Grand Prix
Grand Prix
NR | 21 December 1966 (USA)
Grand Prix Trailers

The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a series of races, American wheelman Pete Aron is dropped by his sponsor. Refusing to quit, he joins a Japanese racing team. While juggling his career with a torrid love affair involving an ex-teammate's wife, Pete must also contend with Jean-Pierre Sarti, a French contestant who has previously won two world titles.

Reviews
Lee Eisenberg

I haven't seen very many movies about car races, which makes John Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix" all the more impressive. The characters' relationships with each other aren't the most impressive, but the movie's editing and cinematography is something to behold. Some of the scenes are shot from what one might call the car's point of view. Think about it: looking straight ahead while going at a higher speed than most cars ever reach.So, the plot probably won't appeal to everyone, but the racing scenes are to die for. You gotta see the movie just for those.Jessica Walter sure was a babe back in the day.

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tomgillespie2002

The early 1960s saw the beginning of a rivalry between two competing films set amongst the world of Formula One. Lee H. Katzin's Day of the Champion, starring Steve McQueen, was to focus on a particularly gruelling 24-hour race, France's Le Mans, while John Frankenheimer would shoot Grand Prix, a luxurious ensemble piece boasting a handful of the industry's biggest names, on 70mm Cinerama, in what would be one of the final films to showcase the technique before it became defunct. It was a race to hit the cinema screens first, with both movies experiencing issues during production. Day of the Champion would later be re-titled Le Mans, and wouldn't see a release until 1971, a whopping five years late. Grand Prix emerged as the winner, winning multiple Academy Awards in the technical department and boasting racing scenes that haven't been matched since.While Le Mans' focus was solely on the racing, Grand Prix has larger ambitions. On top of a number of extended racing scenes, the story also gets bogged down by various melodramatic sub-plots involving a few of the drivers and their romantic engagements. Our main heroes are Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand), a French multiple champion reaching the end of a decorated career; Pete Aron (James Garner), an American looking to salvage his career after he signs up with Yamura Motors; Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabato), an arrogant but promising rookie who plays second fiddle to Sarti; and Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford), a British driver looking to get back behind the wheel following a horrific crash. Away from the track, their personal lives resemble a soap opera. Aron grows close to Pat (Jessica Walter), Stoddard's estranged wife, while the married Sarti embarks on an affair with American journalist Louise Frederickson (Eva Marie Saint).This is the sort of lavish, star-studded production that was so common in the 1960s, offering a new familiar face in what feels like every scene. There's also an international flavour to the impressive cast, with the likes of Adolfo Celi, Toshiro Mifune and Claude Dauphin popping up, to name but a few. The hysterical dramatics drag the running time to just shy of three hours - complete with intermission - and Grand Prix ultimately succeeds on the strength of its racing scenes alone. Strapping a camera on top, on the side, and seemingly everywhere but underneath the vehicle, Frankenheimer thrusts you straight to the head of the action. Also employing split-screens, this is one of the most dazzlingly stylish films of its day. Despite not being a Formula One fan in the slightest, I found the time spend on the track exhilarating. The growls of the engines combined with the angles of the camera place you front and centre, almost as if you were right there behind the wheel. As a pure thrill ride, it's one of the very best, it's just a shame that we have to sit through 90 minutes of melodramatics in between.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

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dagerfelipe

I have loved this movie since I was ten years old. Las night I was watching it again for the nth time, and behold!!!! the engines on the cars are fake!!! I could not believe my eyes!! They mix real life shots with the real cars, but when they do the close ups with the drivers.. the engines are fake!! I can only imagine that there were safety and logistical reasons for this. After all I don't think any of the actors were capable of actually harnessing one of these babies...Am I the only one to notice this??/Check the Ferrari, The scene where it stalls at Monza, its the real car. you can see all the details of the engine from the rear take, then compare with the cockpit shots, amazing!

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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.

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