Grand Prix

This film is a complete masterpiece. It is a one off semi documentary view of racing in the mid-sixties. Nothing like this exists before or after (except maybe Le Mans, but Steve was copying) and its like will not be re-made.

As a storyline it is a bit long but who cares about that? The film making/shooting/actor-drivers/concept are all more than top notch and anyone who knows anything about racing should get this as a priority! Anyone else should get this also, simply because they will never see anything like it again.

I was expecting an ok-film with some nostalgic F1 action, some great performances. What I got instead was an amazing GP film that surpasses all of other films in the genre and most certainly the footage from modern F1 races.

The film achieves this by not using CGI (it wasn't available in '66) and instead opts to use the actors such as Yves Montand and James Garner as the racing drivers. They do their own driving, and their own stunts. The result is a degree of realism that is just edge-of-your-seat type stuff.

For the F1 there's lots of nostalgia such as racing at Brands Hatch and Zandvoort. The standout tracks are a longer Monaco, the full 11km length Spa-Francochamps, and Monza with the old banked Parabolica.

On the downside, some of acting is a bit wooden and cringeworthy, but the rest of the film makes up for that.

I had seen this film before on TV and liked it very much for the spectacular filming which really puts you in the seat of the formula one cars. It's only in more recent years do we now get camera angles on the televised races as used in this film!

There is story evolving around the main drivers which goes some way toward explaining what is 'driving' them. This coupled with romantic interest does enhance the film and make them human. I particularly like the scene where we hear their thoughts as the drivers are pounding around the circuit, and the explanations given of how the cars' suspension is stretched to the limit on the high banks. James Garner is very convincing in the role and spent many months learning to drive for the film. Also interesting is that he took the role from Steve McQueen who turned the role down.

Word of warning, the bonus disc contains the second half of the film, so make sure you have both discs before watching.

The story may not be the best, although that doesn't really matter. A brilliant snapshot of mid-sixties Formula 1 with some spectacular shots and audio. Lovely camera direction. Many of the drivers of the day took part, either driving or in on screen parts (Bruce McLaren actually speaks in one small scene). Most of the actors actually drove the cars (which were really Formula 3 cars with Formula 1 bodywork) - the driver who coached Jim Garner reckoned he could have become a successful racing driver if he had chose to do it. A lot of the camera work seems to have inspired some of todays Formula 1 coverage.

The film pivots around how dangerous the sport was back then, something which thankfully has changed for the better these days (just look at the recent crashes of Kubica and Hamilton and the fact they survived relatively un-injured).

The DVD comes with a vast array of special features which are really worth watching.

A must for anyone interested in the history of F1.

A word of warning though, the film is actually split across Disc 1 and the 'Bonus Disc'. Strangely I didn't get the Bonus disc sent out automatically and had to put it as my top priority to actually get it.

Brilliant film. A classic of its time. Could not be made now.

However, please note that only half the film is on the disc entitled 'feature'. The second half of the film is on the second disc called 'bonus...' something.