Grand Prix (1966) on Netflix
American driver Pete Aron is dropped by Jordan-BRM after a crash at Monaco injures teammate Scott Stoddard, and signs with Yamura Motors. Jean-Pierre Sarti and Nino Barlini race for Ferrari.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.2/1012,275 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Four drivers contest the 1966 Formula One championship. Pete Aron, an American with a reputation for recklessness, is dropped by Jordan-BRM after a crash at Monaco puts his British teammate Scott Stoddard in the hospital, and he signs with the newcomer Yamura Motors. Jean-Pierre Sarti, a two-time world champion who has grown cynical about racing itself, drives for Ferrari alongside Nino Barlini, a promising rookie. Off the track, Sarti begins an affair with Louise Frederickson, an American magazine writer who cares little for motorsport, while Aron becomes involved with Stoddard's wife Pat as Stoddard recovers and doubts he can live up to his late brother's racing legacy.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Grand Prix (1966)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Steve McQueen and John Sturges were racing to make a rival film called Day of the Champion, and because of their exclusivity contract with the German Nürburgring, Frankenheimer had to turn over 27 reels shot there to Sturges. Their project was delayed five years and became Le Mans.
- Ferrari was worried the movie would overly sensationalise its work, so Frankenheimer spliced together about thirty minutes of footage shot in Monte Carlo and sent it to the company's management. The response was positive enough that he was allowed to shoot inside Ferrari's production floor.
- Garner trained exclusively with Shelby Cobra driver Bob Bondurant and became good enough that professional drivers, Bondurant included, said he could have been a successful Grand Prix driver. He did his own stunt in the scene where a fuel leak sets his car on fire.
- Brian Bedford's character was designed to match the real 1966 BRM driver Jackie Stewart. Because Bedford could not drive, Stewart himself drove the BRM for the cameras with a balaclava over his face to hide that it wasn't the actor.
- Filming on wet roads sent several cars out of control: one driver broke his shoulder bone and another nearly careened into an upstairs window. The team often kept these unplanned accidents in the film, returning hours later to shoot before-and-after scenes so they fitted the story.
- Because Yamura Motors is a fictional race team, the producers struck a deal with Bruce McLaren's newly formed team to have his McLaren M2B painted in Yamura's colors, a scheme designed to resemble that of the contemporary Honda RA272 cars.
- At the 39th Academy Awards, Grand Prix won three Oscars, all technical: Best Sound Effects for Gordon Daniel, Best Film Editing for Henry Berman and others, and Best Sound for Franklin Milton.
