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Best and worst racing movies


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#351 Hati

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Posted 01 January 2018 - 17:56

Movie was 'Mach 78' aka 'Daredevil Drivers'.

 

Since today is a slow day I watched this from youtube. Stunts may look pale compared to todays computer generated special effects but in this movie they are actually done.

 

And for some reason at the later part of the movie there is a parade of exotic cars and after that they move to Pebble Beach from where there is quite a lot of footage. Of which a part is cars of different eras driving through Laguna Secas cork screw. After that they move to some museum which at the latest makes you regret that this is a VHS rip instead of a 8k master.



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#352 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 21:30

Not sure how good it will be, but Garth Stein's novel The Art of Racing in the Rain has been filmed for release later this year. Possibly a little bit of a tearjerker, given that it's from the same production team as Marley and Me. It 'stars' Kevin Costner as the voice of the book's narrator, Enzo the dog ...

 



#353 2F-001

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 22:23

What's that dog doing in the pit lane?



#354 john winfield

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Posted 21 May 2019 - 10:07

Could be a Rover-BRM.



#355 Tim Murray

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 13:35

Road & Track recently published a list of their top 16 best car movies. It doesn’t include Grand Prix. :cry:

https://www.roadandt...est-car-movies/

#356 RA Historian

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 14:50

Road & Track recently published a list of their top 16 best car movies. It doesn’t include Grand Prix. :cry:

https://www.roadandt...est-car-movies/

Absolutely ridiculous list. Insulting even. Just shows how far R&T has fallen.



#357 ensign14

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 15:15

It's not even car films. It's films which have a car.  And even on that criterion it misses out e.g. Vanishing Point or Carry On Cabby.



#358 10kDA

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 16:06

R&T like most other contemporary publications, be they print, web, or vid, have lost the handle on the culture they purportedly serve.



#359 Gene

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 16:16

In my opinion, RUSH is the best racing movie.

Its typical Ron Howard, in being very story driven and is the only movie that conveys the intensity of the F1. I saw it in a theater in Blacksburg, VA and felt like the retired race horse that suddenly heard a starting bell.



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#360 Dave Ware

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 18:06

It's not even car films. It's films which have a car.  And even on that criterion it misses out e.g. Vanishing Point or Carry On Cabby.

"The Love Bug" is more of a car film than many on R&T's list. 



#361 Glengavel

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 18:22

"The Love Bug" is more of a car film than many on R&T's list. 

 

I'd put Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ahead of some on the list.



#362 john aston

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 18:32

Road & Track recently published a list of their top 16 best car movies. It doesn’t include Grand Prix. :cry:

https://www.roadandt...est-car-movies/

 But it wasn't 'Best ' at all . It was 'Favorite' . And that gives much more licence to choose what they want . I'm as old as Nelson Piquet ( ancient then )but I will confess to the heresy of admitting that I found  the much vaunted Grand Prix a bit of a trlal to endure -'some wonderful moments but some terrible half hours'  as somebody described a Wagner opera . 



#363 10kDA

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 19:23

"Munster Go Home" deserves mention.



#364 Emery0323

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 19:49

 But it wasn't 'Best ' at all . It was 'Favorite' . And that gives much more licence to choose what they want . I'm as old as Nelson Piquet ( ancient then )but I will confess to the heresy of admitting that I found  the much vaunted Grand Prix a bit of a trlal to endure -'some wonderful moments but some terrible half hours'  as somebody described a Wagner opera . 

I'll agree that the big problem with "Grand Prix" is the cheesy soap-opera plot that serves as filler between the stellar racing sequences (particularly Spa 1966).

 

While it's not typically thought of as a "car" movie per se, I would submit Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as an underappreciated guilty pleasure.  Lots of interesting early 1960's sports/racing cars, including Max Balchowsky's "Old Yeller", and Presley's natural musical talent makes the non-car segments entertaining.

 

edit: I just realized it was mentioned earlier in this long, multi-page thread.  It's also the subject of another TNF thread:

https://forums.autos...viva-las-vegas/


Edited by Emery0323, 21 February 2023 - 23:11.


#365 Collombin

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 19:53

I'll agree that the big problem with "Grand Prix" is the cheesy soap-opera plot that serves as filler between the stellar racing sequences (particularly Spa 1966)


MAD magazine's "tribute" got this spot on.

#366 Emery0323

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 19:55

MAD magazine's "tribute" got this spot on.

I was a big fan of MAD as a schoolboy back in the late 1960's, I must have just missed that issue.  Maybe it's posted online somewhere...



#367 Emery0323

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 19:58

In my opinion, RUSH is the best racing movie.

Its typical Ron Howard, in being very story driven and is the only movie that conveys the intensity of the F1. I saw it in a theater in Blacksburg, VA and felt like the retired race horse that suddenly heard a starting bell.

"Rush" is also admirable for having relatively little fictional embellishment of the historic facts on which it's based, unlike "Ford vs Ferrari".



#368 Collombin

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 20:01

I was a big fan of MAD as a schoolboy back in the late 1960's, I must have just missed that issue. Maybe it's posted online somewhere...


Clermont Ferrand interview attempt:- "Sorry Mr Arrogant, but Mr Yamother no speak English. However, he say if you come to factory tomorrow he will try to pick up your language by then".

#369 brucemoxon

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 20:26

Clermont Ferrand interview attempt:- "Sorry Mr Arrogant, but Mr Yamother no speak English. However, he say if you come to factory tomorrow he will try to pick up your language by then".

 

Ah yes, and the antagonist, Jean-Pierre Sadist. 

 

 

And that's all I remember of it. Very long time ago. 


BRM



#370 10kDA

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 20:29

I'll agree that the big problem with "Grand Prix" is the cheesy soap-opera plot that serves as filler between the stellar racing sequences (particularly Spa 1966).

 

While it's not typically thought of as a "car" move per se, I would submit Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as an underappreciated guilty pleasure.  Lots of interesting early 1960's sports/racing cars, including Max Balchowsky's "Old Yeller", and Presley's natural musical talent makes the non-car segments entertaining.

 

edit: I just realized it was mentioned earlier in this long, multi-page thread.  It's also the subject of another TNF thread:

https://forums.autos...viva-las-vegas/

All in all "Viva Las Vegas" is a pretty good comedy which happens to feature a lot of Ann-Margret screen time. The cars and the "racing" are almost as exciting. Ruined somewhat by Elvis, in the heat of the big race, looking over his shoulder for a very long moment, then shaking his head at the sight of his rival/frenemy crashing to his death...



#371 10kDA

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Posted 20 February 2023 - 20:33

"Rush" did not strike me as particularly good, though I must qualify that as I watched the Spanish-language version. The hardware was great to see, same as it was in "Grand Prix", and I suppose that's the major attraction for me in any racing movie. BTW I swear the voice actor who dubbed "James Hunt"s lines was the same voice who did the Mentos commercials back in the day  -"MENTOS! The frashmacker!"



#372 brucemoxon

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Posted 21 February 2023 - 04:02

Grim Pix, from Mad, 1966. 

 

Having just 'read' it, I wonder what I ever saw in Mad Magazine. 

 

 

https://madcoversite.../mad115-42.html


Edited by brucemoxon, 21 February 2023 - 04:09.


#373 nexfast

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Posted 02 August 2023 - 22:26

Has anyone watched this movie?

http://happyotter666...-stop-1969.html

 

I did. Not too bad as it shows the atmosphere of the sixties in California. Most of the footage comes from a figure eight circuit in Ascot, so you can imagine the destruction. The anti-hero, if I may say so, is totally amoral, but so are most of the other characters, all driven by the desire to win at any cost. The takes inside the cars are the usally grimaces and lot of wheel movement as could be expected.  It has Brian Donlevy, a former A-grade actor in his last film (playing a mix of Enzo Ferrari and Cark Kiekhaefer) and a pre-Exorcist young Ellen Burstyn (called McRae at the time). It is worth seeing but wouldn't provoke a lasting memory.



#374 flatlandsman

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Posted 03 August 2023 - 08:18

Have to admit for me it is always Le Mans, I know it was a tough movie to create and filled with all sorts of drama, but the bets movies often are, Apocalypse Now, Bladerunner and many others.

 

It encapsulates the place, the race and does not go too silly on the wheel banging garbage that American stuff does though I did watch grand Prix again recently and though good for may reasons it just lacks somehting for me.

 

Rush is great not necessarily for the accuracy but the performances of Bruhl and a few others.

Similarly Ford v Ferrari is a great film if you dont know much about what really happened,



#375 10kDA

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Posted 03 August 2023 - 23:02

I did. Not too bad as it shows the atmosphere of the sixties in California. Most of the footage comes from a figure eight circuit in Ascot, so you can imagine the destruction. The anti-hero, if I may say so, is totally amoral, but so are most of the other characters, all driven by the desire to win at any cost. The takes inside the cars are the usally grimaces and lot of wheel movement as could be expected.  It has Brian Donlevy, a former A-grade actor in his last film (playing a mix of Enzo Ferrari and Cark Kiekhaefer) and a pre-Exorcist young Ellen Burstyn (called McRae at the time). It is worth seeing but wouldn't provoke a lasting memory.

I saw it a few months ago on an over-the-air channel that typically runs infomercials. It was better than any of the infomercials. Actually the dune buggy footage was pretty cool.



#376 E1pix

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Posted 04 August 2023 - 01:36

I’m dying to watch Redline 7000, the best of the worst, but it’s not in our archives.

But indeed we do have Rush, Ford vs. Ferrari, and Viva Las Vegas. My wife spent most of a flight with Ann-Margret once and proclaimed she was indeed an angel.

#377 Nigel Beresford

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Posted 05 August 2023 - 09:52

Each to their own but for me as a child seeing both Le Mans and Grand Prix in the cinema were truly transcendent experiences for the simple reason that for the first time (for me at least) they showed you “real” (or at least, realistic) racing from the viewpoint of actually being on or in the car, something which younger generations now take for granted with all the on car, in-helmet cameras. No CGI, no back projection, no speeded-up footage. It was real and I was transfixed.

#378 LittleChris

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Posted 05 August 2023 - 09:54

Me too

#379 flatlandsman

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Posted 05 August 2023 - 10:27

For me Le Mans was not about the race car footage although to their credit for the time the sound crews did a superb job that has perhaps never been bettered. It was all the other stuff, the peripheral, the real crowd footage, the pits, the story about "her", the way McQueen was sort of aloof and broody as he often was in films, the atmosphere was superb. 



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#380 Nigel Beresford

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Posted 05 August 2023 - 10:57

That too

#381 Vitesse2

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Posted 25 January 2024 - 11:36

For those in the UK, the original 1954 'The Fast and the Furious' is airing on Talking Pictures TV on Friday Jan 26th at 10.50am. No repeats scheduled within the next two weeks, but it will be on their red button and TPTV Encore streaming services afterwards.

 

https://www.imdb.com...ref_=fn_al_tt_3



#382 jtremlett

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Posted 25 January 2024 - 14:57

I've just caught the trailer for Race for Glory.  Supposedly about the 1983 rally season.  I'm not a big rally fan but I don't recall two rally cars racing side-by-side for the stage win.  I'm thinking it probably isn't going to be too big on historical accuracy.  

 

Trailer is here https://www.youtube....h?v=EDjImq6gI1A



#383 small block

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Posted 25 January 2024 - 15:11

For those in the UK, the original 1954 'The Fast and the Furious' is airing on Talking Pictures TV on Friday Jan 26th at 10.50am. No repeats scheduled within the next two weeks, but it will be on their red button and TPTV Encore streaming services afterwards.

 

https://www.imdb.com...ref_=fn_al_tt_3

There's a link to the full movie on this Wikipedia page

https://en.wikipedia...ous_(1954_film)



#384 Manfred Cubenoggin

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Posted 01 February 2024 - 15:19

Turner Classic Movies...North America...running a whole slate of race-based films tomorrow, February 2, 2024.  They list...

 

Speed

The Crowd Roars

The Big Wheel

To Please a Lady

Fireball 500

Speedway

The Racing Scene

 

Curtain goes up at 07:15 hours.



#385 Doug Nye

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Posted 01 February 2024 - 19:07

I have to confess this thread is out of my league.  The last movie I actually saw in a cinema with Mrs N was 'Grease' - so only a spotty herbert drag race in that one.

 

On the whole I prefer my photography still - without co-creation by a variably arty-farty script writer (or director).

 

DCN



#386 Emery0323

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Posted 02 February 2024 - 00:02

Turner Classic Movies...North America...running a whole slate of race-based films tomorrow, February 2, 2024.  They list...

 

Speed

The Crowd Roars

The Big Wheel

To Please a Lady

Fireball 500

Speedway

The Racing Scene

 

Curtain goes up at 07:15 hours.

"Speedway" has Elvis Presley playing a NASCAR driver.  It does have some interesting, if brief, clips of historic NASCAR, circa 1966, such as in the garage area and on-track footage.

 

"The Racing Scene" is the James Garner documentary that covers his time as a team owner in 1969. It actually has very good behind-the-scenes footage of Garner's "American International Racing" (AIR)  campaigning two Lola T70 Mk3 coupes at Daytona and Sebring in 1969. There is some good, albeit brief period footage of the factory Porsche 908's vs the Wyer Gulf GT40s, but the interesting part is watching the team principals trying to keep the two Lola-Chevys going during competition. There is also period footage of Formula A/F5000 racing at Lime Rock in Connecticut, and some other segments that I can't recall now.

 

One of the AIR T-70s driven by Lothar Mostenbacher and Ed Leslie finished 2nd to the Penske Lola T70 driven by Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons.  Roger Penske's Porsche won the Daytona 24hrs last weekend, only his 2nd victory in that race since that 1969 win 55 years ago!


Edited by Emery0323, 02 February 2024 - 00:08.


#387 Jim Thurman

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Posted 02 February 2024 - 05:52

Turner Classic Movies...North America...running a whole slate of race-based films tomorrow, February 2, 2024.  They list...

 

Speed

The Crowd Roars

The Big Wheel

To Please a Lady

Fireball 500

Speedway

The Racing Scene

 

Curtain goes up at 07:15 hours.

The Crowd Roars is great for footage from Ventura, California and Legion Ascot Speedway, but even better, are the brief cameos from drivers of the day, including Fred Frame; Billy Arnold and "Stubby" Stubblefield.

 

The Big Wheel features footage of hot rods/track roadsters at Carrell Speedway and midget racing at Culver City Speedway.

 

Fireball 500 has footage of racing from Ascot Park and Saugus Speedway also turns up.