MovieChat Forums > Le Mans (1971) Discussion > Way too much dialog!!!

Way too much dialog!!!

posted 14 years ago by Kloot
5 replies | jump to latest

Seriously! What is it with all that yackety-yak in this movie?!
I wonder how McQueen was even able to memorize all those lines.

But otherwise - GREAT RACE FLICK!

[–] wab-3 14 years ago

Ha!

Watching it for the third time, all those silent, moody interludes with the widow...eventually you want to scream at the guy, "Just say something!" You know, like how about a nice shag to take your mind off your lingering grief?

It's amazing that Cool Steve got away with such a thin frosting of plot dressing up what is basically a documentary of endurance racing.

[–] cljohnston108 14 years ago

Well, even with a documentary, you have a narrator talking over pretty much every frame of the film.
This is the only movie where everybody just shut up and let us watch the race!

[–] nutsberryfarm 12 years ago

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

[–] lew_jast 14 years ago

I watch this movie almost every time it's broadcast and never get tired of the footage...this and Grand Prix have the best authentic racing footage ever recorded in a film...as an avid racing fan, I highly recommend this film...that said I would expect that you're being facetious with your comment, considering there is no discernable dialog through the first 37 minutes of the film and standard dialog throughout the rest of the film...GREAT FILM...wish there was more racing films that are worth something...for the record, my belief is this film is Any Given Sunday for racing.

[–] dfm1981 14 years ago

"LeMans" is much better than "Grand Prix" if only because it used the real cars that actually raced in the 1970 race. Grand Prix created fake Formula 1 cars that looked like the real things but were actually Formula 3 cars underneath.

Also, in LeMans the race is the story while Grand Prix had this soap opera of a plot involving the drivers and their wives and girlfriends. Now Grand Prix had some real race footage (filmed from a Ford GT40 camera car that followed the field for the first lap or two) intertwined with theatrical footage. Also they have great helicopter footage of the race at Spa that year when a rainstorm caused some carnage along the course as the cars weren't ready for it.

LeMans producers actually entered a car in the 1970 race that had cameras mounted on it. It can be seen in one shot of the movie. McQueen was to be one of its drivers but the film's insurance company said no way. That film is all through the movie as well as film shot from cameras around the course during that race.