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Ford vs. Ferrari Film


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Saw this movie last night, and if you haven't seen it I recommended you do. Whether you're into cars or not, this is a good movie. Much of what I saw seems factual and true to the automobile war that took place during the 60's. The racecars, the friendships, the personality conflicts and the business of racing and manufacturing were evident in every scene. In my opinion this is a very well made movie about the men and the machines that help make America. (Endorsed by my wife also)

Ford v Ferrari Movie Poster

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I usually cringe at the thought of racing movies as they usually do it so badly (can you say "Days of Thunder?") But my wife and I saw it with my Ford mad mate and his wife and we all agreed that it was a good movie.  Like any car movie you can pick holes in it but for once, they are teeny weeny holes that really don't ruin the effect.  That's eight thumbs up from Australia.

By the way, Tom, bummer about Mr Rogers!   Hee hee hee!

Cheers

Alan

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I went to see it last night and thought it was really pretty good. You have to "simplify and exaggerate" to tell a story in a couple of hours of movie that's engaging and entertaining, when of course "what really happened" was a lot more complex. I thought the writers did a pretty good job, and the central performances were great; I've never met Carroll Shelby or Ken Miles, but "Carroll Shelby" and "Ken Miles" in the movie were believable characters, well acted. And while Damon and Bale get the airtime, let's not forget Catriona Balfe's quietly excellent performance as Molly. Sure you could nit-pick: I'd have liked to see some acknowledgement of Eric Broadley, Roy Lunn and John Wyer's contribution rather than the GT40 just showing up fully formed on a plane from England (Why? How did that get here?), and in reality a lot of the hard work was done by the Ford engineers getting the engine to run reliably for 24 hours (I guess dynamometer testing isn't very dramatic, but a montage of engines blowing up and the finally managing 48 hours with simulated gear changes would have been entertaining, though I guess it doesn't fit so well with the Shelby vs Ford dynamic of the story the movie-makers have chosen to tell). All in all, as a space history buff as well as petrolhead, it put me in mind of The Right Stuff (the opening monologue about what happens over 7000 RPM probably helped, echoing the "demon that lived in the air" opener for that film). Was it 100% accurate? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Am I glad that it made a story I'm really passionate about more accessible and better known to a larger audience? Abso-blinkin-lutely! And if some of them go on to read Go Like Hell or watch The 24 Hour War to find out what really happened, so much the better...

best,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon
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A friend sent me a note to see SHELBY AMERICAN on Netflix.   So I watched that last night.   Pretty good documentary if you are looking for a refresher on Carroll Shelby's history.   I did learn a few things and some I knew, and some I had forgotten.  But it's a good little documentary right now, with the Ford vs Ferrari movie out.  My son said other than the surround in the theater, I should just wait for home viewing.  He knows me pretty well.  He said he didn't think it was quite as good as the Rush movie about Lauda.  No big thing to me,  Just keep making historical racing movies and get them closer to right than Days of Thunder, and I'll be a fan.

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8 minutes ago, randyc said:

My son said other than the surround in the theater, I should just wait for home viewing.  He knows me pretty well.  He said he didn't think it was quite as good as the Rush movie about Lauda. 

If you’ve got a seriously big TV, maybe, but I found the “in the driver’s seat” footage was a real experience when it fills your vision, and certainly reminds you why only a few are cut out for racing at Le Mans, still less WINNING at Le Mans.

I think the movie is certainly up there with Rush (which is about James Hunt... ;-P, says the Englishman who was 11 in 1976). With my nit picker hat on, Rush also doesn’t do justice to the real relationship between Lauda and Hunt, in pursuit of a “better” story.

If you want a documentary version of the FvF story, apparently “The 24 Hour War” is on Netflix, at least it is in the UK...

best,

M.

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1 hour ago, Matt Bacon said:

I went to see it last night and thought it was really pretty good. You have to "simplify and exaggerate" to tell a story in a couple of hours of movie that's engaging and entertaining, when of course "what really happened" was a lot more complex...

Very true. After seeing "FvF," I went back and re-read "Go Like Hell." Just finished it last night.

Covering the whole story would have required a mini-series, not one movie. Which would be OK with me but probably not with the movie-makers.  My favorite comment on movie historical accuracy, seen somewhere on the internet: "Yes, we could have all historical movies written by somebody like Henry Steele Commager. But then nobody would go see the movies."

Two other (off-topic) historical movies I've enjoyed recently, and both of them either barely got released or didn't:

"Current Wars" - the story of the battle to electrify America, between Edison's direct current and Westinghouse/Tesla's alternating current.  Made in 2016 but it got caught up in the Harvey Weinstein studio hassles and shelved for a couple of years.

"City of Lies" with Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker: apparently released only in Italy, due to some legal weirdness. Covers the 1990s Rampart Scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department, including the still unsolved murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Depp is great as real-life detective Russell Poole, trying to make sense of a huge and ever more complex case. 

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9 minutes ago, Matt Bacon said:

If you’ve got a seriously big TV, maybe, but I found the “in the driver’s seat” footage was a real experience when it fills your vision, and certainly reminds you why only a few are cut out for racing at Le Mans, still less WINNING at Le Mans.

I think the movie is certainly up there with Rush (which is about James Hunt... ;-P, says the Englishman who was 11 in 1976). With my nit picker hat on, Rush also doesn’t do justice to the real relationship between Lauda and Hunt, in pursuit of a “better” story.

If you want a documentary version of the FvF story, apparently “The 24 Hour War” is on Netflix, at least it is in the UK...

best,

M.

I can't drive LeMans in a game and I can't seriously imagine driving the real thing after dark at 200 mph.    In the Shelby doc, there was a bit in there about AJ Foyt driving LeMans with just 10 laps of practice.  OMG...

I'll have to look for The 24 Hour War.   

And ok, I did read about the historical inaccuracies of Rush.  

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On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 10:55 AM, Tom Geiger said:

My wife had some discount movie tickets she got at work.  I wanted to see this movie.  She wanted to see the Mr Rogers movie.  Since they were her tickets we saw Mr Rogers.  One word.... DON'T! 

I saw both movies, I am not a movie goer, last seen movie prior to last week= "Top Gun." I enjoyed both movies.  Can't believe you Quaker Commonwealther didn't support a movie about your fellow Pittsburgh icon. Suggest you read the original "Esquire" article.

greg

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I saw the movie with my two boys and I was very pleasantly surprised that it actually exceeded my expectations. The acting was great from all the actors, but in my eyes Bale stole the show. 
    The only thing that irks me about this movie is actually the title. This movie is as much about Ford vs Ferrari as Million Dollar Baby is about boxing or Seabiscuit is about horses. This is a drama about two great friends and their struggles, failures and triumphs. And that’s why it is a great movie to watch. The FvF theme is barely a background to the real story in the movie. Shelby and Miles. But “Ferrari” Stamped on anything sells. Now you put Ford vs Ferrari (USA vs Europe) combined with some creative advertising  and every rusted Mustang owner in US will go pay for the admission and popcorn, so they can drive home after the movie, dreaming they are behind the wheel of a Ferrari-beater. 

    As far as pure cinematography, Rush wins hands down. It also wins bonus points for not being named McLaren vs Ferrari or Lauda vs Hunt. Also, someone commented that Roush was about J.Hunt, which Really made me laugh. The movie could easily have been named “Lauda”. 

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5 hours ago, mrm said:

Also, someone commented that Roush was about J.Hunt, which Really made me laugh. The movie could easily have been named “Lauda”. 

That was me... with my tongue firmly in my cheek ? Believe me, if you were an 11 year old Scalextric mad English lad in 1976, that year’s F1 story was only ever about “Can James Hunt do it?”. Racing fans knew Lauda, but that year that charismatic, rebellious, slightly anti establishment “golden boy” was a National Treasure, in  way no racing driver had been since Stirling Moss and Jim Clark...

best,

M.

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Saw FvF the other day in a theater with excellent screens, audio and seating, pretty much as good as it gets. So my impression of the movie didn't suffer from poor presentation. Overall it was enjoyable and entertaining, and taken on its own terms deserves the success it will no doubt have as a family-friendly holiday movie. As far as auto racing dramas (as opposed to documentaries) it's among the best, which, unfortunately, is a list of not-generally-very-good cinema. These movies tend to be period pieces that don't age well, so first impressions count for a lot. I came away from FvF happy I had gone and found the racing scenes thoroughly enjoyable with the wheel-to-wheel action right up there with McQueen's Le Mans flick which, IMHO, still holds the belt for best racing recreations. But Le Mans is just barely a fictional drama. Of the more recent racing flicks I thought FvF was better than Rush, primarily because of the acting talent, which was uniformly a step-change upwards from the cast of Rush. Rush suffers from a terrible blandness, primarily because of Daniel Brühl's incredibly flat portrayal of Lauda and Ron Howard's wooden directing. FvF, as noted earlier, is essentially a buddy movie and, like many of you, I was ready for another Christian Bale tour-de-force, but was more than pleasantly surprised by Matt Damon's Shelby, which has only slightly to do with the real Carroll but works just fine in the movie.

The fact is that the whole story is inverted in the movie as compared to historical reality. Henry Ford II was a serious Europhile already swept up in the glamour of late 50's jet-set life when he met his 2nd wife, Maria Cristina Vettore , a confirmed jet-setter herself, in 1960. which led to his first divorce and they're marriage (their 2nd in each case) in 1965. FvF happens during this period. Sports car racing was the epitome of jet-set glamour. Buying Ferrari out of near-bankruptcy was just part of his life at the time. Of course there's no way that Italy's Agnelli family would have allowed it, and Enzo Ferrari knew it. The rest is history. Ford (via Roy Lunn) was already active in European racing circles and Carroll Shelby was on the make with his struggling A.C. Ace hop-up operation, buying small block Ford V8s. The whole thing was Meant To Be, obviously. And that's where FvF picks up, and it does a fine job doing it. Only the most die-hard aficionados will notice (or even care, if they do) that no-one except Bale as Miles even looks faintly like who they're supposed to be. The script and acting are strong enough so that the movie works on its own terms with first-rate photography, special effects and editing. Like Days of Thunder before it, it has about as much to do with the historical Miles and Shelby as DofT had with Tim Richmond. But as a racing yarn and buddy flick it works great. See it!

The Deuce & Cristina, Le Mans '66 (with young Edsel Ford in tow).

unnamed-1.jpg

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Just got back home from seeing the movie and it's a DEFINITE must see! Not to give too much of the movie away, there are a couple scenes which had us in the audience burst out laughing. :)

A certain "disagreement" between Miles and Shelby on the street corner was one of them.

Oh yeah............the CARS! If for no other reason, those of us who remember what would have been on the streets back then would be impressed by some of the street scene cars that are shown from time to time.

VERY good story line and I have to give credit to Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. While neither one of them resemble the real life characters to a T, the acting is believable enough that both of them pulled it off very well. I don't remember the actor's name, but the fellow who played Enzo Ferrari was VERY believable! Right down to him speaking Italian...........had a couple laughs with him too in what he said!

So on a rating of 1-10, I give this movie a solid 9. There are a couple car mistakes that had me cringing as there were a few that didn't "belong" there and some other flub ups.

A highly recommended movie from me especially if you're a car guy. ;)

Edited by MrObsessive
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I saw this movie just a few hours ago, I didn't have high expectations and haven't read much about it as I never do with a movie I want to see as I want to make my own opinion...and I was pleasently surprised.
The story might not be accurate in every point as I also noticed but it was entertaining and exciting, good actors, nice scenery and I really liked the racing scenes....nothing beats the sound of a high revving real American V8.B)
So I also recommend it.

Edited by Force
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18 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

Just got back home from seeing the movie and it's a DEFINITE must see! Not to give too much of the movie away, there are a couple scenes which had us in the audience burst out laughing. :)

A certain "disagreement" between Miles and Shelby on the street corner was one of them.

Oh yeah............the CARS! If for no other reason, those of us who remember what would have been on the streets back then would be impressed by some of the street scene cars that are shown from time to time.

VERY good story line and I have to give credit to Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. While neither one of them resemble the real life characters to a T, the acting is believable enough that both of them pulled it off very well. I don't remember the actor's name, but the fellow who played Enzo Ferrari was VERY believable! Right down to him speaking Italian...........had a couple laughs with him too in what he said!

So on a rating of 1-10, I give this movie a solid 9. There are a couple car mistakes that had me cringing as there were a few that didn't "belong" there and some other flub ups.

A highly recommended movie from me especially if you're a car guy. ;)

Not to hijack the thread, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is another great car spotting movie for those of us of a certain age. Especially if you dig in to the actual story of what cars were owned and driven by the real people depicted.

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10 minutes ago, Rodent said:

Not to hijack the thread, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is another great car spotting movie for those of us of a certain age. Especially if you dig in to the actual story of what cars were owned and driven by the real people depicted.

Yes....’The Irishman’ has a lot of neat old cars also.  

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Saw it this afternoon!  Wife actually liked it too, was asking me questions about who and what afterwards.  My mom saw it a few days ago, liked it.  It appealed to "normal" people, which will make it survive as a good movie, expect some awards.

The street scene when Shelby got in the 356 and did the u-turn, I noticed a Ford pickup that was modern street rod stance, but otherwise seeing period cars was cool.  I would challenge the case of the Mercedes 190 sedan parked at the Ferrari factory, I grew up with one (picture), would have thought an Alfa Romeo sedan would be correct.  Seeing the 275GTB and the California was fun.  I didn't know race cars had speedometers.  Otherwise don't have a reason to be critical.

GO SEE IT!
757692028_62e8df9716_c.jpg

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On 11/26/2019 at 5:25 AM, randyc said:

A friend sent me a note to see SHELBY AMERICAN on Netflix.   So I watched that last night.   Pretty good documentary if you are looking for a refresher on Carroll Shelby's history.   I did learn a few things and some I knew, and some I had forgotten.  But it's a good little documentary right now, with the Ford vs Ferrari movie out.  My son said other than the surround in the theater, I should just wait for home viewing.  He knows me pretty well.  He said he didn't think it was quite as good as the Rush movie about Lauda.  No big thing to me,  Just keep making historical racing movies and get them closer to right than Days of Thunder, and I'll be a fan.

This filled a lot of gaps in the movie. Still a good movie Would watch again

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I was finally able to go see it today. I thought it was great ! My wife liked it too ! I got the urge to build a GT 40 model so I went to ebay when I got home. I think the move drove the prices of the kits up. They were all pretty expensive IMO.  Anyone notice that ?

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14 hours ago, cobraman said:

I was finally able to go see it today. I thought it was great ! My wife liked it too ! I got the urge to build a GT 40 model so I went to ebay when I got home. I think the move drove the prices of the kits up. They were all pretty expensive IMO.  Anyone notice that ?

 The excitement will die down once Star Wars comes out.  What I hope it generates is more 1/24 diecast versions.  Although I'd ove to see the Fujumi kits include an engine I will no hold my breath but whoever has the molds for the WIX car needs to jump on the bandwagon and do all eight MKII from Lemans.  I would expect the differences in the cars to be recreated but just having them painted in the correct color and marking would be fantastic and not that hard.  I guess it boils down to licensing.  The market for the 1/87 resin models (Spark in one company) is strong and the 1/12 MENG kit should be a hit if it's better than the Trumpeter kit.  Anyway, I snagged n MPC J-car off Ebay before the movie came out at a pretty good price.  If you're patient some deals can be found out there.

IMG_6432.JPG

Edited by vamach1
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2 hours ago, vamach1 said:

  Although I'd ove to see the Fujumi kits include an engine I will no hold my brethren

 

I'm sure one of the fujimi versions did have an engine. I traded the one i had away as it wasn't something i was into but there was definately an engine in the box but since it was part of a job lot it doesn't mean it was from the kit. the box had it in black or dark blue in the pits as the pic. I still have the wheels and tyres somewhere

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