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PostPosted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:54 pm
pmiranda wrote:Here's are a couple encouraging quotes from a Business Insider interview about Ford v Ferrari:
"a lesson I've learned from ... Hitchcock or John Ford, is you don't need a lot of action, you just need the right action."
"Out of the thousands of shots in the movie, there are maybe two where there is a digital car dropped in."

The director previously did "Cop Land", "Walk the Line", "3:10 to Yuma", and "Logan".


This last bit has me hopeful. Logan was absolutely fantastic and a great adaptation of the X-Men Old Man Logan comic.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:18 pm
Well, what did you all think of the movie? While I watch many at home on the big screen these days I made it a point to find a theater with a large screen and good sound system to see it at its best.

For me, the problem with being a racer watching a racing movie is that like pilots at a flying picture, it's hard not to notice what isn't quite right. By concentrating on the experience of the movie I did my best to put those little things away and just enjoy the ride. The non-racers I have talked to loved the story, thought the in-car driving scenes were exciting and enjoyed learning something about Ford and Ferrari that either they had never heard about or were only vaguely aware of. That may be why it is up for a Best Picture Oscar.

That being said, heading down the Mulsanne Straight at 200 mph in the GT-40, (we could tell the speed from the car's speedometer!), while turning his head and looking eye-to-eye with the Ferrari driver - complete with hand gestures, well...all I can say is personally I've never found the time for that.... And the repeated mention of all the significantly good and bad things that happen at 7000 rpm, even if that was the usable redline back then, just kept reminding me of a really hokey racing movie from "way-back-when" called "Redline 7000".

Oh, and didn't you love the scene with the SCCA Tech Inspector? Somebody with inside knowledge of SCCA club/pro racing must have chuckled to him/herself when writing that scene. Maybe there was a little payback in it?

Then again, I didn't really care about any of that stuff. Ford Verses Ferrari was worth the price of admission and monstrously over-priced popcorn, and I'll watch it again when I get the chance. THEN I'll get a copy and it will go on my mid-winter pile of off-season racing-withdrawal flicks along with Grand Prix, Le Mans, Super Speedway, Lap of The Gods and about 20 years of my own in-car videos.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 5:46 pm
Having raced in Southern California, all the scenes at Willow Springs were pretty cool to see (think they even were going in the wrong direction at one point. Can't miss those green walls.

Of course, the Riverside scenes were not on that track (since it no longer exists), although I think they did slip in some footage of recognizable parts of the old course. That was my "driving school" track and favorite course to see IMSA races back in the GTP era.

I even got my wife to go to the theater with me to see it (of course she was heavily influenced by having the lead actress from Outlander playing the wife of Ken Miles!) For me, it was the interplay between Damon/Shelby and Bale/Miles that really made the movie.

I ended up looking at all the bio pics from that era and found them even more entertaining when comparing the movie characters to the real ones (especially Carroll Shelby). Even enjoyed the Prime Video "Le Mans: Racing is Everything" even though it lacked the drama and historical significance of the mid-60's era. The Ford / Ferrari backstory was interesting; the "24 Hour War" on Netflix offered some interesting additional perspective, and Shelby American was a pretty in-depth look at Caroll Shelby.

Of course, there's nothing like the original Le Mans with Steve McQueen...!
Bob Breton - SRF 51 - San Francisco Region
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 7:42 pm
breton wrote:Of course, there's nothing like the original Le Mans with Steve McQueen...!

AMEN!

Cheers - Jim
When I used to fly, I was called an AVIATOR.
Now, I race cars. So, am I called a PAVIATOR?
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 5:41 pm
I agree with Jim. I had to put aside my real world racing experience and just enjoy the ride. The thing with writing true life scripts is to stick to the truth of the story without letting accurate details bog the story down. And here they succeeded.

I know many non-racing people who absolutely loved the movie. No other racing movie has even come close, much less snare a Best Picture nomination. It had the strong story of "Rush" with an actual budget $97 million) to properly shoot the racing sequences.

One place where they could have gone with accurate details and made the movie better was in the first racing sequence at the SCCA National race. Back in 1965, SCCA Club Races had standing starts (pace laps didn't come along until about 1969, I think). If the director had gone with that, we'd have been spared the totally unbelievable shouting between Miles and Gurney while underway, along with the pre-green-flag tension and burning rubber of a standing start!

Anyway, I'm eagerly awaiting the on-demand release to see it again.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 6:07 pm
Haven't checked this one out - yet, but bet its real good:

carolla-shelby.jpg
carolla-shelby.jpg (31.54 KiB) Viewed 8618 times


When a "car-guy" makes a move - it ought to be watched by other car-guys.


BTW - I understand he started his LeMans project at about the same time as the FvF film project:
24 hour war.jpg
24 hour war.jpg (57.54 KiB) Viewed 8618 times


Cheers - Jim
When I used to fly, I was called an AVIATOR.
Now, I race cars. So, am I called a PAVIATOR?

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:21 pm
I took his in-car dialogue as shouting for his own benefit, not with the expectation of the other driver actually hearing him. Much like I yell "see me" or "I'm here" in daily driving :)
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