LE MANS!

"For us to capture on film the greatest endurance race in the world has really got us excited. I'm thrilled because we think we'll be able to do things with the camera no one has ever done before. For instance, we'd like to effectively capture the speed of 220-225 mph at [the] Mulsanne [Straight]. If we can, cinematically, give people a pleasant feeling and yet give them the sheer sense of speed at the edge of infinity, then we've created greatness".

--Steve McQueen (Motor Trend Interview, 1969)

For anyone, including me--a bona fide super fan of the legendary actor Steve McQueen--capturing the real-life drama surrounding the filming of Le Mans during the summer of 1970 as a chapter in a book, let alone a Blog post for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" is utterly exasperating! While this film simmered within Steve's soul for years (even invading his consciousness in 1966 during filming of the epic Academy Award-winning film "The Sand Pebbles") it took a toll on the cast and crew. Le Mans is today widely acknowledged as the greatest racing film of all time. It debuted in Indianapolis the night before the famed Indy 500 race. McQueen and his Solar Productions had become seduced by the octane-fueled challenges associated with the great endurance racing events of the 12-hours of Sebring (where Steve and co-driver Peter Revson placed a respectable second with a Porsche 908 Spyder), the 24-hours of Daytona and the subject of this film--the 24-hours of Le Mans which has taken place since 1923 in the countryside of Paris. But with so little space and time to provide the entire story, I'll endeavor to touch on the basics of this film. In 2001, Steve's son, actor/director and race car driver Chad McQueen hosted the documentary "Filming at Speed: The Making of the Movie Le Mans". Joining Chad was five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell who recalled the film thusly. "It's stood the test of time. It's something I never thought would stand up thirty-years later. It's like vintage wine: better today than it was then". For the first 3 minutes and 40 seconds of this movie, there is only Steve shifting a 1970 Porsche 911S through the Paris countryside. But the tension steams off of the screen as McQueen ponders a fatal accident that he caused the previous summer. The first 15-minutes of Le Mans is guided by frequent camera shots of a clock leading up to the races starting time that is easy to construe as a device that either Alfred Hitchcock or Orson Welles might conceivably utilize as a prop to portend a sinewy line tied to mortality. The sound of a beating heart seemingly channeled through a stethoscope accentuates that this movie and the automobiles featured would do things never before captured on film. Another tension is the ever-halting undercurrent of attraction between Michael DeLaney (McQueen's character) and the grieving widow who misses her husband, but is eager to move on with her life--if she can only talk with someone who can validate her feelings of loss. Their brief dialogue during a meal break is not to be missed--dually filmed from outside the dining area, through a window and alternately four-feet from the couple as McQueen brings to the surface a steely, if non-threatening persona of a man so completely consumed with the sport. Central to the acting technique, both characters are "fighting for" one thing: to be understood. By contrast, a European driver and his wife work together to reach an understanding that once the race has ended, it is time for him to walk away from the sport. This is a look into the soul of a race car driver. It is the ultimate racing film.

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The story of Le Mans is also featured from a purely mechanical perspective in Matt Stone's wonderful book, "McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon" with a Foreword by Chad McQueen. Viewed today, this film is respected as racings' finest hour. I hope you concur. The Cast: Steve McQueen is Michael Delaney; Sigfried Rauch is Erich Stahler; Elga Anderson is Lisa Belgetti; Fred Haltiner is Johann Ritter; Louise Edlind is Mrs. Anna Ritter; Ronald Leigh-Hunt is David Townsend; Jean-Claude Bercq is Paul Jacques Dion; Director: Lee Katzman, Writer: Michael Kleiner; Executive Producer: Robert Relyea. Original Music by Michel Legrand. Cheers to the 44 Drivers in this spectacular film!

Michael

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