Rush

[J.D.]

Rush is, well, okay. Ron Howard insisted he was making a movie and not a documentary. That said it draws extensively on the real events of several Formula 1 seasons and attempts to assemble them into some sort of intelligible story line.

In fact – and this is one of its faults – it jumps from one event to another and doesn't hang together very well. The whole premise is a screenwriter’s nightmare; two drivers, six years, a bunch of races and a dénouement. In the end, I thought it was better than Grand Prix as a story but not as good as a spectacle.

Production values are high and the editing and sound effects will score points at the Academy Awards next year.

As part of Howard's idea of poetic licence, much is made of the personal animosity between the two men. In fact, this was not the case at all and Lauda, while supportive of the authenticity of the film, has been quite vocal about this.

I couldn’t help thinking that Chris Hemsworth just didn’t cut it as James Hunt. They just tried too hard to turn him into a total tear away, which he wasn’t. Even by 1976, drivers had to be professional and much of Hunt’s behavior is just not true to the man. I understand they couldn’t secure any cooperation from the family, though they apparently enjoyed the movie when they saw it.

Daniel Brühl was pretty convincing as Lauda. He had the advantage of meeting the man, which Hemsworth wasn’t able to do with Hunt. He had a lot of Lauda down pat and totally sold it to me.

I’m old enough to remember 1976 quite well. I still have a lot of publications from that period and have read “The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving”. Most of that season is pretty well etched into my brain because I was a Lauda fan.

He didn’t hide much. He was asked once if he was ever affected by the death of another driver, a regular event in those days. His response was that whenever he saw something horrible, he just put his foot down harder.

I’m no psychologist but I suspect a lot of Lauda’s motivation stems from an extremely negative view he had of himself from a young age. In his book, he describes an event which was probably the turning point in his life. He saw himself as a softy and hated himself for it. By the end of 1976, half a lifetime later, he looked like the hardest guy in the world.

Neither man would have been easy to live with.

The stereotypical evil journalist makes a cameo appearance, just as you would expect. The film industry never tires of this but in this case they got it totally wrong. I remember the way it was covered, certainly in the English-speaking media. It was a feature of the season and crucial to people’s understanding of it.

The story - and the fact - was Niki Lauda lying in hospital at death’s door, with a devoted wife, Marlene, at his bedside. I can tell you right now – and this is reflected in all the publications I still have – that the media were besotted with Marlene in a way they never were with Suzy Hunt. The real Marlene was better looking than in the movie and utterly charming in the way Niki was not. The media ran the love angle as the lead every time.

So the punch up in the toilet is almost certainly a fabrication to give the audience something to cheer about in the quiet bits. It’s a cheap shot at best.

I did like the way they turned up real and recognizable characters right throughout the film. Lord Hesketh, Alistair Caldwell, Clay Regazzoni…there were heaps of them.

Rush is not a movie I’d bust my balls to see again. It’s alright and I found it entertaining but it’s not brilliant. The cars probably don’t feature enough and I think they could have made a lot more of how different they were in 1976.

Howard made a better job of Apollo 13.

***

[Exar Kun]

The cars probably don’t feature enough and I think they could have made a lot more of how different they were in 1976.

My wife thought there were too many shots of the cars actually. So it says something about trying to balance things for the target audience.

[J.D.]

Interesting. My thinking centres more around the rest of the audience than me.

I sort of didn't see it as a movie which women would be likely to see except, as a female friend of mine said, to ogle Chris Hemsworth! That's probably a little unfair though...

[J.D.]

Niki Lauda talks about Rush to a pop-eyed reporter:

[youtube] [/youtube]

[Durrie]

Perhaps the film writer conflated two different journalists to create the movie one as Jerry Garrett seems to imply Jerry Garrett


I wondered about how serious Niki was about the whole "Rat" nickname (like the movie portrays)...then I found this Niki the Rat

[J.D.]

He had a sticker across his visor in the late 1970s which said "Super Rat". Having flown Lauda Air many times - still probably the best airline I've ever used - I remember the "Niki the Rat" stuff for kids.

There are a couple of suggested examples of who that reporter is meant to be. The scene is constructed to add some emotion into a part of the movie where subtlety needs to come to the fore but many audiences are unlikely to understand it. The problem is that it's so OTT it's simply not plausible, unlike the reporter in Le Mans.

By the way, I don't want to put others off seeing it. Most here will probably enjoy it and I think Daniel Bruhl's performance is definitely award worthy. The action scenes are generally pretty good although I think the sound editing is a bit so-so. All the cars sounded much the same to me yet in reality, the different sounds were a feature of the era.

[youtube] [/youtube]

[Jiminee]

Was sitting down to dinner in a pub last night (7.45pm) when I thought - When is Rush being shown again? Turns out - 8.15pm, last showing in Whyalla -shit! Fuck it scarf down tea and lets do it.
Glad I made the effort, there are little things like the sound editing and the tracks but it works as a package. Interesting they included the bit about the DQ in the Spanish GP but nothing about the first start and resulting controversy from the British GP, but have to draw the line somewhere I guess, but I thought that was a pretty big part of '76.

[Durrie]

I thought it was good, but would have preferred more about the cars and races. The bits that are there are well done, just needs more of them. I agree with your comparison to Grand Prix, JD. If Rush had the equivalent racing sequences that they had in Grand Prix, it would be stellar!

Yes, there seems to be some meddling with history, probably for "artistic purposes".

I don't know about other people, but in the movie the crash at Watkins Glen seemed to me to give the impression that it was qualifying for the 1976 race. That accident was actually Helmuth Koinigg's and it was during the race and in 1974. Perhaps "articstic purposes" again.

[J.D.]

I thought it was Cevert in '73...?

Glad you boys are enjoying it.

[Exar Kun]

Yeah it was definitely Cevert. The big time jumps were a bit off putting though.

[J.D.]

Which is my point about it not hanging together very well as a script.

They had to illustrate the fact that drivers were being killed on a regular basis but it was difficult to do it in anything other than a time warp.

That makes it hard to write.

[Durrie]

Yes, i see the Cevert similarity now, but I think its actually another conflation.

It looks like Cevert's car and it was in qually, but the actual arrangement of the car and the damage to the driver looks like Koinigg. Cevert's car flipped over and landed on top of the armco barrier whereas Koinigg's submarined through the lower armco ribbon.

[Sarsippius]

I thought it was great and so did my Mum and brother who I saw it with, neither of whom are much into racing at all. I don't really know much about that era so any inconsistencies mattered little to me. I don't think it was a movie for racing fans or to be a 'racing movie', it was just meant to be a good story/movie and it exceeded my expectations.
Nikki made the film for me, some of his scenes and lines were just classic. I'm waiting for the blu-ray release so I can watch it again at home and with the wife, she just barely tolerates my racing interests but I think she'll like this movie, well she can sit through it if she doesn't