Wordiezett
So much average
NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Leofwine_draca
I'm a big fan of director John Frankenheimer's work and I think he's made some of the best action sequences in Hollywood. GRAND PRIX is his racing car drama that sees ROCKFORD star James Garner involved in a terrible accident on the track which causes his career to spiral out of control before he makes efforts to turn things around. The story suffers from a huge amount of long-winded relationship drama; the running time is near enough three hours and easily half of that running time could have been excised in order to focus on what's important; namely, the racing scenes. These are superbly staged and as good as they come. Frankenheimer refused to shoot his car races slow and speed them up, rightly believing the effect looked fake, so what you see here is all real. Garner did his own driving and the camera follows him every inch of the way. Frankenheimer captures the speed and excitement perfectly and his use of in-car cameras reminds one of the energy of something like BEN HUR's chariot race. You can tell this is the same guy who shot RONIN thirty years later. It's just a pity that the rest of the story is so sluggish and manages to waste the star calibre of somebody like Toshiro Mifune.
Hitchcoc
This is a movie with a really sappy love story. The people are a little cardboard in their interactions with one another. We have James Garner who was on the original Maverick and later Rockford Files. He has that cool collected being about him, unflappable. The star of this show is the incredible cinematography that gives us as honest a portrayal of the Grand Prix circuit (or any race for that matter) as we have seen. The course of things is really predictable. It is almost documentary in its adoration of the sport it presents. The close ups and actual races are so incredible. Now, that's from someone who has little or no interest in auto racing. I respect the people of the sport for the dangers they face, but its never really caught my attention.
SnoopyStyle
It's Formula One. The movie starts at the Monaco Grand Prix. Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) is the past champ tired of racing. Nino Barlini is his brash Italian teammate. American Pete Aron (James Garner) crashes his car severely injuring teammate Scott Stoddard. Scott's wife Pat (Jessica Walter) is eager to leave the racing life. American journalist Louise Frederickson (Eva Marie Saint) covers the races.The technical aspect of the race filming is ahead of its time. Director John Frankenheimer uses the real tracks and gives the movie a real racing feel. It is miles ahead of its competitors and comparable to modern race coverage. It isn't always clear between the drivers but there are plenty of great shots of the drivers' faces while driving. Away from the races, the movie is rather ponderous and slow. Those scenes are static in comparison both in movement as well as drama.
MoneyMagnet
This movie could have been absolutely spectacular if only any energy at all had been put into the human side of the story. Any screenplay that turns James Garner into a sexless bore with hardly any screen time, has got something seriously wrong with it (really - he has an affair with another driver's wife and we don't even see so much as a kiss?) It certainly isn't the fault of the cast, who are all likable actors with very little to do or say off the track. I gradually came to care somewhat about the drivers' stories, but the screenplay worked mightily for 3 hours to make me NOT care. Still, anyone who follows car racing at all can't fail to feel the clichéd-yet-still-true drama of the final race at Monza. "Sarti morta..." Criticisms out of the way, the racing sequences really are all that and a bag of chips, as advertised. I actually own this movie on Blu Ray and despite the fact I don't think it is a great movie, will likely watch it again just for the racing. I only wish that there had been more story focused on the team owners and team politics and drivers being concerned about the track conditions, as I am a racing fan (Indycar) and those stories interest me more.
