‘Ford v Ferrari’ offers a compelling story, solid acting and lots of fast cars
It’s an auto racing movie. Featuring some of the most intense pedal-to-the-metal, engine-snarling, high-speed driving footage Hollywood can produce. As the acceleration surges, you can practically feel yourself being slammed into the back of your seat. Those “Fast and Furious” pictures have nothing on “Ford v Ferrari.”
It’s a clash of titanic egos movie. About men, historic figures, engaged in high-pressure, high-risk pursuits. Some of them are race drivers. Some of them are industrialists. All are fired by a searing desire to defeat the competition and prove to themselves as well as others they’re the best there is at what they do.
It’s also, and this is the true rarity in movies of this type, a helluva lot of fun.
“Ford v. Ferrari” is fun thanks largely to the sheer ebullience Christian Bale brings to his portrayal of race driver Ken Miles, a grease-stained, smudge-faced working-class Brit (his accent is thick with the patois of his Birmingham roots) with tons of talent and an in-your-face cockiness that grates on people. A whole lot of people. Powerful people, some of them.
Championing and running interference for him is Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), a Texas-born one-time racer who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans road race in 1959 and then quit owing to a heart condition. He reprogrammed his career by becoming a celebrated designer of high-end performance cars. Recognizing a kindred spirit in Miles, he’s instrumental in promoting the Brit as the man to follow in his footsteps and win Le Mans in the mid-1960s.
Shelby has an ego almost as large as Miles’ but also has what Miles lacks: diplomacy. That helps when Shelby promotes Ken’s cause as the man who can drive a Shelby-designed, Ford-produced GT40 Mark II racing machine to victory at Le Mans. He has to convince Henry Ford II, portrayed as a bombastic bully by Tracy Letts, that Ken is the man for the job. Standing in his way is one of Ford’s top executives, played by former Gig Harbor resident Josh Lucas, who perceives that Ken is not a team player and therefore not the kind of guy to be the public face of the Ford racing effort. He’s a back-stabbing suit who calls nonconformist Ken a “beatnik.” Hates his guts.
Another big ego in the mix is Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), whose sleek fire-apple red racers have dominated Le Mans for years. He hates Henry’s guts, deriding him as a purveyor of soulless mass-market cars and therefore unworthy of competing against a purist like Ferrari. Gentlemen, start your rivalry.
Director James Mangold (“Walk the Line,” “Logan”) does a great job illuminating the corporate politics at play in the tale as the youth culture starts to supplant the staid ‘50s ethos and Ford exec Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) tells Henry “kids today want to go fast.” He helps conceive the sporty (though underpowered) Mustang to capture that youth market. Ford’s entry into racing is part of that effort as well.
Even more significantly, Mangold arranges for Bale and Damon to play off one another very effectively. Shelby, the diplomat with the bold streak, willing to literally bet his own company on the outcome of the race with the condition that Ken be allowed to drive, and the cheeky, uncompromising Ken whose ability to be in tune with a car, to sense its strengths and weaknesses and to be at one with the vehicle, gives him his winning edge.
As hyper competitive as they are, the two spark and sizzle together. Things get so testy at one point that they wind up grappling on the ground in a city park, punching and flailing amid spilled groceries and a ripped Wonder Bread wrapper (nice historic touch there), while Ken’s wife Molly (Caitriona Balfe) sets up a folding lawn chair across the street and watches with bemusement. Boys will be boys.
And in “Ford v Ferrari” they sure do love to go fast.
“Ford v Ferrari”
3 1/2 stars
Cast: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Josh Lucas, Tracy Letts.
Director: James Mangold
Running time: 2:32
Rated: PG-13 for some language and peril.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 1:00 PM with the headline "‘Ford v Ferrari’ offers a compelling story, solid acting and lots of fast cars."