Le Mans (1971)

Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race.

Plot: There is very little plot; the movie entertains primarily by the sight and sound of Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, iconic racing cars with lots of visual and audio appeal to racing enthusiasts. There are, however, some elementary plot devices. The race itself is a fierce competition between the Porsche and Ferrari teams. Since it is a 24-hour race and the cars must have at least two alternating drivers, there is time for the resting drivers to have some human interaction. The main character, Michael Delaney (McQueen) has a strong rivalry with Ferrari team driver Erich Stahler. Delaney was involved in an accident the previous year at Le Mans, an accident in which a driver named Piero Belgetti was killed. Early in the movie Delaney spots Belgetti's widow Lisa (Elga Andersen) buying flowers, and drives his 1970 Porsche 911S to the scene of the accident and has a flashback. An interesting film technique is used at the start of the flashback. Perfectly round circles of perfectly white light do a jerky dance against a perfectly black background to the sound of 12 cylinder engines straining at high rpm's, slowly blending into a real scene with real darkness and headlights and cars winding their way toward Maison Blanche, and the viewer. This demonstrates that Le Mans is not a fair weather or daytime-only event. Belgetti, while slightly ahead of Delaney, seems to have lost control of his red Ferrari due to going too fast through this area. Delaney in his white Porsche suffers a lesser crash an instant later caused either by the distraction or having to avoid the wreck. Lisa Belgetti however may think that Delaney is to blame.

Lisa is at the race because of her new relationship with a driver named Claude Aurac, although it appears they are friends, rather than romantically linked. The plot develops in the thirteenth hour of the race, just after 5 a.m. on Sunday morning. Erich Stahler spins his Ferrari at Indianapolis Corner, causing his Ferrari teammate Claude Aurac to veer off the track in a major accident. Delaney is distracted by the flames of Aurac's car and suffers an accident of his own. He tries to avoid a slower car and collides with the crash barrier, writing off his Porsche. It is announced that Porsche number 20 and Ferrari number 7 have been involved in an accident. Although these are separate accidents, they were so close in time and place that it appears to the spectators, the pit crews and notably Lisa Belgetti, that the accidents are linked. Delaney and Aurac survive, but Aurac's injuries are far worse. In the hospital after the crashes, Delaney consoles Lisa Belgetti and rescues her from a horde of reporters. After he puts her in a waiting car, a journalist asks Delaney whether his and Aurac's accident can be compared to the one with Belgetti in the previous year's race. Delaney stares the journalist down and does not respond. A subplot involves Johann Ritter and his beautiful wife Anna. He senses that she would like for him to stop racing and take up other employment. He suggests it, thinking she will be overjoyed. She demurs and says she would like it only if he likes it. He chides her a bit about not being entirely honest. Later the decision is taken out of his hands when the team manager replaces him for not being "quick enough." Anna tries to comfort him, reminding him that he was planning to quit anyway.

–from wikipedia