At last a car guy reviews Ford v. Ferrari, a Motor Trend editor

Rick Muck- Mark IV

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The comment about Miles not being "lovable" in the film and that he was really a nice guy counters all I have heard from those who worked with him. I was told he was somewhat arrogant and "always right" and that the crew never warmed to him. I was also told of a crew prank involving his room at Sebring when his toothpaste was replaced with a tube of "Preparation H" in retaliation for some slight inflicted on the crew.
 

Eric B

Eric
I was told he was somewhat arrogant and "always right" and that the crew never warmed to him.

WHAAAATTT???? A guy that races cars and is always right? LOL, I know several guys (and a couple engine builders) that fit that description.

E
 
I never did figure out how his Cobra race car was allowed to have Rose jointed suspension unlike the production cars. He always wanted that edge.

Though he was roughly 40 when he raced for Shelby he was always going shirtless on the pits and exercising and making others look lazy in the fitness dept. I would be on his side though as I am embarrased by the good ol' boy drinking parties I went to , lucky I survived
 
I just got back from the sneak preview. It's a good movie, but it's a story about Ken Miles, not the cars (Rush was a better movie about racing).

I was disappointed that UK development effort was never mentioned. We never see John Wyer or Eric Broadley (however there is a shot of a Lola T70 model car box on a shelf).

I think I spotted a couple of minor mistakes. The first GT40 we see is presented as being a brand new GT40, not one of the post-Nassau cars. By that point, Ken Miles should have known what a GT40 is. When we first see Shelby's new workshop in the hangar, there's a blue GT40 with a pair of periscope intakes that I think was a Mk II, that's too early for a Mk II (my guess is that they setup the hangar and shot all of the internal scenes at once without moving the cars).

p.s. The B-Roll video of Behind the Scenes shots is interesting, especially the car cannon near the end.
 

Neil

Supporter
JWAE was involved in the McQueen production of "Le Mans" but FvF did not even talk to John Horsman about the GT40.
 
I just got back from the sneak preview. It's a good movie, but it's a story about Ken Miles, not the cars (Rush was a better movie about racing).

I was disappointed that UK development effort was never mentioned. We never see John Wyer or Eric Broadley (however there is a shot of a Lola T70 model car box on a shelf).

I think I spotted a couple of minor mistakes. The first GT40 we see is presented as being a brand new GT40, not one of the post-Nassau cars. By that point, Ken Miles should have known what a GT40 is. When we first see Shelby's new workshop in the hangar, there's a blue GT40 with a pair of periscope intakes that I think was a Mk II, that's too early for a Mk II (my guess is that they setup the hangar and shot all of the internal scenes at once without moving the cars).

p.s. The B-Roll video of Behind the Scenes shots is interesting, especially the car cannon near the end.
Thanks for sharing the link, great video
 
I'm surprised and disappointed really that so many have taken this film at face value. Ken Miles shared one of the first 7 litre 40s - 106 I think, at LM '65. This undermines the whole premise of the film. The J car in which Miles died testing in 66 was designed and built by Lunn at Karkraft in '65, first tested by McLaren. The Ferraris at LM in '66 were never ahead of the MkIIs - nobody needed to pass Bandini, Dan Gurney set the fastest lap,etc,etc, etc, That said, Ken Miles was a great guy, a great driver and sadly missed. Shame that the rest of the players had to be so caricatured, but it's a great watch - do see it!
 

Neil

Supporter
I saw FvF at an IMax theater in Escondido on Friday. Not bad but it could have been so much better. The director could not resist throwing in every car movie cliche in the book- jamming a foot down on the throttle to surge ahead, yelling back & forth at another driver alongside, sneering and scowling at the other driver, talking to himself while driving, having the main character explain "why we race" and "what it's like out there", etc, etc. The scene with HF2 in the GT40 was laughable.

There wasn't one scene with Shelby wearing overalls...? The script writers must have seen "The World's Fastest Indian"- there had to be a young boy in the movie to advance the plot along. Overall, Bale did a good job with what he was given to work with and Damon was just OK. I can't comment on the technical GT40 errors since I'm not that savvy on those details.

Overall.... a good movie but Steve McQueen's "Le Mans" is a better racing movie.
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
I think it's disgusting what they did to the memory of Lorenzo Bandini. Apparently he was nothing like how he is portrayed in the film. He died at Monaco in an F1 accident, basically burned to death- he died in hospital three days later.

100,000 people attended his funeral in Italy. This was the same man who let John Surtees pass him in an F1 race, thereby guaranteeing the F1 title to Surtees.

Quite a lot different than he is shown in the film, basically as a cartoon villain.
 
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