{"id":7902,"date":"2013-01-28T03:12:27","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T08:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=3747"},"modified":"2013-01-28T03:12:27","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T08:12:27","slug":"the-car-in-motion-racing-films-part-ii-le-mans-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7902","title":{"rendered":"The Car in Motion: Racing Films, Part II – Le Mans (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Steve McQueen may be the only international star whose covered face can sell a movie. Note: slinky babe does not exist whatsoever in finished film.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are really only a handful of great car racing films, and by great I mean those not involving CGI effects, but motion pictures that celebrate the racing car in motion at its top speeds in its natural environments.<\/p>\n

Grand Prix <\/a><\/strong>[M<\/a>] (1966) is the greatest \u2013 nothing equals its coverage, scope, and innovative cinematography \u2013 but perhaps the antithesis of a racing melodrama with documentary collages and background material is Le Mans<\/strong> (1971), perhaps the second best racing film ever.<\/p>\n

I reviewed the film several year ago when Paramount released it on a gorgeous yet bare bones DVD, and while the 2011 Blu-ray is a must-have, it\u2019s still not the special edition fans have wanted. Paramount makes great transfers, but they\u2019ve stepped away from special editions, as many major labels have, although perhaps what\u2019s needed is more interest from McQueen\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n

At Le Mans, cars and drivers move for 24 straight until a winner is crowned. Rain, sunlight, daytime, nighttime. It’s an ideal series of conditions and challenges for any filmmaker, and in spite of Le Mans<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cchaotic\u201d production, the proof of its quality lies in the footage and the brilliance of the editors who shaped the film. One senses that like director Lee H. Katzin, the editors and cinematographers recognized Le Mans<\/strong> was a chance to break from the doldrums of predictable TV shows and TV movies and make a feature-length film shot in 2.35:1 widescreen. Collectively, they did superb jobs, and yet perhaps because of a lack of interest or maybe more stable work on the small 1.33:1 screen, most returned to TV.<\/p>\n

Le Mans<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] features some truly inventive editing, sound design, and a \u00a0minimalist script that actually works, and the newly rewritten review covers some of the reasons this film remains a remarkable work. Pity there\u2019s no film print in circulation for theatrical showings, but the Blu-ray is really a stunner.<\/p>\n

Also, added to KQEK.com Mobile is a Le Mans <\/a><\/strong>[M<\/a>] soundtrack review.<\/p>\n

Coming next<\/em>: Richard Burton follows fifties casting conventions and treats us to a white Welsh dude playing a brown South Asian dude in Fox\u2019 early CinemaScope extravaganza The Rains of Ranchipur<\/strong> (1955), released \u00a0on Blu-ray by Twilight Time, and featuring an isolated score by Hugo Friedhofer.<\/p>\n

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Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Part 2 of this highly sporadic series, I’ve uploaded a review of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans (1971), remastered in 2011 for Blu-ray by Paramount. Also: the Le Mans soundtrack review added to KQEK.com Mobile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[1824,1825,668,514,669],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-23s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}