The late John Frankenheimer directed all kinds of films.  Some were resounding successes like The Manchurian Candidate and Ronin; others were abysmal failures like Reindeer Games and The Island of Dr. Moreau.  Where Grand Prix falls in that wide spectrum depends on your point of view.  If you’re a design student who’s looking for some inspiration while sketching, this film is a treasure trove.  If you’re the kind of person who has a low threshold for melodrama, then you may want to look elsewhere…

Technically speaking, Grand Prix is a masterpiece.  Released in 1966, this film used Panavision cameras mounted on the cars.  Some views look over the driver’s shoulder to the car ahead; others look back from the right front wheel, showing the driver and the car following him.  Add to this the fact that the film was shot in Cinerama, and you have an amazingly dynamic presentation for the time.  Even on a laptop DVD player which tends to look grainy, the picture is exceptional — even better than Le Mans.

Frankenheimer was adamant that he would not shoot the cars at low speed and then speed up the film.  This technique had been used in other movies and looked very odd on screen (the final, out-of-control yacht scene in Thunderball is a good example of this).  Thanks to the involvement of actual Formula One drivers like Jack Brabham and Richie Ginther, the ambitious director was able to get his wish.  It should be noted, however, that James Garner did a fair amount of driving himself — at speed.  Jim Russell, whose name you may recognize from his racing schools, helped the stars train for Grand Prix, and his instruction was critical to the film’s success.  With all those close up shots of the drivers with open face helmets, picking a professional that had a passing resemblance to Garner simply wouldn’t do.  The results are incredible, as you can read the actor’s expressions during the race.

Of course, no racing film would be complete without one important element: danger.  Grand Prix features several dramatic collisions throughout the story, some of them fatal (for the characters, not the actors).  Thanks to the brave stunt work and some inspired editing, these incidents look very real and very dangerous.  You’ll find yourself wincing and ducking in your chair.  But this feeling of danger is not isolated to the accidents themselves.  Throughout the film, the cars come across as very fragile, looking as if they could break at any moment.  This is especially true on the high banks at Monza where the suspension whips up and down, and you’re just waiting, waiting for one of the A-arms to snap like a matchstick.  It will keep you on the edge of your seat, even after extended racing scenes.

Of course, everything I’ve mentioned thus far speaks to Grand Prix’s technical excellence.  When the cars stop, the principle actors have to rely on the script to entertain us.  And unfortunately, this is where Frankenheimer’s epic falls short.  Quite honestly, I’ve seen better story lines on daytime soap operas.  I give credit to the writers for trying to get us emotionally involved with the characters so we have an investment in what happens to them (this is one of my main gripes with Le Mans; the characters there are so one dimensional that you find it hard to be concerned about their safety, for example).  But the melodrama is taken to an almost cartoonish extreme, not unlike Days of Thunder.  Now that I think about it, Grand Prix feels a lot like a golden age Hollywood film, like Ben-Hur or Spartacus — and not just because it has an overture and an intermission.  The overall presentation, the acting, the sweeping story have a nostalgia all their own.  Even the music is a throwback; the rising horns sounding more like WWII dog fighting music than racing music – which makes some sense.

On the whole, Grand Prix is an exciting achievement in film, and a must-have for any car designer’s video library.  If you’re looking for an authentic representation of Formula One racing in the 1960s, or just something to play in the background while sketching, this movie has no equal.  Just keep the remote handy, as you may want to skip through some of the more expository scenes.  Just saying…