Winning
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Movie Reviews of Winning
Movie Review: Another great racing movie
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like early racing movies here's another good one. It ranks right up there with Le Mans and Gran Prix. It's a must see!Movie Review: Winning Reaches For Depth Of Feeling
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked this one up recently. I hadn't seen it since it was released. It was a very quiet film that came and went quickly. Set behind the backdrop of car racing- it may have sent mixed signals about what audience it was trying to reach.
This is a character study piece- a story about a racer who doesn't have a personal life because of that life, and about a single mother with a teenaged son, who goes to work and comes home each night.
They meet after Newman has run and won a race in town- and after he stumbles across her after a party, just as she is closing her rent a car outlet for the night.
What follows is a very quiet, easy going courtship that spends its screen time building slowly and beautifully. We, as the audience, are allowed to see the occasional scar and barrier revealed and dropped with these characters. Newman and Woodward are really the only acting couple I've ever watched, who pull magic off 'on screen'. I think it's the reason why most try once or don't try at all. This film captured something very difficult to portray: honesty and finding a way through the hurtles. Perhaps they were tipping some of us off on how to do it- and showing why they've lasted so long together as a couple.
The racing, via Goldstone's direction, is done almost as visual poetry in the background. It's done in such a way as to never overpower the story of this family coming together. Terrifically handled. Dave Gruisin's score also sets the tone during both the racing sequences, and the emotional moments.
Richard Thomas is amazing as Charlie, the teenager. Watching him reach out to bond to Newman as a stepfather is nothing short of special. Father's and son's will love this because that's the way it should be- it's the kind of bond and loyalty that should form. And mothers will smile.
Robert Wagner is also terrific in what is really the toughest part of this film. His friendship/rivalry is portrayed with depth and he delivers in spades. Normally these roles are delivered, black and white. Wagner shows us levels with a character's pain and honesty that's realized a little too late.
Newman and Woodward have it all to play, here. The high and the low and they carry it off with a grace and ease. They also have an ending that's 'real'. It's up to them... and to us as the audience.
This is one for couples to watch and to learn from. Another hidden gem and a real story for an audience looking for some depth of feeling.
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Endearing, Exciting, Stands the Test of Time
Summary: 4 Stars
The last time I saw this film was 40 years ago, in a theater, but I wanted to add it to my permanent DVD library, both because I've been on a Paul Newman kick lately, and because I'm increasingly interested in films from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In my view, Winning is an overlooked gem with great performances from Newman and Woodward (always great to watch these two in action together), a mature plot with a credible dramatic setup, and some fantastic racing footage based at the Indianapolis 500. (Check out the wreck that happens just about a minute after the great race begins: it's one of the most frightening things ever captured in cinema. I don't know if this wreck was staged or just happened to be captured on film.)
Great to see Richard Thomas in an early role as a troubled but likable teenager. And here's to Robert Wagner, Newman's arch rival on the track and in the bedroom, who's a villain you almost have to love!
Good work all around. Some of the music soundtrack appears a bit dated with 40 years hindsight, but Winning still wins: it's a great looking film with exciting action and great stars that also serves as a fascinating time capsule of the 1960's car culture.
Movie Review: Winning. No Le Mans but...
Summary: 4 Stars
Paul Newman in Winning is excellent, And Appropiately Wagner is the Bad guy. Forewarned(Spoiler):
Winning however is not An All Out Racing Film, It has its merits, The Cons of the movie are: It seems more of a romantic movie and the fact that Newman's Character is so Forgiving,His Stepkid cares more about Step Dad than his Mom even if Mom is a Two Timing Piece of.... In the Film. You have the excuse that Because Newman is so Busy it's okay for her to cheat on him with The Bad Guy(In this case his Team Mate).
It makes you want to Label Frank(Paul Newman) A Captain Save Em(A Sucker).
The Pros: Racing Footage At the Start of the Movie,but more so towards the Middle and Even More at the End, With Him Taking on Indy, The Sportscar Racing is Minimal, and you have Stock Car Racing too(Apparently all Ford). In Conclusion:
At times the movie seems like one big Ford Product Placement, the Stock Cars are Ford,Ford in the background,ford here ford there, it can make a Bowtie Guy sick but the fact that Newman and his real life wife are in it and it is a racing movie even if with a Sappy Love Story as the background still makes the movie redeemable.
Movie Review: Paul's Introduction to Racing
Summary: 4 Stars
This was generally Paul Newman's introduction to racing which was a side career for him for several decades and did not end until shortly before he died. One of the last things Newman did was take a drive around his home race track in New England just days before he passed away. Of course his co-star in the movie was his wife of many years, Joanne Woodward.
As far as a movie, it is a pretty good example of the time and not that bad a race movie in that it actually has a plot other than going from one race to another. There is some hanky panky going on off the track that makes the movie interesting to those not fully into racing.
The race scenes are not bad, although the on-track announcing is borderline funny at times...but not as bad as "Redline 7000" of about the same vintage which starred James Caan. That movie was more a kitsch drive-in movie, although fun in its own way.
For race buffs there are better movies, the best being "Grand Prix" with James Garner and in the mix "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen, with a weaker story line than both "Grand Prix" and even "Winning".