50 years on: John Frankenheimer's Journey to Grand Prix
Loved by the Academy for its ground-breaking cinematography and sound, Grand Prix was also scarred by critics. However, with age the film has become an accurate reflection of the sport at the time
TAKEN FROM MOTOR SPORT, AUGUST 2016
He was a big-picture man with visions of grandeur, willing to risk his hard-won credibility as a director and his studio’s money to create the greatest motor racing movie of all time.
John Frankenheimer was nothing if not ambitious. Conflicted and conflict-inspiring, the New York-born auteur went for broke, refusing to let technology’s inability to keep pace with his imagination stop him from creating his masterpiece. Half a century on from the release of Grand Prix, this celluloid classic is the most fondly remembered film from his bulging back catalogue; one that packed as many hits as misses.