One of the best car racing films ever!

In 1971 Steve Mcqueen released his love project 'Le Mans'. Over forty years later I had the great priviledge to watch this incredible film on TCM this month. It's movie that cost his company Solar Productions lots of cash. There were accidents during the making of the film as well as a filmmaker John Sturges pulling out of the project after facing conflicts with Steve Mcqueen on location. Lee Katzin was brought in to finish filming. He was known as tv director (In the Heat of the Night, Miami Vice, Chips).

I would like to had seen this film on a large movie screen with surround sound. But to see it in the comfort in my house has been an incredible experience. The sound in the film is so well crafted as well as the choice of camera angles. There is no dialogue for the first 37 minutes. This film is about car racing. That's really it. It covers the 24 hour car race in france. I learned plenty about the race by watching this film. Steve Mcqueen loved racing in his private life. As a international movie star, car racing kept him grounded. He had to prove himself to those car racers and he did. He was in the top five in some highly competitive car racing events in the past.

The way the whole race is covered from 4pm to 4pm the following day is wonderful. The night footage in the pouring rain is excellent. The whole movie can be intense, especially the car crashing.

This compared to Renny Harlin's 'Driven', Tony Scott's 'Days of Thunder', Sydney Pollack's 'Bobby Deerfield', 'Le Mans', I enjoyed it more than the movies previously mentioned. I love how focus, direct and pure 'Le Mans' is.

The writer of 'Le Mans', Harry Kleiner, is the writer of 'Bullit' which also starred Steve Mcqueen.