Le Mans (1971)

Almost in breadth and depth of a documentary, this movie depicts an auto race during the 70s on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. The race goes over 24 hours on 13.4 ... See full summary »

Director:

Lee H. Katzin

Writer:

Harry Kleiner

Stars:

Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve McQueen	...	Michael Delaney
Siegfried Rauch	...	Erich Stahler
Elga Andersen	...	Lisa Belgetti
Ronald Leigh-Hunt	...	David Townsend
Fred Haltiner	...	Johann Ritter
Luc Merenda	...	Claude Aurac
Christopher Waite	...	Larry Wilson
Louise Edlind	...	Mrs. Anna Ritter
Angelo Infanti	...	Lugo Abratte
Jean-Claude Bercq	...	Paul-Jacques Dion
Michele Scalera	...	Vito Scaliso
Gino Cassani	...	Loretto Fuselli
Alfred Bell	...	Tommy Hopkins
Carlo Cecchi	...	Paolo Scadenza
Richard Rüdiger	...	Bruno Frohm

Storyline

Almost in breadth and depth of a documentary, this movie depicts an auto race during the 70s on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. The race goes over 24 hours on 13.4 kilometers of cordoned country road. Every few hours the two drivers per car alternate - but it's still a challenge for concentration and material. In the focus is the duel between the German Stahler in Ferrari 512LM and the American Delaney in Gulf Team Porsche 917. Delaney is under extraordinary pressure, because the year before he caused a severe accident, in which his friend Lisa's husband was killed.

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Plot Keywords:

motor sports | race | driver | team | driving | 

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Taglines:

Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Italian German

Release Date:

23 June 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le Mans

Filming Locations:

Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, Le Mans, Sarthe, France

Box Office

Budget:

$7,573,797 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Center Films, Solar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Porsche 908/2 which Steve McQueen had previously co-driven to a second place in the 12 Hours of Sebring was entered by Solar Productions to compete in the race, equipped with heavy movie cameras providing actual racing footage from the track. 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.[7] It travelled 282 laps, or 3,798 kilometres (2,360 miles) and finished the race in 9th position, 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 2nd in the P3.0 class.

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Goofs

In the scene describing the accident involving Delaney and Belgetti, the man talking with Belgetti's wife speaks Italian but pronounces her name with a hard "g", as an English-speaking person would.

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Quotes

David Townsend: Michael, I want you to drive flat out. I want Porsche to win Le Mans.

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Connections

Referenced in WatchMojo: Top 10 Insanely Expensive Movie Memorabilia (2016)

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Soundtracks

Finale
Written and Performed by Michel Legrand Et Son Orchestre

User Reviews

The finest motor racing film on the planet.

If you are a petrol head and you have never seen this film you must have been born on another planet and I urge you to see it now. This film can be best described as motor racing porn. Incredible race car footage shot at the 1970 le Mans 24 hours race together with all the tensions and incidents of this famous endurance battle. Cameo appearances of famous race car drivers of the period. Full of staged crashes with cars that would now be worth $ millions. Not much of a story line and that was intentional, but who cares. This is motor racing at its best full of incident and as near to the real Le Mans as you can get. A veritable masterpiece of cinematic history.As fresh today as when it first hit the silver screen in 1971.