I've been on a huge car chase kick ever since my rewatch of the Vanishing Point last month. I've also gone through the French Connection, Bullitt, Blues Brothers and the Cannonball Run (all for the n-th time). Some of the Fast and Furious stuff too.
I want more! But... I'm kind of tired of crime focused movies. Can you recommend me something on the sports side of things, like Le Mans with Steve McQueen?
Race With the Devil! 1975
Winning. 1969
Rush
Grand Prix
I remember loving Days of Thunder, but it's been a long time. Deathproof has some amazing high speed stunt work.
shareDeath Race 2000 sort of falls under the sport category, in a warped sort of way.
My next suggestion doesn't, but you might like it. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.
Thank you kindly!
shareThe documentary, The Speed Odyssey, narrated by Sam Posey. It chronicles the history of the Canadian/American Challenge Cup, or "the Can/Am," the most awesome unlimited sports car series ever.
Head's up: Death Race makes the F&F series look realistic. If you're real racing fan, like I am, I'm not sure you'll enjoy it.
Thanks, this is the first time I heard of the Speed Odyssey. I think racing events (or just sports events, really) are a topic begging for someone to really go knee deep there and break it down from a two hours broadcast into the big picture that it is on the ground.
Show the preparation, the personal and team efforts, the circumstances of how all these people came together on that particular day, then the big lightning and thunder, and then show what they're taking home afterwards. Everyone, from the drivers to the mechanics and the WAGs. Instant plot, just add water and treat your characters well.
It's disappointing that we can't watch this kind of stuff on the regular, because it just writes itself. Sports events are biographic landmarks for everybody there, including the audience. They'll keep bubbling up for as long as you're around, and anything that occurs at a landmark is worth showing.
Then you will really enjoy Grand Prix (1966), directed by John Frankenheimer and starring James Garner and an international cast. The movie crew got permission to travel with the Formula 1 Circus for the F1 1965 season, and the movie cuts between footage of actual races from that season with footage shot from the film's script. The actors wore helmets that were identical to real drivers' helmets--Jimmy Clark, John Surtees, Graham Hill, etc.--and drove Formula 3 cars disguised to mimic F1 cars. Most exciting of all, the studio hired world class racing drivers to drive the camera cars--formula cars with movie cameras mounted where the car's nose cover should have been!--to film the on-track action. You get a real feel for the mechanics, the team owners, the team managers and the lives of the drivers. The movie is so awesome that it even has an Overture and an Intermission!
I don't believe that The Speed Odyssey was ever released in theaters. I think it was produced by the now-defunct Speed Channel. I bought my copy on Amazon, and I think it's only available in DVD, not in Blu-ray and certainly not in 4K. Doesn't matter. Do you want to see how McClaren became MCCLAREN? Do you want to see Jim Hall's legendary Chapparals, the cars that fucking pioneered ground effects technology? Do you want to see, and hear, 600 cubic-inch aluminum-block, porcupine-head, Corvette-based, Chevrolet monster-muscle engines? Do you want to see the twin-turbo Porsche 917 roadster campaigned by The Captain, Roger Penske and driven by Mark Donohue? Then you owe it to yourself to see this movie.
Yes, I am passionate. Why do you ask 😁?
This sounds incredible. I can't believe I haven't seen it! Thanks a lot, I'll make sure to watch this one as soon as I can.
Edit: I made my post before you added the second paragraph, so the above is about Grand Prix.
I'll try to grab the Speed Odyssey too. I grew up with VHS, I'm not too needy when it comes to video quality. You've hyped me too much for me to wait, anyway. :)
PS missionsprawl, stay away from the Sylvester Stallone fiasco, Driven. I like Sly A LOT, but he wanted to do what Frankenheimer did with Grand Prix and have his crew follow F1 around for a full season, and F1's resounding reply was, "You're not John Frankenheimer. Get stuffed." So Stallone changed the script so that the story was set in the world of Indycar instead of F1, which is like the difference between a high school's field day and the Olympics, and his costar was Kip Pardue. Balance your check book rather than watch Driven.
PPS Rush, directed by Ron Howard, is a really, really good--perhaps even great--movie based (to large, but not complete) extent on the real-life battle for the F1 World Driver's Chanpionship between British playboy James Hunt and Austrian autocrat Nikki Lauda. Though the story takes some dramatic liberties with the facts (Hunt and Lauda were actually friends), the photo that it takes of F1 in that era is spot-on.
And it is completely my pleasure to help a fellow enthusiast learn more about our sport.
They are still friends/rivals in Rush. Hunt even punches some guy defending Lauda (which was never happened in real life but just to make sure the movie emphasises their mutual respect and friendship).
shareJackie Chan's Thunderbolt (1995)
Rush (2013)
Michel Valliant (French, 2003)
Need for Speed (2014, sport-like illegal street racing)
Death Race (2008, fantasy/fictitious sport racing)
I know these are not sport related, but they have one of the best car actions out there:
Ronin (1998)
Taxi (the French version, 1998)
The Transporter (2002, but avoid the sequels)
Drive Angry was massively underrated (supernatural exploitation movie).
shareIt was, and it has great cars, plus Nick Cage shooting it out with homicidal Satanists in a hotel room while he's shooting into the deliciously stark raving nude Charlotte Ross. Also plus: William Fichtner as The Accountant. "I'm not going to be seeing you for another 60 years. [Turns to another guy, same age as the first guy.] YOU I'll be seeing in a month."
The first time I saw this movie, on cable, I was shocked by how much the protagonist looked like Nicholas Cage! I'd been led to believe DA was a low-budget POS, and could not afford name actors or good production values. The movie now sits on a shel in my library.