Grand Prix: Frankenheimer's Day at the Races

[cdh]

Another good read - GRAND PRIX - FRANKENHEIMER'S DAY AT THE RACES

"Meanwhile, principle cast – except for Garner - were remanded into the care of Jim Russell's racing school for an intense three week training session on how to drive the hairpin turns and twists of each course in the circuit. Frankenheimer absolutely refused to use doubles during these races, though he was eventually ‘convinced’ to accept Russell’s recommendation that actor Brian Bedford was hopelessly out of his element. He simply could not learn to shift gears. Aside: The Grand Prix at Monte Carlo alone requires no less than 250 gear shifts! As a result, professional racer Phil Hill doubled for Bedford in the film, wearing dark goggles and a face mask."

"As for Garner; he was assigned F-1 champion Bob Bondurantas his driving instructor. The two spent a month driving various professional cars at Willow Springs, at the end of which Bondurant gave a glowing review of his student’s capabilities: “If he is in a real race he would have been able to beat several drivers. In Formula-1 that’s saying a lot!”"
_________________________________

"As cast continued to hone their racing craft, Frankenheimer was enduring a bit of negative press at Monte Carlo. The director’s penchant for doing things his own way (some would suggest ‘the hard way’), coupled with a certain dispensation for the niceties and his own maniacal quest for total perfection, circulated the rumor and buzz that Frankenheimer could be counted on to be utterly rude towards cast and crew.

In an interview conducted at the time, Frankenheimer publicly apologized if his gregariousness had leant itself to such interpretation. But behind the scenes, he continued to craft his production according his own likes and with the same clear-eyed sense of determination that had been misinterpreted as ‘rude.’"
__________________________________

Amazing what Frankenheimer achieved, esp considering it was shot in 1965

[oldredracer]

"Amazing what Frankenheimer achieved, esp considering it was shot in 1965."

To hear you say it, Grand Prix was filmed somewhere between the fourth and fifth day of Creation. Or are we really that old?

It is still the best racing film around though.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by oldredracer

"Amazing what Frankenheimer achieved, esp considering it was shot in 1965."

To hear you say it, Grand Prix was filmed somewhere between the fourth and fifth day of Creation. Or are we really that old?

It is still the best racing film around though.

stone knives and bearskins dude

[dalyduo]

Indeed. He made a lot of interesting films.

In the summer of 1966 He used the Scarsdale train station and the exterior of a house nearby. It was very hot and I spent 2 or three days hanging around with friends watching them film with Rock Hudson and a big crew of extras. Frankenheimer had a big commuter shot of people flooding off of a commuter train. He had camera's hidden in garbage cans and behind posts so they could get many angles at once without spoiling the wide angle shots. Very clever and efficient. He was very organized.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by oldredracer

To hear you say it, Grand Prix was filmed somewhere between the fourth and fifth day of Creation. Or are we really that old?

If a full-blown GP feature were done today it would use a ton of green screen and CGI.
No need to shoot real formula cars out of pneumatic cannons anymore
I bet Frankenheimer had more fun.

Calling Peter Spud Cannon Stolz

[Rosso]

IMHO - McQueen in LeMans is still the best racing flick, but I would love to see Grand Prix in its full 70mm CinemaScope grandeur. Maybe someday it will make a Bluray release. Took years to be released on DVD. I probably still have VHS copies of both somewhere...

[gt250]

I remember way back that Jim Garner was a very serious racer, not unlike P.L.Newman. Yeah, James was a big Hollywood star but Jim was no joke. Back then I was into hot rods and drag racing and ther was an article about the car Jim raced in the Baja 1000. Why he picked a 442, who knows. But if you look closely driver is Jim, though it says James in large letters for the sponser.



The other thing is that a few years ago I watched Grand Prix on some station and they had Jim doing commentary during the commercial breaks. The funny story is that he said for the shots Frankenheimer wanted looking back at the formula car drivers, they hacked off the nose of a formula car (I think a formula 3) and attached it to the back of a GT40, which had the camera on the rear deck, and dragged it around Monaco. Jim said he did one lap that way and told Frankenheimer he would NEVER do that again! Never did explain how they got his head ons.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by gt250

The other thing is that a few years ago I watched Grand Prix on some station and they had Jim doing commentary during the commercial breaks. The funny story is that he said for the shots Frankenheimer wanted looking back at the formula car drivers, they hacked off the nose of a formula car (I think a formula 3) and attached it to the back of a GT40, which had the camera on the rear deck, and dragged it around Monaco. Jim said he did one lap that way and told Frankenheimer he would NEVER do that again! Never did explain how they got his head ons.

You may have seen it on Speed - they did that maybe a year ago. Great stuff. Apparently the actor who played Barlini freaked out every time he had to get in the GT rig....not sure I would like it much either

[cdh]

Originally Posted by Rosso

IMHO - McQueen in LeMans is still the best racing flick, but I would love to see Grand Prix in its full 70mm CinemaScope grandeur. Maybe someday it will make a Bluray release. Took years to be released on DVD. I probably still have VHS copies of both somewhere...

Here ya go - both great, overall I give it to Le Mans because there is less painful bad drama in between racing. I give GP the nod for the audio track. McQueen cooler than Garner, but both are the real deal for sure.

GP vs Le Mans thread

[cdh]

For comparative background reading here is a really interesting piece by Jonathan Williams, one of the Le Mans drivers

Steve McQueen, the Filming of “Le Mans”, and Me

On McQueen:
"Over the years, I have often been asked what it was like to work with Steve, a huge Hollywood star, and a household name to people around the globe. Was I in awe of him at all? The truthful answer is no, and this is because the level of egocentricity required to become a successful racing driver, or a top level athlete in any discipline, excludes any such sentiment. If anything, the opposite was true. Steve did all his own driving in the film, in “his” Gulf Porsche 917, not an easy car by any means, the only actor to do so, and he desperately wanted to be accepted by the “real” drivers. He needn’t have worried, as we realised at once that here was someone who could drive at our level without taking any risks, you could trust him completely not to do anything foolish. Of course, this was no surprise, as he was a natural athlete, and a top level competition biker. That was his real passion, and he had several machines flown in from the States for him to play with during his free time. There is no doubt that, had he chosen to do so, he could have made a living as a race driver. Although, at the end of the day’s filming we went our separate ways, I did get to talk to him quite a lot. My impression is of an uncomplicated man, without a huge amount of academic baggage, highly intelligent, nonetheless, hugely charismatic, living somewhat uncomfortably with the trappings of fame. It is a great shame he had to die so young."

[cdh]

I see Le Mans is playing Saturday, 2:00 PM eastern on Turner Classics...DVR set

[dalyduo]

Now that's a camera car... perhaps the ultimate camera car.

Originally Posted by cdh

For comparative background reading here is a really interesting piece by Jonathan Williams, one of the Le Mans drivers

[B]Steve McQueen, the Filming of “Le Mans”, and Me [/B

[gt250]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Now that's a camera car... perhaps the ultimate camera car.

No disagreement, but there is also this:

[dalyduo]

Touche'! And... With the ultimate, "Who do you think you are... Mario Andretti?" Driver.

Originally Posted by gt250

No disagreement, but there is also this:

[cdh]

thread on that pic