Movie Review: Ford vs. Ferrari
I have decided to do another movie review to switch things up again. This week, Ford vs Ferrari will be under review, and as a person who actually watched this movie I have to say, personally I thought it was really good. Of course its no Fast and Furious series or Speed, but nonetheless, it still managed a pretty good rating and made a decent amount of money at the box office. And with big names like Christian Bale and Matt Damon in the leading roles, you know this will be a movie to remember.
Movie Summary
This movie, although fictitious at some points, took the real story of Enzo Ferrari, Henry Ford, and Le Mans 24 hours and ran with it. It showcases two different professionals – an automotive designer and a fearless British race car driver – working together to build and race the ideal car under the Ford Company name, with the goal of winning one of the biggest automotive races in the world. The two battle different circumstances throughout the movie, even landing in some hot water with the law and being forced to face some of their personal demons along the way. Despite this the two refused to give up, but was it worth risking everything just to bear a title under their names, even if it meant almost risking their lives?
True Story Behind the Name
As mentioned, there are a couple portions of this movie that are in fact taken from history. First of all, Ford did offer to buy Ferrari back in the early 1960s as a marketing ploy to better help the Ford Motor Company in the eyes of the public. This was a strategy that Henry Ford II came up with to attract the younger folks, especially given the fact that up until that point, Ford wasn’t actually selling sports cars or race cars.
He sent a couple different groups of dealmakers to Modena, Italy to try and get this done with Enzo Ferrari which took months to finally hash out a deal – this was time lapsed in the movie for the sake of it only being part of the storyline not the whole premise of the movie.
Next there’s the financial aspect of it. Ford offered $10 million to Ferrari, who initially agreed to the deal, that is until a clause in the contract was found that stated Ford would control the racing budget – obviously something Enzo didn’t want or like. This would have also meant that Ford would be in full control of the decisions made. Not being able to get over not being in control, Enzo ultimately declined the offer and bailed on the deal. Fiat didn’t buy a stake in Ferrari until early 1969 – after Ford’s first Le Mans win. Henry Ford did in fact (obviously in an angered state), sought revenge and directed his company’s financial earnings into putting together a racing team and building the sports cars they would drive, with the ultimate goal of beating Ferrari once and for all.
Did You Know: The film’s intense racing scenes were 100% real footage and no computer generated effects were used? The only CGI is the crowd shots simply because the size of the audience would be too big to recreate
One more really important part that was a fact for this movie was the ending scene where three Ford race cars finished the race together at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Ken Miles had been in the lead (minutes ahead actually) but was instructed to hold back (by Ford) and combined with a technicality, he finished in 2nd place.
The Ford management team had advised him to slow down so the 3 cars could cross the finish line together. In real life, Miles wasn’t as enraged as portrayed in the movie but in an effort to please the company, he followed suit and released his foot off the gas. It is rumoured that despite team orders, Bruce McLaren accelerated (at the last moment) ahead of Miles in an attempt to fully secure the top spot.
Characters in the Movie
Let’s meet the main characters of this movie who helped to bring it the success it saw at the box office:
- Christian Bale (Ken Miles)
- Matt Damon (Carroll Shelby)
- Caitriona Balfe (Mollie Miles)
- Josh Lucas (Leo Beebe)
- Jon Bernthal (Lee Iacocca)
- Noah Jupe (Peter Miles)
- Tracy Letts (Henry Ford II)
- Ray McKinnon (Phil Remington)
Overall Movie Rating
With this movie length actually being quite long (2 hours and 32 minutes) if you decided to watch this movie at home I wouldn’t blame you. I myself had to break it into smaller viewing sections just to get through the movie. But with that being said, it actually received some pretty good reviews that were reflected in the overall movie rating (receiving a 92% on the Tomatometer and 98% audience score on the Rotten Tomatoes website). I have included the movie trailer below for those of you who still haven’t gotten a chance to watch the movie yet. It can be streamed on Disney+, Amazon Prime, and AppleTV, among other streaming services. Please note this movie has a PG 13 rating because of some scenes and language portrayed throughout the movie.
Final Thoughts
Have you seen this movie? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below.
