Overall, this is an incredible movie. This is the racing film gearheads have needed for years. It's true, realistic, gritty, and spot-on. It's been the racing movie we've needed for the last few years. Even if you aren't a racing fan, the historical weight behind this movie is something to appreciate. It's the racing movie I've needed for a while.
Motorsports movies are like a good bourbon. They are super hard to come by, but when you find one you latch on and make it last for a while. As a motorsports fan and a gearhead, in general, the landscape has been pretty barren for quite a while. I still remember hearing about Ford v Ferrari for the first time though I don’t tend to try and preorder tickets or plan to see a movie, but I was gonna make time for this one. It was well worth the wait for a good racing movie.
The focus of the movie is on the historic battle of the 1966 24 Hours of Lemans, the world’s most infamous endurance race. The story follows Carrol Shelby (Matt Damon) as he’s been told he’ll never race again. Shelby was infamous in endurance racing as the only American to win the Lemans 24 in 1959. Then we hit the opening monologue as Shelby drives away from the doctor’s office as he races up the hills. ‘There’s a point. 7000 RPM. Where everything fades.’ As a motorsports fan, these lines brought me to tears in the theatres. The story continues with the introduction of Ken Miles (Christian Bale) a cocky auto shop owner and racer on the weekends. Miles was famous for having been a bold guy growing up, almost running away to the states at one point as a kid. Miles shows his brash side after telling a customer how to drive his sports car and proceeds to laugh at the anger in his face. Then we’re introduced to the Ford Motor Company Plant and Henry Ford II aka Hank Deuce (that’s his legit nickname) and a huge meeting to shut down the plant. Deuce is furious at the workers and the plant as he feels they have stagnated.
Chevrolet is kicking their but at this time too. Ford is getting stomped in the dirt with what’s being considered their bland cars such as the Falcon at this time. Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) tells Hank to ‘think like Ferrari’. ‘It’s because of what his cars mean. Victory.’ Then plan comes out to buy Ferrari. If you can’t beat them, buy them. Ferrari was bankrupt at the time and Ford went in to get the whole lot of the company. Only to fail. Enzo is also furious that Ford wouldn’t have let him raced Lemans if they agreed. So, he shows his displeasure by calling them a ‘big ugly factory making its ugly little cars’ and ‘tell him he’s no Henry Ford, he’s Henry Ford II.’ This is where the battle began as Hank Deuce and Ford begin its Lemans program. Throughout the rest of the film, we see Shelby teaming up with Ford and bringing in Miles to be part of the driving team. As well as the challenge of even getting to Lemans and battling for 24 hours. There’s also a battle between the company and the racers. Ford never really cared for Ken Miles, they thought of him as too brash and not a total polished driver, but Shelby wanted Miles on the team no matter what. Now I’m not gonna spoil the end of this story as many documentaries, tv shows, and history books have but trust me you want to watch this.
Bale’s portrayal of Miles is honestly one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. Miles was always known as a racer’s hot head. This is depicted perfectly by Miles destroying his trunk lid to fit in SCCA class rules. Then throws a wrench at Shelby’s head. With representatives from Porches watching Miles beat legendary racer, Dan Gurney, at Willow Springs Raceway, they realize ‘he’s difficult but good’. The scene where Ford introduces the Mustang and their new racing program is also a strong showing of how Miles truly was in real life. I also really enjoyed Jon Bernthal as Iacocca. With his recent passing back in 2019, it was a fitting performance to the automotive legend. Without a doubt though, Damon’s reenactment as Carroll Shelby is phenomenal. Shelby is an out of this world character in the automotive world and is still one of the biggest icons for American and World racing. Damon doesn’t just take on a role, but a persona of a legend. He does it and does it astonishingly. Personally, I feel he should have been nominated for an Oscar for this performance.
Now I’m gonna have a little geek session right now and talk about cinematography and motorsports history. So, feel free to tune out for a second.
This film is shot and edited beautifully. It’s been years since I’ve seen a racing movie that has been put together so well and looked so beautiful. Filming racing sequences has been one of my dreams and looking and understanding how they’ve done it in this movie is amazing to me. Racing sequences this dramatic and yet this good? I haven’t seen anything this good since Days of Thunder honestly. Now there is some kind of silly parts with any racing movie. The ‘downshift on a straightaway when you’re already in high gear’ has been a trope in a racing movie for years. The race scene at Daytona in the film also feels kind cheesy to me personally. We see a lot of racing movie tropes here so as a motorsports fan it’s a little rough, but at the same time, I get and understand it. Historically speaking, this film is pretty spot on to real life. For the history we know from books and interviews it’s all spot on. The scene where they rip the computer out and place wool taped on the car to follow the air? That happened. Ford built a computer, and then they didn’t use it. There are some things that I’m not sold on. I personally don’t think that Shelby snuck into Ferrari’s pit to steal a stopwatch or a scene where Miles and Shelby fought in front of the house. However, what the movie gets right covers and makes up for that. Fun fact: Ford actually created the braking system used in the movie. That was 100 percent real.
Overall, this is an incredible movie. This is the racing film gearheads have needed for years. It’s true, realistic, gritty, and spot-on. It’s been the racing movie we’ve needed for the last few years. Even if you aren’t a racing fan, the historical weight behind this movie is something to appreciate. It’s the racing movie I’ve needed for a while.
FORD V FERRARI Digital Bonus Features:
“The 24 Hour Le Mans: Recreating the Course”Featurette –Discover how the climactic race of the film was achieved, from recreating the track to capturing and editing all the action.
Pre-Vis: Daytona & Le Mans Races–These animated pre-visualization sequences worked as a roadmap for filmmakers throughout production.
“Bringing The Rivalry to Life” *–Go behind the scenes of the film with this 8-part,60-minute documentary.
Matt and Christian: The Conversation (iTunes Extras exclusive)–Sit down with Christian Bale and Matt Damon for an intimate reflection on the making of the film.
*Available on both Digital and Blu-ray™
