Grand Prix (1966)

American Grand Prix driver Pete Aron is fired by his Jordan-BRM racing team after a crash at Monaco that injures his British teammate, Scott Stoddard. While Stoddard struggles to recover, ... See full summary »

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Robert Alan Aurthur (screen story), Robert Alan Aurthur (screenplay),

Stars:

James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand

Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Garner	...	Pete Aron
Eva Marie Saint	...	Louise Frederickson
Yves Montand	...	Jean-Pierre Sarti
Toshirô Mifune	...	Izo Yamura
Brian Bedford	...	Scott Stoddard
Jessica Walter	...	Pat
Antonio Sabato	...	Nino Barlini
Françoise Hardy	...	Lisa
Adolfo Celi	...	Agostini Manetta
Claude Dauphin	...	Hugo Simon
Enzo Fiermonte	...	Guido
Geneviève Page	...	Monique Delvaux-Sarti
Jack Watson	...	Jeff Jordan
Donald O'Brien	...	Wallace Bennett (as Donal O'Brien)
Jean Michaud	...	Children's Father

Storyline

American Grand Prix driver Pete Aron is fired by his Jordan-BRM racing team after a crash at Monaco that injures his British teammate, Scott Stoddard. While Stoddard struggles to recover, Aron begins to drive for the Japanese Yamura team, and becomes romantically involved with Stoddard's estranged wife.

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Plot Keywords:

race | race car | car accident | formula 1 | vespa | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Italian Portuguese Japanese

Release Date:

21 December 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

A nagy verseny

Filming Locations:

Brands Hatch racing track, Kent, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cherokee Productions, Douglas & Lewis Productions, Joel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

176 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Formula 3 car's smaller engines could not spin the wider Formula 1 tires realistically on starts, so the tires were wet with gasoline for those shots, which not only allowed them to spin realistically but also caused them to smoke realistically as they spun.

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Goofs

During the Brands Hatch race, Phil Hill and Yamura are watching the action on track from the pit lane. They face the part of the circuit behind the pit lane. Pete Aron's car has developed a fault and Phil Hill shouts, noticing that Aron's car is leaking fuel. The cars continue around the circuit and come onto the pit-straight. Aron's car is now on fire. Phil Hill now proclaims 'it's on fire!' but he is still in the viewpoint that he was before, meaning that he would've been looking in completely the wrong direction and would not have seen the flaming car from that precise point.

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Quotes

Izo Yamura: Why do you drive racing cars, or do you not think about it?
Pete Aron: Oh, Mr. Yamura, I don't think there's one of us who doesn't ask himself at least once in the middle of a race, "What the hell am I doing here?" Of course, when it's over, we conveniently forget that we asked ourselves that question. I think about it and a lot of reasons I don't know. Maybe to do something that brings you so close to the possibility of death and to survive it is to feel life and living so much more intensely.

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Connections

Featured in Grand Prix: Challenge of the Champions (1966)

User Reviews

Magnificent

The plot is ho-hum, the acting is superb, with Jessica Walter and James Garner especially terrific, but the movie is about formula 1 racing, and there has never been anything like it. The racing scenes merge image and movement and music and become transcendent. Even on the small tv screen, this movie is remarkable. But if you ever find it playing in a theatre, you'll be amazed.