Matt Damon and Christian Bale in “Ford v Ferrari.” credit: Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox
James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari (USA, 2019) is a terrific piece of filmed entertainment. It follows the early days of driver and car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon, solid as always) as he gives up on driving over health issues and starts building cars for the Ford Motor Company’s nascent racing team. Young Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) wants Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) to merge with Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) to race Fords in Europe, culminating in Ford winning the 24-hours at LeMans. But Ferrari turns their good-faith offer into a betrayal. Taking Ferrari’s machinations as an insult, Ford gives Iacocca permission to cultivate an American team, and Iacocca wants the talented Shelby. But Shelby won’t accept the task unless his friend and driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) is part of his team. Miles is a prodigiously talented driver and engineer, but is conspicuously lacking in people skills.
Much of what transpires here is inspirational sports-movie boilerplate – the extreme disagreements and competitive fires between two dog-loyal friends, and their combined efforts to deliver for Big Corporate despite their disgust for the hands that feed them, has all been seen before. Athletes vs. management, lone wolves vs. family, ingenuity vs. danger. In the plus column, it’s genuinely joyful to watch pros Damen and Bale “pass the ball” back and forth, and Mangold’s visual schemes and execution of the racing sequences is thrilling. On the other hand, I’m not sure where they’d trim it, but I must say that 152 minutes is far too much running time. It’s just too long. I’m delighted to see the talented Caitriona Balfe get feature film work as Mrs. Miles, Noah Jupe does just fine as Ken’s son Peter, and the intrigues perpetrated by Shelby and Miles’ corporate vice-overlords (Iacocca, and the vindictive Leo Beebe, played by Josh Lucas) are predictably compelling, but Mangold and his three editors needed to make a few more hard choices where they’re all concerned. It’s also a very male movie; besides Balfe, the female cast is entirely bit-part secretaries and extras. That was the racing world in the mid-sixties, but half of the moviegoing audience may have less interest here, understandably.
I heartily recommend the film. I’m glad I saw it, it’d be great on a big screen, and I like it much better than many of these others. But aside from technical awards, I don’t think you’ll hear much from Ford v Ferrari on awards night.
Periscope In The Bathtub 