Rating: Summary: For the purist, this is the best racing movie ever made. Review: If you are looking for a racing movie with a lot of plot, drama, heavy dialogues, etc., then this isn't it. However, if you want a pure "racing" movie that really captures the excitement, aroma & environment of a major international motor race, then look no further.McQueen's movie is actually from the 1970 24 Heures de Le Mans event, and it features some of the best prototype sports car the sport has ever seen -> Porsche 917 & Ferrari 512, to name a few. Le Mans takes us back to an era when the circuit at La Sarthe was exceptionally fast and dangerous. If you feel like going to the races, but don't want to leave your house, then I highly recommend this movie.
Rating: Summary: Start your engines, its coming, a great racing movie. Review: I have been waiting for this one on DVD. I have the VHS. I give this movie 5 stars because where else can you watch racing action like this between Porsche 917's and Ferrari 512's from the 1970's. As far as the plot and and who gets the girl, who cares? This is a racing classic for racing fans. Oh yeah, it stars Steve McQueen, another classic, not to mention many other great race car drivers from that era that made this movie possible..
Rating: Summary: LeMans Review: Would like to see it on DVD with all the extra footage. Would pay extra for this DVD anytime. A real classic
Rating: Summary: Just super Review: Almost any racing nut should have this in their video collection. The late Steve McQueen didn't have to act much to do this movie - he's been there. Thankfully, for racing enthusiasts, there isn't much plot to this - just enough to get Hollywood to buy off on it. Until you've actually stumbled around the track for 24+ hours, bleary-eyed from following your favorite team with no sleep, this is the next best thing to being there. LeMans is really just about racing. Having been to the LeMans three times, I can confidently say he captured the on-track commotion and spectacle very well - even including the ferris-wheel across from the tire-bridge. Although the cars nowadays are somewhat more brutal looking, and FIA whimped out several years back and mandated chicanes on the back straight, it's still a great flick that is even shown today to many tour groups as they wait for the modern race to start.
Rating: Summary: Excellent racing, where is the plot? Review: I love racing, and everything that deals with racing. I bought this movie and for what I paid, I am content to an high level. McQueen, I think, uses too much drama to try and create rivalry between drivers and establish a good plot (I will never agree that he ever achieves a true plot in the movie, or at least a good one). It's worth buying if you like to see true racing cars, including Porsche and Ferrari, battle it out until the very end. Surprising ending. I heard, before I saw the movie that I wouldn't expect it, and I can tell you I didn't! Buy it today.
Rating: Summary: The ultimate race car movie. Review: This is the film that got me hooked on motorsport back in the late 1970s. The action sequences are superb and without wanting to ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it - Steve McQueen doesn't win the race in the film, so thankfully no yucky "running around in slow motion" ending. Limited dialogue so more time for atmosphere and on-track action which speaks far more anyway. Thoroughly enjoyable, any motorsport fan will enjoy this.
Rating: Summary: C'mon, just buy it! Review: This weak flimsy script has well-known American, French, and German actors and actresses stumbling through some of the worst dialogue ever, but it also has the sights and sounds of the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans (you even get a glimpse of the camera car with camera in one scene). This priceless montage of the deep rumble of Ford 8-liter V8's, the bark of the Ferrari and Porsche 5-liter 12-cylinder engines, or the raspy howl of the Ferrari, Matra, and Alfa Romeo 3-liter prototype engines is a must-have. Some footage was staged, but most was filmed during the actual race in 1971, when a sunny afternoon gave way to horrible rain, as if conspiring with the director to try to make something for a plot. If you've ever been to the race (full disclosure, I went in '92 and '93), it almost makes you misty-eyed. The carnivals, the people sleeping absolutely anywhere, and the dedication to watch cars race until it hurts even to watch are all captured in this, and for less than 20 bucks and two hours, you can be transported back any time you want. Buy this movie, and send the wife and kids to Gramma's house.
Rating: Summary: For race fans and McQueen fans - all others need not apply Review: This is a great racing movie but not necessarily a great movie movie. You could write the dialogue on the inside of a match book and the plot is as thin as a McDonald's burger but that's not the point, is it. This movie is about Steve, Porsches, Ferraris and speed. The movie reeks of '70's movie clichés - long close ups, quiet looks between actors, stop action / freeze frame crashes. But some how it all works. The action scenes are why you watch this flick and if you love cars, this is the movie for you. Your non-car friends will yawn through this one (mine do) but on a rainy winter day, when LeMans is still months away and your Porsche is under the cover in the garage, this is one film that will recharge your batteries until the frost is off the pumpkin.
Rating: Summary: There is a story there... Review: Yes, the main story is about racing. It's what Steve McQueen wanted. But there is a love story there, or perhaps of a budding love. It's not told in a "in your face" "Hit the viewer in the head" fashion. It's done with the tilt of a head, a look in the eye, the inflection of a voice, a smile. It's not just what is said, but what isn't said, perhaps even avoided. And if you want to see some of the cars in this movie in real life, check around for Historic Auto Races. You can still see and hear Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s (among others) there.
Rating: Summary: An Essential Car Racing Movie! Review: This film provides a graphic example of a wonderful niche movie designed for, with, and by racing enthusiasts against the better sense of Hollywood types who were looking for something more formulaic and bankable. As drama or story, this film falters badly, for the plot is loosely threaded together more as an afterthought (or an excuse) for the real story behind the sequences; the race at LeMans. Steve McQueen used all of his star power and considerable charm to get this film made, but he did so not for reason of profit or gain, but because he wanted to spend the time, energy and money to race at LeMans, and the film gave him the excuse to do so. This much said, the racing sequences are both authentic and spectacular, and one learns much about the men who race as well as the women who follow them. It gets alot of its credibility from the fact that McQueen did actually drive the car in the sequences, and that most of the drivers featured were the actual participants in the race. So throughout the 24 hour enduro, which is what Lemans is really all about, we get a very graphic notion of what it means to race and to risk everything on the performance of your senses and the machine you are driving at speeds exceeding 200 miles an hour. In this sense the movie is a terrific documentary, one that did not do well at the box office, say, compared to "Grand Prix", another terrific racing movie which was about formula drivers starring a young James Garner, Yves Montand, and Eva Marie Saint. Yet, in the final analysis, this movie seems less contrived, more immediate, and much more about racing than any of the others I have seen. This is an interesting if flawed drama, but an intriguing look at the whole subculture of professional racing, done by someone who lived, breathed and ate from the cup of such stuff. Enjoy!
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