A dirty white Ford GT40 is tearing down a straight. Just in front of him is a pristine red Ferrari P30 P3. The speeds are blistering. Both cars are doing close to 200 miles per hour. The stress on car and body is almost overwhelming. Both drivers have been behind the wheel for hours. Lorenzo Bandini is just ahead but Ken Miles is closing fast. There's a vicious right turn coming. Someone has to give way. If Miles doesn't slow Bandini will have to cut across him. If Bandini doesn't give way Miles won't have room to turn. They are seconds away from an orgy of blood and glass. The bend is rapidly approaching. Ooohhh shit.
The year is 1963 and Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) has a plan to revive the reputation of the Ford motor company. Speed and glamour are the bywords of the day and those words are synonymous with one brand - Ferrari. Vice President Iacocca has a plan. Build a car that can beat Ferrari and one that can do it on a world stage. To bring his dream to life ex racer and Shelby American owner Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) is brought on board. Shelby, a genius when it comes to cars only has one proviso; that an ill tempered Brummie mechanic and journeyman racer by the man of Ken Miles (Christian Bale) comes along for the ride too. Miles though, well he doesn't exactly fit the image Ford are trying to project.
I loved this. It's good ol' fashioned movie making at it's best. The kind of film that had it been made in the 70's it would have had Newman and Redford as the leads, Newman as Miles of course. It's 152 minutes of pure and utter entertainment. Don't worry about the running time at all. It flies by in a wave of thrilling race action, some proper belly laughs and a dash of genuinely affecting moments courtesy of a superb performance from Christian Bale, who's a scream as the ever so slightly eccentric Miles. Bale isn't someone you could accuse of having the warmest screen presence in past films but here he's a revelation. A funny, loving father and husband who dealt with his World War 2 experience but diving headlong into a hobby and turning it into a career. If he doesn't get an Oscar nod at least for this I'll eat my shoe.
Damon has a whale of a time as well in the less showy role of Shelby. As volatile in his own way as Miles but far more capable of keeping it under wraps. He becomes the part and he looks it too. Sometimes in period pieces certain actors just look and sound out of place but not here. His Shelby feels as real and lived in as any part of the beautifully recreated 1960's setting. Ireland's own Caitriona Balfe as Mollie Miles is sadly underused but does get one great moment where we see Ken isn't the only gearhead in the house. The Ford scenes in Detroit have a nice Mad Men feel to them as well and Jon Bernthal and Tracy Letts (so good in Ladybird) have fun as Iacocca and Henry Ford the second while Josh Lucas drips slime as Leo Beebe, the ultimate company man. Like the best panto villains you'll want to hiss everytime him and his agenda rock up on screen.
That agenda, the company agenda is one that Shelby and Miles face off against throughout the film and it's not hard to read all manner of meaning into them. Director James Mangold's (Copland, masterpiece) own filmmaking past and the hassles he's faced with creating his own visions and of course the ever encroaching hold corporations are having on everyday life. It makes a film set more than half a century in the past feel fresh and topical. I'm not a fan of driving sports at all and so was naturally wary going into this but it didn't matter a jot. There's a template here that could be laid over any number of sports and it would still work because for all the flash and speed on show it's really just a human story of people and their passions.
It won't be the the races you remember here in years to come, no, it will be the smaller, more intimate moments that will stick, a husband and wife sharing a beer and a dance amid the machinery, a father and son discussing a crack in the road, a businessman sharing a rare moment of honesty with his boss and two old friends having a much needed tussle in the middle of spilled groceries. Le Mans '66 is a great watch. Don't miss out on this in the cinema. On a huge screen if you can.
In cinemas now.
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