1966 Directed by John Frankenheimer
The story tells about the confrontation of four first-class racers of Formula 1. Each of the competitors had their own additional motivation to become a champion. Their world is a risk and extreme, fast driving on the highway. The taste of adrenaline is what race lovers live. Outside of competition, they all experience personal dramas and upheavals, and the more important the desired title becomes for them.
James Garner Eva Marie Saint Yves Montand Toshirō Mifune Brian Bedford Jessica Walter Antonio Sabàto Françoise Hardy Adolfo Celi Claude Dauphin Enzo Fiermonte Geneviève Page Jack Watson Donald O'Brien Jean Michaud Albert Rémy Rachel Kempson Ralph Michael Alan Fordney Paul Frees Tommy Franklin Graham Hill
Cherokee Productions Douglas & Lewis Productions Joel Productions John Frankenheimer Productions Inc. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Ölümle yarisanlar, A nagy verseny, Гран при, Ґран-прі, הפרס הגדול, グラン・プリ, 그랑프리, Ölümle Yarışanlar, 霹雳神风
Not to be hyperbolic but during the racing sequences in Grand Prix I’m pretty sure I saw the face of God
🎵 overture 🎵 🚗 spectacular racing scene 😀🏁 boring drama 😩 🚗 spectacular racing scene 😀🏁 françoise hardy looking beautiful 😍 boring hetero drama 😩👫 i sleep 😴 🎵 intermission 🎵 😮 google informs me that Jessica Walter is Lucille Bluth from arrested development 😮 more boring hetero drama 😩👫 💭 "I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?" 💭 🚗 spectacular racing scene 😀🏁
Viewed along with Nick Langdon and Min! Go check out their words on this beautiful film. Frankenheimer #12 baby! Ranked list here.
All the way back in 1966 John Frankenheimer had set the bar so high for racing films there is not a single one better than the technical marvel he gave us then. The Wachoskwi's Speed Racer probably comes the closest maybe followed by Ron Howard's Rush, and then one could argue the viruoso chase scenes in films like The French Connection and Ronin (the latter even directed by the man himself) as formidable comparisons but even those are a little different and don't quite reach the mark of what JF does here.
Grand Prix also manages to have a refined plot that…
From the explosive opening sequence, it is more than obvious that Grand Prix is one of the more gorgeous and colorful mosaics of the 60s. Shot with the same epic scope of 2001 with the Super Panavision camera but within the grand scale of Formula One racing, it instantly claimed the title as the definitive racing film of the time. The driving scenes are a romanticized super haven for racing enthusiasts.
In collaboration with influential visualist Saul Bass, director John Frankenheimer molds a tension-filled look at racing that drops the viewer directly into the life-risking thrills. Cameras are from countless angles, catching every second of action. Greasing the smooth transitions is razor-sharp editing, credited to over four editors, and the…
Cars as a metaphor for love, cars as a metaphor for sex, cars as a metaphor for wilful self-destruction, cars as a metaphor for EVERYTHING.
I love, love a solid entry in the Car Metaphor genre (See also: Ford v Ferrari, Speed Racer, Rush, etc etc). “Grand Prix” is as solid and shiny as they come.
With overwhelming montages and moving titles by the legendary Saul Bass, as well as footage from actual F1 races intercut, John Frankenheimer imbues “Grand Prix” with frenetic power. There’s also some dialogue thrown in. Mostly just about cars. And that’s more than enough for me.
I am truly sorry to my neighbors for watching this loud, LOUD film in the middle of the night.
And I am truly jealous of those who were able to take in this beauty on its original Cinerama release.
My brain exploded many times witnessing the scope and magnitude of the racing scenes
56/100
Clearly this would be a more powerful experience in Cinerama, even though (a) it's not true Cinerama (shot in Super Panavision 70) and (b) the racing sequences, with their innovative use of split-screen and recursive imagery, are a fairly small percentage of the three-hour running time. Even on a TV set, however, Frankenheimer's muscular sensibility comes through loud and clear. (Love that he and/or Saul Bass placed his credit on a shot of a driver giving his crew the thumbs-up sign.) Soap-opera narrative is a decidedly mixed bag, especially when it comes to some of the drippier interactions between Montand's burned-out champ and Saint's saintly saint, but it's nonetheless pretty impressive that you're not sure for whom you're meant…
Grand Prix is the greatest motor racing film of all time.
It’s the gold standard for racing movies, a film which was decades ahead of its time in terms of on-track realism. It was one of the last of the 70mm Cinerama epics and even as we are now stuck watching it on our televisions, you can still feel the scale of it seeping through. It is a filmic treasure of style and technical marvel.
From a cinematic standpoint, the level of visceral momentum that Frankenheimer was able to create, and the amazing angles he was able to capture, are nothing short of extraordinary.
The film features six Grand Prix races: Brands Hatch, Monaco, Spa, Monza, Zandvoort, and Clermont-Ferrand, and…
I'm not entirely sure that this movie really needs to be nearly three hours long, but all of those racing sequences are just as exhilarating as you could ever imagine them possibly being - which is the least you can expect from both a movie all about Formula 1 and from director John Frankenheimer.
Whenever this movie is all about those racing scenes, which are so beautifully put together and incredibly energetic from start to finish, that's where it's a near masterpiece. As expected from Frankenheimer, it's a huge technical achievement, and he finds a way to make the most with the stellar international cast.
But most of it does stall in regards to the melodrama, which feels too much…
With a Sports Movie plot-structure and exhilarating Panavision racing sequences filmed before the novelty of seatbelts and CGI, Grand Prix might be the best movie about motor racing (if McQueen’s Le Mans is the best movie about what it feels like to race.)
“It has always seemed to me that to do something very dangerous,” Yves Montand says in the film, “requires a certain absence of imagination.” Proof of my vivid imagination is that the closest I’ll ever come to experiencing motor racing was strapped into a boxy rental Renault a couple of years ago and driving the streets and tunnels of Monte Carlo of the Grand Prix route.
How did I not even know this movie existed before a month ago?
You've got perhaps the most underrated filmmaker ever, John Frankenheimer, shooting on pristine 65mm film with every Panavision 65mm camera in existence at the time, James Garner and Yves Montad, Eva Marie Saint, Françoise Hardy looking like literally the most beautiful woman in history, amazing racing action all done for real, fantastic cinematography and music, bananas editing and actually good split-screen overseen by Saul Bass, and then fucking Toshiro Mifune shows up?!?!
Sure, there are parts of the drama that don't work perhaps as well as they could, but the sequences that DO work work SO well that I can't help but love this movie. The racing action is breathtaking and more exhilarating than every MCU flick put together 100 times.
This is how you make a fucking movie.
The first 20 minutes of Grand Prix are crazy and a absolute highlight of the film. It's too bad that it doesn't manage to keep on this level al the way through.
The sound and editing are great, as are all the racing scenes, i just wish there was a bit more of it. There's to much focus on outside drama and the drama also isn't very interesting to say the least. The film could have easily been 30 minutes shorter.
If you're willing to put up with this unnecessary drama and filler, but also love amazing filmed racing sequences then Grand Prix is a must watch though. In my opinion and depite it's flaws Grand Prix is much better dan Le Mans or Rush.
Also, Grand Prix gets 100 bonus points because, Toshirō Mifune!
