Hey everybody, it’s movie time! I’m re-writing the words from the start of a Styx hit song and saying today is “movie time!” For movie time today, let’s watch “Ford v Ferrari” with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Here’s an auto-racing movie, but you shouldn’t stereotype it as just “auto-racing” as it has wonderful acting from the headliners through the entire cast.
“Ford v Ferrari” is the story from the 1960s when the Ford Motor Co. set out to beat Ferrari on the biggest international race of the time: the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. Ford had just allowed itself to be used by Ferrari in a business deal (Ford thought it had the upper hand in a buyout, but it turned out to be just a pawn so Enzo “il Commendatore” Ferrari could sell his company to a different outfit).
So, Ford brings in racing legend Carroll Shelby of the AC Cobra sportscar and racing fame (Dillion) and Shelby’s right-hand in racing was Englishman Ken Miles (Bale), who was as much an engineer as he was a passionate, competitive driver. Together with their team, they took a poorly designed race car and turned it into the now legendary GT40.
The best thing about “Ford v Ferrari” isn’t the technical stuff (not too much, but enough so you get context), but how Dillon and Bale interact, but even better, is how Bale and his on-screen wife (Caitriona Balfe) play out their emotional battlefield of a relationship. The trio make wonderful work with this film.
Along the way with “Ford v Ferrari,” you get a supporting cast that does the characters of a variety of weaselly Ford corporate drones, including the characterization of Leo Beebe, the backstabbing marketing executive who hates Miles and connives to undermine Miles: first keep him from driving and then when Miles is winning LeMans insists that all three Ford cars cross the finish line together first at the same time (and therefore Miles didn’t win the race and get that personal glory).
Oh, BTW … the movie was titled “Le Mans ’66” for its international release.
All-in-all, “Ford v Ferrari” is first a wonderful film with wonderful work by the actors. You simply cannot go wrong with “Ford v Ferrari” … I guarantee it!
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Directors: Sam Peckinpah | Sydney Pollack | Peter Yates
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