|
Le Mans Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
The main reason to buy this movie is to have a credible car-movie collection. There is probably only 40 lines of dialogue in the entire movie, and most of them are inconsequential. The racing shots, however, are beautiful. If you want a few hours of fast 1960s car porn, this is the movie. If that doesn't interest you, you will be bored. If it makes you salivate, make sure to buy Grand Prix as well.
Rating: -
First a warning. DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH WOMAN WHO IS NOT A RACING FAN. To be fair I should probably say don't watch this with ANYONE who isn't a racing fan.
When it was made in the early 70s this was a great effort at making the best racing movie ever. If I were rating it then I would have given it a 4 or a 5. The annoying sound track, the silly and poorly developed side story about the fellow racer's widow and the lack of updated surround sound for the race sequences limits this movies appeal when viewed today.
Where the movie still succeeds is capturing the feel of a great racing venue on race day. If you have never been to a race you might not beleive all the layers that exist around the event. I think the movie also captures the interactions between drivers and teams without the theatrics of some later movies (think Days of Thunder).
Rating: -
If you are looking at "Le Mans," you already know at least something about the film. The star of this film is really the race course itself, and in fact, this film works almost more as a documentary than a film. The cinematography is fine, though I say that with hesitation because much of the film was actually shot in documentary mode, with cameras (big, old-school film cameras, not the little digital ones used for TV coverage today) mounted on one car during the race in 1971. Other scenes were shot after the race on different stretches of the race course. As for the writing, well that went on before, during, and after the race, and the director changed at least once before Katzin.
Having said all of that, the real kudos go to the film editors, who took these various parts and made a true homage to the race and to the middle of the Golden Years of LeMans. The 917K and the 512 are two of the most beautiful machines designed for racing ever, IMHO, and seeing them in action is wonderful. The overhead shots take in all of the spectacle that is LeMans. And, of course, there is the stunt driving. No CGI in this film, and it shows. Take the most realistic car crashes from a modern film, and compare it with these -- not even close in comparison.
Having said all of that, the DVD only rates three stars. If I did not like the film so much, I would give it one star. Come on, Paramount, we racing fans waited a few years for this DVD, and all we get is cleaned up sound and film? The so-called "special features" on this DVD are (according to the back of the case) "widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TV's," "English subtitles," and "Dolby Digital 5.1 sound." If you want French, you only get mono sound. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! As I hinted at above, there is a whole story behind the making of this film which rates only slightly behind the making of "Blade Runner" in terms of drama. No documentary about that? You could even be lazy and include the fine documentary with McQueen's son! No trailers? Features about the race, the history of the cars, the rivalry between Porsche and Ferrari, NOTHING? The film is great, and this is the only DVD, but Paramount and CBS home video owe us, the fans of this film, much better than this minimalist effort. I would gladly pay three times as much for a well-produced DVD with extras worthy of this film, this race, and this era in racing history. Don't even thing about offering this on Blu-Ray in this same state...
Rating: -
Make no mistake about it, Steve McQueen was one of the finest actors of his generation with such landmark films that resonate like an elegy in the cinema canon: "The Great Escape," "Bullitt," "The Thomas Crown Affair" etc. These films defined the strong male characterizations that are lacking in today's films with male characters more at home in a metrosexual guise than the potent aura of control McQueen exudes on screen.
This then leaves us with the question of "Le Mans" produced by McQueen's own company, Solar Productions. The film begs the question: is it a documentary about professional auto racing? Or, is it a drama about the emotional and personal toll auto racing takes on the participants who drive at 240+ miles per hour where one mistake can make the difference not only between victory and defeat on the track, but also life and death? Then again, should "Le Mans" be seen as merely a vanity project for McQueen who sought to indulge his passion for racing (the actor himself, like Paul Newman, was a professional racer)on the screen?
McQueen's film tries valiantly to answer these questions, but really only succeeds in the first. The cinematography and direction is superb for a racing film, but where "Le Mans" comes up short is in drama. There is very little dialogue or interaction between the characters. Katzin's direction on the track and from the driver's point-of-view is excellent; the crashes have a gut-wrenching intensity to make even the bravest of us wince, and the director, thru the extensive use of close-ups and slow motion in some segments, cannot be faulted in this category.
The interchange between Delaney (McQueen) and the widow of the man Delaney was invloved in a fatal accident with seems stilted and forced even though the characters are apparently drawn to each other. Katzin tries to have the characters speak not so much with words but with body language and eyes, but this is not very convincing. The discussion prompted by the widow as to why these men are compelled to race is never really satisfactory addressed and lacks the gravitas a scene like this should have. What we have are snippets of dialogue that resemble a series of bad takes in what is otherwise a documentary film about professional auto racing.
For racing purists, the film is a delight; McQueen fans will see yet another dimension of this multi-faceted actor in a very different type of movie. I purchased my DVD at Rite-Aid for only $6.99 rather than the list price indicated here at Amazon.
Rating:  -
If you are a car guy or guyette, this has to be part of your library, hands down a classic.
|
