Ford v Ferrari [DVD]

Theater review. Possible spoilers. This is one of those rare 2 ½ hour movies that actually flies by quickly and is served up best in a good theater on a big screen with lots of Dolby Atmos speakers. Gearheads and auto historians should already know Henry Ford II (Henry the Duece as he was known by his employees) once tried to buy Ferrari.In the mid-sixties Ford was mostly known for building boring cars. At the time Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) tried to change that image, first with the Mustang and later with the idea to get more involved with racing. The plan was to buy Ferrari who was close to bankruptcy but unmatched on the Formula 1 circuit. Presumably the deal was close to being consummated but Iacocca was backstabbed by the Italians. They wanted no part of being part of Ford, especially when it came to racing. Instead Ford was used to up a competitive bid from Fiat. Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) looked pretty smart and he sent the Ford team home with their tail between their legs. He capped things off by using a string of derogatory epithets ending with Henry being fat.When Iacocca relayed the message to Henry (Tracy Letts), Ford decided to build a new race car with no financial limits. Iacocca and Henry’s EVP Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) were charged with development. Iacocca went looking for a design engineer and a driver. He first went to Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) who was the only American driver to win at Le Man. He did it in a Ford powered Cobra of his own design. He agreed but wanted problematic driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) as his primary driver.Miles and Shelby had a past which didn’t always go well, but Shelby knew Miles would get the most out of the car that would eventually be built, the legendary Ford GT 40 (the 40 had to do with ground clearance we learn). We see up close and personal how the erasable Miles’s temperament, public persona and filterless speech was going to be a problem. Beebe in particular wanted no part of Miles being on the team. It took plenty of manipulation and diversion to get Ford’s approval, putting friendship and his personal finances at great risk.Caitriona Balfe stars as Miles’s wife Mollie, but she has little to do in this macho-focused film. The film by director James Mangold (“Logan” and “Girl, Interrupted”) gets all the elements right. Like all biopics, strategic changes are made to allow the film to flow, which it does, quickly.The lead up is to the world famous 24 hours of Le Man set in rural France. Ferrari has won the last 5 races leading up to 1966. Ford now has a competitive car if not the beauty and prestige of Ferrari. As Shelby tells Ford, “we’re lighter and faster and if that doesn’t work, we’re meaner.” Although I didn’t think to time it, the race itself seems to run nearly 30 minutes and I’m guessing this is where a big chunk of budget went. From what I know there is minimal CGI. No Lambo’s jumping out of skyscrapers or falling off airplanes. Just some damn fine driving and action photography.Bale and Damon are terrific in their roles. I’m getting whiffs of Oscar. That goes for cinematographer Phedon Papamichael and the editors. One of the best movies of the year. Highly recommended.

Great and exciting movie!

Great story and great movie. Christian Bale and Matt Damon excellent! My brother said he and my cousin were watching the race in real time and this movie took him right back to that original experience.

I have to admit: I'm not really a car person.Because of this, I avoided watching this for the longest time; if you are like me though, I would beg you to not make the same mistake I did.On the outside, this is a film about two companies competing to win a race for the sake of notoriety and their own reputation. Look inside, however, and this becomes a story about the leverage that tenacity, dedication, and a whole lot of audacity can bring to the table when everything is on the line, and the show must go on. . . . .Before watching this, I anticipated seeing both Christian Bale and Matt Damon on screen together as I consider them to be very categorically different as far as their styles of performance are concerned;Bale tends to be very gritty and often plays characters that display a wide range of emotion in a short period of time. Damon's characters, on the other hand, have a longevity in their demeanor that is coupled with moments that are emotionally intense.If this particular casting choice alone wasn't a smart one on the directors' part, all I can say is this: I got EXACTLY what I expected out of Bale and Damon separately - and that's exactly what made their performance together all the more powerful and categorically successful.Now, because I'm not a car person (Did I already say that?), I anticipated their being moments and nuances that I don't understand. In that same breath, these movies are faced with the unique challenge of A)Making their story more compelling to an audience that may not be interested in the subject matter (um...like me) and B) Making the story more accessible and/or easily understood by an audience that may not "embrace the jargon" (Again, uh, me?).While there were scenes where I was scratching my head because I didn't understand certain aspects technically speaking, this film did a phenomenal job of grounding its contents and keeping it well-rounded. In addition to that, scenes in which a specific topic were the focal point (business, racing, and everything in between) are compacted in such a way that steers the audience away from convolution and burn out.I did my own research afterwards regarding the accuracy of this film as it is based off of a true story, and I was pleasantly surprised; there are moments of the film where certain actions (the actions, not the emotions, mind you) are exaggerated, and I honestly can't blame the director for sprinkling a little bit of drama in to a.....well, a movie that some people might need to feel hoodwinked in to sitting through because....well, they aren't car people (shame on us...). This movie treats the historical figures portrayed with the respect they deserve - and that on its own makes this a film worth watching at least once.If I had one complaint, I would say that there were scenes (more scenes than I expected, some being pretty long. I would say there's about 8-10 minutes total of Italian being spoken over the course of the movie) where there was a language other than English being spoken where the lines were no translated; it's difficult for me to tell if this is an issue regarding my streaming service (thanks Amazon?) or this was done intentionally, but I do find other people complaining about the inconsistency of subtitling when Italian is being spoken. I can only ponder about why someone would intentionally make a part of what is being spoken potentially inaccessible to their audience; in the end this doesn't take away too much from the tone or understanding of the "bigger picture", but this is something that's worth mentioning none the less.This movie is two and a half hours long, but it isn't a drag - it's a smooth ride. Regardless of the direction, this story will move you if you just give it a chance.I would recommend!

For any collector of "auto movies" based on real events this is a "must have." Well acted and true to the story and events that led to one of the greatest "match ups" between auto icons Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari.

Fun movie that is well acted. Gets a little slow here and there; but seems pretty accurate to history.

Terrific film! Matt Damon makes Carroll Shelby come alive, and everything about this movie is outstanding!

I finally decided to eek out some time to watch this movie (it's 2025!!) and from my perspective, growing up very close to a Ford Motor assembly plant in the working-class suburbs in Australia (now living in USA), this movie does a great job contrasting the honest, hard-working car enthusiasts who truly love "working on" cars, with the higher-ups who love cars and love money even more. I thought that the actors fit their parts very well. The executives look and act exactly like the executives that I've worked with in my career, and the petrol heads and motor vehicle business owners look and act exactly like the petrol heads and small business owners that I grew up with in my working-class neighborhood. Good storytelling, and I learnt things about the Shelby-Ford relationship that I had not known. Matt looks genuine in the role of Shelby - he convinced me. Bale was also convincing as Ken Miles. 5/5 for me.