Driven

[NickFalzone]

Havent' seen a lot of the older racing movies, I need to catch up. Last Christmas I got a documentary set on NASCAR that I haven't watched yet, if anyone's seen it let me know what you think.

http://www.amazon.com/ESPN-Ultimate-...660781&sr=8-15

[call_me_andrew]

To say something nice about the movie, I don't think the editing was too bad. There are scenes in Days of Thunder where the cars are supposed to be at Darlington, but you can tell they're clealy in Daytona's tri-oval.

I like pointing out flaws like that when I watch movies.

[NickFalzone]

To say something nice about the movie, I don't think the editing was too bad.

I agree, there were sections like this that really worked well IMO, unfortunately they were surrounded by ridiculous racing and really bad storytelling;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0hWeSoffI

[garyshell]

I agree, there were sections like this that really worked well IMO, unfortunately they were surrounded by ridiculous racing and really bad storytelling;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0hWeSoffI

The opening moments of that clip with the real drivers was fabulous. To bad the rest of the movie didn't have the same standards.

Gary

[nigelred5]

There is ample real racing and dramatic crash footage available, even back at that time. There was no reason for the rediculous staged footage they used to dramatize the movie. I guess it wasn't bold and beautiful enough for Hollywood at the time.

[AAReagles]

They are really close to the same level. But in my mind (for whatever that's worth) the story is quite a bit better in Grand Prix. The racing action is probably better in LeMans... Grand Prix puts the whole package together, good story, good racing, good acting, etc.

Corny music though. If it (the soundtrack) had been more like Winning (1969) with musician Dave Grusin at the helm, it would have been better.

What was the movie with Paul Newman, in like '68 or so? Winning? I've never seen it, any opinions?

My fav out of all of them. Though Le Mans is close with it's opening scenes of the Le Mans race getting underway with the Moby Dick Porsche challanging its' Gulf-sponsored competitors.

I liked Winning for the overall quality of acting, storyline, soundtrack and of course, what is now vintage footage of what it was like to race back then in Indy Cars, NASCAR, and the US road racing series' version of Can-Am.

Favorite scene: when Newman takes a stroll around the brickyard in his Ford Thunderbird, prior to the race (scenes), taking all the atmosphere in.

[booger]

Anybody remember that Days of Thunder actually put camera cars in the Daytona 500? I was working with Paramount Pics and there were 3 or 4 non-qualified cars with cameras allowed in the first half of the race. They'd shoot a can of film mounted behind the driver and then come in for a "pit stop" and refill the film cannisters. Was this nuts or what? Never happened before that and never will happen again. But it was wild!

[wedge]

To say something nice about the movie, I don't think the editing was too bad. There are scenes in Days of Thunder where the cars are supposed to be at Darlington, but you can tell they're clealy in Daytona's tri-oval.

I like pointing out flaws like that when I watch movies.

It was actually Dover, not Darlington.

They filmed in Darlington. You could tell from the onboard/camera angles, the distinct buildings outside then turn 1/now turn 3 and the armco off turn 4.

[NickFalzone]

Not to get off-topic here, but one of the things I noticed in the more recent racing films is that they managed to get VERY cool angles, particularly the on-board cameras. I realize that many of these camera mounts would not be realistic on racecars due to aero, etc. but I have to say that I think there's a LOT more that the current tv crews could do to make the racing more visually impressive. NASCAR does a reasonable job of it, but the IRL I think has a ways to go. All they have right now is that one 360 cam on the roll bar. How about a mini cam somewhere in front of the driver looking back? Or a side angle looking 45 degrees off at the driver and towards passing cars and the wall? They did have one cool mount they showed at St Pete, with a camera mounted on the front wing. But never saw that angle again. I realize they're probably tight on budget, but these are the sorts of things that can make the IRL more appealing to casual fans. Heck, the coolest angle would be one from inside the driver's helmet, and I think with current small-camera technology, that could easily be possible.

[call_me_andrew]

Anybody remember that Days of Thunder actually put camera cars in the Daytona 500? I was working with Paramount Pics and there were 3 or 4 non-qualified cars with cameras allowed in the first half of the race. They'd shoot a can of film mounted behind the driver and then come in for a "pit stop" and refill the film cannisters. Was this nuts or what? Never happened before that and never will happen again. But it was wild!

I remember a movie car being entered at Le Mans a few years ago. When they wanted to film the finish scenes, the crew had to try and make the car look dirty in the pits so it would appear to have driven the whole 24 hours.

Most teams clean up their cars so they look nice in the fauxto finish.