I liked the film, But I do not think the GT40s had speedometers, only tachs. The concept of racing at 200 MPH and then flooring the accelerator to scoot ahead is just WRONG.
Just realized I have had the documentary The 24-hour War laying around since I bought it when it came out. Watched it again this weekend. I recommend it
not even close still like them though all the ****ing money damon was probably paid and he couldnt grow his hair out?
I know the difference between a documentary and a 'movie', and of course I know this was a Hollywood film. I also know the difference between good film making portraying real events while still adding Hollywood fiction to make it entertaining and appealing to a wide audience, and one like this that has too many problems and goes far beyond acceptable and intelligent limits.
Ok... im going to weigh in and make a stupid comment. I loved the movie because my non car friends loved it and it got people interested in the car. I loved it because it was neat to see that era... those people brought to life. It was great that it has been so well recived. It was great because it didn't push a political narrative etc... it was enjoyable entertainment. I don't like how embellished it was... the trunk scene... the fact that miles drove at lemans in 1965 and didn't listen to the race on the radio... That enzo wasn't at Lemans.... and on and on and on... that they left out some of the other neat things that happened... BUT... Its not an argument that the movie isn't a documentary... its that if you are really familiar with the story and what happened and the people... there was MORE than enough that actually happened that fActually happened that they didn't need to make these changes. I think thats the frustration of those upset about the accuracy. I agree. They didn't need to change a thing. The truth was more than entertaining. It really is a great story and they only brushed the surface. The bottom line is... it is entertainment... not a documentary. I paid for entertainment... and I had more entertainment in that movie than I have had for about the last 11 years of movie watching. Hopfully hollywood sees this as a way to capitalize and either make some neat docudrama sereies for netflix or something of racers... or brands. Or hell... a fast and furious like franchise of great moments in race history It would be great to have a Porsche Story... an Enzo Story... a Ford Story... all of them we would eat all of them up. Hell the most entertaining story eve is of E.L Cord. If you don't know who that is... look it up... how that guy doesn't have a movie staring DiCaprio is beyond me.
Agreed, good to get non-car people involved & interested. I went with my wife and a few other car friends to see it. We all knew some of the flaws ahead of time, but so many (too many) inaccuracies/history revisions/embellishments/fantasy, etc. were surprising and disappointing to see. That said, it still was entertaining, which is what we went out for; entertainment. My wife commented that she thought Rush was overall a much better film (I agree). She wanted us to watch the next day, just to sort of compare back to back, which we did. Rush was overall much better. Yes, I know we are not the average audience. I just don't like things being changed/screwed up and good stuff ignored when there is absolutely no need to. Oh well, it is what it is.
1) its not a documentary. Leave the facts at the door and enjoy the ride 2) its mistitled. It should be Shelby vs Ford Bureaucrats but its not as sexy 3) I think trying to make Enzo look "bad" so he could be "the villain" was a mistake and unnecessary. Business is business. Tough. I rather liked Enzo's speech. 3) its got some pretty good car action shots and little of it was CGI (which is good) 4) its impossible to believe Matt Damon is Carroll Shelby. If anything he underplayed him. 5) its actually a pretty good movie and entertaining. And its a good tribute to Shelby and Ken Miles, even if it completely IGNORES the UK team that made it happen. Overall: One of the better car themed movies in a long time.
And I think the message of the movie was good for young people. The little guy Shelby out witted the powerful self serving azz kissing corporate suits and won, but it costed Ken Miles who did the right thing for the boss not because of his boss but for his respect for Shelby.
OK, I'm going to take the contrarian point of view here. I believe your statement may not be entirely true; ( "I think trying to make Enzo look "bad" so he could be "the villain" was a mistake and unnecessary. Business is business. Tough. I rather liked Enzo's speech.") That may be what you thought the Director wanted you to believe, but my spin was Enzo was a businessman and wanted to beat Ford. I don't believe most people saw Enzo as the 'villain'. FoMoCo was portrayed as the villain. I also believe the movie makers wanted you to dislike Leo Beebe, HF II, and the 'suits' as you referred to them. Hollywood is consistent if nothing else in making movies preaching how evil Corporations are, and how the 'suits' are all dumbazz dufusses that are evil incarnate, and probably couldn't find their own azzes with their own two hands. The movie convinced you that Mr. Beebe was evil, and the corporate executives were all self serving azz kissing corporate suits. Gotta give Hollywood credit for being consistent with their messaging. Big corporations are always portrayed as evil. That's the American way. Messers Beebe & Ford were portrayed as buffoons trying to screw Ferrari, Shelby & Miles. Makes for a great movie, but not very close to the truth. Enzo Ferrari told the FoMoCo to take a hike and played Fiat against Ford to get what he wanted. Nothing wrong with that. HF II's ego said he wouldn't take that, so he committed untold millions of dollars and unlimited resources towards winning LeMans and beating Enzo at his own game. I'm guessing if you had been a Ford shareholder during that time period, you would have been concerned about where all those resources and money were going to be spent and by whom. Just good business sense. But in an effort to make a good movie, as you point out, the message was the 'little guy' against the big bad corporation. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. I really did enjoy the movie. But like they say, you have to suspend disbelief when you enter the theater.
So I finally watched Ford vs Ferrari and I really enjoyed it. Nice Story, great actors and fast cars. The P3s have been really ugly, thats a shame, but after all they only had a supporting role. To my eyes the GT40s looked fine - but I don't know enough to jugde this. Really stupid was the above mentioned scene of the drivers pressing down the accelerator in the middle of the hunaudiere. .....
... and thank you very much for this suggestion. I watched The 24-hour War the day after Ford vs Ferrari (available via Netflix). What a great documentary. I understand, they had to shorten the story to fit it in a movie. But this documentary perfectly complements the movie. To me it was even more entertaining than the movie because it highlighted the story from different angles (Carol Shelby, Piero Ferrari ... ). My bottom line: great they made this movie!
A very bad film. A complete disgrace to what the real story was. 100 % untrue facts, poor filming, the acting is close to zero, and the disgusting, unnatural, digital morphing of cars is historically totally wrong. Crap only Hollywood can produce. This film is a joke. A bad joke.
Now your critical of Hollywood because of the facts, they’ve had Jesus as a light skinned blue eyed European for decades. It’s Hollywood it’s there to entertain.
Hard to imagine what you think is a good race car movie is......Driving Miss Daisy? I'm just grateful they made the movie given that the script has been around for a while. Actual cars on the track and sounds recorded from period racecars shows a commitment to detail. If you check out the 24 hours of LeMans documentary....the stories line up pretty well. $225 M Worldwide are pretty good numbers for a Covid infested year.
While its true they abused the facts (aka like Enzo being at the race, Iaccoca being in the Enzo meeting, etc), its actually a pretty good movie. My biggest issue is the name of the title. It should be Shelby vs Ford. Without giving away any spoilers 90% of the movie was Shelby dealing with corporate pin heads. If there's a major flaw its not giving the UK development team enough credit.