Entertaining 60s sports car racing flick receives full blown Hollywood treatment

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2019)

I must confess that sports car racing is probably at the bottom of my list when it comes to the type of spectator sports I like to watch. Granted, it takes a lot of courage to be a race driver. But why risk your life especially if you're married and have children? (as in the case of one of the protagonists here, Ken Miles, played quite effectively by Christian Bale).

What's more, most of the glory seems to go to the companies that put up the money for these spectacles. So in this case, we're asked to root for the Ford Motor Company with their obnoxious, win-at-all-costs boss, Henry Ford II (Tracie Letts), and his minions, who propose that Ford enter the racing game as a grand marketing promotion opportunity.

In looking at the title of this film, one can get the wrong first impression that the antagonist is Ferrari, the small Italian car manufacturer, known for its output of luxury vehicles as well as success in sports car racing. After Henry Ford attempts to buy Ferrari and is turned down, this is his impetus for getting involved in the racing game. His goal is to develop a new, blazing fast car that can usurp Ferrari's dominant position in winning one prestigious race after another (particularly on the French Le Mans circuit).

Ferrari thus has little screen time after the initial rejection of the Ford buyout. Instead, Ford hires Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) a famous driver forced to retire due to a heart condition, now with an up and coming reputation as a top notch car designer. Shelby, an aggressive straight-shooter, hires the loose cannon Brit, Ken Miles, as his driver and mechanic consultant, just as he's about to lose his auto body shop due to non-payment of taxes.

Meanwhile, Henry Ford appoints Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) as his Senior Vice President in charge of developing the Ford GT40 Mk I prototype, the super car that's ultimately supposed to best Ferrari at Le Mans. Bebbe, a buffoon of a character, becomes the antagonist, when he opposes Shelby and his insistence that Miles take the wheel during the big race. Bebbe can't stomach such a "politically incorrect" character as Miles and insists that other drivers test out the new Ford car at the upcoming Le Mans race. Sure enough, Ford ends up losing badly against Ferrari.

A cursory glance of the true history of all these machinations reveals that Beebe's push back against Shelby was exaggerated: the main sticking point in the film is his insistence that Davis not be the appointed driver. Historically, that never happened: the year before success, Davis actually DID race at Le Mans and lost to Ferrari.

There's more standard Hollywood treatment here with the specious suggestion that the development of the GT40 Mk 1 was mainly due to Davis's innate knowledge of car mechanics-there's a scene where Shelby rejects a computer analysis by Ford engineers and trusts Davis, with his more home-grown approach, to fine tune the car. In actuality, the Ford engineers worked in close conjunction with Shelby and Davis, and the ultimate success was truly a team effort.

While Damon's part as Shelby in the first half of the film revolves around defending Miles and convincing Ford that Beebe's approach at micro-managing will not work, in the second half, his role is really reduced to a glorified cheerleader, as Christian Bale ends up with the much juicier part of actually driving the car during the Daytona 500 "tune-up" and the ultimate challenge at Le Mans.

All the behind-the-scenes drama ends up as a kind of mixed bag. Shelby trying to rein in the aforementioned "loose cannon" Miles can be entertaining but sometimes gets a bit much (especially when Damon and Bale fight like five year olds, tussling on the ground while Miles' wife looks on). Speaking of Miles' wife, Mollie (played by the sultry British actress Caitriona Balfe), she and their young son Peter, have little to do throughout, also often acting as glorified cheerleaders.

The aforementioned behind-the-scenes drama also applies to the goings-on at the Ford Motor Company. There's a good scene where Shelby takes Henry Ford for a test drive which causes him to have an epiphany regarding the danger of driving these type of cars. As a result, Ford entrusts Shelby with calling the shots after the initial loss to Ferrari at Le Mans.

Less successful is the way the scenarists handle Beebe who is reduced to the aforementioned buffoon. I'm thinking especially of that ridiculous scene where Shelby locks Beebe in an office, preventing him from giving orders during one of the critical test races.

Ultimately, a film such as this needs to present a credible and entertaining enough behind-the-scenes drama in addition to its actual racing sequences. On that score, I will reiterate, the Ford v Ferrari "drama" is passable, which will hold your interest (not all of it is that "believable" however, on the other hand).

The racing scenes (particularly the ones at Le Mans) are particularly well done and the outcome is a bit of a curve ball (SPOILERS: with Ferrari out of the race, Miles, who is way ahead, is ordered to slow down so that all three Ford cars cross the finish line at the same time!).

The film also manages some pathos at the climax, when Miles ends up being killed in a test drive accident two months after his triumph at Le Mans. Racing aficionados will probably dig this wholeheartedly. Much lesser enthusiasts (such as myself) can appreciate the screenwriting effort, despite the Hollywood treatment.