineer showed me the engine and what broke and the Andrettis gave me their impressions of a car that went on to dominate sports car racing for a decade.Movie Review: awesome racing film
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this as a kid in a theatre and it's haunted me for decades - it puts you in the middle of the 1970 lemans race - with Steve McQueen as the star. I'm actually a filmmaker and I have a hard time figuring out how they incorporated documentary footage of the actual race so well with the "re-created" footage shot with the narrative in mind. There is minimal dialoge which is refreshing - forcing you to watch the movie like you'd spectate a racing event - yet the narrative information is there in abundance on screen. It's even more amazing to realize that McQeen had nearly won Watkins Glen right before this race and was planning on contesting it but the bond company forbade it in case he crashed and they couldn't finish the movie. Also turns out that this was the 'classic' year of Lemans, for soon afterwards they changed the course, and put restrictions on the cars because they went too fast. if you like McQeen, cars, porsches, ferraris, and auto racing in general - this is a must-see - you'll love this film. The crash sequences are out of this world - how they did them I will never know. Sometimes I just watch it as a document of the race and the era. It even has a great score.Movie Review: best motor racing film ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this film when it was released, some 30 years ago. At the time it got so-and-so reviews, i.e. it was described as a good motor racing film, but poor on plot and psychology. I just watched the dvd version for the first time in 3 decades and was surprised how good it still is. The racing scenes are better than any other film ever made and they are credible (many are real scenes from the actual 24 hours of Le Mans, shot from a specially converted racing Porsche)- apart from the last 2 minutes - contrary to your average American motor racing film (think of Stallone ...). This film is not great on the acting front - McQueen is rather wooden throughout and psychology always ranks second to the cars. However, the film is also very good at evokinging an atmosfere around the racing track, such as showing the go-karts racing at 10% of the speed of the real racers, just yards away. Best of all is the start of the race, which is spine-tingling This film is not just for motor racing fanatics (the motor racing itself certainly merits 5 stars), although they will enjoy it most.