Grand Prix (1966)

Grand Prix
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Robert Alan Arthur
1966/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/John Frankenheimer Productions/etc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

Pete Aron: [voiceover continues] The only thing to do here is to drive just as fast as you know how, and hope your car doesn’t break.

If not for the splendid racing scenes, this would just be another waste of some good actors on 3 hours of typical mid-sixties melodrama.

The film begins with several voice-overs that introduce the characters and explain Formula 1 racing to the uninitiated.  It then settles on the story of American driver Pete Aron (James Garner) who is accused of causing a British challenger to spin out and become seriously injured.  He is fired from his team.   Aron becomes a sports journalist but is soon picked up by Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune) and drives for him.

Saul Bass title sequence

Pete takes up with the injured driver’s estranged wife (Jessica Walters), setting up a love triangle.  Another kind of love triangle is the romance between married super-star driver Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) and an American fashion designer (Eva Marie Saint).

It says something about this movie that my husband, a huge Formula 1 fan, had no desire to see this again.  Some of the driving shots are absolutely spectacular and the film ends with an unbelievable crash sequence.  I just wish they hadn’t hung such a dopey story to it.

Grand Prix won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Effects, Sound Effects .