Le
Mans (1971, Lee H. Katzin)
Steve
McQueen, one of the true great Hollywood screen legends, was known to
be an avid driver. Small wonder that in one of his most popular
films, Bullitt, the greatest action scene, perhaps the only
genuine action scene, is a phenomenal car chase through the streets
of San Francisco. A racing film per say would, therefore, feel like
the most perfect fit of all. The famous actor had in fact attempted
to create what he wanted to be viewed as the ultimate racing film,
but the rights to the material that had caught is eye went to someone
else, who then had John Frankenheimer direct said movie, titled Grand
Prix (another entry in this very marathon in fact). It was
therefore towards the legendary Le Mans 24 hour race that McQueen
turned his attention to.
Le
Mans 24 hour race, relatively unknown in North America where Nascar
and Formula 1 arrive 1st and 2nd in popularity
ranking, had occurred on an annual basis since the early 1920s. The
event is held just outside the town of Le Mans, in Northern France.
Drivers from all around the world arrive for, as the name of the
event suggests, a race twenty-four hours in duration. Naturally, for
safety purposes, teams are equipped with multiple drivers. At one
time the number was set to two but in the recent decades it was
augmented to 3. McQueen, sporting one of those very, very 1970s
hairdos, is American Michael Delany, who represents the Porsche team,
more precisely a Porsche 917. His closest rival, albeit on strictly
professional terms, is unsurprisingly the Ferrari team, which
operates a Ferrari 512. From 4pm to 4pm the next day, through
sunshine, rain, wind, light and dark, the teams race around the
deadly, treacherous track. Any mechanical damage too significant to
ensure safety means a car results a team's disqualification. With so
much on the line, teams push themselves to the limit, which in turn
increases the risks. At the start of the film, Michael is driving up
to the location of the event the day before. He stops at a particular
spot on the road and reminisces about the terrible accident that
befell him and a fellow driver the previous year. Michael was
fortunate to walk away with his life. His competitor did not benefit
from such luck. What will this year's race have in store?
Le
Mans is a curious little movie. Actually, in fairness to the size
of the production and the impressive efforts of the crew, the more
just way to phrase that term is to write that Le Mans is a
curious big movie. It is evidently enough not a documentary
given how the film does have a script which inserts little narrative
threads and that Steven McQueen, who is the star, was never in the
1971 Le Mans race. Nevertheless, director Lee H. Katzin and his crew,
with the full backing of McQueen who was incredibly enthusiastic
about the project, went over to France in 1970 to shoot warm up laps
and parts of the race proper. Said footage, much of which is
absolutely exhilarating, is heavily featured in the picture, thus
making Le Mans a hybrid film in which documentary account
meshes with the fictional journeys of some of the most popular and
recognized racers involved, such as the fictional Michael Delany. The
result, albeit impressive for its technical and visual qualities, is
somewhat off putting at times, for reasons that will be explained in
this review.
It
is incredibly important to make clear that the first half hour or so
of the film is exquisitely made and, when weighed next to the
remaining 75 minutes, may just make up the most engaging portion of
the film. The opening scene, which sees Michael recollect the
nightmare from a year before, is suitably effective in setting a
specific mood, not to mention dropping a crucial hint to the audience
that anything can happen at Le Mans, so get ready. From there on and
for the next 25-30 minutes, there is absolutely no dialogue
whatsoever, save some introductory and explanatory narration provided
by an announcer via speaker at the event who, even though he is
speaking to the men and women in attendance, serves as the guide for
any viewers who may not know how exactly the 24 hour Le Mans works (a
neat trick, it must be said). So far as character dialogue is
concerned though, there is none of it. A series of images, clearly
documentary records from the 1970 race, depicts the early morning
hours and lead-up to 4pm sharp when the cars are off and running.
There are attendees waking up in their tents and in sleeping bags,
breakfast and lunch being served, racers preparing their gear,
mechanics checking the engines, salutes, crowd waving, some national
anthems, etc. It is, essentially, a window into this fascinating
world in which the driver and his car and king and prince, or vice
versa. There are typically two sorts of documentaries made. One is
very controlled, in which a director narrates and invites guests as
talking heads, engaging with the subjects. The other is what that
first half hour of Le Mans is like, where the director chooses
interesting things to shoot and takes a go at it, presuming that the
audience is capable of filling in the blanks. It is not as though the
footage is all that difficult to understand anyways.
The
raw footage continues to appear later in the film as well, although
it is interspersed within some forced, confining drama which can
easily take the viewers out of the picture. In truth, such stories
probably really do occur. When men are risking their lives for
something that in the grander scheme of life appears so petty, their
women will understandably be concerned. Talk of this being 'the last
race before retirement', friendly and unfriendly rivalries, meeting
up with old acquaintances and even a former lover. Maybe these things
do happen at the race track. They do not necessarily make for a great
entertainment, least of all in a movie of this nature. Later this
week Grand Prix will be reviewed (unseen at the time this
article is being written), and that could very well end up being
fantastic. Then again, that film is known for being a genuine drama.
In Le Mans, director Katzin and star McQueen are are doing
double duty, using brilliant documentary material and then from time
to time inserting paper thin character development. Steve McQueen is
Steve McQueen. The man was the essence of cool in his time and if
compared to today's big screen icons, he would arguably still rank
highly among those surveyed. Seeing him suit up for action, revving
up his engine and participating in parts of the race (the actor did
much of his own driving) is fun, but his presence, as well as the
presence of various others actors, feels unnecessary when the film
desperately tries to have a 'story' to tell. The score, courtesy of
Michel Legrand, proves to be just as uneven as the overall picture.
It attempts to punctuate the drama of the story rather than the drama
of the race, therefore delving into very exaggeratedly romantic cues.
Perhaps it would have fit another film better, but not in Le Mans.
The
film's greatest strength lies with the racing footage. In Le Mans,
no artificially created narrative can compare to the thrill a minute
speed and excitement of the actual race. There is nary a camera angle
that feels incorrect or hinders the immersion, with many of the shots
perfectly capturing not only the thrills involved, but the danger
too. The final sprint to the finish, in which multiple vehicles are
but separated by a hair, is quite a scene to behold.
As
an opportunity to see what the actual event is all about, Le Mans
proves adequate. There are some fantastic moments to be seen during
the competition, not to mention that the buildup is, while less
thrilling, no less interesting. Ultimately, the picture suffers from
its own insistence on developing a plot, which is all the stranger given
that hardly any of it, save Michael's flashback, is explored during
the entire first third. Racing aficionados, if they have yet to
discover Le Mans, should love it. Those in search of a solid
drama will come away empty handed.
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