Reviews

The sheriff and his sidekick tracking James Stewart and Dean Martin are named July Johnson and Roscoe. Both of these characters appear in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove as a sheriff and his sidekick out of Arkansas tracking Jake Spoon. Wonder about the connection between the two stories.

McMurtry is not mentioned in the writing credits, so if he didn't provide the names and reuse them, then he fell in love with them and 'reused' them at a later date. There are some other things that have a McMurtry fell, like when Stewart and Martin are talking about Montana, and the whole episodes of crossing the desert reminds me of Dead Man's Walk...

Although it is almost 40 years old, it is still the standard by which racing movies are judged. The good news is the plot doesn't interfere with the racing scenes. It's also great to see drivers like Graham Hill, Phil Hill (glad he didn't quit his day job), Chris Amon, Jimmy Clark, and others on screen. The cars are incredible, even with their lack of aerodynamics and their skinny tires. The opening scene with the engines starting and watching the throttles work is just too cool. These were the 3-litre engines and it was back when drivers actually had to clutch and shift! It's also great to see the tracks as they were back then, especially Spa. Unfortunately they were incredibly dangerous and have been updated for safety reasons, but they were good to see in their old form.