Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

GazerRise Fantastic!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

davidl-16 As a vintage racing buff, I am drawn to the movie with the vintage cars (more on that) and the views of the classic tracks in their original configurations. This film using the cars and footage from 1968.The story of an American breaking in to the European scene is not too far-fetched. In real life there were Americans in F1 in the 1960's:Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Ritchie Ginther, Ronnie Bucknum, Bob Bondurant and Masten Gregory. Like the Fabian character,most of these guys came out of California; but were sports car drivers,not NASCAR.The story is interesting as the main character is very shallow, not likable and destructive. But I am drawn to the people around him.About the cars. While they refer to the races a Grands Prix, these are not F1 cars but Formula 2 cars. At that time F2 were very similar to F1, the displacement was 1.6 liters (F1 was 3 liters), narrower tires, and no wings. In 1968, F1 cars had high mounted wings in front and back. Good footage of the cars' internal bits, notably the Cosworth FVA 4 cylinder engine. In the 60's, F1 drivers would often race with the up and comers in F2. Stewart drove Ken Tyrrell's Matras, Rindt drove the Winklemann Racing Brabham, Jack Brabham would field a team of Brabham Hondas to name a few. The cars of the protagonist are the Winklemann Racing Brabham BT-18's with the Cosworth motor.The race footage was from the actual F2 series at the appropriate tracks.Today's racing is too corporate and sterile to make a decent film...

Stephen Bierce (FPilot) I first saw this movie when I was eleven years old. I was watching TV hoping to find some escape from the grief of losing a relative, and on that level it delivered adequately. But beyond that it meant nothing, because ultimately it's not about anything.There are two characters in this movie: Fabian's JoeJoe and the scenery of Western Europe. Yes, there are more cast members but they are only scenery to JoeJoe. Dancers to dance with, women to bed with, other drivers to run against, team coaches to argue with and so on...but none of these are really characters anywhere near JoeJoe's level. Still, he's pretty shallow and superficial, and he even admits it. In the Madrid Bullfight arena/Jarama racetrack sequence, he calls the bull "dumb" but ultimately invites the audience to compare JoeJoe's pursuit of the Checkered Flag to the bull's pursuit of the Matador's cape. Is JoeJoe's girlfriend dumb for not making the comparison herself, or wise for making the comparison internally but not telling JoeJoe what she thinks?I wonder if Robert Redford drew from this or likable movies when he made DOWNHILL RACER years later.Visually, this is fabulous stuff. The race scenes are genuinely well cut and the travelogue scenes of European cities and landscapes are well worth the effort. But unlike Steve McQueen's LE MANS four years later, or Paul Newman's WINNING two years after this movie, none of this visual art is thrown in service of a plot line. This movie is a traffic circle; it ends how it begins. Neither JoeJoe nor anything else really changes that we don't expect.The music is interesting stuff, a mix of California surf rock and Continental go-go pop for the incidentals, with some French-language pop love songs thrown in for make-out ambiance. Modern audiences would probably find the latter stuff tiresome, but don't worry about it; the two paradigms shift snappily from one to the other and back.It's not said which racing circuit the filmmakers used for this feature, but a little research let me determine that this was Formula 2, which later became Formula 3000 and is to F1 what IndyLights is to IRL and the Nationwide Grand Nationals is to NASCAR. It looks like Fabian did his own driving in some of the scenes and I didn't notice any process shots like were common at that time. The car he has on the track is a Brabham with a Cosworth engine; it belonged to a real F2 team that won five Championship season races that year.

TedMichaelMor For a low budget imitation of a great classic film, this movie has a certain visual beauty that hints as the physical loveliness of the Formal 1 racing circuit. The women wear exquisite outfits, the montages work as travel log. Fabian looks like a classic Grand Prix driver from the time. Missy Farmer is lovely looking as is Talia Shire.What I saw was dubbed it seems. The dialogue sounds unreal. The music seems to be an imitation of French romantic films.The film does not work. The story does not engage me. I do not care about the narrative and somehow the montage lacks crispness and cohesion. Still, it almost works in a way. It almost seem an undertone or overtone to "Grand Prix" This is like a memory of a dream and that is a compliment.

Topher chester This movie will BLOW YOUR MIND! I cant believe this movie is seen by very few people it is easily one of the best i have seen in my lifetime. The plot is full of heartwarming love and fast action. The only thing that triumphs the directing is the WRITING! Max House is a great writer and it is very sad that this is his only credit, might as well quit when your at the top i guess. I really wish to see more of Max House I hope he is still doing well and writing lot's! I will keep this review short and brief but i can't say it enough SEE THIS MASTERPIECE PLEASE AND SPREAD THE WORD.Thanks.