Le Mans (film)
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| Le Mans | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster |
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| Directed by | Lee H. Katzin |
| Produced by | Jack N. Reddish |
| Written by | Harry Kleiner |
| Starring | Steve McQueen |
| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Cinematography | René Guissart Jr. Robert B. Hauser |
| Editing by | Ghislaine Desjonquères Donald W. Ernst John Woodcock |
| Distributed by | National General Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 23, 1971 |
| Running time | 106 mins |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen it features the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race.
The film is today still popular among race fans as it is a relatively accurate depiction of the era, with a lot of racing but very little dialogue. In fact, the first 38 minutes, showing McQueen's character arrive and the pre-race build-up, does not have any dialogue at all. Due to this, and partly to the American market's general low awareness of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, it was only a moderate success at the box office there.
McQueen had intended to race a Porsche 917 together with Jackie Stewart, but the #26 entry was not accepted. Instead, in the movie, he was shown starting the race on the blue #20 Gulf-Porsche 917K, which in the real race was driven by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman. The race-leading white #25 Porsche 917 "Long tail" was piloted by Vic Elford/Kurt Ahrens.
Main parts of the film were filmed on the circuit during the 14 June 1970 race. The Porsche 908/2 which McQueen had previously co-driven to a second place in the 12 Hours of Sebring was entered by Solar Productions to compete in the race, equipped with heavy movie cameras providing actual racing footage from the track. This #29 camera car, which can be briefly seen in the starting grid covered with a black sheet, was driven by Porsche's Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams. It travelled 282 laps (3,798 km) and finished the race on 9th position, but it was not classified as it had not covered the required minimum distance due to the stops to change film reels.
Additional footage was shot after the race using genuine racing cars of the day, mainly Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, painted like the real competitors which staged the main rivalry in the 1970 season, and the film, too. According to the rules, 25 of each sports car had to be built, so enough were available, compared to few if any of the prototype class. In the crash scenes, cheaper Lola T70 chassis were sacrificed, disguised with bodywork of the Porsche and Ferrari.
Despite the film's lack of sucess, the film now has a large cult following as it is considered difficult to replicate realistic racing scenes and also with the use of CGI and over dependency of stunt doubles. Also the film tends to be used as a referencing point by motorsport and car medias, when referring to the race itself. At the time of the film’s release, a pitwall was added for the safety of pit crews as other circuits already had similar set-ups, although the pit stop has been commonly used as a referencing point in the film, it was unpopular with both drivers and pit personnel for being cramped as well as difficult to get cars in and out of the pits, even when repairs were needed. It wasn't until following the 1990 race, the outdated pit-stop was demolished in place for a modern complex which is still in use to this day.
The Porsce 917 which McQueen drove (chassis 022) would later be sold to a privateer for its last competitive year driven regularly by Reinhold Joest and Willi Kauhsen, before later being sold to race driver and film participant Brian Redman[1], who then sold it to Richard Attwood, the 1970 winner and another film participant who, referred to it as "his pension". Attwood, then resprayed it to his 1970 winning color of red with white stripes as well attending numerous shows with it. He later sprayed it to the Gulf color for promotional purposes and auctioned the car off at RM Auctions during the Monterey Historic weekend for less then £1 million in 2000. The car went through another owner before it was moved on to the hands of its current owner, Jerry Seinfeld.
[edit] Story
There is very little plot, the movie entertains primarily by providing sight and sound Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, iconic racing cars with lots of visual and audio appeal to racing enthusiasts. There are however some elementary plot elements. There is the race itself as a plot, the fierce competition between the Porsche and Ferrari teams. Since this is a 24 hour race and the cars must have two drivers each alternating driving duties, there is time for drivers who are resting to have some human interaction. The main character, Michael Delaney has a very strong rivalry with Ferrari team driver Erich Stahler. Delaney was involved in an accident the previous year at Le Mans, an accident in which a driver named Belgetti is killed. Early in the movie Delaney happens to spot Belgetti’s widow Lisa buying flowers. He then drives to where the accident occurred and has a flashback. Meanwhile, members of the press are interested in this and in Delaney’s current rivalry with Stahler. There is one press photographer, a European sounding black man who is very pushy, evidently trying to stir up controversy about the dangers of racing. He doesn’t seem to really care, he just seems to be after a story that will help his career. He finally goes too far with a rude question and Delaney stares him down. There is a little sub plot involving Johann Ritter and his beautiful wife Anna. He senses that she would like for him to stop racing and take up other employment. He suggests doing that, thinking she will be overjoyed. She probably is, but she doesn’t want to make it seem like he has to do this for her, and says she would like it only if that is what he would like. He kids her a little bit about not being entirely honest, since he is certain that she would like nothing better than for him to quit. Later on, this decision is taken out of his hands when the team manager replaces him for not being “quick enough.” Anna tries to comfort him, reminding him that he was planning to quit anyway. He was, but hoped to go out on a high note. Meanwhile, Lisa Belgetti seems strangely drawn to Delaney, the very man involved in the accident that killed her husband. She seems to greatly wish that he would quit racing because of the danger. However the thrill is just too addicting for him to even consider quitting. The last lap has two Porsches and two Ferraris competing very closely. The Porsches are driven by Michael Delaney and Larry Wilson. One of the Ferraris suffers a flat tire and is out of the race, leaving just one Ferrari driven by Delaney’s arch rival Stahler. Wilson is in the lead, but looks likely to end up in third as his car seems to be the slowest of the three. For a moment it seems like Delaney could win the race, but stays back because he doesn’t want Ferrari to do even as well as second place. Delaney protects Wilson’s lead by bumping Stahler’s Ferrari two or three times. Then he causes Stahler to drop back further to third place by coming at him in a way that seems certain to send Stahler into the guard rail, forcing him to hit his brakes to avoid that fate. Delaney seems to have been motivated by a desire to beat Stahler, and secure the top two spots for Porsche, rather than narrowly focusing on coming in first himself.
[edit] Trivia
- David Piper lost part of his lower leg in a crash during the shooting
- A mechanic took one of the 600hp Ferrari 512 cars out on a trip on public roads to make an impression on his girlfriend
- The movie's most memorable quote is, "Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting". This quote is often attributed to Steve McQueen, but 1950's French racing driver Maurice Trintignant is acknowledged as having said this
