Grand Prix: Special Edition (Dbl DVD)

Grand Prix is the greatest racing movie of all time. Having searched and paid a premium for the VHS version, you can imagine my excitement when I learned of the DVD release of the movie. I was not disappointed. The pedigree of the movie is stellar. The director is John Frankenheimer. An international cast includes Eva Marie Sainte, Toshiro Mifune, James Gardner, and Yves Montand. Francoise Hardy ("Tous les garcons et les filles") is so hot, also credibly acts in this film. Actual team names and cars (Ferrari, BRM, and All American Racing, but sadly not Lotus nor Honda) and famous drivers (Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Bruce McClaren), are in the movie and involved in the filming of the movie. Actual race footage is incorporated into the movie. Actual drivers are present in the movie. The film won three technical Academy Awards, best film editing, sound and sound effects. Before IMAX, before video games, before video cams, using sixteen Panavision cameras, some mounted on the racing cars, some in a Ford GT 40 chase car, Frankenheimer provides the exquisite shots we expect today on ESPN or SPEED...the view of the driver and pan to the front view, the vibration, the buffeting, the sweeping blur about a hairpin of actual driving. That is why the movie stands the test of time. As stated in the additional materials, it is unlikely that a racing movie of this scale will ever be made again. But this is not a documentary. A great movie, even if it isn't true, is realistic enough that you believe that is reality. The story lines touch on real issues... is winning everything, why do men like to go fast, are their significant others uneasy, why is death or danger ignored, can relationships be serious or merely transitory... It also provides a vicarious look into Grand Prix racing in the 1960's, the fashion, the life, the glamour. Grand Prix DVD also provides special features that demand purchasing the DVD even if you have the VHS version (sans special features of course). Five documentaries are provided...This movie was viewed on a 27 inch flat screen TV, sound through a subwoofer and two satellite speakers (two five inch mid-range, one two inch tweeter per speaker) and the sound was great (it did win an Academy award for sound)... I can hardly wait to see it on my friend's 52 inch wide-screen with Dolby Digital 5.1. Wow...what a movie.

I was lucky enough to see this terrific movie in a movie theater last week. I was so impressed I purchased the Blu-ray. The Blu-ray has many extras along with optional commentary that made it well worth the price. It was incredible seeing this film in a sold-out wraparound 70mm Cinerama Theater. The racing sequences are amazing. Most of the racing footage in Grand Prix are from actual races taking place in 1966. Some of the accidents are partial actual footage, and partial re-creations. You'll get a good idea what it's like to be in one of these fantastic race cars. Nothing sounds great as a V12 Engine. Grand Prix remains a reference demo for home theater buffs due to its hard-charging surround sound and adrenalized visuals further pumped up by visual consultant Saul Bass, who created the titles and memorable split screen design. Warner did an excellent job with Grand Prix on Blu-ray. Overall, the film looks spectacular, at times giving the impression of a film that was shot 3 years ago rather than 55 years ago. The 65mm source elements spell often breathtaking detail, film grain is light and natural, black level is deep, and color and contrast are beautifully calibrated. It was also a joy to see these great European cities when they were still wonderful places to visit. Imagine 1966 when you could easily arrive at the airport 15 minutes before your flight and have plenty of time. On the Blu-ray the extras include: Pushing the Limit: The Making of Grand Prix Flat Out: Formula 1 in the Sixties The Style and Sound of Speed Brands Hatch: Behind the Checkered Flag Grand Prix: Challenge of the Champions Theatrical Trailer I'm very happy to have this Blu-ray in my 3000 disc collection where I know that in the future it cannot be banned or censored.

Forty years on, Grand Prix is still the best motor racing film ever made. The cars may be faster now, filming techniques improved and special effects more advanced, yet the film still has a truly epic scale and a feeling of veracity down to the last gear change that would be impossible to duplicate today. It feels real because much of it is real, the actors (with the exception of Brian Bedford) doing much of the driving themselves, with the production even entering cars in real races to seamlessly match footage. The real danger is only underlined by the fact that so many of the professional drivers in the film died racing themselves (ten in the decade following the filming alone). The crashes are there, along with the knowledge that that's what many in the crowd come for, but more than that, each race has a different character: more than just a different look, they're almost tone poems at times, one race from the driver's seat, another from a spectator's, another almost inside a character's head. Yet throughout, unlike later films, you always have a clear idea of what is going on and what point the race scenes are trying to make. The sequences have clearly been thought through and designed both emotionally as well as visually, with the great use of long lenses to establish scale and speed as cars drift in and out of focus giving the film a feel at once realistic and almost dreamlike (an impression further heightened in Saul Bass' almost balletic split-screen sequence). It's still a remarkably good looking film, too, not least because it was made at a time when the cars still looked like bullets rather than vacuum cleaners. The plot itself may be simply a globe-trotting star-studded soap opera at heart - the roadshow equivalent of a doorstop bestseller - but it's a more than serviceable framework to hang the racing scenes on: after a spectacular crash in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix that cripples team mate Brian Bedford, James Garner's Formula One tries to work his way back on the circuit by racing for Toshiro Mifune's fledgling team while having an affair with Bedford's wife Jessica Walter. But while top-billed Garner may be the nominal and not particularly sympathetic lead, it's Yves Montand's ageing champion gradually realizing the absurdity of what he does but unable to quit who makes the greatest impression: so much so that when Garner disappears for much of the last third of the movie you barely miss him. Yet the cars remain the real stars, thanks to John Frankenheimer's constantly imaginative direction and his obvious enthusiasm for the material without ever losing himself in the minutiae as Steve McQueen did with Le Mans. The film used every 65mm SuperPanavision camera then in existence, and thankfully the widescreen DVD transfer is a considerable improvement over the TV prints. Although it hasn't restored Mifune's voice, which was reportedly in the version shown at the film's premiere but subsequently replaced by Paul Frees on all prints (Adolfo Celi is also very obviously dubbed, possibly by Maximilian Schell), it does boast a good array of featurettes covering the making of the film and the Overture and Entr'acte from Maurice Jarre's excellent score have been retained.

Very exciting races. I understand this movie was filmed for Cinerama. I bet this was like the "Top Gun" of 1966 for those who saw it in theaters. I thought the run time of 2-1/2 hours was a bit long, but it did have an intermission about halfway through. I think they could probably have trimmed 15 to 30 minutes of the dramatic sub-plots from the movie, and made it a much better movie. On the other hand, we can fast forward through any part we think is slow. Overall, I greatly enjoyed it. I thought the cinematography was pretty amazing, and you have to keep in mind, this was before ESPN, and the Daytona 500, etc., so it must have been incredibly exciting to see this in theaters back then. I think this movie would be so exciting to see on IMAX or Cinerama. The cast for this movie is amazing. Talk about glamor. There's like four or five stunning women in this movie. Second, this like so many classic movies is quite a time capsule! Very interesting to watch. My biggest qualm with the movie was the engine revving and music were full blast on the volume, while the dialogue was often whisper quiet, often with thick accents. I often use subtitles on movies I watch, but for a movie like this, it's difficult to relax, as I found myself often looking at the subtitles to figure out what the sub-audible dialogue was, or sometimes found myself rewinding scenes to catch what was said. Still, all in all, this was a very good movie, and I give it 7.2 out of 10 stars, which is pretty good I think, considering when this movie was made. It's held up pretty well, I think.

This is the best race movie ever made. Period. And I doubt one like it can ever be made again because this was done in the real world and, now, everyone (directors etc) will want to do one using computer graphics and it will not have the same feel of realism.["Driven" with Stallone would be a good example of this] Also, I doubt, due to safety concerns/insurance etc, that one can be made this way again. The "How the Movie was Made" is worth a huge chunk of the selling price. The quality of the DVD is a great improvement, especially on an HD TV, over the VHS copy I've owned for some time. The reason I say "Grand Prix" is the best is that "LeMans" lacks a strong story line or its story line pales next to the action, whereas "Grand Prix"s story hangs in there fairly well. However, one can argue "LeMans" has just as good race photography and, again, I doubt if a movie like it can be made now. "Grand Prix" has an excellent cast of very well known (at the time) actors from the U.S. and Europe. The photography of Europe is great as are the race scenes. There is romance involved to keep the story line going on something other than race after race. There is some tear jerker moments for the sentimental. Speaking of story lines, I remember when "LeMans" came out that one of the NBC "Today Show" film critics, Judith Crist, lambasted the movie and said words to the effect that "McQueen should have shot it on 8mm and shown it as home movies". She's also the critic who said that "Candy" would set back pornography a 100 years. :) As for story lines, another decent effort at a race movie is "Winning" with Paul Newman and his wife. A product of its day, the film tries pretty hard to combine a decent story with racing. Along with racing there are cheating wives, just the thing to spice up a race movie. I would guess this is where PN picked up his love of racing which lasted 30+ years. His co-star is his wife. And, last and least, is "Red Line 7000" which, when it came out, was a pretty cool drive-in movie and still stands up as a bit of kitsch of the time. The race descriptions by the "on track" announcer are guite funny but where else are you going to see a guy driving a Shelby Daytona Coupe around on the street? Besides, its one of James Caan's first roles, if not the first. Oh, and the "on track announcer" in "Winning" might be of the same cloth if memory serves. One reason I probably have a soft spot for these movies is that they came out about the time I was a young Sports Car Club of America racer myself. My new wife and I were really into this stuff. We drove 200 miles round trip one weekday night in order to see "LeMans" several weeks earlier than what would have been the case if we hadn't, due to where we lived. I've recently purchased "Winning", "LeMans" and "Grand Prix" to donate to my small town library, spreading the joy of racing. Thanks to AMAZON, I can afford to do it.

The characters are not fully developed and the plot is pretty simple, but this movie is about Grand Prix racing itself. In that sense, the movie does a superb job of providing the look and feel of Grand Prix driving. The characters and plot are merely a framework to introduce the public to Grand Prix racing, and "hollywood" dramatics are kept to a minimum. In many scenes, 1966 film technology was used to place you in the cockpit at 130 mph. The quality of this 1966 version of virtual reality surpasses the effect achieved by placing minicams inside modern racing cars. Most minicams record scenes of race cars negotiating a repetitive oval track. In "Grand Prix", you are liable to loose your orientation when a camera car rounds a hairpin at Monaco at about 45 mph. The whole picture becomes an abstract swirl of smeared shapes. Never again will you see yourself racing down a straight away with unprotected spectators blurring passed you at 130 mph as they stand just 15-20 yards from the road. Safety was atrocious in 1966. In other scenes, the movie becomes an art film where racing scenes are montaged into overlaping and blended images that keep time with classical music selections. The characters and the plot never over-power the movie. They do provide breaks from watching too much racing, and the characters portray the motivations of the drivers, the owners, and the significant others who are affected by such a dangerous sport. Several real Grand Prix champions have minor parts in the movie, which lends some additional interest. It is a little eerie to see a movie about race car drivers where real race car drivers sort of drift in and around the actors during the "people" scenes. Character, plot, 1966 virtual reality, and film artistry blend perfectly to provide an exciting, entertaining, and virtually flawless film about racing in the 1966 Grand Prix season

Great racing movie starring James Garner. Good cast except for Eva Marie Saint. She can't act and had too much screen time.

Best F1 Movie

Dem Realismus im Kunstfilm genügt das Drama im kleinen Leben, die Zwänge der Liebe, die Tragödien des Alltags, die Menschen bis zum Äußersten treiben können. Im filmischen Realismus ist die Leinwand keine Grenze, sondern Kontaktfläche zwischen Gesellschaft und Kunst. Filmischer Realismus greift nach den "Realitätseffekten" (R. Barthes) und dem Eindruck intensiver Erfahrungswirklichkeit. 'Grand Prix' ist in seinen packenden Sequenzen Realismus pur - doch ist die Erfahrungswirklichkeit, die hier in atemberaubenden Bildern eingefangen wird, die einer Grenzerfahrung: Des an der Grenze zum Irrsin sich bewegenden Formelrennsports der sechziger Jahre. Realismus hier ist nicht mehr Alltag, es ist Grenzerfahrung in Rennwagen auf Rennstrecken unter Absehung aller Vernunft. John Frankenheimer (Regie) hat keinen Aufwand gescheut, die Kameras in die Rennwagen einzubauen und seine Schauspieler (und einige Grössen des damaligen Rennsports wie Jochen Rindt) diese unter realistischen Bedingungen fahren zu lassen. Das weitere Filmmaterial stammt aus den meisterlichen Aufnahmen der eigentlichen Rennen zur Formel-1 Weltmeisterschaft des Jahres 1966. Alleine die Rennszenen sind von packendem Realismus, der auch heutige Onboard-Aufnahmen aus Rennwagen weit in den Schatten stellt. Stille aber dramatische Statisten sind die Rennstrecken aus jenem Jahr, von denen der Zuschauer en passent einen Eindruck erhält, als hätte er sie selbst befahren (Monaco, Brands Hatch, Zandvoort, Spa-Francorchamps und Monza mit der alten Steilwand). Anders als die ebenso faszinierende Hommage an Le Mans von Steve McQueen aus den Jahre 1970, bietet 'Grand Prix' eine ausführliche, wenn auch ein wenig triviale Nebenhandlung. Drei Handlungsstränge zeigen drei sich unterschiedlich bewegende Rennfahrerbiograhien: Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) ist am Ende seiner Karriere angekommen, Müdigkeit macht sich breit. Er trifft die wunderschöne Reporterin Louise Frederickson (Eva Marie Saint) und verliebt sich in sie. Doch auch in ihm brennt noch ein Rennfahrerherz, und als ihn sein Teamchef herausfordert gibt er im letzten Rennen seines Lebens alles. Die zweite wesentliche Erzählung zeigt den ehrgeizigen und tollkühn-unbeherrschten Amerikaner Pete Aron (James Garner), der ein sich bietendes Strohhalm nutzt, um nicht aus dem Rennzirkus geworfen zu werden. Auch er fährt schliesslich das Rennen seines Lebens. Und wie weit liegen an dessen Ende die Schicksale der beiden Renfahrer auseinander! Das dritte Rennfahrerleben, dem der Film folgt, ist das des jungen Briten Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford), der in Monaco beinahe sein Leben verliert und sich dann unter grossen physischen Qualen an die Spitze zurückkämpft. Neben den Rennen sind es die Frauen am Rande der Strecke und am Rande der Rennfahrerleben, die diese drei Biographien verknüpfen. Nebenhandlungen und weitere Fahrertypen ergänzen sich zu einem bunten Reigen, der einen guten Eindruck davon vermittelt, was Rennsport am Rande der Vernunft in den 60er Jahren war. Dass der Film 'Grand Prix' den Rennsport realistisch erfasst hat, zeigt sich auch daran, dass bekannte Fahrer aus dieser Zeit im Film selbst kleinere Rollen spielen: Jochen Rindt und Jim Clark tauchen auf, Brabham und Jo Siffert haben gar kurze Sprecheinlagen, und Graham Hill spielt just den Frauenheld, der er auch zu Lebzeiten war. Filmfreunde, die gerne den Originalton meiden und deutsche Versionen bevorzugen, seien darauf hingewiesen, dass die vorliegende französische DVD-Ausgabe dieses Klassikers keine deutsche Tonspur enthält. Es handelt sich jedoch um die einzige verfügbare, bezahlbare Ausgabe, die neben einer guten Qualität auch reichlich Dokumentationsmaterial zur Entstehung des Films enthält. Dieses ist, auch unabhängig vom Film sehenswert. Bemerkenswert der sehr lange Bericht zur Entstehung des Films (inklusive einem kurzen Bericht, wie die Unfälle in den Rennen inszeniert wurden). Interessant als Hintergrundmaterial auch die ausführliche Dokumentation der Klassikerstrecke in Brands Hatch (jedem Motorsportfreund dürfte bei der ausführlichen Beschreibung der Kurven das Herz schneller schlagen). Die vielleicht sehenswerteste Dreingabe ist der lange Beitrag zum Formel-1 Sport in den 60er Jahren, als Rennfahren noch ein Balanceakt zwischen Leben und Tod war. Diese Extras sind weitaus mehr, als sich heute auch von gut gemachten DVDs erwarten lässt. Und Grund genug, sich diese Ausgabe zuzulegen.

Order this for my dad. He likes the movie. He enjoyed watching it on dvd

For a movie made in the 1960s, the photography is very good

Pour l'époque 1966, la réalisation est une prouesse technique, les scènes de course et d'accidents sont très réalistes et tournées avec un incroyable talent. De nombreux boni très intéressants.

Una aclaración que podría servir, es un blue-ray hecho en Alemania, yo vivo en la ciudad de México y se reproduce perfectamente en los blue-ray players de América. Súper producción hecha en 1966 estupendo para los amantes de la Fórmula 1 en dónde sobresale el G.P. de Mónaco y el final con el G.P. de Monza en el circuito de 10 Kms. cuando esté circuito se dejó de usar en 1962. Increíbles tomas para la época que incluso siguen impresionando a la vista. Muy recomendable, entré los mejores Films sobre la Fórmula 1.