I've never shied away from a 3-hour movie because of its length before. But is there any reason on this green earth of ours why John Frankenheimer's hyped-up, revved-down motor sports drama had to be 3 hours long? The main attraction of "Grand Prix" is obviously the hyper-kinetic racing action we were promised. I'm not really big on action sequences per se, but I did get that impression. Unfortunately, it feels like an eternity sandwiched between just the first two races because the focus of this film is the personal drama-- the silly, soapy, boring personal drama that's simply not interesting. I found the character of Pat particularly unsympathetic (which is a shame because I love the actress who played her, Jessica Walter). I found Pete (James Garner) a general nuisance and an ineffective precursor to Tom Cruise's Maverick in "Top Gun." (Ironic, considering Garner was another Maverick once...) As for Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand), he was just dull and a little pretentious. No better was Eva Marie Saint's Louise, his love interest, and their love story may have the least heat of any in cinema history.
The only really interesting character was Nino (Antonio Sabato), but like they'd give him any screen time up against costars like that! The film does have its strong points. They may take forever to get to the next race, but when they do it's entirely worth the wait. That is, worth the wait alone, not what Frankenheimer and Aurthur forced into the waiting time. The races are thrillingly filmed, dizzyingly edited, and make brilliant use of stereo sound and widescreen. Maurice Jarre's music is also a lot better than most people seem to think. It is a bit too reliant on an unchanging menu of themes, but "Doctor Zhivago" had the same shortcoming and its score is hailed as a masterpiece.
For a while, there must have been something interesting going on in the creative team's heads. Unfortunately, in their desire to make a film people would take seriously as more than just a racing picture, they created one nobody could take seriously because the drama is just so insipid. The mistake here was trying to elevate a simple gimmicky widescreen sports vehicle (no pun intended) into a masterpiece of human emotion. It's nowhere near "Ben-Hur..." but it does beat "Chariots of Fire." A real disappointment.
The only really interesting character was Nino (Antonio Sabato), but like they'd give him any screen time up against costars like that! The film does have its strong points. They may take forever to get to the next race, but when they do it's entirely worth the wait. That is, worth the wait alone, not what Frankenheimer and Aurthur forced into the waiting time. The races are thrillingly filmed, dizzyingly edited, and make brilliant use of stereo sound and widescreen. Maurice Jarre's music is also a lot better than most people seem to think. It is a bit too reliant on an unchanging menu of themes, but "Doctor Zhivago" had the same shortcoming and its score is hailed as a masterpiece.
For a while, there must have been something interesting going on in the creative team's heads. Unfortunately, in their desire to make a film people would take seriously as more than just a racing picture, they created one nobody could take seriously because the drama is just so insipid. The mistake here was trying to elevate a simple gimmicky widescreen sports vehicle (no pun intended) into a masterpiece of human emotion. It's nowhere near "Ben-Hur..." but it does beat "Chariots of Fire." A real disappointment.