The new Hollywood movie is a winner, the reviewers say. Now watch a true story of Ford versus Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966.
We haven’t yet seen the new movie Ford v Ferrari starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, but we hear it’s really good. We’ve gotten solid reviews from tough critics, including racing historians and participants who were at Le Mans in 1966 for the historic Ford victory. True, the film does take some liberties with historical accuracy for the sake of big screen drama, but that’s simply how the Hollywood movie machine works.
Meanwhile, the true story of the Ford versus Ferrari battle at Le Mans is quite a tale in itself—from the moon-landing engineering effort that produced the Ford GT program, to the management bungling that botched the race finish in the furtherance of corporate glory. One noteworthy interpretation of the event is This Time Tomorrow, a Hollywood-quality documentary commissioned by the Ford Motor Company back in 1966, and we are fortunate to have it for you here. It’s a little long for the internet at 27 minutes, but we think it’s worth the trip. (For additional commentary as you watch, check out the detailed Wikipedia entry on the race.) Video below.
It’s great to see Hollywood make a plausible movie for once, not disemboweling zombies. I don’t care for movies, and Hollywood will most certainly shmaltz up key parts, but all the car sites seem to rave about it. Probably because, aside from “Ricky Bobby”, we don’t see many racing films. LeMans was my last favorite one.