Ford’s desire to crush Ferrari at Le Mans is one of the most well known stories in the history of automotive racing, and later this year you’ll be able to see it on the big screen, with an excellent cast to boot. Christian Bale and Matt Damon star as Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, two individuals heavily involved with the GT40’s success at Le Mans. And Jon Bernthal, best known for his roles in The Walking Dead and The Punisher, will portray Lee Iacocca. Director James Mangold has a history of great movies behind his belt, so this is probably a film you don’t want to miss. Ford v Ferrari arrives in theaters November 15th.
I, for one, welcome the potential beginnings of an Automotive Cinematic Universe.
I am old enough to remember when Le Mans hit the theaters almost 50 years ago. I hope I find this picture as entertaining as I did that one. I understood Enzo wouldn’t allow actual Ferraris to be used in the movie Le Mans so the producers used Lolas made to look like Ferraris. That’s not hard for me to believe.
The recent passing of Niki Lauda caused me to recall a very good movie from about six years ago: Rush produced by Ron Howard.
Genuine Ferrari 512s were used to film the Le Mans racing and pit scenes. The 512 that was wrecked/exploded was a Lola based prop.
Although I’m sure it’ll take plenty of the usual Hollywood cinematic license vs. historical accuracy, the trailer looks promising. Can’t wait to see the movie and find out!
Very few movies interest me these days. This one certainly does.
That’s how I feel about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
It’s been decades since looked forward to a movie, but based on reviews and trailers, looks good. And the transportation guys seemed to have nailed it as far as period pieces go. For example, the trailer shows a shot of Spahn’s movie ranch and the infamous ’59 Ford is there, correct color and all.
The actual 1959 Ford used by the Manson Family to travel to and from the murder sites still exists.
I’d echo GearheadDave’s comments, and some of the stunts in the trailer looked a bit cinema but the story is worth a good telling.
I’ll be there!
Did you ever see “Gone With the Windstar” ? Or that one about the Tracer ; “The Little Mercurymaid” . Or the unforgettable “Now, Voyager”. Then there was that great Western by Kia…”Rondo !” But my favorite by far was the one about the surfers that drove the Vega all over looking for the best waves…”Endless Bummer”.
As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never have transmission problems again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never have transmission problems again.
What film is this from ?
And then there are some other favorites, like Easy Tellurider, On The Town Car, or The Fabulous StudeBaker Boys. And who can forget The Maltese Falcon or the James Bond classics – Dr. Nova and Gold Duster.
I’m also reminded of the great Rex Harrison musical My Fair Lane and Harrison Ford’s classic Ramblers Of The Lost Ark.
Why did you get me started?
A mechanic attacks an old Maserati, hoping to get it running…in theaters this fall : “Bora Bora Bora !”
Ooh, movies about Italian cars! Reminds me of the one about the early postwar sports car doing unexplainable things: The Exorcistilia.
Cheech and Chong buy a ’71 Pinto and get rear ended. Now it’s ” Up in Smoke”!
A single father raises three boys, all of whom happen to drive Pontiac J bodies in “My Three Sunfires”.
How about The Adventures of Ford Fairlane!
Oh wait….
Yup, I had already seen this trailer. Looks promising, I hope it’s good.
Maybe we should have CC movie night in November…
It is a must see for sure. Lets hope the movie will be historically accurate.
Accurate to which history?
That is to say, will it tell the Ford, Shelby, or Ferrari viewpoint?
Accuracy and perspective aren’t the same.
How are Shelby and Ford’s perspectives contradictory? The only significant conflict is that Ford was responsible for the staged tie that didn’t work.
Historically accurate according to whatever we can find on Wikipedia. LOL.
I don’t know, I have this feeling Hollywood will try to convince us Shelby built the car from the scratch.
Ford v Ferrari is based on AJ Balme’s book Go Like Hell. It’s dishonest and libelous to suggest Ford v Ferrari is based on Wikipedia.
It was clearly a joke.
I certainly hope the film tells the truth about that cheeky rascal, New Zealander Bruce McLaren, who stole the race from Ken Miles on the finish line.
The staged tie was voided by Le Mans officials, not through dishonesty by McLaren. McLaren started behind Miles; after Ford got permission to stage a tie, Le Mans decided to break the tie in favor of McLaren/Amon because McLaren had started behind Miles and had covered more distance.
It’s easy to find several different versions of this story on the web. My hat’s off to McLaren in any event. When you’re from a small country in the South Pacific and standing on the world stage, you’ve got to make the most of your opportunities – no one’s going to hand it to you on a plate.
Regardless of the various “stories” there’s no question what happened or that the ACO made that decision.
There’s lots of photos on the web which appear to show the 1966 Le Mans finish with McLaren’s number two car crossing the line a little over a car length ahead. That indicates there was no tie and no need for “the ACO” to make a decision as you say.
Of course the story may be more complicated than the photos suggest. Perhaps you could enlighten us?
I’m game to see the movie, but Matt Damon as Shelby? He’s too short!
Jon Bernthal doesn’t have much resemblance to ’60s Lee Iacocca either, so I’m expecting big things out of his performance if they’re not trying to sell him on purely a looks basis.
Seriously! Besides looking Italian decent I couldn’t think of an actor that could look less like Lee Iacocca. He must have nailed the audition.
Well, Tige Andrews is long gone, so what can you do?
How to turn a messy project into a winner enterprise? Just hire The Punisher.
Aside from being too short, he’s not masculine enough to portray Carroll Shelby. The Rock would have been a better choice.
Speaking of real car related movies, how about a new “semi-documentary” of Mr. Delorean:
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/728003717/as-john-delorean-alec-baldwin-revisits-the-past-of-a-car-made-for-the-future
The drivers of the winning car were New Zealanders Chris Amon Bruce McClaren with Dennis Hulme in the second place car, I’ll watch the movie when I get a chance but will be disappointed if those three stars arent mentioned.
If this movie is as good as Rush, I’ll be quite happy.
I now have something to look forward to besides Downton Abbey this September.
I’m looking forward to this for the car porn alone, and this is definitely one of the few automotive tales worthy of cinema. I’m definitely making this my lone movie theatre outing for the year, I can’t remember the last time in my life I’ve looked forward to a movie months in advance!
The casting is a bit questionable physically I think, but mass audiences won’t know how these guys looked over 50 years ago IRL anyway, and if it’s immersive I simply won’t care after I settle in.
Like Jack Nicholson, I’m kinda thinking that Matt Damon has turned into one of those actors who plays the same character in every film. Can he be brash enough to be a convincing Shelby?
Christian Bale looks like a good choice for Ken Miles though.
The Art of Racing in the Rain will be released on August 9. There are cars in that one, too.