Customer Reviews

Le Mans [VHS]

5 star:		(102)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Le Mans 24 Hour Race is one of the most insane sporting events ever. "Le Mans" attempts to portray the excitement, the speed, the sound, and the surreal quality of the race, and yes, some of the boredom and stupidity as well.

Steve McQueen is at his most restrained playing Michael Dalaney. Seldom has the professional racing drivers' mentality and single mindedness been shown with such clarity. Dalaney has respect for his colleagues, but no warmth towards them. Nothing is allowed to get in the way of the race itself, and importance of winning the race.

There's a tiny, fragmented, rather strange sub-plot which features a beautiful widow from the previous year's race, if you are a generous viewer then this story seems to only enhance the single mindedness of the drivers. There's also a rivalry between Delaney and another driver. But again, the rivalry seems manufacturered as much by the media (shown at their most despicable) rather than any true emotion between the men concerned.

The real stars of Le Mans are the brutal, beautiful sports racing cars of the early 1970s. several meet horrific ends in slow motion crashes that are simultanously beautiful and horrific to watch.

Above all else, from the beginning to the end Le Mans has a surreal quality where speed and concentration result in all other aspects of 'real life' being forgotten.

We're unlikely to get as honest a portrayal of professional motor racing ever again, and certainly not from Hollywood...

I've heard nothing but bad comments about this film from film critics for years and nothing but GREAT comments from everyone else. The critics pan it for it's lack of dialog or less than spectacular storyline. What they are not seeing is that this was not a film that was written with a story in mind-it's a film that was built around an audio-visual and emotional event first. The storyline/dialog was added afterwards. Like one reviewer here wrote: "WHO CARES ABOUT THE STORY".

This film documents Les Vingt Quatre Heures Du Mans in the best possible way. It captures the pageantry, life, the speed and fury unlike any racing film I've ever seen (the only thing I can think of better, short of being a driver in the race, would be the release of the video game). It is the best documentary of what life at that circuit is like during those 24 hours-I know, I've been there.

If you've ever wanted to go to Le Mans, BUY THIS VIDEO. If you've ever heard of Le Mans but don't really know about it BUY THIS VIDEO. If you're a NASCAR fan BUY THIS VIDEO-there really is more to life than just driving in ovals-lots more!

Have an AWESOME day! Mark Gilvey THE UNOFFICIAL SPECTATOR

Of all the classic race movies out there this is probably the most minimalistic and puristic one. Don't watch this movie for the rudimentary love story (if one can call it that way). Don't watch it for dialogue - Steve McQueen does not speak more than a 100 words in this film I would guess. Watch this movie for the breath-taking drama that develops in the pictures, since in racing a picture says definitely more than a 1000 words. The camera work is outstanding, and the story is built in a very detail-minded, documentary-type style that matches the coolness of McQueens persona. We see his charcter develop almost entirely in his actions, in the powerful flashback to an accident a year ago that he reflects upon as he returns to the same scene on the same track. As he drives to the track, stops his Porsche at the scene of the accident and stares back into the past, we begin to understand what kind of a racer he is .We see the quiet, yet passionate rivalry between him and his major competitor for the title in the Le Mans 24 hour race and we see his equally quiet interaction with the widow of the fellow driver who perished in that fateful accident. While personal interactions are very subdued, the true passion erupts on the race-track and this movie is superb in this regard. We see a generous and well-filmed display of the greatest prototypes and road-racers out there at the time. If you are a race-fan, you must see this movie, if you are not, you probably won't get it. As a race fan I give 5 stars.

OK, how many of you are reading this review and will see this film because of its great dramatic reputation? Not many, I suppose. Le Mans is perhaps the truest film for pure racing, and racing fans. Along with Grand Prix, its perhaps one of the best films about racing ever done. There's very little dialog, and half of that is silly. There's a small attempt to add some drama, and this is put into context by the fact that Steve McQueen walks out on the girl to go back to the race....
McQueen plays an American driving for the Gulf Porsche team. His great rival is a German who drives for Ferrari, and evidently there was some drama between the two at the Nurburgring during a previous race. McQueen was also involved in a fatal accident the previous year, and its strongly implied he had a relationship with the driver's widow. She hangs around the pits of Le Mans almost like the angel of death, actually, until some attempt is made to insert romance in her relationship with McQueen.

The dialog is sparse, which is probably just as well; if you see this film, watch it for the racing. No other film captures the speed and drama of real racing as well as Le Mans. Much of the footage came directly from the race and was perfectly edited into the film: it all plays smoothly. The rest of the footage was shot with real cars and real drivers at real speed, and it shows. The result is almost a documentary on Le Mans.
There's a famous quote from former driver and sometime commentator Sam Posey. He was asked what was the fastest he's ever driven, and he replied that it was around 235mph on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans (formerly the longest straight in motorsports) driving a Porsche 917. The person comments on the speed of the car, and Posey says that he really wasn't sure exactly how fast the car was - it was still accelerating at the end of the straight! The point is that this film captures a good part of the awe and drama of the speed of the place. For anybody who loves racing, its not to be missed.
As to the DVD, the print has some small dirt specks and a little noise occasionally but is otherwise pretty good: the picture is nice and sharp, and color is quite good. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is perhaps one of the best remastering jobs on a 70's era film I've seen. Its not up to modern standards but its still really good.
So... 3 stars for the silly drama, 4 stars for the print and 5 stars for the racing. I'm guessing if your idea of racing is a bunch of loud cars going around in circles this isn't the film for you, but if you love it, this is an experience you'll enjoy and won't readily forget!

Do you like driving? Do you like Porsches? If you answered yes to either, you'll like Le Mans. It is virtually a documentary on the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Plenty of great racing footage, a mixture of scenes shot for the movie and actual footage from the 1970 event. The prototype sports cars from this era are quite stunning, resembling vehicles from a science fiction movie (lots of Porsches!). They hired "real" racing drivers to drive the cars, along with Steve McQueen himself, also an avid racer. (Note: One of the drivers crashed during a practice session and lost a leg; i.e., no "smoke and mirrors" here, this is the real thing.)

On the other hand, if you answered no to the questions above, there is little in this movie for you. The acting is pretty weak. There is a faint attempt to draw the viewer into the human drama of racing. I don't think most "non racers" will be captivated by any of this.

Sure, this film is not Citizen Kane or anything, but it is really quite good. I guess people tend to write it off because it is a "racing movie". It does have a simple plot and, as many others have pointed out, minimal dialogue. But this film says a lot in a subtle way -- something you never see in movies today.

The late 60's/early 70's were such a great time for cars and racing, and this movie captures the essence of that period in motorsports. Actually the cars themselves would not look out of place at all today. But this was a long time ago -- before NASCAR ;-) -- and these cars were not so high-tech as they might look. Racing was far more dangerous then than it is now; drivers were getting killed all the time as I recall (I was 14 when "Le Mans" was released). "Le Mans" really makes you feel what it must have been like to be a racer back then. It is a study of contrast between dull, quiet "real life" outside the race and the vitality, urgency and danger of competition that motivates the drivers.

"Le Mans" is one of the only two good auto racing movies that were ever made. (The other is Grand Prix, which is unfortunately not yet available on DVD.) It is a completely visual movie -- you MUST see the DVD version in widescreen format, with its superior video/audio quality; way too much is lost in the VHS version. The action footage is truly incredible, especially when one considers that this was 1971. If you like cars/racing and movies, "Le Mans" should be in your collection.

The single line that's necessary to understand this film -- if you don't have an instinctive understanding from the moment you hear the engines beginning to rev -- is McQueen's response to "Why do you do it?".

He says (and i'm afraid i have to paraphrase a bit here) "That out there, that's living. Everything else is just waiting."

And that's the truth; for some people, living on the edge -- whatever it may be the edge of -- is the only time they feel truly alive.

The great British driver Stirling Moss's biography is entitled "Everything But my Life". Graham Hill, after retiring and taking a job as a commentator was asked if he missed racing. He replied along the lines of "Twenty-four hours out of most days, I don't miss it at all. But when those engines start up -- I miss it more than anything."

McQueen's film catches this attitude well -- these are men with an obsession, a need to get out there and push themselves and their vehicles to the limits, and beyond.

(Limits? Another Graham Hill story -- he took a car out for practice at the Nurburgring. It was impossible for the car's suspension to allow its belly to touch the roadway. He came back with all the paint rubbed off the bottom of the car.

(A car magazine decided to see how different drivers approached their art; they fitted a gran prix car up with full instrumentation and sent three different drivers out to run hot laps on the same race course. As expected, the profiles of all three varied, some were faster on one corner, some on another -- but two of the three touched the car's theoretical absolute limits in acceleration or cornering force at several points on the lap. The third exceeded them several times...)

If you want a RACING MOVIE -- one that gives equal emphasis to the "Racing" and the "Movie" part, this isn't it -- try "Winning" (with Paul Newman), which i believe Amazon is/was offering as a two-fer with this film.

If you want a racing MOVIE -- one that's first a Movie and secondly a racing sory (albeit with incredible racing sequences) try "Gran Prix", with James Garner.

But if you want a RACING movie -- one that understand swhat and why racing is and lays it all out there, this is it.

Some Other Random Comments: One review mentions McQueen driving a race with his ankle in a cast -- it wasn't in this film, it was either Sebring or Daytona, and he only barely lost to Mario Andretti who was determined not to lose to "an actor".

Almost all of the cars in this film -- including the Porsche which meets such a horrific end on the Armco -- were actual factory cars from the previous season, which were pretty much obsolete in the new season, and which the factory donated/sold cheap to the production company.

Except for the Ferraris -- Enzo read the script, said "A Porsche wins? No Ferraris!" The "Ferraris" which McQueen and crew took great pleasure in destroying are actually replica bodies on old Lola chassises.

Another review mentions that the tires on the Porsche can be seen spinning as it bounces off the Armco in slo-mo, and says that this is beacuse the accelerator had been jammed open to cause it to crash more spectacularly. From what i heard at the time, the car was first smashed into the Armco under radio control at a speed approaching 200MPH; after it bounced off, a stutn driver got into it, strapped himself solidly in, and gunned it up to sixty or more MPH, hitting the barrier again at a sharp angle which resulted in several more bounces. The tires are burning because it was wide open to enable him to do more elaborate spins and crashes. (They cover up the cut between the RC crash and the controlled crash in the slo-mo sequence by one of the cutaways to McQueen's face as he relives the crash after everything comes to a halt...)

Feel the Need For Speed? This is the DVD for you.

Today, a film like Le Mans could probably never be made. It really took the insistent passion of Steve Mcqueen to bring the blunt, terrifying beauty of sports car racing to the screen. Though the movie proved once and for all that mainstream audiences simply have no interest in reality-based racing films, for lovers of the "golden age" of sports car racing, this film is pure treasure. The sights, the sounds (The spine-chilling scream of a Porsche 917 changing gears at 8000 RPM; can you ever get over it once you've heard it?) and the gut emotions that racing cars ilicit are right there to have and hold, as in no other film, ever. It is certain that McQueen the racer made this film for us, the race fans. Though a commercial flop, it may well be his most honest, and personal, film.

Having competed at an amateur level in various classes of road racing in North America in the 80's, I can testify this is the real deal. I felt the driver's pain as they competed through the rainy night.

Whoever was reponsible for the film to DVD conversion created a masterpiece. I don't know how they derived the DD 5.1 (reg trademark) (perhaps they set up mic trees and re-recorded from the original theater suround sound?)
Video bit-rates are super high so all the racing action scenes are super clear and brilliant. All and all a technical masterpiece. A really nice gift for your high-end home theater system.

NOTE: This review applies to the 2003 DVD release. The earlier VHS release was dissappointing to me.

I'll keep it short and sweet - Le Mans is the best motor racing movie ever, and the DVD looks absolutely superb, with a terrific widescreen print that showcases the stunning cars of the era (the most exciting cars ever built in my humble opinion). In particular, the first 8-10 minutes of the race is a master class in motor sport cinematography and editing. On the first lap we are able to marvel at the sights, and incredible sounds, of the mighty Porsche 917's and Ferrari 512's dueling, and then, as lap two begins, Michael Legrand's outstanding, upbeat and funky-ish orchestral score kicks in, helping propel the race footage to further levels of excitement. I could go on, but I won't. Buy this essential DVD.