There’ve been many racing car films on the big screen (notably the ‘Fast and the Furious’ films) but there’ve also been some about the Le Mans race. Usually the one from 1966.
Believe it or not, I’m sort of interested in cars. Particularly if they happen to be retro ones. Of course, it used to be the Formular 1 racing for me many years ago since I’m not familiar with American racing in comparison to European racing…and giving the fact that there’s a couple of cast members I like that are also on here, that was a bonus for me in order to watch this film.
The story starts off with Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) who is forced into early retirement from professional racing because of a heart condition. Despite his kindness and likeable manners, Carroll is a excellent car designer and engineer.
Meanwhile, Ken Miles (Christian Bale) is both a mechanic and a racer. Whilst at a race, Ken tells a racer that his car isn’t up to standards. The racer is angry at him and they both start an argument, an argument that is broken up by Carroll who is trying to calm them both down.
Because of Ken throwing a wrench at him, Ken’s garage is shut down by the IRS and Ken is forced to give up his racing in order to care for his family.
At the Ford Motors company, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) is furious that the sales for Ford cars are going down. It isn’t before long until one of his underlings gives Henry an idea; only the best looking cars will be race cars. And so it begins.
Once again, this was one of the few biography films that I ended up really enjoying. Especially when it came to the racing aspect of the film. It was fun watching the retro cars racing around the tracks after all the hard work from the characters…even if I was having flash-backs of Pixar’s 2006 animated film ‘Cars’ towards the end of the film.
If you enjoy racing or are a sports fan or even a fan of cars in general this is the film for you.
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