Pros:
Extraordinary story of Ken Miles, Carroll Shelby and the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race; impressive acting by Christian Bale and Matt Damon; excellent casting for supporting roles; quality choreographed racing scenes; ’60s atmosphere; soundtrack
Cons:
Some misrepresentation of historical facts in favor of drama; absence of several characters important to the events shown in the film; excessive demonization of Ford management
Ford v Ferrari movie meaning
Genre Sports Drama
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Christian Bale (Ken Miles), Matt Damon (Carroll Shelby), Katrina Balfe (Molly Miles), Tracy Letts (Henry Ford II), Remo Girone (Enzo Ferrari), Jon Bernthal (Lee Iacocca), J.J. Field (Roy Lunn), Noah Jupe (Peter Miles), Josh Lucas (Leo Beeb), Jack McMullen (Charlie Agapiou), Benjamin Rigby (Bruce McLaren), and others.
Chernin Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Studios
Year of release 2019
IMDb Website
Let’s start with the obligatory disclaimer for almost all historical and biographical films. Ford v Ferrari is not a documentary, some facts are distorted in favor of dramatic narrative, some events are moved around in time or ignored altogether, some important people are pushed into the shadows, and the character of others is somewhat hypertrophied.
Yes, it is a shame that in the movie, dedicated to the outstanding racing car Ford GT40, there was no place for its designer Eric Broadley from Lola Cars (Ford GT40 is based on Lola Mk6). And Denny Hulme, Ken Miles’ teammate at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and future Formula 1 world champion, got just a few seconds of screen time in the movie (that’s not an understatement). The authors paid little attention to Bruce McLaren, the creator of the legendary McLaren team, who actually stole the victory from Miles. Well, the writers and directors have their own reasons, they concentrate on the main thing to create a dramatic story that can reach the audience. If you are looking for a dry and accurate presentation of the facts about that very race, we recommend watching a good documentary The 24 Hour War (2016).
A little about the history behind the picture. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the dominance of Ferrari cars in endurance racing was total. Ferrari cars on the Scuderia Ferrari and North American Racing Teams won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965. It seemed that no one could match Enzo Ferrari and his perfect racing cars. The Italians were suddenly challenged by Ford, which had ignored motor racing until then, and the reason was Enzo Ferrari himself and his arrogance.
To go to war with Ferrari, Ford marketing director Lee Iacocca recruited Carroll Shelby, the 1959 Le Mans winner who was the only one to break Scuderia Ferrari’s winning streak for a year. Shelby, by then no longer racing and who had founded Shelby American (now Carroll Shelby International), was developing road-going sports cars, the legendary AC Cobra. Based on the Lola Mk6-based Ford GT40 sports prototype, Shelby worked with Ken Miles and Ford and Shelby engineers to bring the car to the point where Ford won the 1966-69 24 Hours of Le Mans.
After a change in the regulations of the race, the Ford GT40 could not take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the model itself was revived in 2005 in the form of the Ford GT sports car. The second generation Ford GT was introduced in 2015, incidentally in the racing game Forza Motorsport 6. Every year 250 copies of the Ford GT are produced for sale, and since 2006, a modified version of the car participates in endurance races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but in truth, it does not win in the general classification. Ford GT40 and Ford GT have been featured in many racing simulators and arcades, including Need for Speed, Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon. But back to the movie Ford v Ferrari.
Directed by James Mangold (Logan, 3: 10 to Yuma, Kate & Leopold) clearly looked back at Rush (2013) with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brûlé, but this time the focus is not on the conflict between two drivers on the track, but on the conflict between old generation drivers, individualists and dreamers, capable of designing and fixing a car on their own, getting behind the wheel and driving it to victory in a race, and the big automakers who brought to motorsport a corporate culture, hierarchy, division of tasks, strict rules and … team tactics.
It’s funny that in Ford v Ferrari, it’s Ferrari, which has been regularly berated over the last 20 years for its use of team tactics, that represents the old racing teams and the spirit of freedom, while Ford represents the new approaches to racing and the attitude to competition as a marketing tool that can spur sales of road cars. It stands to reason that the only one in the movie who, besides Carroll Shelby, appreciated Ken Miles’ perfect lap and the entire race was Enzo Ferrari. And this short nod from the balcony from Commendatore meant more to the driver than the laurels of the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For a movie about strong personalities, the choice of lead actors is extremely important, and here Ford v Ferrari hits the top ten. Christian Bale and Matt Damon are very strong actors indeed, and they managed to show very interesting characters on screen. Yes, in order to use all of Bale’s facial expressions and plasticity, the screenwriters had to slightly change the character of the real Ken Miles, making him an obsessed madman, while in reality Miles was quite a balanced man, whose incredibly correct behavior on the track noted even rivals. Here, however, Miles is truly obsessed: he talks to his car, quarrels with managers and rivals, discards everything that prevents him from achieving the ideal. The game of Christian Bale and Matt Damon is really interesting to watch, you can go to Ford v Ferrari at least for the sake of these two actors.
The selection of performers for supporting roles was not bad either. Special thanks for the Italian actor Remo Girone, known to domestic viewers on the series “Sprut”, playing the role of Enzo Ferrari. However, the most sincere praise deserves and Tracy Letts, perfectly played Henry Ford II, and Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, Fury, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint) as Lee Iacocca, and Katrina Balfe (Outlander), who played Molly, Miles’ wife, and even Josh Lucas as Leo Beeb, director of Ford, responsible for the sports program and putting sticks in the wheels of Ken Miles. Great casting.
And, of course, what’s a racing movie without the racing itself. Well, the racing episodes in Ford v Ferrari look very good – moderately realistic, moderately dramatic. Maybe a little more dramatic than the real thing, but it’s still a feature film. Many episodes were filmed live, and the visual effects used are not bad in principle, although a few crash scenes seemed to me personally too game-like, like in some Need for Speed.
Overall though, despite some historical inaccuracies and distortions, Ford v Ferrari is an excellent racing drama about a very interesting sports episode from fifty years ago. Arguably the best racing movie since the aforementioned Rush (2013). Definitely worth watching, even despite its impressive running time of 152 minutes.
Conclusion:
The best movie about car racing and car racers since Rush (2013)
