Ford v Ferrari (2019)

November 19, 2019 5:34 AM

American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.

GREETINGS FELLOW DADS. I ENJOYED THIS FILM. Also, it's nice to see Christian Bale get to play an English person!

posted by Huffy Puffy (16 comments total)

He's Welsh.

I was wondering abut watching this. The problem that seems obvious is, why would I want Ford to beat Ferrari?
posted by biffa at 8:09 AM on November 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

Decent performances from Damon and Bale and that counts for a lot because most of the dueling in this film takes place in corporate meeting rooms and/or garages and not on the track. Less vintage racing action than I expected - if that's what you're looking for, stick with the Steve McQueen classic, Le Mans.
posted by spudsilo at 10:18 AM on November 19, 2019

why would I want Ford to beat Ferrari?

Actually you’re not supposed to want Ford to beat Ferrari. You’re supposed to want Carroll Shelby to beat Ford. I believe you’re also supposed to want gutsy movie directors with a dream to beat Disney and the MCU.
posted by TheShadowKnows at 10:52 AM on November 19, 2019 [10 favorites]

why would I want Ford to beat Ferrari?

As a frequent watcher of Formula 1, let me assure that little is easier than rooting against Ferrari.
posted by selfnoise at 10:57 AM on November 19, 2019 [9 favorites]

Speaking of Ferrari, it seemed like the movie made a conscious effort to make all the Italian characters As Italian As Possible, If Not Moreso. It wasn’t subtle.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:14 PM on November 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

Hello it's me, the only woman in the thread, who is here to gaze adoringly at you men and assure you that I know what racing is (and that I think it's sexy) and support you all through it wholeheartedly!

I saw this with my boyfriend, who's turned me into a casual F1 fan. I would have liked this movie so much more if they just acknowledged they didn't care at all about women and that Christian Bale was cuddly enough without a wife and plucky child. I did like each Italian character trying to outswarth the other!
posted by ChuraChura at 3:13 PM on November 19, 2019 [7 favorites]

This is called "Le Mans '66" in the UK for some reason. Maybe because the Ford brand is more associated with boring cars like Escorts and Fiestas and Mondeos over here?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:02 AM on November 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

I think they changed the name in the US because folks in the US are much more likely to know what Ford and Ferrari are than what Le Mans is.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:16 AM on November 20, 2019 [4 favorites]

Honestly one of the things I was most dubious of was the extensive live TV coverage of the Le Mans race. Wide World of Sports was a couple of hours on the weekend, and I can’t think of another network that would’ve covered it. (Though I assume they didn’t make it up...)

I don’t know if it’s even shown on a major network/sports network nowadays.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:27 AM on November 20, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yes- would there even have been live coverage back then?
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:03 PM on November 30, 2019

Hey, I just walked out on this movie with my dude, who was impatient with my impatience. It is a bit less to do with the movie and more to do with this being the third of trying to watch Oscar BP noms. In case anyone is hoping that anyone might not be a white dude in a movie, this is not the movie. And I genuinely like auto racing and fix cars sometimes. I also like you racing fans. The movie is shot well. It felt empty.
posted by lauranesson at 5:03 PM on February 5, 2020

Oh, I should explain that the moment I sighed too hard was when there were a buncha dudes in a conference room at Ford and someone put up a picture of Sophia Loren in a red dress in explaining what cars should look like. One woman had spoken any lines in the movie, at all. I cannot be bothered with that bullshit.
posted by lauranesson at 5:05 PM on February 5, 2020

Watched it last night as part of an Oscar marathon and it's a solid movie that stays in its lane (sorry). Except for the very 2019 sounding score, this movie feels like something that could have been made two decades ago. Everything about it is extremely competent: directing, acting, cinematography, dialogue, editing but you can't escape feeling like it's a bit of a throwback to a time when no one but white guys mattered. I did enjoy it quite a lot though, just because it is nice to see a movie that is so well crafted but no way it should beat Parasite for best picture.
posted by octothorpe at 4:48 AM on February 6, 2020

Does the devious corporate plot to make Ken lose to McLaren have any basis in reality?
posted by j_curiouser at 7:08 PM on August 16, 2020

As someone who doesn't care about cars at all and doesn't even have a driver's license, I must say I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to. It's not a great movie, but it was suspenseful and the acting was good. I was especially surprised how much anxiety I felt over that fucking door not staying shut.

Poor Peter Miles saw his father die at 15. I hoped for his own sake and for his mother's sake that he never became a race car driver. According to his father's Wikipedia page, he didn't, but he did become a mechanic, and is currently "an executive administrator of a vintage car collection belonging to William E. Connor II., believed to be valued at over $80 million".
posted by orange swan at 9:31 PM on November 25, 2020

Christian Bale was cuddly enough without a wife and plucky child

I actually liked seeing what a good husband and father Ken was. He could be such a belligerent jackass that it was nice to see him at his best in some other context than when behind the wheel.

But then maybe I'm just starved for the sight of men being loving and responsible, because I'm a little short on that in my own life.
posted by orange swan at 9:17 AM on November 26, 2020