7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.7 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
American Grand Prix driver Pete Aron is fired by his Jordan-BRM racing team after a crash at Monaco that injures his British teammate, Scott Stoddard. While Stoddard struggles to recover, Aron begins to drive for the Japanese Yamura team, and becomes romantically involved with Stoddard's estranged wife.
Starring: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshirô Mifune, Brian BedfordDrama | 100% |
Sport | 39% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.21:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, German SDH, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Some races evidently never end. In the mid-1960’s two big budget films built around the world of race cars and the men who drive them vied to be first out of the gate. Both films had major stars attached to them, were helmed by well known directors, and each was out to beat the other to get to local Cineplexes first. The initial race actually got messy a time or two, as real race footage for one film was sequestered and then shuttled over to the other film due to some legal wrangling. But pre-production delays ultimately held up what would eventually become known as Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen, and 1966 saw John Frankenheimer’s huge Grand Prix take the movie world by storm, delivering one of the last big Cinerama features before that format became largely defunct. It’s somewhat ironic then that Le Mans has bested Grand Prix to Blu-ray, at least by one week. While there are certainly similarities between the two films, Grand Prix and Le Mans are really as different as their titular races. Le Mans is a marathon quasi-verité outing that doesn’t waste much time on the drivers’ personal lives and peccadilloes and instead concentrates on the grueling aspects of a race which lasts 24 hours. Grand Prix, following its Formula 1 roots, is more of a sprint, dashing through some of the most exciting race footage ever captured on film, while occasionally crashing into melodramatic subplots involving most of the major characters. Grand Prix is inarguably the glitzier affair, more of a (no pun intended) roadshow event than Le Mans, but it also may be the more flat out entertaining of the two race films, at least for those who want a little story (however hackneyed) along with their zooming racecars.
Warner did very well with Grand Prix's HD-DVD debut a few years ago, with a sterling VC-1 1080p transfer that was one of the better looking releases in that format's brief history, and so no one could have blamed them for simply porting over that same transfer to Blu-ray. But guess what? They didn't. We have an often stunningly gorgeous new AVC/1080p encode in 2.21:1 that aside from a couple of very minor issues is practically perfect in every way. The image is startlingly sharp and well defined, as befits its large format source elements, with wonderfully robust and well saturated colors. Grain structure is still naturally intact and there is virtually no damage whatsoever. The minor issues involve some passing, though prominent, flicker in some of the second unit aerial photography, as well as the added dirt and grime, as well as softness, that is part and parcel of the optical elements like the split screen sequences.
Audio has also been upgraded on this Blu-ray release, to a blisteringly effective lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. This is an incredibly immersive and robust track, full of booming low end in the race sequences that will literally vibrate your floorboards. The race sound effects are incredibly effective, with great panning effects keeping the listener squarely in the middle of a very involving surround presentation. Maurice Jarre's score, which is frankly not my favorite outing by the composer, is also very well represented on this track. Dialogue is clean, crisp and very well mixed, and despite the soundtrack's age, there's surprisingly little boxiness or hiss evident.
All of the extras from the previously released 2 DVD and HD-DVD versions have been ported over to this new Blu-ray:
In its dramatic scenes, Grand Prix isn't exactly at Formula One levels, and might be seen by some as a big, lumbering all-star melodrama. But those qualms are easily dismissed by the overwhelmingly effective racing sequences, certainly among the finest, if not the outright finest, ever committed to film. Frankenheimer benefits from uniformly excellent performances from his excellent cast, but it's in his staging of the race sequences, including his brilliant use of split screens, that Grand Prix attains its iconic status. This Blu-ray looks and sounds spectacular, and it comes Very highly recommended.
1971
2019
1971
1961
2009
1965
Snake and Mongoose
2013
Limited Edition
1965
2011
10th Anniversary Edition
2004
2016
2008
1969
1922
1969
2018
2011-2012
1966
1998
25th Anniversary Edition
1986