"Grand Prix" Showing in Roanoke!

[AngliaGT]

Our local British car club (Southwest Virginia British Car Club)
will be renting the Grandin Theatre (an old restored theatre) for
a showing of the movie "Grand Prix",on April 12 @ 6PM.Cost is
$15/person,& non members are invited - just pay at the door.
This will be cool to see it on the big screen,just like when it
was first released.

 

[DrEntropy]

I've a vinyl LP of the sound track and a DVD of "Grand Prix". Recently thinking we need a really high output sound system to counter obnoxious neighbors who think it's okay to blast their "rap cr*p" loud enough to rattle our windows two doors away. The sound of F-1 engines at full chat for a couple hours a day would be better "music" IMO. Maybe mix in some police sirens and car alarms for good measure. And BAGPIPES! Gotta have bagpipes.

 

[HealeyRick]

What a great idea. I love the opening with the split screens and cars lighting off. Do any of you remember there was a race going on at the time to introduce the first Grand Prix movie? Steve McQueen was working on a film called "Day of the Champion" that didn't get released. Very interesting, although long , documentary with some great period F1 shots here:

(just click on the blue button to play it on Vimeo.)

 

[DrEntropy]

Thank you for that link, Rick! The F-1 scenes are great to see, kinda takes me back to times when all we had as input was "Competition Press & Autoweek." Seeing it now is a treat. And the production work it took to get in-car and on track 'footage' is something I can appreciate. Makes a GoPro camera look like a miracle!

Loved seeing and hearing Jackie Stewart's recollections.

Again, thanks!

 

[DrEntropy]

Love that McQueen went on to make "Le Mans" and AFAIC knocked it outta th' park. The romance aspect was there to more-or-less make the film more attractive to a general audience, but the cinematography was impressive in that flik too. The 360° pan in the opening scene blew us away on first viewing. Saw it with a fellow photog on first release and we were trying to figure out how it was done. Cinema magic at the time.

Too bad he couldn't have secured the rights to "Day of the Champion" and finished that one too. But I guess the only audience for it would have been us single-seat racing junkies.

 

[HealeyRick]

Thank you for that link, Rick! The F-1 scenes are great to see, kinda takes me back to times when all we had as input was "Competition Press & Autoweek." Seeing it now is a treat. And the production work it took to get in-car and on track 'footage' is something I can appreciate. Makes a GoPro camera look like a miracle!

Loved seeing and hearing Jackie Stewart's recollections.

Again, thanks!

So glad you enjoyed it, Doc. I caught the F1 bug from Wide World of Sports and Rob Walker's reports in R&T. Still love to see those cars that were so simple, pure and unadorned with sponsorship decals, though they were deathtraps.

 

[DrEntropy]

I caught the F1 bug from Wide World of Sports and Rob Walker's reports in R&T.

The Autoweek reports beat the R&T mag to the mailbox most of the time. Walker's articles filled in some of the blanks later.

Just had a "flashback" to when my younger bro got a very basic slot car setup for Christmas. He got a D-Jag, I had a Lotus Eleven. Jim Clarke had won Indy and the World Driving Championship. At age eleven, even then I was a Lotus fan.

 

[AngliaGT]

When I was in junior high,I helped out in the library.
Mrs. Sweeney was the head librarian,& a very cool older
lady.The library got Autoweek,plus other car magazines.
Mrs. Sweeney told me that she & her husband owned a
Porsche 912 before moving on to a '72 (?) Chrysler.

 

[3798j]

The first year I subscribed to Competition Press/Autoweek...1963 (I was 13). Only way to be able to follow F1. Loved Eoin Young's reporting of the races...that alone was enough of a reason to subscribe to R&T.
Loved Grand Prix...the movie and the soundtrack.

 

[JPSmit]

Doug, thought you might enjoy this - definitely describes this forum!

 

[AngliaGT]

AND they all had phones!