Le Mans: Amazon.ca: Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Fred Haltiner, Luc Merenda, Christopher Waite, Louise Edlind, Angelo Infanti, Jean-Claude Bercq, Michele Scalera, Gino Cassani, Ren� Guissart Jr., Robert B. Hauser, Lee H. Katzin, Donald W. Ernst, Alan Levine, Jack N. Reddish, Robert E. Relyea, Harry Kleiner: DVD

Product Description

Amazon.com Essential Video

A classic auto-racing movie starring Steve McQueen, Le Mans puts the audience in the driver's seat for what is often called the most grueling race in the world. The French auto race Le Mans is a 24-hour affair through the French countryside, a demanding ordeal for any driver. McQueen (Bullitt, The Great Escape) plays the American driver, locked in an intense grudge match with his German counterpart even as he wrestles with the guilt over causing an accident that cost the life of a close friend. McQueen is his usual stoic magnetic self, and the racing sequences are among the best ever committed to film. A solid character-driven story combines with raw visceral power to make Le Mans a rich tapestry of action and thrills. --Robert Lane

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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a film for true race fans, Mar 6 2001

By

Tina Morris "schultheiss" (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Le Mans (VHS Tape)

Of all the classic race movies out there this is probably the most minimalistic and puristic one. Don't watch this movie for the rudimentary love story (if one can call it that way). Don't watch it for dialogue - Steve McQueen does not speak more than a 100 words in this film I would guess. Watch this movie for the breath-taking drama that develops in the pictures, since in racing a picture says definitely more than a 1000 words. The camera work is outstanding, and the story is built in a very detail-minded, documentary-type style that matches the coolness of McQueens persona. We see his charcter develop almost entirely in his actions, in the powerful flashback to an accident a year ago that he reflects upon as he returns to the same scene on the same track. As he drives to the track, stops his Porsche at the scene of the accident and stares back into the past, we begin to understand what kind of a racer he is .We see the quiet, yet passionate rivalry between him and his major competitor for the title in the Le Mans 24 hour race and we see his equally quiet interaction with the widow of the fellow driver who perished in that fateful accident. While personal interactions are very subdued, the true passion erupts on the race-track and this movie is superb in this regard. We see a generous and well-filmed display of the greatest prototypes and road-racers out there at the time. If you are a race-fan, you must see this movie, if you are not, you probably won't get it. As a race fan I give 5 stars.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Ever Racing Movie? Yes., Jan 7 2002

By

Jimmy "The Greek" "Speed Racer" (Rockin' LA, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Le Mans (VHS Tape)

For the true race car enthusiast, LeMans, after more than 30 years remains the most realistic racing movie ever made. Steve McQueen was a true sports car enthusiast and a racer himself, and he hired director John Frankenheimer to film him (Steve) in the world's most important sports car race -The 24 Hours of LeMans. Real factory race cars from Porsche and Ferrari were used to make the movie, and cameras were mounted in the cars during the race for much of the movie footage. The action was real, the crowds, the location.

The only thing lacking was a story, an afterthought hastily written after the movie was halfway through production. But still, much better than the scripts in more recent films like "Days of Thunder" and "Driven" where we are led to believe an inexperienced rookie (Tom Cruise) and a washed-up has been (Sly Stalone) can roll onto a race track without practice, break the track records, stick quarters to their tires at 160 mph, start CART race cars without starters and race through downtown Chicago at night without lights and not draw the attention of police, and then go out and beat the established champs in the race the next day.

Another old movie like LeMans, "Grand Prix" with James Garner was good. Real tracks like Monaco, real drivers in the background scenes, but the cars were mocked-up Formula 3 cars -not Formula 1, and you could tell. Get LeMans, and get Steve McQueen's "Bullet" for the epic streets of San Frabncisco car chase scene, one of the best chase scene ever (now only recently relegated to 2nd place by the chase scene in "Ronan").

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie of a Bygone Era In Racing, Despite Weak Plot, Jun 26 2002

By

J. Conrad Guest "J. Conrad Guest" (Northville, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Le Mans (VHS Tape)

I first saw Lemans on the big screen back in 1971 - actually at a drive-in - and recently saw a 30-minute documentary on its making, co-hosted by Steve McQueen's son. The film is timeless and the racing sequences are as exciting today as they were then, considering the technology of the time. The cars, too, speak volumes of that particular era of racing, when the sport was still a sport and not the technology it is today, where he with the most money usually wins.

Over a million feet of film were shot during the actual race (a 24-hour endurance marathon that familiar names such as Foyt and Andretti have won), but Hollywood was concerned that, despite Steve McQueen's desire to film the consummate racing movie, there was no script. Indeed, the semblance of a romance thrown in is thin, but again, at least for the purists, the racing sequences make up for the lack of a solid, well-defined plot.

Four stars for the cinematography, two stars for the storyline.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Best race movie made to date
If you're a race fan this is a must have. 37 minutes into the movie a character utters his first line. Read more

Published on July 20 2009 by V. Somoza

2.0 out of 5 stars It will bore you indefinitely....
The photography is really amazing, but the movie is simply boring. Al least, at the end the victory goes to Larry Wilson, not for Steve "Michael Delaney" McQueen, what... Read more