Le Mans is a 1971 film depicting a fictional 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race starring Steve McQueen and directed by Lee H. Katzin. The film began as a John Sturges project, before he was replaced during filming. It features actual footage captured during the 1970 race held the previous June.[3]
Top flight Le Mans racing driver Michael Delaney spots former rival Piero Belgetti's widow Lisa buying flowers in the days before the race. He drives to the scene of the accident that killed her husband the previous year. He has a flashback of Belgetti losing control of his Ferrari, forcing him to crash as well.
Like many others, Lisa appears to feel Delaney was responsible, at least in part, for the accident. At the race, she is understandably downcast while working through her emotions. In an awkward scene, Delaney looks for a place to sit in a nearly empty track commissary, only to ask Lisa if he may join her, claiming that it is the only seat left. There is obvious tension between them, but also respect and a hint of mutual attraction.
After 13 hours of racing, Erich Stahler spins his Ferrari 512 at Indianapolis Corner, causing teammate Claude Aurac to veer off the track in a major accident. Momentarily distracted by the flames of Aurac's car, Delaney reacts too late to safely avoid a slower car, striking the guardrail and bouncing several times across the road, striking the guardrails on each side of the road multiple times, totaling his Porsche 917. Both survive, but Aurac's injuries are extensive and he is medevaced to a hospital by helicopter. Lisa appears at the track clinic where Delaney is briefly treated. She is distraught at his crash, which stirs up emotions from Piero's passing she had been seeking to put in the past. Delaney consoles her and rescues her from a horde of reporters. After he puts her in a waiting car, a journalist asks Delaney whether his and Aurac's accident can be compared to the one with Belgetti in the previous year's race. Delaney merely stares him down.
Porsche driver Johann Ritter senses that his wife Anna would like for him to quit racing. He suggests it, thinking she will be overjoyed. She demurs and says she would like it only if he likes it. He chides her a bit about not being entirely honest. Later, the decision is taken out of his hands when team manager David Townsend replaces him for not being quick enough on the track. Anna tries to comfort him, reminding him that he was planning to quit anyway.
Lisa goes to Delaney's trailer to talk with him. After his brush with death, she is even more drawn to him and despairs that he may meet the same fate as her husband; but Delaney finds the thrill too addictive to quit. Townsend enters and asks him to take over driving Ritter's car. After a moment's unspoken communion with Lisa, he follows Townsend, who tells him, "Michael, I want you to drive flat out. I want Porsche to win Le Mans."
In the closing minutes of the race, the two Porsches and their rival Ferraris vie for the win, with Delaney in the #21 car and teammate Larry Wilson in #22. The Ferrari leading the race retires due to a flat tire, leaving Wilson in the lead and only Delaney's archrival, Stahler, to contend with. The faster pair quickly catches Wilson. Delaney passes Stahler for second place.
Slower traffic in his lane forces Delaney to brake, allowing Stahler to overtake on the left. Delaney drafts the German, then both move alongside Wilson. Delaney takes actions that seem intended to guarantee a 1–2 Porsche win rather than going for first himself. Rather than try to pass Wilson, then possibly Stahler, Delaney switches to the right lane and drafts Wilson, allowing both to pull up with Stahler. For good measure, Delaney bumps Stahler twice. When Stahler tries to pass again, Delaney steers toward him, looking likely to bump Stahler again and send him into the guard rail, forcing him to throttle back and brake to avoid that outcome, thus ensuring the desired 1–2 win for Porsche.
Cast
Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, Le Mans driver for the Gulf Porsche team, in the #20 Porsche 917
Siegfried Rauch as Erich Stahler, Delaney's rival who drives for the Ferrari team's #8 Ferrari 512
Elga Andersen as Lisa Belgetti, widow of Delaney's former rival Piero Belgetti
Ronald Leigh-Hunt as David Townsend, the Gulf Porsche team crew chief
Fred Haltiner as Johann Ritter, Delaney's teammate who drives the #21 Porsche 917, in which Delaney finishes 2nd in
Luc Merenda as Claude Aurac, Stahler's teammate and driver of the #7 Ferrari 512 (English Debut by Frank Finlay)
Christopher Waite as Larry Wilson, Delaney's teammate who drives the #22 Porsche 917
Le Mans was filmed on location on the Le Mans circuit between June and November 1970, including during that season's actual 24 Hours of Le Mans race in mid-June.[3] McQueen had intended to race a Porsche 917 together with Jackie Stewart,[4][5] but the #26 entry was not accepted. Instead, he is depicted as starting the race in the blue #20 Gulf-Porsche 917K driven by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman. The race-leading white #25 Porsche 917 "Long tail" was piloted by Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens Jr.
The Solar Productions Porsche 908 during the race. Bulky camera housings are visible at front and rear
The Porsche 908/2, which McQueen had previously co-driven to a second place in the 12 Hours of Sebring, was entered in the race by McQueen's Solar Productions, complete with heavy movie cameras capturing actual racing footage. This #29 camera car, which can be briefly seen in the starting grid covered with a black sheet (at approximately 17:51), and again at just before the 79-minute mark (at 1:18:42) racing past the starting line, was driven by Porsche's Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams.[6] It traveled 282 laps, or 3,798 kilometres (2,360 miles), and finished the race in 9th position,[7] but it was not classified, as it had not covered the required minimum distance due to the stops to change film reels. It did, however, manage to finish second in the P3.0 class.
Additional footage shot after the race used actual Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512s in competition liveries.[6] In the crash scenes, comparatively expendable technologically obsoleteLola T70 chassis were fitted with replica Porsche and Ferrari bodywork.
Although depicted as the factory-backed Scuderia Ferrari team, the 512s used were borrowed from Belgian Ferrari distributor Jacques Swaters, after Enzo Ferrari balked at supplying cars due to the script's Porsche team victory. David Piper, driving a camera car 917K that had a camera seat removed, lost a part of a leg as a result of a crash during filming.[8]
McQueen had wanted to employ Christopher Chapman's new multi-dynamic image technique in the film, as had been done at his instigation with The Thomas Crown Affair, in which he starred in 1968. Chapman advised against it, much to McQueen's disappointment; in Chapman's words, "It was much too big a film, with too many writers; it wouldn't work that way."[9]
McQueen and John Sturges planned to make a movie called Day of the Champion, which was going to occur at the same time that Grand Prix was in production; lingering troubles with getting production to start meant that McQueen (who rejected an offer to star in Grand Prix) had to focus on other projects, such as The Sand Pebbles (1966). McQueen formed his own production company, Solar Productions, and came into association with Cinema Center Films to help make the film. Elements of the would-be movie would be re-used in Le Mans, which would start filming in 1970. Unfortunately, Sturges would drop out of the project when Cinema Center did not find the progress of the filming satisfactory (to the point that they wanted to replace McQueen with Robert Redford). Sturges was quoted as saying, "I'm too old and too rich" to put up with trouble. Alan Trustman, hired to write the film after having written for previous McQueen features, such as Bullitt (1968), suffered a falling out with McQueen and was fired from production, which would hinder further attempts in his scriptwriting career. Lee H. Katzin, known for television work, was brought in to finish the project, while McQueen, strapped for resources, had to strike a deal with Cinema Center that saw him lose creative control.[10][11][12]
On 18 January 2025, Mecum Auctions will auction McQueen's main Porsche 917 chassis 022, driven extensively in the film. After production 022 was sold and raced many times through the 1970s. In 2002, it was acquired by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who asked Joe Cavaglieri to fully restore it to the 1971 film era in Gulf Porsche team livery. 022 has a dedicated webpage and video.
Reception
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 14 reviews.[13]
Documentary
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans is a 2015 documentary film detailing the actor's quest to make the 1971 film Le Mans, complete with interviews from his then-wife Neile Adams McQueen, co-stars Louise Edlind and Siegfried Rauch, and McQueen's son Chad McQueen. It also includes recordings from John Sturges and Steve McQueen.[14]
Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henri "Jacky" Ickx is a Belgian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1966 to 1979. Ickx twice finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1969 and 1970, and won eight Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing, Ickx won two World Endurance Championships with Porsche and is a six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring. In rallying, Ickx won the Paris–Dakar Rally in 1983 with Mercedes.
Grand Prix is a 1966 American sports drama film directed by John Frankenheimer, produced by Edward Lewis, and written by Robert Alan Aurthur with uncredited story contributions by Frankenheimer and rewrites by William Hanley. It stars an international ensemble cast, including James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, Jessica Walter, Françoise Hardy and Antonio Sabàto. Toshiro Mifune has a supporting role as a race team owner, inspired by Soichiro Honda. The picture was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by Lionel Lindon, and presented in 70mm Cinerama in premiere engagements. Its unique racing cinematography is one of the main draws of the film.
Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega was a Mexican racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1963 to 1971. Rodríguez won two Formula One Grands Prix across nine seasons. In endurance racing, Rodríguez won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 with Ford, and was a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche.
The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4.5 to 5.0 litres, the 917 was introduced in 1969 and initially proved unwieldy on the race track but continuous development improved the handling and it went on to dominate sports-car racing in 1970 and 1971.
David Ruff Piper is a British former Formula One and sports car racing driver from England. He participated in 3 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 July 1959. He scored no championship points.
Derek Reginald Bell is a British racing driver. In sportscar racing, he won the Le Mans 24 hours five times, the Daytona 24 three times and the World Sportscar Championship twice. He also raced in Formula One for the Ferrari, Wheatcroft, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno teams. He has been described by fellow racer Hans-Joachim Stuck as one of the most liked drivers of his generation.
Leo Juhani "Leksa" Kinnunen was a Finnish racing driver, and the first Formula One driver from Finland.
Mark Neary Donohue Jr., nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories.
Richard James David "Dickie" Attwood is a British motor racing driver from England. During his career he raced for the BRM, Lotus and Cooper Formula One teams. He competed in 17 World Championship Grands Prix, achieved one podium and scored a total of 11 championship points. He was also a successful sports car racing driver and won the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race, driving a Porsche 917, the first of Porsche's record 19 victories at the famous race.
Team Penske is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organization has also competed in various other types of professional racing such as Formula One, Can-Am, Trans Am, and Australia's Supercars Championship. Altogether, Team Penske has earned over 500 victories and over 40 championships in all of auto racing. Team Penske is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske. The team president is Tim Cindric.
Ferrari 512 S was a sports prototype car produced by Italian manufacturer Ferrari from 1969 to 1970. As it name suggests, the car had a 5.0L V12 engine. A total 25 units were built.
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906-Porsche 910-Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand Piëch.
The Lola T70 is a sports prototype developed by British manufacturer Lola Cars in 1965, the successor to its Mk6. Lola built the aluminium monocoque chassis, which were typically powered by large American V8s.
The 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 39th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1971. It was the ninth round of the 1971 International Championship for Makes.
The 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged on 13 and 14 June 1970 at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. It was the eighth race of the 1970 International Championship for Makes and was the 38th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race was contested by Group 4 Special GT cars, Group 5 Sports Cars and Group 6 Prototypes.
The 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France on 14 and 15 June 1969. It was the 37th Grand Prix of Endurance and was the eighth round of the 1969 International Championship for Makes. The race was open to Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars, Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars.
Günter "Bobby" Klass was a versatile German racing driver, competing in hillclimbing, rallying, and the World Sportscar Championship as factory driver for Porsche and the Scuderia Ferrari.
The 1970 12 Hours of Sebring was an endurance race held at the 5.2 mile (8.3 km) Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida, United States on March 21, 1970. It was the twentieth running of the endurance classic and the second round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans is a 2015 documentary directed by John McKenna and Gabriel Clarke. It premiered at the 68th Cannes Film Festival and was one of two British films to be an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
Guy Chasseuil is a French former racing driver. During his racing career he specialized in rallying and endurance racing.
References
↑ "Le Mans". Milwaukee Journal. (advertisement). June 22, 1971. p.13.
↑ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46
Michael Keyser, Jonathan Williams, A French Kiss With Death, Bentley Publishers, 1999 - A lengthy, profusely illustrated and very readable history of the making of the movie
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
