OT: A movie discovery

[BMWDriver]

Though more about Porsche and Ferrari, I've discovered a movie of 1971 starring Steve McQueen and the legendary Porsche 917 on the Le Mans racetrack. Worth mentionning is the superb soundtrack composed by Michel Legrand; leastways I loved it, and found it very elegant such as jazz is.

I like it because you get the feel of the era. The crowds, the cars, the ambiance at the racetrack... A good document to the Le Mans race history.

It's slow paced a bit - ironic for a race movie - but what can you expect of a movie of 37 years ago compared to today's incredibly fast-paced, full of action and explosions movies. Not the most complicated story, but very human nonetheless. It's like watching a race mostly.

A movie I should like to add to my library.

[xspeedy]

The movie is "Le Mans". It is excellent in an odd sort of way due to the minimum of dialog. The race (crash) sequences are top notch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067334/

[BMWDriver]

Bingo. And I had forgotten to put the title in.

[632 Regal]

I'm getting old.
but what can you expect of a movie of 37 years ago

[Ross]

The race footage is real. Phil Hill drove one of the camera cars, a Lola T-70 I believe.
If you enjoyed this also see Grand Prix, The Racers and Winning.
A new documentary film released a few months ago is Can-Am(A Speed Odyssey)
Good stuff on a cold winter afternoon.

[BMWDriver]

Yes indeed, the cars they set cameras on did not get ranked at finish, they were so far behind. Changing reels took forever it seems. It says on the sleeve that McQueen also drove.

I have to say I was really impressed by the crash scences. It has nothing to envy today's movies. A shame to waste such fabulous cars !

There is also a paragraph about the movie on the Wikipedia entry on Le Mans races.

[Kibokojoe]

Yeah but are there any movies with 535i's in them?

[attack eagle]

Le mans is a Must own... the best racing movie ever made.

And the only time the lemans ever used the buckled in standing start too.

This #29 camera car driven by Steve (a 908), which can be briefly seen in the starting grid , travelled 282 laps (3,798 km) and finished the race as 9th. It was not classified as it had not covered enough distance due to the stops to change film reels.

http://www.a2zracer.com/img364.jpg

[sal_park]

Yeah but are there any movies with 535i's in them?

what about ronin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122690/) ?
It's not a 535 but an early E34 M5 (vs. an Audi S8), still it has some very very good chase scenes in it.