Flagg

Just finished watch LeMans again! One of my favorite movies ever........

Two questions:
1) What is everyone's take on the 2 finger salute at the end.....the thing with the archer's fingers, the fact that he finished 2nd (and Ferrari was third), etc. I have heard all different things.

2) Did the movie out BEFORE Porsche actually won LeManns?

Flagg

Porsche917K

I believe the movie came out in 71 and used footage from the previous years race. Either way the 917's won in 70 and 71. Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong as it was WAY before my time.

Great movie!!!

meek

There is a complex explanation of the salute here http://stvmcqueen.tripod.com/lesalute.htm . Seems that no-one is sure why he did it in the film. Bear in mind that the legend of the Agincourt salute is urban myth and originated in the 1970s; though that doesn't matter in this case. I would have thought that Gregory, as a winner, used the V sign as Churchill did, for victory.

Great film. Sod the story line, the footage of the cars is why I love it. I watched Grand Prix last night . Great footage of the racing, just have to go and make a cup of tea while the story bits are on. Also, it is a great film to spot the famous GP drivers; Hill, Clark et al.

elbeee964

I read an opinion once re the main character. That he was heroic precisely because he did his job, did it knowing his own limitations, faced his screw ups squarely, didn't whine, and could be counted on to put team first (sacrifice). Definitions of a man. (Seen not enough in films today.)

I dig the English captain, Townsend, and his 'leutnant' (whose nickname I can't now remember). Those two were written with the feeling that they've 'been there, done that', for decades. These two get the job done.
Townsend was a Penske-ish character before there was Penske.
No doubt modeled after Chapman, but I never saw Chapman's demeanor, so I can't compare. (Maybe Frank Williams before there was a Williams?)
(And INFINITELY less slanderous to England than the ******* captain in Gran Prix. -- just sayin'.)

Favorite line: "Michael, I want you to drive flat out. I want Porsche to win Le Mans." (ooh, yeah!)
No grandiose words. Just declarative. Direct. And you just know McQueen's the man to get the job done. (oh, yeah... lol)

The photojournalist... You've gotta luv the perfect villian. The guy holds his own with McQueen. Not bad. Not bad at all...

Oh, and Ritter's wife... Ho-lee--Crap! She's the best damned eye candy yet put in a racing film. [Wish they would've dumped all the scenes of that mopey, french, boo-hoo, sad sack, and given them all over to this nordic Miss Here's-The-Keys-To-My-Heart-and-Lust.]

and, yeah -- I kinda like the movie.

("...and you can out-brake the Ferrari!")

targatopper

If McQueen was alive now and saw what a cult movie "Le Mans" has become he would be chuffed to bits.That film was his baby and he went through hell and high water to complete it.Everyone told him to bin the project,however he stuck it out. Why? because he loved cars and more particularly he loved racing cars.It was he that on more than one occasion commented...........

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting."

Steve McQueen = Legend

Flagg

Porsche first won in 1971 with the red #23 917 I believe - which is the same year as the movie, so that was why I was wondering which came first.

Movie, or Win?

Flagg

BlueHeeler

I have never seen it. For $12 on Amazon it looks like a good purchase.

Porsche917K

Porsche won in 70 and 71. Win, Movie, Win

elbeee964

...win, movie, win...

loss, loss, loss, loss,
win, win,
loss,
win,
loss
win, win, win, win, win, win, win,
loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss,
win,
loss,
win, win, win....

...conceded. (Cayenne)

Porsche917K

I prefer to live in 1971 even though I wasn't born till 1984....

elbeee964

My parents took me to see it when it originally came out (at a drive-in) when I was 10.
Also remember seeing Gran Prix that way.
(And The Good, The Bad & The Ugly,... Airport,... Love Story... Kelly's Heroes,... Rosemarie's Baby..., Klute,... MASH -- yeah, it's a wonder I survived all that crap from the back of a Plymouth Valiant. lol)

What sunk in to a young kid's imagination about those two films?
Both connected racing with horrific death sequences. Blood, fire, and leaping cars.
I now appreciate both pictures as fortunate snapshots of the sport's last 'innocence'.

My only regret of the time was that there was nobody around to point out Jimmy Clark racing on TV (Indy or Monaco), or Richard Petty, or Gurney, or young Jackie S., or Mark Donahue, or, or, or... and say, "watch and remember that guy's driving, Lonnie. He's special. You won't see his likes for a long, long time..."

ducnine

Watch the movie for the great racing footage ,and to see and hear the sounds of that era and you will love it.

Le Mans and Grand Prix are amazing car flicks.

christallon

Don't forget a Man and a Woman. French film with great racing footage.

I watch Le Mans at least 3 times a year.....Spiritual.

....and once you understand what he really means when he says "racing is life, everything before and after is just waiting" you are ruined for ever.

pete000

Wow, I also went with my parents to see LeMans at a drive in, I remember my dad was amped to see it as he was a big Porsche nut having a 1956 Speedser since new.

I had no clue what it was about. I wanted to go to the play area up front under the screen (swings, etc...) But 20 minutes into the move I was mezmorized !

Kellys Hero's was another big hit with me as a kid...Boy with all that gold I could have gotten that Apple Crate Schwinn with disc brake I always wanted !

meek

Does anyone remember that short film that did the rounds on the web a few years ago? It was a driver's eye blatt through 1960/70s Paris in the early hours, ending with a rendevouz with a hot chic near the Eifel Tower. I think it was agreed that the car was a Miura, but the driver's identity was undecided. Anyone know of a link to it? I have never been able to find it again.