Customer Reviews

Grand Prix (Widescreen Special Edition)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Very good sound + vision (50 GB double-layer BD). Original aspect ratio. Highly recommended!

This sixties big time melodrama in glorious 70mm Cinerama with stellar cast also sports some of the best racing footage ever - this is rivetting stuff! The live action sequences from 1966 Monte Carlo- and Spa- Grand Prix will make you feel like the proverbial documentary "fly on the wall" ...only this time it's the wall of an F1 cockpit - take off and enjoy!

Film: 6.5/10
Racing sequences: 10/10
Picture quality: 9/10
Aspect ratio: ca. 2.35:1 (orig.)
Run time (24 fps): 2:55'57"
Chpt.: 46
Audio: GB; F;D;E;POR
ST: GB; F;D;E;POR;DK;FIN;N;S o/-
Region free
Bonus, all in SD:
- Making-of, 29'
- Formula 1 in the sixties, 17'
- Style and Sound of Speed, 11'
- Brands Hatch, 10'
- Grand Prix - Challenge of the Champions 12'
- Trailer
Studio: MGM

Having purchased this movie on VHS, DVD and now Bluray, this the best this movie has ever looked and sounded! The BEST racing scenes ever filmed - you'll feel like you're in the race cockpit. Story line could have been better, but watch it for the cars and race tracks. Special features are from the special edition DVD.

If you like fast cars and the roaring sound of, "VAROOOOM!" this is the movie for you. Or if you prefer soap opera romances and beautiful clothes, you, too, will like this movie. It opens with a bang on the picturesque streets of Monte Carlo, as the 1966 Grand Prix racers are bolting through town. We meet drivers from America, England, and France (James Garner, Brian Bedford, and Yves Montand) and follow their rivalry through the racing season. We also look behind the scenes at their love lives as they deal with conflicting feelings about racing.

This is an exciting and very enjoyable movie. Yves Montand never looked hunkier, even though he plays the oldest racer on the circuit. He's dreamy and so much better than his love interest, Eva Marie Saint, who is drab and dull and totally miscast as a fashionista. Brian Bedford, with his cute babyface and stiff-upper lip is memorable as a sensitive driver who never quite lived up to his famous brother. His love is well-played by kittenish Jessica Walter as a model with a roaming eye. On the down side, handsome James Garner isn't given much to do and his character is bland and uninspired. Many real Formula 1 drivers have minor parts and several real Grand Prix races were filmed in various countries adding an authentic flavor.

The film comes in two discs and the Extras are quite interesting, featuring interviews with director and cast that were filmed in the nineties. We learn that the stars didn't use stunt drivers, but actually drove themselves at high speeds for close-ups. The special effects are impressive, done decades before CGI. Maurice Jarre's soundtrack is lovely (and sounds a lot like his "Lawrence of Arabia" and even a bit like "Dr. Zhivago").

This is a movie with something for everyone - high speed racing excitement, romance, and moments of personal reflection. The acting and direction are excellent. Highly recommended.

For a race fan, Grand Prix is not just about the sights, but the sound as well. Frankenheimer outdid himself on this one, going for supreme accuracy on the sound effects. The Ferrari sounds absolutely different than the BRM, which sounds different than the 'Yamura.' Sure, the visuals are brilliant, but the sounds are the most incredible part. Actual period F1 race cars were outfitted with tape recorders to capture each make's unique voice. Brilliantly synchronized, and spectacularly authentic, to hear those shrieking engines echoing through the streets of Monaco or reverberating down the straightaways at Spa will blow you away. Forget the plot, which is quite thin. Forget the acting, which is stilted at best. Concentrate on the sights, the sounds and the cameos of all those famous race drivers, probably their only appearance outside of news or sports interviews. Relive the glory days of the sport, when tires lasted several races, brakes were a bad dream, and drivers manhandled those frail bombshells around tight tracks without traction control, semi-automatic transmissions and pit radios. In my collection of car movies, Le Mans and Grand Prix top the list. I find it difficult to choose between the two films because their intent is so different. Still, despite its 'Grand Hotel', soap-opera feeling, Grand Prix remains the Big Daddy of them all, and Frankenheimer will forever reign as 'Commendatore' with me.

Never mind the fluffy plot. This is an opportunity to see classic F1 cars (minus all of today's technological aids) racing against each other - and possible carnage. We shall never see the like again. The in-car shots of the Monaco GP alone are worth the price. Thank you for finally releasing this on DVD!

It has been said that this is the best racing movie ever made. It is.

No movie before or since has been able to capture the feeling and essence of racing in the 60's or any other era.

What director Frankenheimer does in this movie is still exciting even by today's standards.

Even though I am a huge Steve McQueen fan, Le Mans definitely takes second place to Grand Prix.

I was really excited to see the movie Driven with Stallone, until I saw it. All I kept saying to myself was "This is not even close to Grand Prix". Grand Prix has not only raised the bar, but has set it as well.

Do yourself a favor, don't rent, but rather buy this film and get ready for an education on how great movies were made and should be made.

Be aware that this is a Pan and Scan version of the film, a fact that is omitted in the product description. As a result, many scenes that were thrilling in Cinemascope and awkward here. Nonetheless, I fully concur with other reviewers - this is a must have film for car buffs and racing fans.

One of the best racing movies of all time.
The racing footage is the best.

I totally agree with the above review. This film needs to be on DVD. Released in 70MM format for Cinerama, I can't imagine a better basis for a DVD than this all time great racing movie. By far my favorite movie, I was fortunate enough to see it when it was released at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, and what an impact this film made on me. I look on the net several times a year searching for the news that it will be released on DVD. I'm ready. Bring it on !!
Come on Warner Bros, give us the DVD!

Grand Prix is one of those racing extravaganzas that's really about racing. Although the stars are heavy-weights, they add to rather than detract from the racing yarn - Garner does wonderfully, as do Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand and Toshirô Mifune. This is an A+ movie all the way, historically close to the fact, and well worth seeing three-plus decades later. The story line is less clichéd than most pf the racing genre - triumph, overconfidence, loss, disappointment, catastrophe, victory! And the actors aren't just pretty doodads stuck in and around racing cars, they actually seem to know something about what they're doing.

The video depicts the last of the classic era (or the first years of the rear-engine era, as you wish) of Formula One. Many of the real drivers of the 1960s had cameos in the movie, and if you watch for them you'll see one or two in almost every track scene. This is a must for those building a racing video library. Far better than "Days of Thunder" with respect to being true to the actual sport (cars with smashed in body-work haven't won Daytona in years - except with Tom Cruise driving), and widely acclaimed in its day for pure cinematic accomplishment. It's still a great, great movie (and if you've got a copy of Grand Prix Legends installed on your PC, you can go out and race the same tracks you just watched on the video).