Le Mans (1971)

[Ickie]

Once again I am watching the movie Le Mans (1971), this has got to be the 2nd most boring movie behind 2001 a space oddity.

[Quixoticish]

Once again I am watching the movie Le Mans (1971), this has got to be the 2nd most boring movie behind 2001 a space oddity.

If you're referring to the original 2001: A Space Odyssey and not some bizarre comedy remake then it's by far one of the greatest pieces of cinema in history.

[Ferry_vO]

90 minutes of Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512's racing round one of the best tracks in the world boring..?? :jawdrop:

The 'storyline' isn't worth mentioning, but the action is just great! :applause:

[Dain Arns]

Got to agree....

"Grand Prix" is another one.
Lousy story lines, good racing sequences.

Remember, those racing bits are way better on a large screen as they were originally shot for that format.

[Lionheart]

You guys! Those are true classics of racing movies, of all time! And 2001 was brilliant!

arrghh...


I worked for the racing team that bought that racing team in the movie. You can see some of my old team mates on the pit team. The body guy, Chris, worked on the car for the disney movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, over in England. (They had 9 diff cars that did all these things).

We also had that racing car transporter as well. Thing was awesome. Engine was under the floor plates, under the work shop in midships of the 'vessle', lol.. What a giant of a vehicle. Some sort of British thing I believe.

Some stories of that race. The race has (had?) a circuit that ran through 3 villages or towns. On the back stretches, the cars got to full speed, which was some incredible amount of speed (220 to 250 MPH?) and sometimes it would rain in one of the villages, so the drivers had sunlight on one side of the track circuit, and then had to slow down for rain in the other side, lights on, wipers on, slow to 120 or so, what ever it took.

I forget if that was when they were racing the GT-40's or the Porsche 917's in the movie. Both were amazing cars. The earliest testing of the GT-40's resulted with the doors sometimes exploding off. They wrap up over the top and the vacum over the roof at top speed was so much, that it pulled that bit of panel up and when it caught into the pure airflow, it shattered off with the noise of a very large gun or explosive, which at that speed, can play havoc on a driver in keeping calm with that right over his head and his concentration on keeping the car centered on a track at 200+ MPH. They ended up putting pieces of Alum. trim over the front part of the lips of the tops of the doors, which the doors hinged into/under, which kept them from raising at top speed.

Both cars were amazing performers in LeMans, coming in often in 1, 2, 3, 4 places. Very rare. Porsche was an amazing racing team back then.

For a while, here in Phoenix, we have the Rothchilds Porsche 956, (dark blue with yellow trim, open top). What a mammoth rocket....! It had two 6 cylinder engine blocks bolted together to make a flat twelve boxer engine which had a giant fiberglass moded fan above it facing up that kept it cool. One fan was lost in a face, flying up into the sky, and when it came down, unfortunately, it found a fan and it wasnt good... Horrible.

Those were the days. (I never got to go to LeMans, but at least worked on some cars with some famous people.. )



Bill

[Bjoern]

Great movie and way less boring than 2001.

[Mathias]

Aw, 2001 is one of the best science fiction movies ever produced. Great storyline, great dramaturgie.
Actually "2001" and "Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus" are the only two flicks I ever bothered to purchase on DVD.

[Bjoern]

Aw, 2001 is one of the best science fiction movies ever produced. Great storyline, great dramaturgie.

But the pacing, the PACING!

I can try to tell the greatest story, yet if I do it with the speed of a snail on weed I'll lose any spark of interest from the audience.

[Mathias]

That's called "atmospheric". :-)
But I know where you're coming from.
Compared to the speed at which the action is thrown at you in more recent flicks this one is of course slow.
But back then we had mental tools to bring us into the appropriate mood to enjoy that kind of stuff. :-)

[Bjoern]

But back then we had mental tools to bring us into the appropriate mood to enjoy that kind of stuff. :-)

I had to watch it sober a few years ago. Might give it a try in an "enhanced" state of mind someday. :d