Le Mans (1971)

LE MANS  (1971)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Lee H. Katzen
    Steve McQueen, Elga Anderson, Siegfried Rauch
Steve McQueen apparently turned down the lead in John Frenkenheimer's "Grand Prix" in 1966, because he wanted to make his own auto-racng movie. When he got the chance a few years later, the result was "Le Mans". McQueen had clout back then, and he used it to make the movie he wanted. Filmed on location, it's part documentary, part vanity project, part existential racetrack drama, part high-speed action flick and part European art film. It was McQueen's idea to ditch most of the narrative and let the race tell the story, and the whole thing has a vérité feel to it. There's minimal dialogue and what there is often seems incidental, with the actors in the background of shots, their words muffled and sometimes inaudible in the din from the cars and the crowd. It was a troubled production and the film was not a critical or commercial success, but it's also not like any other auto-racing movie, moody and reflective, and very much the creation of its cranky, charismatic star.