WEBVTT FILE

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(racing car revving)

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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(upbeat music)

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(racing car revving)

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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(trumpet music)

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[Narrator] This is the untold story

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of the greatest movie, never made.

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A movie that would have been the world's

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first authentic motion
picture about Formula 1,

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and starring the coolest man

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to ever get behind the
wheel, Steve McQueen.

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- As far as reality is concerned
my education was very good.

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- We spent half our time
keeping him out of jail.

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- It was Steve McQueen driving this movie

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and he was a racer.

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- [Narrator] Of course, we
can't show you that film,

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but by piecing together
never before seen rushes,

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along with original on-set photos,

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letters, scripts and interviews,

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we aim to give you a sense
of what might have been,

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for the audience and McQueen.

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- He embraced me; said
"You can have anything."

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- He is impossible to
take your eyes off of.

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Completely magnetic.

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- A terrible window of death.

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- I think it's a very pure
thing; I'd like to learn more.

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(racing car revving)

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- [Narrator] This wasn't
just a race on the track.

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It was a race between two
massive Hollywood studios,

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determined to do whatever it took to win.

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- You have to have the skill

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to create something people think is real.

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- [Christina] He was determined
to make the definitive film

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about Formula 1.

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- It would have been bigger than "Jaws".

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- [Narrator] This is the story
of "Day of the Champion".

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(racing car revving)

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♪ People see me but they just don't know ♪

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♪ What's in my heart,
and why I love you so ♪

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♪ I love you baby like
a miner loves gold ♪

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♪ So come on baby, let
the good times roll ♪

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♪ (instrumental music) ♪

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[Narrator] The 1960s gave
birth to a new America.

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The country hoped for a new
direction with the election

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of John F. Kennedy, only to
see him shot down in Dallas.

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It sought harmony through
the civil rights movement,

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while protests over Vietnam

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and the Cuban Missile crisis
dominated the headlines.

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America's cultural impact
on the world during

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that decade is undeniable.

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Bob Dylan, Aretha
Franklin, Andy Warhol Elvis

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and a movie industry in transition.

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Old men who could not
relate to the explosion

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of youth culture were swiftly moved aside.

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Films became brasher
and more socially aware.

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The inmates were allowed
to take over the asylum,

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so long as their movies made sense

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and more importantly, dollars.

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- Hollywood in the early 60s

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is essentially the wheels
are starting to come

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off basically since the
end of the Second World War

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the breaking apart of the studio system

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is happening slowly across that period.

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And by the early '60s, 1963ish,

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you have the lowest domestic
output of movies ever

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in American history.

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TV was the enemy to
Hollywood for a long time

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but as they started to
syndicate their movies

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into TV and realized
how profitable it was,

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that barrier started to come down a bit.

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And so you had actors like Clint Eastwood

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who started out in "Rawhide"

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and with Steve McQueen with
"Wanted: Dead Or Alive",

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it was a very popular show.

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- [Narrator] From '58
to '61 McQueen starred

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in a western TV show called
"Wanted: Dead or Alive".

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His detached and mysterious
acting style made this stand out

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from the average western serial.

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It not only made him a household name

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but helped to create his antihero persona,

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which characterized so
many of his future roles.

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His big break in the movies came thanks

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to another man with piercing blue eyes

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when Frank Sinatra
sacked Sammy Davis Junior

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from "Never So Few" after an argument.

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Sinatra and director
John Sturges gave McQueen

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the role of Bill Ringa,

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with Sinatra insisting that
McQueen got plenty of close ups

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and screen time after seeing
something special in the,

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then 29-year-old.

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- [Actor] Josh!

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- I think everyone agrees, John Sturges,

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one of his great strengths

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was he could cast what he
called the gut of the picture.

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Don't worry about who's starring in it,

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that'll take care of
itself but cast that gut.

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- Intuitively, a very good actor

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and exuberant about his work, he enjoyed,

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a warrior, like most good actors are.

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- It was kind of a Pack
picture, kind of Sinatra's Pack,

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but with this one, young outsider.

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Frank kind of saw to it

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that Steve was at the right
place at the right time.

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I'm talking about on the
playing field, turning a scene,

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and off the playing field.

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Frank was careful that he got
the help when he needed it,

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he got the angle when he needed it

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and he got the brothering,

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if you will, actor's
coaching when he needed it.

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- Certainly not an intellectual,
he didn't read much.

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He didn't know very much

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about what was happening in the world,

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but he enjoyed life and we
became very good friends.

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- [Narrator] McQueen would
be the first to admit he

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was no intellectual.

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His difficult and abusive
childhood giving no clues as

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to the global stardom that would follow.

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Born into poverty and raised

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with a great deal of insecurity,

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he was abandoned by his stunt
pilot father at six months,

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then sent by his alcoholic
mother to live on his great,

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uncle's farm aged just three,

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he drifted through childhood
committing petty crimes

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and later admitting; "I was
looking for a little love,

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but there wasn't much of it around."

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- I think the stepdad relationship

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wasn't a good one, he
used to beat on Steve.

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His mother didn't really
do anything about it

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and he never forgave her for that.

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- [Narrator] After several
arrests for shoplifting

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and stealing hub caps,

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in his mid-teens McQueen
ended up in a reform school

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for 'delinquent' children
just outside of Los Angeles.

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- Steve ended up in Boy's Republic,

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Chino and Steve hated it at first

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and resented his mother for it greatly

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but in later life he used to go back there

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and meet the kids there
and he would take items

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from his movie sets there

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and I think although he
maybe didn't appreciate it

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at the time, he came to
appreciate it in later life

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just what it did for him.

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- His name was Mr Panter and
he was the superintendent,

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I guess, of the place.

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And Steve was getting into
all sorts of trouble at

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that time and the guy
eventually took him aside

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after he tried to run away,

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and of course they
caught him, and he said,

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"You better adjust to some regimentation

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or you'll just be a
very unhappy young man,

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in this place anyway."

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So with that, I guess he was able to learn

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that maybe a little adapting
to society would be okay.

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(laughs)

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- You have a choice in life

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and he made a choice that
this is not the life I want

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to go down, I don't want
to end up in prison,

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I don't want to be just another statistic,

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I want to use this as a springboard.

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Let me use my anger, let me
use my pain and my poverty

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and make it into something amazing,

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which the fact that we're
talking about him now,

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so many years later, is
actually what he did.

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- [Narrator] In 1947,

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and already branded as
one of life's "Outsiders",

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the 17-year-old McQueen
enlisted in the US Marines.

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He served as a tank driver,

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an experience that fueled his obsession

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for anything with an engine.

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Although there were occasional rebellions,

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he eventually embraced the rigor

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and discipline of military life

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and was honorably discharged in 1950.

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- He was on duty with the
Navy in the Aleutian Islands,

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just above the Arctic Circle.

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He was cold and he was
out somewhere in his jeep

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and he was heating a can of
beans in the exhaust pipe

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of the jeep, a McQueen manoeuvre.

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And a General on inspection showed up

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and Steve's standing there to attention

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and the General is saying,
"What's going on soldier."

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So the beans exploded and
wiped out the General!

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So who but Steve McQueen
could be court martialled

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for firing beans on a General, you know.

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These things just happened to him."

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- [Narrator] He was clearly aware

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of his educational disadvantage,
but his extreme focus

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and life experience allowed him

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to tackle any fresh
conflict he encountered.

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- Well, my scholastic
standards weren't very good.

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I went as far as the eighth grade but

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as far as reality is concerned,
by education was very good.

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And perhaps a man that
kicks around quite a bit

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is a little stronger in quarters
he needs to be stronger in

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as far as dignity is concerned,

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and a little lenient

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in quarters about
sensitivity and so forth.

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I think if you've been kicked around,

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you don't want to be kicked again.

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- With the G.I. Bill of Rights behind him,

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McQueen had money to learn a trade

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and settled on trying
to make it a profession

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in which he would meet the most girls.

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- I hitchhiked to New
York and I studied there

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and got a scholarship
to a dramatic school.

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Then I did a couple very
small parts on television,

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and then my first Broadway show,
which is a legitimate play,

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and I did two of those.

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Then I came West, I
hitchhiked to California,

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I was broke again.

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Then when I got to California,

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I guess they were hunting for a cowboy

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because they wanted me
for a series and I did it

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and it lasted for 3 years
in the United States

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and fortunately for me
it was very popular.

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(hopeful music)

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- I think McQueen starts
to get good notices with

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"The Magnificent Seven" and
he does everything he can,

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he pulls out all the stops to
get the audience's attention

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in this ensemble piece,

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where Yul Brynner is really the big star.

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And stories abound about
their relationship on set

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and how much he was
kind of fiddling around

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in the background, and
messing with his hat.

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Always doing something to
draw the audience's eye

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to himself.

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John Sturges was a good bit
older than Steve McQueen.

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He'd come up in Hollywood

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in the 1930s as a jobbing Director.

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Really found his niche in
the '50s with westerns,

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with action-oriented westerns.

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So, in 1955 he makes "Bad
Day At Black Rock" which

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is sort of a contemporary
western starring "Spencer Tracy".

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McQueen really was lucky

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in that Sturges was equally interested

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in cars as he was, he
was kind of a man's man.

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And he had McQueen's respect

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because even at that point in his career,

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McQueen was known for being stubborn

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and sort of temperamental.

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- I think what John Sturges
and Steve McQueen had in common

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was just an attitude of;
"Let's get on with it!"

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There was a sort of workman-like
charm about both of them.

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And that's not to say that
they didn't create amazing,

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artistic and poetic
moments on film together.

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And I think they both really appreciated

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that trait in one another.

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- Well, Sturges also
grew up without a father

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so maybe there was a link
there between them in that way.

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- [Narrator] So the
street-kid had made it.

252
00:11:06.680 --> 00:11:09.500
By the age of 30, he was earning big money

253
00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.900
and was now a family
man with a wife, Neile,

254
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.420
and two children, Chad and Terry.

255
00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:16.820
- A lot of actors nowadays,
you know, are making it,

256
00:11:16.920 --> 00:11:18.920
they are successful see?

257
00:11:19.640 --> 00:11:21.100
And they're very angry.

258
00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.300
Now what have they got to be angry about?

259
00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:25.860
If they were really broke
and they had a hassle,

260
00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:27.700
But if they are successful,
they should be very happy.

261
00:11:27.800 --> 00:11:29.540
I'm happy, I've got a
beautiful wife, two kids,

262
00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:32.180
two houses, a couple of cars
and my own film company.

263
00:11:32.280 --> 00:11:33.500
I'm not buggin' nothing!

264
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.340
(laughs)

265
00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:35.140
- Steve, why are you here?

266
00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:35.980
To make a picture?

267
00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:39.180
- We are doing "The War
Lover", John Hersey's novel.

268
00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:40.900
It's the story of daylight
bombing in World War Two

269
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.820
and the American flyers
who fought here in London.

270
00:11:43.920 --> 00:11:45.220
There's only two things
that mean anything to me,

271
00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:47.020
flying and women.

272
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.380
- In that order?

273
00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:50.660
- In any order, or both together.

274
00:11:50.760 --> 00:11:52.140
(engine plane revving)

275
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:53.420
- [Narrator] With his newfound fame

276
00:11:53.520 --> 00:11:56.580
and wealth came the opportunity
to indulge his passion

277
00:11:56.680 --> 00:11:58.260
for motorcycles and cars.

278
00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:00.620
So, as well as starring
opposite Robert Wagner

279
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.140
and Shirley Anne Field,

280
00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.620
McQueen's main motivation

281
00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:05.580
for spending three months in rural Norfolk

282
00:12:05.680 --> 00:12:10.380
in 1962 was the film unit's
proximity to Snetterton Circuit,

283
00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:12.780
at that time, the world's foremost school

284
00:12:12.880 --> 00:12:15.820
for people who wanted to
learn to how to race cars.

285
00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:18.420
(trumpet music)

286
00:12:18.520 --> 00:12:20.500
- Yeah, when McQueen first came over here

287
00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:22.020
to film "The War Lover",

288
00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:26.620
he was really keen to drive racing cars

289
00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.060
and learn to drive racing cars, well,

290
00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:31.380
I think Jim Russell was an American driver

291
00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:32.660
who was actually pretty good

292
00:12:32.760 --> 00:12:34.300
and he started this new concept

293
00:12:34.400 --> 00:12:36.940
of a race driver school
based at Snetterton

294
00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:39.060
and because it was the only
one of its type at the time,

295
00:12:39.160 --> 00:12:42.460
it was like, "Wow what a great thing!

296
00:12:42.560 --> 00:12:43.900
You know, we can go
and sit in a racing car

297
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.060
and learn how to be race drivers."

298
00:12:45.160 --> 00:12:46.540
And that hadn't happened before

299
00:12:46.640 --> 00:12:47.860
and I think it's quite interesting

300
00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:49.860
that Steve McQueen knew about that

301
00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:52.260
and was attracted by that, it says a lot.

302
00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:57.140
It speaks a lot to the purity
of Steve's love of racing,

303
00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.580
I think that he thought, "Wow, Snetterton.

304
00:12:59.680 --> 00:13:01.580
Bleak, cold, rainy,

305
00:13:01.680 --> 00:13:03.940
but it's the Jim Russell
School I wanna be there!"

306
00:13:04.040 --> 00:13:05.860
- Steve, talking about cars.

307
00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:08.220
You race them and you race them very fast.

308
00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.260
Now I don't know any
other actor who does this

309
00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:12.700
sort of activity the way you do.

310
00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:13.500
Why do you do it?

311
00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.180
Why are you in such a hurry?

312
00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:17.860
- I think perhaps a lot
of it has to do with fear.

313
00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:19.460
I think that race driving is an art,

314
00:13:19.560 --> 00:13:21.380
and I don't put myself in the class

315
00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.580
of Stirling Moss or
Dan Gurney or Phil Hill

316
00:13:24.680 --> 00:13:25.760
or some of the people who are driving here

317
00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:27.900
in your Formula 1 or
your international races,

318
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.540
but I remember the first time
I raced I was very frightened,

319
00:13:30.640 --> 00:13:32.340
it scared me and I didn't like
the idea of being frightened

320
00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:33.200
and I wanted to overcome it.

321
00:13:33.280 --> 00:13:34.460
That was one element.

322
00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:36.220
The other elements is
it's a very pure thing.

323
00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.180
It's one of the few things
in life you can't fix.

324
00:13:39.280 --> 00:13:40.060
You can't fix this.

325
00:13:40.160 --> 00:13:41.020
You can go to somebody and say;

326
00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.980
"I'm going to buy my way out of this."

327
00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:44.580
When you are out there by
yourself you are very much

328
00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:45.820
by yourself.

329
00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:46.680
I think it's a very pure thing,

330
00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:49.820
I'd like to learn more and I
plan on doing a little racing

331
00:13:49.920 --> 00:13:51.780
while I'm in your county, I like to learn.

332
00:13:51.880 --> 00:13:52.980
Yes, I would.

333
00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:54.140
I think your courses are very fast

334
00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:55.540
and I could learn quite
a bit from your drivers

335
00:13:55.640 --> 00:13:57.580
so I'd like to learn as much as I can.

336
00:13:57.680 --> 00:13:58.780
- The United States really

337
00:13:58.880 --> 00:14:02.540
only became aware of
European-style racing,

338
00:14:02.640 --> 00:14:04.380
sports car racing,

339
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:09.140
Formula 1 single-seater racing
through the rich young men

340
00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.180
in California just after the war

341
00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:15.260
who started off racing
hot-rod type cars on circuits

342
00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.820
but then found that if you
had the money to buy a Ferrari

343
00:14:18.920 --> 00:14:23.020
or a Maserati from Europe,
they could then win races.

344
00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.060
Steve McQueen, certainly,

345
00:14:25.160 --> 00:14:27.700
was much more interested
in European-style racing

346
00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:30.100
and he picked up on the glamor

347
00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:33.420
and romanticism of Formula 1 racing.

348
00:14:33.520 --> 00:14:35.420
- [Narrator] One driver
seemingly fitted the bill

349
00:14:35.520 --> 00:14:37.500
as McQueen's "UK racing mentor".

350
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.860
A tall, slim aristocrat by
the name of John Whitmore.

351
00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.180
His background and lifestyle
could not have been

352
00:14:43.280 --> 00:14:47.020
more different from rural
Indiana or indeed Hollywood.

353
00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:50.180
- We grew up knowing each other very well.

354
00:14:50.280 --> 00:14:55.280
And he had a lovely house
that he had in Balfour Place

355
00:14:56.400 --> 00:15:00.180
just one back from Park Lane.

356
00:15:00.280 --> 00:15:03.740
He was one of Jimmy Clark's best friends

357
00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.260
and one of my best friends.

358
00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:08.540
But John, he wasn't a
gentleman racing driver.

359
00:15:08.640 --> 00:15:13.540
He was a racing driver
er no gentlemanly manners

360
00:15:13.640 --> 00:15:14.380
or anything like that.

361
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:15.540
Of course, he was well-mannered,

362
00:15:15.640 --> 00:15:17.620
of course he was so well, educated,

363
00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:20.540
but he just wanted to be one of the boys.

364
00:15:20.640 --> 00:15:24.580
- Steve was over here making a black

365
00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:28.200
and white film actually.

366
00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:34.320
And he and I just happened
to meet and we got talking

367
00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:36.260
and we talked for about two hours

368
00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:38.900
and found that we had a
lot of common interests.

369
00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.140
Steve was riding motorcycles,

370
00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:42.820
he was a very good motorcyclist

371
00:15:42.920 --> 00:15:45.060
and also was interested in cars.

372
00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:48.580
- And y then, Steve had
done his Jim Russell course

373
00:15:48.680 --> 00:15:52.380
and John Whitmore was a
massive hot shot in Minis

374
00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:53.980
and it was a perfect thing.

375
00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:59.140
It says a lot about Steve
that he wanted to race Minis.

376
00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:01.820
I think that shows that
he'd thought it through

377
00:16:01.920 --> 00:16:04.260
and it was exactly the
right sort of category

378
00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:05.980
of racing for him.

379
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.540
- McQueen was very
competitive at that level

380
00:16:08.640 --> 00:16:11.220
and there was that great
race at Brands Hatch

381
00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:13.060
when Whitmore and Carlisle

382
00:16:13.160 --> 00:16:15.060
and McQueen were backing together

383
00:16:15.160 --> 00:16:18.080
and McQueen very nearly
beat Carlisle to the flag.

384
00:16:19.280 --> 00:16:22.540
- John Whitmore, I knew from early days

385
00:16:22.640 --> 00:16:26.140
because in fact we both
raced at Sebring together

386
00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.740
in the same car.

387
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:30.900
But he was a great
friend of Steve McQueen's

388
00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.260
and he was keen to race in England

389
00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:37.580
and John Whitmore had already
won a saloon car championship.

390
00:16:37.680 --> 00:16:41.140
So he lent Steve McQueen his Mini

391
00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:45.620
to race at the beginning
of October at Brands Hatch.

392
00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:48.900
The race was amazing.

393
00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:54.000
There were five of us Minis
who were continually passing

394
00:16:54.400 --> 00:16:56.260
and re-passing each other.

395
00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:57.380
(guitar music)

396
00:16:57.480 --> 00:16:58.620
I was told we were the three

397
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.500
of us together going round a corner.

398
00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:05.140
Anyhow the race ended with
Vic Alford winning, me behind,

399
00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.520
just in front of Steve McQueen.

400
00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.780
And the commentator
had gone absolutely mad

401
00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:13.860
and demanded that we, us three,

402
00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:15.820
should go up onto the podium.

403
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:17.900
It was very exciting.

404
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.980
Oh, you can't ask him now but
I don't know what he thought

405
00:17:20.080 --> 00:17:21.580
about that!

406
00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:23.900
But he was a good sport.

407
00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.540
He did drive me back to
London on one occasion

408
00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:29.220
and he was charming.

409
00:17:29.320 --> 00:17:33.140
Chatty, talkative, wonderful blue eyes.

410
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.420
He behaved extremely well!

411
00:17:35.520 --> 00:17:36.940
(laughs)

412
00:17:37.040 --> 00:17:40.700
- There was a Mini, a small car,

413
00:17:40.800 --> 00:17:43.700
on the side of the M1 and I was going down

414
00:17:43.800 --> 00:17:46.420
in my bigger car going a bit faster

415
00:17:46.520 --> 00:17:49.340
and as we went passed the Mini,

416
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.500
there were two girls
and Steve said, "Stop."

417
00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:55.540
And I said, "You can't stop on the M1,

418
00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:56.560
you know, you're not allowed to do that."

419
00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:58.260
And he said "Oh yes,

420
00:17:58.360 --> 00:18:00.780
you know, you ran out of
petrol or something like that,

421
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:01.860
you can stop."

422
00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:05.220
He jumped out of my car,
took a bag with him,

423
00:18:05.320 --> 00:18:07.020
and jumped into the Mini.

424
00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:11.580
And he stayed in the
car with these two girls

425
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.460
and nobody saw him for two days.

426
00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:17.160
(upbeat music)

427
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.060
- [Narrator] The result of racing Minis

428
00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.420
and his Jim Russell course
was the addition of a

429
00:18:26.520 --> 00:18:29.660
so-called Asphalt Rider
in his future contracts.

430
00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:31.260
Nothing was to get in the way

431
00:18:31.360 --> 00:18:33.180
of his love for cars and bikes.

432
00:18:33.280 --> 00:18:36.140
So, in 1963, with "The War Lover"

433
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.460
and many laps of English
racetracks behind him,

434
00:18:38.560 --> 00:18:40.060
Steve McQueen once again teamed up

435
00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.300
with director John Sturges for what was

436
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:46.020
to become one of the most iconic
movies of the 20th Century.

437
00:18:46.120 --> 00:18:47.620
And with the character of Captain Hilts

438
00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:48.540
in "The Great Escape",

439
00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.580
he cemented his status as a
bonafide "Hollywood Superstar".

440
00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:57.680
- He looked at James Garner,
who was "The Scrounger",

441
00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.420
he looked at Charles Bronson with his pick

442
00:19:00.520 --> 00:19:05.580
and he knew I'm the star of this movie

443
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:06.820
and I've got nothing here.

444
00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:09.460
Sturges was big enough to give Steve

445
00:19:09.560 --> 00:19:11.580
that opportunity to go away and come back

446
00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.020
with his own ideas and that was

447
00:19:13.120 --> 00:19:16.540
where the motorcycling across the Alps

448
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.260
and all that kind of thing,

449
00:19:19.360 --> 00:19:23.380
really took off and made Steve
the huge star after that.

450
00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:25.740
- We spent half our time
keeping him out of jail.

451
00:19:25.840 --> 00:19:28.620
Every time he'd show up at
work there'd be this collection

452
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.940
of police who would come in
and they'd all come over to me

453
00:19:33.040 --> 00:19:36.140
and we'd have a consultation
with Steve over,

454
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.580
"You cannot drive through
flocks of chickens

455
00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.420
and you cannot go off into the woods

456
00:19:42.520 --> 00:19:45.500
and back onto the road to
pass somebody," and so on.

457
00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:46.580
- Wasn't it a while ago

458
00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:49.220
that the studios prohibited
you doing any racing

459
00:19:49.320 --> 00:19:51.660
while you were actually in production?

460
00:19:51.760 --> 00:19:52.500
- Ssssh!

461
00:19:52.600 --> 00:19:53.420
- I mean I see all

462
00:19:53.520 --> 00:19:55.380
kinds of executive-looking
people standing around

463
00:19:55.480 --> 00:19:56.540
with their fingers crossed!

464
00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:59.260
- Well, they're being real
nice to me on this film.

465
00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:02.980
- Steve drove faster than made sense

466
00:20:03.080 --> 00:20:05.740
and Steve's emotional outlet

467
00:20:05.840 --> 00:20:08.100
when he was troubled was drive a car.

468
00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:12.340
- So one of the amazing things
about McQueen was really

469
00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:15.540
for the first time since silent
cinema and the "Daredevils"

470
00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.140
of silent cinema like Harold
Lloyd and Buster Keaton,

471
00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:21.660
he was someone who made it
very clear that he did a lot

472
00:20:21.760 --> 00:20:25.300
of his own stunt work, and was
celebrated because of that.

473
00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:28.100
People loved to see him do actions scenes

474
00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:29.700
because they knew it was for real.

475
00:20:29.800 --> 00:20:33.180
But Steve McQueen really
started that in the modern era.

476
00:20:33.280 --> 00:20:35.060
- You've got to remember about Steve,

477
00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:37.340
he not only loved cars

478
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.940
and loved everything to
do with mechanical things,

479
00:20:42.040 --> 00:20:44.340
but he was also very good at it.

480
00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:48.340
Steve was very good at
handling automobiles,

481
00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.500
that's why he could race competitively.

482
00:20:50.600 --> 00:20:51.340
There's another issue,

483
00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.380
too, that people have mentioned
and it's absolutely true.

484
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.980
There is the, I don't
like the term "macho",

485
00:20:58.080 --> 00:21:00.700
but he had that thing about,

486
00:21:00.800 --> 00:21:02.580
I don't want people doubling me

487
00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:07.680
and then I have to face my peers
saying, "Here comes candy."

488
00:21:08.080 --> 00:21:09.220
- [Narrator] The cavalier leading man

489
00:21:09.320 --> 00:21:11.500
might seem like a
director's worst nightmare.

490
00:21:11.600 --> 00:21:14.380
Let alone the studio's insurance company.

491
00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:18.020
But it showed Sturges that
McQueen was the real deal

492
00:21:18.120 --> 00:21:20.100
and his love of blurring
the lines between acting,

493
00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:23.040
action and reality brought
them even closer together.

494
00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.500
With McQueen's insistence on doing most

495
00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:30.060
of his own motorbike stunts
in "The Great Escape",

496
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:33.700
only an insurance clause kept
him from doing that jump,

497
00:21:33.800 --> 00:21:36.460
which whetted his appetite
for more onscreen action.

498
00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:39.180
And what better subject than
the machinery with which he was

499
00:21:39.280 --> 00:21:41.280
so in love.

500
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.380
- [Steve] I don't like acting
when it's "Playing house"?

501
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.260
You know, I believe that
I try to extract out

502
00:21:47.360 --> 00:21:49.580
of my life the same reality

503
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.680
that I am existing in if I'm working.

504
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.540
- Anyone watching films in 2020
probably doesn't appreciate

505
00:21:55.640 --> 00:21:58.100
the difference between an
actor and a movie star.

506
00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:02.140
But in the 1960s and 1970s,
there was a huge difference.

507
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.980
It was a choice of getting
a script and turning up

508
00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:07.380
and doing your job, which an actor did.

509
00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:10.140
A movie star had control;
they could change scenes.

510
00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.100
- [James] Well there were lots of actors.

511
00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:14.540
Movie stars are much rarer.

512
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:19.140
- As a movie star, he's impossible
to take your eyes off of.

513
00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:24.060
Completely magnetic, I think
attractive to men and women

514
00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.500
because he has a salt of the earth energy.

515
00:22:27.600 --> 00:22:29.820
He doesn't put on airs and graces.

516
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.460
He feels like he has
the hands of a mechanic,

517
00:22:32.560 --> 00:22:35.020
he has the face of somebody who has lived.

518
00:22:35.120 --> 00:22:36.260
- After "The Great Escape",

519
00:22:36.360 --> 00:22:39.980
it took his movie star
capabilities to another level.

520
00:22:40.080 --> 00:22:42.900
So for him it was very
important to make a film

521
00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:44.420
that he was passionate about.

522
00:22:44.520 --> 00:22:47.700
- So we move into Warner Bros,
we have a six-picture deal.

523
00:22:47.800 --> 00:22:50.260
When we had our moving in party

524
00:22:50.360 --> 00:22:52.460
with all the William Morris people there,

525
00:22:52.560 --> 00:22:54.740
trying to make a joke I said,

526
00:22:54.840 --> 00:22:57.340
"We're going to make a
picture about racing.

527
00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:59.820
That'll be the end of this
company and our relationship!"

528
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:01.220
And we all had a big laugh.

529
00:23:01.320 --> 00:23:03.260
Turned out not to be that funny.

530
00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:06.540
- What McQueen and Sturges wanted to do

531
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.580
was to exploit highly charged writing,

532
00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.100
intelligent writing about sport.

533
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:15.540
It hadn't really happened before

534
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:18.540
and a lot of it came
consciously or subconsciously

535
00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:21.540
from the style of
writing that one had seen

536
00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:24.220
with Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon".

537
00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:26.340
It was dramatizing death.

538
00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:29.460
It was acknowledging that
it was a central part

539
00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:30.260
of what was going on.

540
00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:33.580
- Well, it was Hemingway's
great statement about

541
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:35.380
there are only three sports; bullfighting,

542
00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:37.020
mountaineering and motor racing.

543
00:23:37.120 --> 00:23:39.120
All the others are just games.

544
00:23:39.840 --> 00:23:42.780
- [Narrator] So motor racing
was maybe the next logical step

545
00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:47.220
and in 1963 a book by American
photojournalist Robert Daley,

546
00:23:47.320 --> 00:23:49.340
shed new light onto Grand Prix racing,

547
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:50.940
exposing the sometimes,

548
00:23:51.040 --> 00:23:53.460
uncomfortable truth
about the less glamorous

549
00:23:53.560 --> 00:23:55.700
and often deadly nature of the sport.

550
00:23:55.800 --> 00:24:00.180
- "The Cruel Sport" came
out with a lot of fanfare

551
00:24:00.280 --> 00:24:04.100
and being a nerd of motor racing,

552
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.100
I was very nervous
about "The Cruel Sport",

553
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.500
but we all had to be because we knew

554
00:24:09.600 --> 00:24:12.940
it was gonna have things in
there that you aren't supposed

555
00:24:13.040 --> 00:24:14.860
to be talking about or showing.

556
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.300
- [Nigel] Well, the more I read the book,

557
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.400
the more I realized how different
it was from most writing

558
00:24:21.760 --> 00:24:23.140
about the sport at that time.

559
00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.240
It was unflinching.

560
00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:30.140
- The sport at that
time was poorly managed

561
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:35.240
and in those days, the drivers
were sitting in a fuel tank.

562
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:38.180
It was all wrapping around you.

563
00:24:38.280 --> 00:24:40.260
And when you had an impact,

564
00:24:40.360 --> 00:24:42.180
they usually caught fire in a big way

565
00:24:42.280 --> 00:24:43.740
and they never got it out.

566
00:24:43.840 --> 00:24:44.620
They never got it out.

567
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:49.260
So it was a colorful,
glamorous and exciting window,

568
00:24:49.360 --> 00:24:52.060
but a terrible window of death.

569
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.780
- Daley was facing the
fact that motor racing was

570
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:57.620
so dangerous in those days.

571
00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:00.500
OK he was making that
the theme of his books;

572
00:25:00.600 --> 00:25:03.060
maybe he was glorifying it.

573
00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:06.900
But he was writing about it
intelligently and openly.

574
00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.500
- Helen and I counted 57 people

575
00:25:10.600 --> 00:25:12.540
who died who were our friends.

576
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.700
We traveled with them,
we holidayed with them,

577
00:25:14.800 --> 00:25:17.060
we raced with them, we dined with them,

578
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:21.420
it was just one big happy family.

579
00:25:21.520 --> 00:25:26.060
- "The Cruel Sport" highlighted
the number of accidents

580
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.500
and the number of deaths
and various serious injuries

581
00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:33.180
that were taking place in
motor sport to the shock,

582
00:25:33.280 --> 00:25:36.500
I think, of the people
involved in motor sport.

583
00:25:36.600 --> 00:25:38.340
But the Americans got
hold of that in a way

584
00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:41.460
that you could touch and feel
and you could smell the blood.

585
00:25:41.560 --> 00:25:44.660
And I think this was the
role of "The Cruel Sport",

586
00:25:44.760 --> 00:25:48.020
it opened the doors to a Steve McQueen

587
00:25:48.120 --> 00:25:50.660
to be able to go to a Warner Bros and say;

588
00:25:50.760 --> 00:25:51.980
"This is Formula 1,

589
00:25:52.080 --> 00:25:54.860
and this is what I want
to make a movie about."

590
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:56.700
(dramatic music)

591
00:25:56.800 --> 00:25:59.260
- [Craig] "John secured the
rights to 'The Cruel Sport'

592
00:25:59.360 --> 00:26:01.300
and we started developing a script.

593
00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:03.820
In Sturges' mind, there was only one actor

594
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:05.620
who had the skills to play the lead

595
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:08.280
in a realistic film about car racing."

596
00:26:09.360 --> 00:26:11.180
- [Narrator] The
ingredients were all there.

597
00:26:11.280 --> 00:26:13.020
Dangerous and dramatic source material

598
00:26:13.120 --> 00:26:15.420
would give the film legitimacy.

599
00:26:15.520 --> 00:26:17.500
The glamor and excitement
of the swinging '60s

600
00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:19.420
would provide the perfect backdrop.

601
00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:22.420
Surely this would be a
guaranteed Hollywood hit?

602
00:26:22.520 --> 00:26:26.580
It was to be called,
"Day of The Champion".

603
00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:31.620
- Somehow or other there
was a magic about the '60s.

604
00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:35.620
Carnaby Street was there, sex was safe,

605
00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:39.220
motor racing was dangerous,
it was glamorous,

606
00:26:39.320 --> 00:26:41.320
it was colorful, it was exciting,

607
00:26:42.360 --> 00:26:46.620
and everybody would come
to Monaco every year.

608
00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:49.620
It was a special time
because Princess Grace was

609
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:51.860
like a magnet to Hollywood

610
00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:54.820
so all the big stars would come as well.

611
00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:57.100
It's just a different culture altogether

612
00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:59.980
and I just feel so fortunate

613
00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:01.780
that I was living in that window.

614
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:03.900
- [Richard] Well, Steve
always had this concept

615
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.900
that he wanted his racing movie

616
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:09.780
that he would eventually
make to be authentic.

617
00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:12.220
It had to be a film
that his racing buddies

618
00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:13.540
would appreciate.

619
00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:15.500
- So, the script of "Day of the Champion"

620
00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:20.140
certainly has more of a
traditional narrative to it.

621
00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:22.660
There is a romance

622
00:27:22.760 --> 00:27:26.180
with a posh British
girl called Kyla Bonham.

623
00:27:26.280 --> 00:27:28.380
(laughs)

624
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:31.460
I think she crashes her Jaguar in a field.

625
00:27:31.560 --> 00:27:33.560
And that's how the romance starts.

626
00:27:34.800 --> 00:27:36.780
But even when you look at the script now,

627
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:40.140
it's certainly more about
the racing than it is

628
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.500
about the characters.

629
00:27:41.600 --> 00:27:42.860
- [Narrator] The mark of the film was

630
00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:44.820
to be absolute authenticity.

631
00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:47.020
No compromise when it came to accuracy

632
00:27:47.120 --> 00:27:48.540
and attention to detail.

633
00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:51.340
Stirling Moss, who had
retired from full-time racing

634
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.020
after his crash at Goodwood in 1962,

635
00:27:54.120 --> 00:27:57.340
was hired by McQueen and Sturges
as a technical consultant

636
00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.380
for the "Day of the Champion" team.

637
00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:01.740
- You know, there was a
time when Grand Prix drivers

638
00:28:01.840 --> 00:28:03.260
were household names in America.

639
00:28:03.360 --> 00:28:04.900
In the days of when there were two races,

640
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:06.060
one at Long Beach at the start

641
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:10.180
of the year and one at Watkins
Glen at the end of the year.

642
00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:11.980
Used to have huge crowds at those races

643
00:28:12.080 --> 00:28:15.540
and knowledgeable crowds who
really knew who Jim Clark was

644
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:16.580
and what he had done.

645
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.020
And Stirling Moss, periodically,

646
00:28:19.120 --> 00:28:21.660
raced in America in the late '50s

647
00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:23.980
on so he was the kind
of pioneer if you like,

648
00:28:24.080 --> 00:28:26.100
in that respect.

649
00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:29.780
And that was where the
drivers began to know,

650
00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:31.180
the James Garner's and so on,

651
00:28:31.280 --> 00:28:36.220
who were American US film
stars who liked racing.

652
00:28:36.320 --> 00:28:39.580
- Stirling Moss was way ahead of his time

653
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.140
as an ambassador of the sport

654
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:44.540
and as an ambassador of his own brand.

655
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:45.700
He had a great name.

656
00:28:45.800 --> 00:28:47.580
He always said, "If I'd
have been christened Hamish,

657
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.100
I wouldn't be as well-known as I was."

658
00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:52.140
But he worked really hard
I mean he'd win a race

659
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:53.900
and that night he would
always make a point

660
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.220
of going out into the
town and meeting people

661
00:28:56.320 --> 00:28:57.900
and going to the movies, wherever he was.

662
00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:59.660
And then he'd go to Hong
Kong and order a new suit.

663
00:28:59.760 --> 00:29:01.340
But it was all in the newspapers.

664
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:02.500
The press loved him.

665
00:29:02.600 --> 00:29:03.980
Stirling was a big,

666
00:29:04.080 --> 00:29:08.660
big name and it was interesting
that Stirling was involved

667
00:29:08.760 --> 00:29:10.740
with "The Day of the Champion"

668
00:29:10.840 --> 00:29:14.740
because he was a team owner by the time

669
00:29:14.840 --> 00:29:17.900
that happened and one of his
drivers was Sir John Whitmore.

670
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.940
And Whitmore would have
said to Steve McQueen;

671
00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:22.460
"You've got to get Stirling Moss involved,

672
00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:24.660
I know Stirling very
well, I drive for him."

673
00:29:24.760 --> 00:29:27.280
And that's how that
would've all come together.

674
00:29:28.320 --> 00:29:30.100
- [Craig] There was a benefit
dinner in Hollywood the Night

675
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:33.100
before our film was to be
announced to the trade newspapers

676
00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.460
and by chance John Sturges was seated next

677
00:29:35.560 --> 00:29:36.420
to fellow director,

678
00:29:36.520 --> 00:29:39.260
John Frankenheimer who had
just directed "The Train"

679
00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:40.180
with Burt Lancaster

680
00:29:40.280 --> 00:29:43.020
and "The Manchurian
Candidate" prior to that.

681
00:29:43.120 --> 00:29:45.780
Frankenheimer was a
long-time admirer of Sturges

682
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.380
and he gushed to his idol about
this film he was preparing.

683
00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:50.860
"It's about car racing!"

684
00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:52.540
Frankenheimer claimed.

685
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:55.700
Sturges just kept picking at his meal.

686
00:29:55.800 --> 00:29:58.260
"Car racing, really?"

687
00:29:58.360 --> 00:30:01.340
"We're calling it, 'Grand
Prix,'" Frankenheimer added.

688
00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:03.220
"I'm basing it on this fantastic booked

689
00:30:03.320 --> 00:30:06.340
I've discovered called 'The Cruel Sport'."

690
00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:09.180
Sturges just kept picking at his food.

691
00:30:09.280 --> 00:30:11.420
As it turned out, while
Sturges was making a deal

692
00:30:11.520 --> 00:30:13.500
for the book with the author's agent,

693
00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:15.940
Frankenheimer was making
the same deal with

694
00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:17.780
the author himself, Robert Daley.

695
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:18.620
Apparently, Daley

696
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.340
and his agent didn't communicate
very well, or very often.

697
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:23.740
So, the day after that dinner,

698
00:30:23.840 --> 00:30:26.180
both movies based on the
same book were announced

699
00:30:26.280 --> 00:30:29.060
to the trade papers, and
the real race was on.

700
00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.420
Both sides were determined to do whatever

701
00:30:31.520 --> 00:30:34.660
and spend whatever it took to win.

702
00:30:34.760 --> 00:30:36.780
- Frankenheimer was really
from a generation of directors

703
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:39.660
that had cut their teeth
on literally hundreds

704
00:30:39.760 --> 00:30:41.220
of television dramas.

705
00:30:41.320 --> 00:30:44.660
He had a string of really popular films

706
00:30:44.760 --> 00:30:47.340
that borrowed from the realism

707
00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.700
and the low budget black
and white of television,

708
00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:53.140
with some more highbrow influences

709
00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:55.740
and progressive politics
often were involved.

710
00:30:55.840 --> 00:30:58.500
So Frankenheimer belonged
more to the late '60s than

711
00:30:58.600 --> 00:31:01.260
the early '60s in terms
of his subject matter.

712
00:31:01.360 --> 00:31:03.060
- It seemed to me at the time

713
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:05.460
that we could do two kinds of movies.

714
00:31:05.560 --> 00:31:08.400
We could either do "Test Pilot" ?

715
00:31:09.520 --> 00:31:12.460
Which is one driver
with his mechanic going

716
00:31:12.560 --> 00:31:14.900
through the whole thing and
finally getting up to Formula 1.

717
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:17.020
Or we could do "Grand Hotel",

718
00:31:17.120 --> 00:31:19.140
which is to take a group of people

719
00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:22.540
and put them in one situation
and see what happens.

720
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.100
Which is basically what "Grand Hotel" was.

721
00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:27.100
So we chose to do "Grand Hotel".

722
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:30.060
- Steve was originally
slated to do that movie

723
00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:32.300
but he couldn't get
along with Frankenheimer

724
00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.140
and so that lasted about 30
minutes and Steve was out

725
00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:37.240
and I was in.

726
00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:40.380
- Well, it's never
really been totally clear

727
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.220
to me what happened.

728
00:31:41.320 --> 00:31:43.420
He had this disastrous meeting

729
00:31:43.520 --> 00:31:45.980
with my partner, Edward Lewis.

730
00:31:46.080 --> 00:31:48.380
It's a meeting that I should've been at

731
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:51.740
and for professional reasons
I was doing something else,

732
00:31:51.840 --> 00:31:55.260
so I said to my partner; "You
take the meeting with Steve."

733
00:31:55.360 --> 00:31:58.500
Well, it just was a
disaster and what happened

734
00:31:58.600 --> 00:32:00.900
was Steve walked out of the movie

735
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:04.300
and we were without Steve McQueen.

736
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.340
I still think if we'd had
Steve McQueen in that movie,

737
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:10.740
it would have been bigger than "Jaws".

738
00:32:10.840 --> 00:32:11.580
- [Interviewer] Really?

739
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:12.420
I mean, yeah.

740
00:32:12.520 --> 00:32:14.340
I mean that's my contention.

741
00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:18.340
- He was definitely number
one choice for "Grand Prix".

742
00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:21.860
I think in hindsight,
MGM got off lightly there

743
00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:24.860
because Steve would not have been an actor

744
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:28.380
that would have just executed
a script as they wanted.

745
00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:31.460
He was so passionate about
racing that he would have wanted

746
00:32:31.560 --> 00:32:34.020
to have brought his own
ideas to that movie.

747
00:32:34.120 --> 00:32:36.740
What they got with James
Garner would have been an actor

748
00:32:36.840 --> 00:32:39.700
who was a lot easier to handle let's say,

749
00:32:39.800 --> 00:32:43.580
in terms of executing
a proper movie script,

750
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:48.500
as opposed to wanting to create
the definitive racing movie.

751
00:32:48.600 --> 00:32:52.420
- So, when I got the part in "Grand Prix",

752
00:32:52.520 --> 00:32:55.660
I called him and I said,
"Steve I want to tell you

753
00:32:55.760 --> 00:32:56.520
before you hear it from somebody else,

754
00:32:56.600 --> 00:32:58.460
that I'm gonna do 'Grand Prix'."

755
00:32:58.560 --> 00:33:00.460
Well, there was about
a twenty-dollar silence

756
00:33:00.560 --> 00:33:01.900
there on the telephone!

757
00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:02.740
(laughs)

758
00:33:02.840 --> 00:33:04.940
He didn't know what to
say and finally he said,

759
00:33:05.040 --> 00:33:07.700
"Oh that's great, great,
I'm glad to hear it."

760
00:33:07.800 --> 00:33:09.060
He didn't talk to me for about a year

761
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:11.740
and a half and we were
next-door neighbors!

762
00:33:11.840 --> 00:33:12.580
(laughs)

763
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.380
- One of the things that
really disappointed McQueen

764
00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.460
was Garner didn't have the
love for cars that he had.

765
00:33:17.560 --> 00:33:21.420
It wasn't a personal
obsession with cars or racing

766
00:33:21.520 --> 00:33:23.380
to Garner, it was another job.

767
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:24.700
- So when you look at the script,

768
00:33:24.800 --> 00:33:28.020
it does seem like McQueen
wanted to show off

769
00:33:28.120 --> 00:33:32.300
a little bit some of his racing
skills with Formula 1 cars,

770
00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:35.580
Formula 2 cars, sports
cars, a Mini-Cooper,

771
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:39.140
which could be a little nod
back to his years racing

772
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:41.140
with John Whitmore in a Mini.

773
00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:44.260
It's definitely all
about McQueen's prowess

774
00:33:44.360 --> 00:33:45.260
behind the wheel.

775
00:33:45.360 --> 00:33:47.860
- With the arguments and
egos seemingly smoothed

776
00:33:47.960 --> 00:33:49.980
and top billing for
each movie established,

777
00:33:50.080 --> 00:33:53.540
Warner Bros released this
memo proudly declaring

778
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:55.140
that "Day of the Champion" was up

779
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:58.580
and running with an all-star
crew and technical line up.

780
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:00.700
- [Announcer] "From Warner
Bros Studios, Burbank,

781
00:34:00.800 --> 00:34:03.460
California, Jack L. Warner announced today

782
00:34:03.560 --> 00:34:06.100
that photography on a
multi-million-dollar picture

783
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:09.580
"Day of the Champion" will
commence in Europe this summer.

784
00:34:09.680 --> 00:34:11.900
Filming will include the
"Grand Prix" of Germany

785
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.100
at the famed Nurburgring
Circuit on August 1st.

786
00:34:15.200 --> 00:34:16.620
John Sturges will produce

787
00:34:16.720 --> 00:34:19.660
and direct and Steve McQueen
will star in the Technicolor

788
00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:22.500
and Panavision production
which is being financed

789
00:34:22.600 --> 00:34:25.340
and distributed worldwide by Warner Bros.

790
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:27.300
Stirling Moss, one of
the legendary figures

791
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:28.860
in the world of motor racing,

792
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.980
is serving as production
consultant and Sir John Whitmore,

793
00:34:32.080 --> 00:34:33.860
noted English sports car racer,

794
00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:35.700
is acting as technical advisor.

795
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:38.300
Sturges and cinematographer John Wilcox

796
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:41.260
will utilize four Panavision
cameras to capture

797
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:42.460
the exciting action.

798
00:34:42.560 --> 00:34:44.260
- [Geoff] I'd been working with

799
00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:47.220
the Director of Photography John Wilcox

800
00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:50.380
for a number of years as his
First Assistant Cameraman.

801
00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:54.060
John Sturges was a great name
and it sounds a great film

802
00:34:54.160 --> 00:34:56.420
and Steve McQueen and motor racing.

803
00:34:56.520 --> 00:34:57.740
Yes, why not?

804
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:01.900
- [Simon] We all expected that
a motor racing film directed

805
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.980
by Sturges and starring
Steve McQueen was going

806
00:35:05.080 --> 00:35:06.140
to be wonderful.

807
00:35:06.240 --> 00:35:09.540
We didn't really have very
much view about Frankenheimer

808
00:35:09.640 --> 00:35:12.020
and "Grand Prix" and James Garner.

809
00:35:12.120 --> 00:35:14.700
- The McQueen movie looked
like the serious one,

810
00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:15.620
if you like.

811
00:35:15.720 --> 00:35:18.020
- [Narrator] So the warring
films were literally off

812
00:35:18.120 --> 00:35:19.900
to the races as both Warner

813
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:25.060
and MGM sent recce crews to
the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix.

814
00:35:25.160 --> 00:35:28.380
The first race in that year's
Formula 1 World Championship.

815
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:30.620
(racing car revving)

816
00:35:30.720 --> 00:35:34.620
- So '65 Monaco was an
interesting race altogether

817
00:35:34.720 --> 00:35:36.220
because well for a number of reasons.

818
00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:37.420
One, Jim Clark wasn't there

819
00:35:37.520 --> 00:35:40.220
'cause he was away winning the Indy 500.

820
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.620
Two, Graham Hill won the
race having spun early on,

821
00:35:43.720 --> 00:35:45.500
climbed out of his car,

822
00:35:45.600 --> 00:35:47.260
got back into his car and then continued

823
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:48.100
and went on to win the race.

824
00:35:48.200 --> 00:35:51.740
And three, you had the crews from MGM

825
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:55.900
and Warner Bros there in Monaco
in this tiny principality,

826
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.460
both receiving for the
movies they we're gonna make.

827
00:35:59.560 --> 00:36:02.060
And you can only imagine what
that would have been like,

828
00:36:02.160 --> 00:36:03.660
in terms of a vying for position,

829
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:06.060
there aren't many great
positions at Monaco

830
00:36:06.160 --> 00:36:08.060
because the marshals had
to be standing somewhere

831
00:36:08.160 --> 00:36:10.300
and there isn't a lot of space anyway.

832
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:13.100
There definitely would have
been some serious discussions

833
00:36:13.200 --> 00:36:14.660
between the two groups.

834
00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:16.260
You can imagine, I guess,

835
00:36:16.360 --> 00:36:20.180
the impact it would have made
to have had Jim Clark winning

836
00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:24.500
the Indy 500 the same weekend
and for the movie crews

837
00:36:24.600 --> 00:36:26.140
at Monaco this was like "Wow!

838
00:36:26.240 --> 00:36:28.060
What a world this is."

839
00:36:28.160 --> 00:36:31.400
(upbeat trumpet music)

840
00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.960
(racing car revving)

841
00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:45.380
♪ I said can't explain it ♪

842
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:49.100
♪ Yeah, down in my soul ♪

843
00:36:49.200 --> 00:36:52.660
♪ I feel hot and cold ♪

844
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.060
♪ I said can't explain it ♪

845
00:36:55.160 --> 00:36:57.500
(congregation applauds)

846
00:36:57.600 --> 00:37:00.360
(dramatic music)

847
00:37:04.080 --> 00:37:06.060
- [Narrator] As well as the
thrill of being in Monaco

848
00:37:06.160 --> 00:37:08.780
and hanging around with his
new racing driver chums,

849
00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.180
McQueen, along with Sturges,

850
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:13.500
Bob Relyea and their racing
consultant Stirling Moss,

851
00:37:13.600 --> 00:37:14.980
had used the trip to pay a visit

852
00:37:15.080 --> 00:37:17.440
to an unassuming garage in Woking, Surrey.

853
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:20.340
The Alan Mann Racing Company not

854
00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:22.740
only modified and raced Ford road cars

855
00:37:22.840 --> 00:37:25.060
in the British Touring Car Championship

856
00:37:25.160 --> 00:37:27.140
but they had also
developed a handy sideline

857
00:37:27.240 --> 00:37:29.540
in adapting cars for the Silver Screen.

858
00:37:29.640 --> 00:37:33.420
Bond's DB5 Aston Martin and
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" being

859
00:37:33.520 --> 00:37:34.620
the most iconic.

860
00:37:34.720 --> 00:37:37.180
So, it was no surprise
when they were instructed

861
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:41.980
to acquire and develop cars to
use in "Day of the Champion".

862
00:37:42.080 --> 00:37:44.140
- My father's background in motor racing

863
00:37:44.240 --> 00:37:45.940
was really it was all tied up with Ford

864
00:37:46.040 --> 00:37:47.020
from the very beginning.

865
00:37:47.120 --> 00:37:49.780
He met Steve McQueen through
John Whitmore who I think

866
00:37:49.880 --> 00:37:52.420
was a friend of Steve's
early on in the '60s

867
00:37:52.520 --> 00:37:55.260
and they'd shared Mini driving together

868
00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:58.660
and been motorcycle racing in California

869
00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:02.740
and all part of that
group of friends I think

870
00:38:02.840 --> 00:38:03.940
that they met each other

871
00:38:04.040 --> 00:38:06.020
and Steve was obviously
a big fan of racing

872
00:38:06.120 --> 00:38:08.060
and so they had a bit in common.

873
00:38:08.160 --> 00:38:11.260
He was asked to prepare
the cars for the film

874
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:16.140
and manage the racing scenes
of he film and also build one

875
00:38:16.240 --> 00:38:20.460
of the camera cars, which
was a modified Lola T70.

876
00:38:20.560 --> 00:38:22.820
The cars had been prepared
to a certain extent

877
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:26.460
and they came to review
some of the pictures

878
00:38:26.560 --> 00:38:28.700
that they needed to shoot and the angles

879
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.100
and how they were practically
going to make the film.

880
00:38:32.200 --> 00:38:35.300
And presumably make some
requests about engineering

881
00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:37.460
on the cars to allow them to do so.

882
00:38:37.560 --> 00:38:41.460
My dad said McQueen was quite absorbed

883
00:38:41.560 --> 00:38:45.900
by all the racing detail
and the car preparation,

884
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:48.780
and all the mechanics of the operation

885
00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:50.060
and yeah was very friendly

886
00:38:50.160 --> 00:38:53.060
with all the team members and everything.

887
00:38:53.160 --> 00:38:57.300
But he also was obviously
quite a colorful character

888
00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:02.300
and after hours was quite good company.

889
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:04.380
But I think he was kicked
out of The Dorchester Hotel

890
00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:08.020
when he decided in his
suite to cook up some chili

891
00:39:08.120 --> 00:39:10.820
or beans or something and fell asleep,

892
00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:14.540
naked on the bed and it
dried out and caught fire.

893
00:39:14.640 --> 00:39:17.060
Ran down the corridor to try
and find a fire extinguisher

894
00:39:17.160 --> 00:39:18.820
and the next morning at breakfast,

895
00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:20.820
he saw all his bags in the lobby area,

896
00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:22.500
all having been packed up

897
00:39:22.600 --> 00:39:25.660
and asked Sturges where
they were going that day

898
00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:27.020
and he said, "Well we're
not going anywhere,

899
00:39:27.120 --> 00:39:30.060
I think that's just a polite
way of kicking you out."

900
00:39:30.160 --> 00:39:33.160
(suspenseful music)

901
00:39:34.560 --> 00:39:38.180
♪ It's so too beautiful ♪

902
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:41.980
♪ It's so too beautiful ♪

903
00:39:42.080 --> 00:39:42.820
♪ It's so too beautiful ♪

904
00:39:42.920 --> 00:39:44.900
- [Narrator] The claims of
the Warner Bros memo were,

905
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.660
so far, proving true.

906
00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:48.500
McQueen and "Day of the Champion" seemed

907
00:39:48.600 --> 00:39:50.340
to be several steps ahead of Frankenheimer

908
00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:53.620
and MGM in the battle to the silver screen

909
00:39:53.720 --> 00:39:55.500
and had everything in place to capture

910
00:39:55.600 --> 00:39:58.820
the 1965 German Grand
Prix at the Nurburgring

911
00:39:58.920 --> 00:40:01.380
in true technicolor glory.

912
00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:05.000
What they captured that day
has never been publicly seen.

913
00:40:07.600 --> 00:40:11.240
(helicopter engine revving)

914
00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:15.800
(congregations applauds)

915
00:40:17.200 --> 00:40:20.360
(slow dramatic music)

916
00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:28.440
(racing car revving)

917
00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:50.080
- [Peter] I mean the thing about

918
00:40:50.160 --> 00:40:52.620
this is we never saw any footage.

919
00:40:52.720 --> 00:40:53.620
We saw a little bit of black

920
00:40:53.720 --> 00:40:55.720
and white Movietone News perhaps.

921
00:40:57.080 --> 00:40:57.820
It was in color.

922
00:40:57.920 --> 00:40:59.920
It actually happened in color!

923
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:03.960
(racing car revving)

924
00:41:09.680 --> 00:41:11.760
- It's amazing, very relaxed.

925
00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:16.180
Great footage though.

926
00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:19.040
(dramatic music)

927
00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:23.440
(racing car revving)

928
00:41:33.720 --> 00:41:37.900
- [Windsor] And there's
Stirl in the camera car.

929
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:41.020
- [Samuelson] You had a
400-foot roll of film,

930
00:41:41.120 --> 00:41:44.540
so you had about our minutes in each go

931
00:41:44.640 --> 00:41:46.780
and then you had to reload because this

932
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:51.500
was obviously decades
before there was digital,

933
00:41:51.600 --> 00:41:54.600
so we were on 35 millimeter Eastman Color.

934
00:41:55.880 --> 00:42:00.740
Samuelson Film Service
was run by four brothers,

935
00:42:00.840 --> 00:42:03.300
three of whom were my uncles,

936
00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:08.400
and one was my dad and David
was the technical partner

937
00:42:10.560 --> 00:42:12.740
and he was responsible for all manner

938
00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:15.300
of extraordinary bits of brand new,

939
00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:18.220
never-been-thought-of-before technology

940
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:21.220
and a number of his things are still used.

941
00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:24.140
He built some of it for
"Day of the Champion".

942
00:42:24.240 --> 00:42:26.900
(upbeat music)

943
00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:28.180
(racing car revving)

944
00:42:28.280 --> 00:42:29.980
- There is a racing car flat out

945
00:42:30.080 --> 00:42:32.220
and all you can see around it is green.

946
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:34.320
Nothing else.

947
00:42:35.120 --> 00:42:37.120
- The Carousel.

948
00:42:38.240 --> 00:42:39.900
I mean it was a wonderful racetrack,

949
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:42.560
it was a terrific racetrack, but crazy.

950
00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:51.420
You know, 14.7 miles, 187 corners per lap.

951
00:42:51.520 --> 00:42:53.220
- You know, it was a great
race in so many ways.

952
00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:54.060
This is the race

953
00:42:54.160 --> 00:42:56.780
in which Jim Clark clinched
the '65 World Championship.

954
00:42:56.880 --> 00:42:59.380
It's just amazing footage to have seen it

955
00:42:59.480 --> 00:43:01.420
after all this time.

956
00:43:01.520 --> 00:43:05.420
There's Jimmy after the race
and the mechanics running,

957
00:43:05.520 --> 00:43:06.260
that's real film.

958
00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:09.740
It's just amazing.

959
00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:12.260
And what a trio on the podium.

960
00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:16.300
Jim Clark in the middle,
Dan Guerney, Graham Hill,

961
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:18.500
doesn't get much better
than that in terms of

962
00:43:18.600 --> 00:43:19.580
the drivers you had to beat.

963
00:43:19.680 --> 00:43:21.820
And then for Jim Clark at
that moment he's driving off

964
00:43:21.920 --> 00:43:24.780
in the Merc and he's just won
his second World Championship,

965
00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:27.700
in the same year he's won the Indy 500.

966
00:43:27.800 --> 00:43:29.800
No driver will ever do that.

967
00:43:31.800 --> 00:43:36.540
- One of the guy's around us
I knew, and he was a driver,

968
00:43:36.640 --> 00:43:39.140
he used to drive camera cars and he said,

969
00:43:39.240 --> 00:43:42.500
"Well, I brought some American guys up."

970
00:43:42.600 --> 00:43:43.340
"Oh, yeah?

971
00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:44.180
Where are they?"

972
00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:45.020
"In the Ferrari pit."

973
00:43:45.120 --> 00:43:47.120
I said, "Oh that's interesting."

974
00:43:47.600 --> 00:43:49.600
So, I said to John Sturges,

975
00:43:50.200 --> 00:43:53.980
"You've got some Americans
in the Ferrari pit.

976
00:43:54.080 --> 00:43:56.180
It probably might be the director."

977
00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:59.900
And I remember Sturges being
very, very upset about it.

978
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:03.060
There was obviously a
bit of animosity going on

979
00:44:03.160 --> 00:44:05.160
between the two.

980
00:44:06.040 --> 00:44:08.980
- [Samuelson] We very
explicitly used Panavision,

981
00:44:09.080 --> 00:44:10.940
not just any old Panavision,

982
00:44:11.040 --> 00:44:15.460
but we shot it in a 2.35
ratio meaning the screen,

983
00:44:15.560 --> 00:44:20.380
the shape of the frame is 2.35
times as wide as it is tall.

984
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:22.780
It's called Panavision Anamorphic

985
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:25.700
and that gives you the shape you want

986
00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:27.780
for a motor racing film

987
00:44:27.880 --> 00:44:30.780
because you are certainly wider than

988
00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:35.880
a regular 1.85 television
kind of shape of frame.

989
00:44:37.160 --> 00:44:37.920
- It's interesting to remember

990
00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:39.620
that they then stayed at the Nurburgring

991
00:44:39.720 --> 00:44:42.740
and filmed the week after that race,

992
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:45.300
ostensibly to test the camera
mounts they were gonna put

993
00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:47.580
on the cars and that's
where Alan Mann came

994
00:44:47.680 --> 00:44:50.740
in as obviously camera
mounts were gonna be

995
00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:53.100
part of his brief.

996
00:44:53.200 --> 00:44:58.200
And this has to be seen
against the '62 accident

997
00:44:58.680 --> 00:44:59.500
at the Nurburgring.

998
00:44:59.600 --> 00:45:02.580
In practice, Graham Hill
had a camera on the BRM

999
00:45:02.680 --> 00:45:06.140
and it came off and he had
a big shunt, very big shunt.

1000
00:45:06.240 --> 00:45:09.180
Very lucky to get away with
his life in that accident.

1001
00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:10.020
So here we are,

1002
00:45:10.120 --> 00:45:13.500
long before on board cameras
even became a phrase,

1003
00:45:13.600 --> 00:45:16.540
we have Warner Bros with Alan Mann,

1004
00:45:16.640 --> 00:45:20.980
with John Whitmore and Stirling
Moss hiring the Nurburgring,

1005
00:45:21.080 --> 00:45:23.220
the 14-mile circuit.

1006
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:25.740
Some of the footage we
see is an indication of

1007
00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:28.360
how good that was and how
good it would have been.

1008
00:45:29.560 --> 00:45:31.500
- [Robert] When you start
to deal with cameras

1009
00:45:31.600 --> 00:45:34.940
on cars at very high speed,

1010
00:45:35.040 --> 00:45:36.900
you have a number of built-in problems.

1011
00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:38.780
If the track is wet,

1012
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:40.820
there is water flying around the lenses.

1013
00:45:40.920 --> 00:45:43.860
There has to be design
the cameras so they become

1014
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:45.540
as aerodynamic as the car is

1015
00:45:45.640 --> 00:45:47.640
to avoid getting water all over them.

1016
00:45:48.560 --> 00:45:53.060
It requires mounts that do
not disturb the aerodynamics

1017
00:45:53.160 --> 00:45:55.980
of the car too much and can be balanced in

1018
00:45:56.080 --> 00:45:57.180
some other way so the car can

1019
00:45:57.280 --> 00:45:59.860
still handle at competitive speeds.

1020
00:45:59.960 --> 00:46:02.540
This requires some trial and error,

1021
00:46:02.640 --> 00:46:04.900
it requires the drivers to
take the cars out and see

1022
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:06.540
when camera's in certain position,

1023
00:46:06.640 --> 00:46:09.740
how the car stills handles so
they can adjust accordingly.

1024
00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:12.300
It requires the cars that
are around them to sense

1025
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:14.400
what problems that driver has

1026
00:46:15.040 --> 00:46:17.380
and about 10 or 12 of our drivers

1027
00:46:17.480 --> 00:46:19.260
have been in this same situation,

1028
00:46:19.360 --> 00:46:22.220
including Steve, to deal with a car

1029
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:26.180
that has a new set up
aerodynamically because of camera

1030
00:46:26.280 --> 00:46:28.980
or cameras placed on it.

1031
00:46:29.080 --> 00:46:33.660
- [Samuelson] So we had to
build mounts that were able

1032
00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:35.860
to cope with that, not fall off.

1033
00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:38.940
So not only did the mount
have to not fall off,

1034
00:46:39.040 --> 00:46:42.900
but the consequences of it
falling off would have been dire

1035
00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:48.000
for whoever was in the car
behind and got a 40-pound piece

1036
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.460
of filming equipment into their head.

1037
00:46:51.560 --> 00:46:52.540
That wouldn't have been good.

1038
00:46:52.640 --> 00:46:55.700
So it was all done very very carefully.

1039
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:56.900
- [John] You have to have the skill

1040
00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:00.220
to create something people think is real.

1041
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:01.900
Now we were in a good area to do that.

1042
00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.940
Steve is a race driver and
he looks like a race driver

1043
00:47:05.040 --> 00:47:07.380
and he understands race
drivers, he knows them all.

1044
00:47:07.480 --> 00:47:09.260
He can drive a car.

1045
00:47:09.360 --> 00:47:11.660
We had the real cars,
we had the real circuit.

1046
00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:14.100
So that part was alright.

1047
00:47:14.200 --> 00:47:17.660
- [Geoff] MGM claimed they
had the shooting rights

1048
00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:19.540
with all the "Grand Prix" circuits.

1049
00:47:19.640 --> 00:47:21.540
The Nurburgring was under question

1050
00:47:21.640 --> 00:47:23.860
because Warner Bros claim they had it

1051
00:47:23.960 --> 00:47:25.260
and there was going to be a court case

1052
00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:28.160
and they'd be looking for
evidence to sue each other.

1053
00:47:29.160 --> 00:47:31.340
I was also told that there

1054
00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:34.900
was a 16 millimeter
crew filming us filming.

1055
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:37.900
We never saw anybody,
it may have been true,

1056
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:40.900
it may not have been true,
but we also slipped into

1057
00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:44.300
some film cans with the
dummy labels and put sand

1058
00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:46.300
in them.

1059
00:47:46.400 --> 00:47:48.380
If somebody's going to steal our rushes,

1060
00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:50.060
they might steal the wrong rushes

1061
00:47:50.160 --> 00:47:52.440
and they'd find they'd
got a can full of sand.

1062
00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:55.820
- Stirling always remembered that day

1063
00:47:55.920 --> 00:47:57.460
and made the point of saying

1064
00:47:57.560 --> 00:48:01.020
that when he drove at the Nurburgring,

1065
00:48:01.120 --> 00:48:04.260
doing some filming for
"Day of the Champion",

1066
00:48:04.360 --> 00:48:06.940
he just said, "That day
boy I just felt like I had

1067
00:48:07.040 --> 00:48:09.140
when I won there in '61."

1068
00:48:09.240 --> 00:48:11.500
(car racing revving)

1069
00:48:11.600 --> 00:48:12.980
- [Narrator] "Day of the Champion" was off

1070
00:48:13.080 --> 00:48:14.460
to a flying start.

1071
00:48:14.560 --> 00:48:16.820
This truly breathtaking footage

1072
00:48:16.920 --> 00:48:18.940
was just what McQueen
and Sturges had hoped for

1073
00:48:19.040 --> 00:48:20.420
and put them substantially ahead

1074
00:48:20.520 --> 00:48:22.740
of Frankenheimer and MGM.

1075
00:48:22.840 --> 00:48:24.740
Warner Bros even cheekily released

1076
00:48:24.840 --> 00:48:27.500
this poster to further
rub salt into the wounds,

1077
00:48:27.600 --> 00:48:29.140
knowing full well that Frankenheimer

1078
00:48:29.240 --> 00:48:30.220
and Garner would not be up

1079
00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:31.940
and running with principal photography

1080
00:48:32.040 --> 00:48:35.820
for another nine months at the
start of the '66 F1 season.

1081
00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:38.460
- And I think it's also
interesting to think about

1082
00:48:38.560 --> 00:48:41.860
why Jim Clark and Jackie
Stewart originally signed

1083
00:48:41.960 --> 00:48:44.940
with Steve McQueen and
not with Frankenheimer

1084
00:48:45.040 --> 00:48:45.740
and "Grand Prix".

1085
00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:49.220
In my opinion it's because
it was Steve McQueen driving

1086
00:48:49.320 --> 00:48:51.340
this movie and he was a racer,

1087
00:48:51.440 --> 00:48:53.100
as well as he was an actor and a star.

1088
00:48:53.200 --> 00:48:58.140
Whereas "Grand Prix" was
driven by a movie director

1089
00:48:58.240 --> 00:49:01.300
like Frankenheimer, and in
the minds of Jimmy and Jackie,

1090
00:49:01.400 --> 00:49:03.660
probably more Jimmy than Jackie,

1091
00:49:03.760 --> 00:49:06.140
"Grand Prix" was going
to be all about crashes

1092
00:49:06.240 --> 00:49:08.780
and spectacular this and lots of things

1093
00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:10.980
that weren't true to life.

1094
00:49:11.080 --> 00:49:14.860
Whereas Steve McQueen, with
this closely knit group,

1095
00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:17.980
could produce a film
that was gonna be more

1096
00:49:18.080 --> 00:49:22.660
about racing drivers and
who racing drivers are

1097
00:49:22.760 --> 00:49:25.620
and the craft that they create.

1098
00:49:25.720 --> 00:49:29.780
- I think Jimmy and I thought

1099
00:49:29.880 --> 00:49:32.340
that everybody was going
with Frankenheimer,

1100
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:34.900
why don't we go with McQueen?

1101
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:37.000
And Steve McQueen,

1102
00:49:37.400 --> 00:49:41.420
in those days was bigger
than Frankenheimer.

1103
00:49:41.520 --> 00:49:42.900
- Well, who wants to get married?

1104
00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:45.100
- And I think that was one of the things.

1105
00:49:45.200 --> 00:49:47.720
And he was making great movies.

1106
00:49:49.120 --> 00:49:51.980
- [Man] Steve McQueen
works by instinct, reflex,

1107
00:49:52.080 --> 00:49:54.260
unconsciously concealed know-how.

1108
00:49:54.360 --> 00:49:57.700
Above all is his
reverence to authenticity.

1109
00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:00.940
- And Jimmy and I didn't
talk an awful lot about it.

1110
00:50:01.040 --> 00:50:02.940
We just decided it was a good idea.

1111
00:50:03.040 --> 00:50:07.580
Everybody else was going to "Grand Prix"

1112
00:50:07.680 --> 00:50:10.060
and we decided to go with Steve.

1113
00:50:10.160 --> 00:50:13.420
- [Narrator] In a memo from
September 1965 John Sturges,

1114
00:50:13.520 --> 00:50:15.420
states that principal filming with McQueen

1115
00:50:15.520 --> 00:50:17.220
will start the following spring

1116
00:50:17.320 --> 00:50:19.900
after he has finished
directing "Ice Station Zebra",

1117
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.140
ironically for MGM, and McQueen
has completed his next film,

1118
00:50:24.240 --> 00:50:25.740
"The Sand Pebbles".

1119
00:50:25.840 --> 00:50:27.620
- He took on "The Sand Pebbles" knowing

1120
00:50:27.720 --> 00:50:29.980
that the book had been a hit.

1121
00:50:30.080 --> 00:50:34.140
The book was about the Chinese
Civil War in the 1920s.

1122
00:50:34.240 --> 00:50:36.700
- [Richard] He of course
respected Robert Wise greatly,

1123
00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:38.740
who'd directed "West Side Story",

1124
00:50:38.840 --> 00:50:40.100
"The Sound of Music",

1125
00:50:40.200 --> 00:50:42.760
so I think he saw a lot of
potential in that movie.

1126
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:46.180
- [Narrator] Back in
Europe, John Frankenheimer,

1127
00:50:46.280 --> 00:50:48.380
realizing he would have
a big task on his hands

1128
00:50:48.480 --> 00:50:51.220
to get his racing epic
released ahead of Warner's,

1129
00:50:51.320 --> 00:50:55.140
had stayed with the traveling
F1 circus throughout 1965.

1130
00:50:55.240 --> 00:50:56.860
Embedding himself in the lifestyle

1131
00:50:56.960 --> 00:50:59.860
and the culture of "The Cruel Sport".

1132
00:50:59.960 --> 00:51:00.700
- In the meantime,

1133
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:04.700
I had been going to all the
races and they all knew me

1134
00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:06.660
as somebody who was going to make a movie.

1135
00:51:06.760 --> 00:51:08.180
And they knew nothing about movies,

1136
00:51:08.280 --> 00:51:10.260
I mean they knew nothing about
the movies I'd ever made,

1137
00:51:10.360 --> 00:51:13.180
I don't think they'd
ever seen most of them.

1138
00:51:13.280 --> 00:51:15.940
Those cameras, turn them
on as soon as you get up

1139
00:51:16.040 --> 00:51:17.300
to speed here.

1140
00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:19.460
But they did know that I was
really very very interested

1141
00:51:19.560 --> 00:51:23.460
in cars and they did know that
I raced on an amateur basis,

1142
00:51:23.560 --> 00:51:27.420
so at least I knew something
about what they did.

1143
00:51:27.520 --> 00:51:28.260
Come on!

1144
00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:29.300
Get somebody to push here!

1145
00:51:29.400 --> 00:51:30.540
Push!

1146
00:51:30.640 --> 00:51:33.260
And I became friendly with some of them,

1147
00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:37.260
like Graham Hill and Phil
Hill and Richie Ginther.

1148
00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:38.140
Everyone was very,

1149
00:51:38.240 --> 00:51:41.420
very sceptical of another
film being made about racing.

1150
00:51:41.520 --> 00:51:42.620
In fact to the point where Ferrari said

1151
00:51:42.720 --> 00:51:44.720
they didn't want anything to do with it.

1152
00:51:46.680 --> 00:51:49.660
He just said "You go make your movie,

1153
00:51:49.760 --> 00:51:51.540
it has nothing to do with what we do

1154
00:51:51.640 --> 00:51:54.700
and you can't use the word
Ferrari in this picture

1155
00:51:54.800 --> 00:51:57.780
or have any of my cars
or anything like that."

1156
00:51:57.880 --> 00:51:59.140
- [Announcer] They get you like-

1157
00:51:59.240 --> 00:52:01.460
- Oh my God get out!

1158
00:52:01.560 --> 00:52:04.340
Oh Jesus look, give his
guy hell this driver.

1159
00:52:04.440 --> 00:52:05.300
He's coming out.

1160
00:52:05.400 --> 00:52:06.500
Get out of here!

1161
00:52:06.600 --> 00:52:07.940
Come on get out!

1162
00:52:08.040 --> 00:52:10.660
So, we were lucky
enough, not lucky enough,

1163
00:52:10.760 --> 00:52:14.180
if you'll forgive me, smart
enough to go to Carrol Shelby

1164
00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:16.660
who had great credentials.

1165
00:52:16.760 --> 00:52:19.420
And Carrol Shelby kind of embraced us

1166
00:52:19.520 --> 00:52:23.740
and he kind of opened up a lot of doors,

1167
00:52:23.840 --> 00:52:27.580
including arranging to have the replicas

1168
00:52:27.680 --> 00:52:29.500
of all the cars made.

1169
00:52:29.600 --> 00:52:32.660
And he took charge of that.

1170
00:52:32.760 --> 00:52:33.860
And through Carrol Shelby,

1171
00:52:33.960 --> 00:52:36.660
I got to Dan Gurney who was a great friend

1172
00:52:36.760 --> 00:52:39.980
of Shelby's and also to Phil Hill.

1173
00:52:40.080 --> 00:52:42.080
Yeah, but this doesn't work.

1174
00:52:42.560 --> 00:52:45.380
And I signed these guys up.

1175
00:52:45.480 --> 00:52:47.820
And I actually I paid them money,

1176
00:52:47.920 --> 00:52:49.780
which also helped,

1177
00:52:49.880 --> 00:52:50.820
convince them that maybe

1178
00:52:50.920 --> 00:52:52.220
this was a good idea!

1179
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:57.420
And for 2 years exclusivity
to movies, to me.

1180
00:52:57.520 --> 00:53:01.300
(congregation chatting)

1181
00:53:01.400 --> 00:53:03.060
Cut!

1182
00:53:03.160 --> 00:53:06.680
Cut!

1183
00:53:07.680 --> 00:53:09.680
Get everybody in here again.

1184
00:53:10.200 --> 00:53:11.140
- For John Frankenheimer,

1185
00:53:11.240 --> 00:53:14.460
Phil Hill was manor from heaven
because he still was very,

1186
00:53:14.560 --> 00:53:16.300
very quick but he was kind of available,

1187
00:53:16.400 --> 00:53:18.340
and he was American,
and he was intelligent,

1188
00:53:18.440 --> 00:53:20.260
and he loved photography.

1189
00:53:20.360 --> 00:53:24.300
This was the perfect
man to drive that side

1190
00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:25.780
of things for "Grand Prix".

1191
00:53:25.880 --> 00:53:28.020
- [Alan] I've just seen the
most terrible skid there.

1192
00:53:28.120 --> 00:53:29.380
What happened to Yves Montand?

1193
00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:31.860
- Well, that's what he was supposed to do!

1194
00:53:31.960 --> 00:53:33.380
- [Alan] He wasn't supposed
to go all over the pavement?

1195
00:53:33.480 --> 00:53:34.300
- Oh yeah!

1196
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:36.020
Up all over the kerb and
swing around backwards!

1197
00:53:36.120 --> 00:53:37.900
Wasn't that a beautiful job though?

1198
00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:39.020
He's like a stunt driver!

1199
00:53:39.120 --> 00:53:40.780
- Are you serious?
- Ha!

1200
00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:42.660
No.
(laughs)

1201
00:53:42.760 --> 00:53:44.860
- Well, he was a wonderful guy.

1202
00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:49.180
He was a great driver, but
also the most delightful guy,

1203
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:50.100
the most delightful bloke.

1204
00:53:50.200 --> 00:53:52.460
Very, very dry sense of humor,

1205
00:53:52.560 --> 00:53:55.260
one of the funniest people I've ever met.

1206
00:53:55.360 --> 00:53:59.100
And also, probably as
intelligent as anybody

1207
00:53:59.200 --> 00:54:00.620
who ever drove a racing car.

1208
00:54:00.720 --> 00:54:03.860
He must have been enormously
helpful to Frankenheimer.

1209
00:54:03.960 --> 00:54:05.580
Just because he was such a bright man.

1210
00:54:05.680 --> 00:54:07.580
Daley had written extensively, of course,

1211
00:54:07.680 --> 00:54:08.620
about Phil Hill because he

1212
00:54:08.720 --> 00:54:11.180
was America's first World Champion.

1213
00:54:11.280 --> 00:54:12.900
- [Narrator] With
Frankenheimer buying friends up

1214
00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:14.620
and down the grid, he was now starting

1215
00:54:14.720 --> 00:54:17.100
to close the gap to "Day of the Champion".

1216
00:54:17.200 --> 00:54:18.940
Garner and the other stars were learning

1217
00:54:19.040 --> 00:54:21.860
what Grand Prix racing was all about,

1218
00:54:21.960 --> 00:54:24.860
but McQueen was still in
Taiwan and "The Sand Pebbles"

1219
00:54:24.960 --> 00:54:27.500
was starting to spiral out of control.

1220
00:54:27.600 --> 00:54:30.200
(upbeat music)

1221
00:54:37.600 --> 00:54:39.980
- The plan was to go and
shoot "The Sand Pebbles"

1222
00:54:40.080 --> 00:54:42.580
and ideally they'd be back to
shoot "Day of the Champion"

1223
00:54:42.680 --> 00:54:46.180
in '66 at the end of "The Sand Pebbles".

1224
00:54:46.280 --> 00:54:48.980
- The shoot in some ways is as memorable

1225
00:54:49.080 --> 00:54:51.740
as the film because it was
supposed to be a nine-week shoot

1226
00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:54.420
and it ended up taking
something like seven months.

1227
00:54:54.520 --> 00:54:55.860
- [Richard] The conditions over there

1228
00:54:55.960 --> 00:54:58.380
in Taiwan were horrendous.

1229
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.340
Everyone got ill, Steve included.

1230
00:55:01.440 --> 00:55:04.140
(upbeat music)

1231
00:55:04.240 --> 00:55:05.260
- [Craig] We knew that the first team

1232
00:55:05.360 --> 00:55:06.820
to get their picture shot,

1233
00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:10.180
edited, scored and into
theaters before the other guy

1234
00:55:10.280 --> 00:55:11.580
would be the winner.

1235
00:55:11.680 --> 00:55:12.460
Neither side wanted

1236
00:55:12.560 --> 00:55:15.220
to be the second racing
picture out that year.

1237
00:55:15.320 --> 00:55:18.380
(racing car revving)

1238
00:55:18.480 --> 00:55:20.660
- [Narrator] Sturges and his
crew could still continue

1239
00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:22.620
to capture stunning race footage

1240
00:55:22.720 --> 00:55:25.940
while they waited for McQueen
to return from the Far East.

1241
00:55:26.040 --> 00:55:29.820
They regrouped and in late
April '66 headed to Oulton Park

1242
00:55:29.920 --> 00:55:33.540
in Cheshire to shoot a round
of the British GT Championship,

1243
00:55:33.640 --> 00:55:36.100
which would double for a
sports car race described

1244
00:55:36.200 --> 00:55:38.920
in the loose "Day of the Champion" script.

1245
00:55:39.960 --> 00:55:41.220
- There was The Steering Wheel Club

1246
00:55:41.320 --> 00:55:44.060
in the south of Park Lane

1247
00:55:44.160 --> 00:55:46.620
where all the motor racing
enthusiasts used to go.

1248
00:55:46.720 --> 00:55:48.300
And Stirling had started

1249
00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:50.340
The Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team

1250
00:55:50.440 --> 00:55:53.380
and so I drove his Elan which was his car

1251
00:55:53.480 --> 00:55:56.380
and then I entered my
own cars under his name.

1252
00:55:56.480 --> 00:55:59.620
(racing car revving)

1253
00:55:59.720 --> 00:56:03.900
There was agreement that
this car should be repainted

1254
00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:08.580
in the colors that Steve
McQueen planned to have

1255
00:56:08.680 --> 00:56:13.180
in his film, so it was
repainted to a green

1256
00:56:13.280 --> 00:56:16.220
and I drove the car in
this race and was filmed.

1257
00:56:16.320 --> 00:56:19.620
Well, we had the name "PEARCE" on the car

1258
00:56:19.720 --> 00:56:22.260
because that was the
name that Steve McQueen

1259
00:56:22.360 --> 00:56:23.620
was being given in the film.

1260
00:56:23.720 --> 00:56:26.420
- Of course, what you have to
remember is that in the '50s

1261
00:56:26.520 --> 00:56:29.940
and '60s, a top driver
wouldn't just drive Formula 1

1262
00:56:30.040 --> 00:56:32.580
as happens today, they
would drive sports cars,

1263
00:56:32.680 --> 00:56:34.260
he would do the Le Mans 24 hours,

1264
00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:36.660
he would probably race
in touring cars as well

1265
00:56:36.760 --> 00:56:39.060
and that's why it was
completely appropriate

1266
00:56:39.160 --> 00:56:43.940
that McQueen's character in
the film drives single-seaters,

1267
00:56:44.040 --> 00:56:45.780
but also drives sports cars.

1268
00:56:45.880 --> 00:56:47.880
That's how it was in those days.

1269
00:56:49.280 --> 00:56:51.340
- Bloody hell was I in the front row?

1270
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:53.580
Six, well, I just fucked up the start.

1271
00:56:53.680 --> 00:56:56.760
(racing car revving)

1272
00:56:59.120 --> 00:57:02.060
Part of the deal was that
I should wear a helmet

1273
00:57:02.160 --> 00:57:04.500
which was approved by Steve McQueen

1274
00:57:04.600 --> 00:57:08.620
and then the production
team sent me the photograph

1275
00:57:08.720 --> 00:57:10.500
with the words which said;

1276
00:57:10.600 --> 00:57:13.500
"If this is what Dunlop overalls achieve,

1277
00:57:13.600 --> 00:57:16.060
then I think we'll go with Firestone."

1278
00:57:16.160 --> 00:57:19.600
So, I was in fact Steve McQueen's double.

1279
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:23.340
- [Narrator] The pieces
of the puzzle were falling

1280
00:57:23.440 --> 00:57:25.460
into place for "Day of the Champion".

1281
00:57:25.560 --> 00:57:28.340
But with the start of
the 1966 Formula 1 season

1282
00:57:28.440 --> 00:57:31.540
in Monaco just a month away
they needed their Hollywood icon

1283
00:57:31.640 --> 00:57:34.100
back from Taiwan and ready to race.

1284
00:57:34.200 --> 00:57:36.700
Frankenheimer and MGM
were about to descend

1285
00:57:36.800 --> 00:57:40.540
on the principality to get their
movie underway with a bang!

1286
00:57:40.640 --> 00:57:43.560
(racing car bangs)

1287
00:57:46.440 --> 00:57:49.740
(trumpet music)

1288
00:57:49.840 --> 00:57:51.780
Late May 1966.

1289
00:57:51.880 --> 00:57:53.660
Steve McQueen is in Taiwan,

1290
00:57:53.760 --> 00:57:55.740
behind schedule on "The Sand Pebbles"

1291
00:57:55.840 --> 00:57:56.980
and desperate to get back

1292
00:57:57.080 --> 00:58:00.300
to Europe to star in his
dream Formula 1 movie project

1293
00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:02.260
"Day of the Champion".

1294
00:58:02.360 --> 00:58:06.100
In Monaco, MGM and John
Frankenheimer are underway

1295
00:58:06.200 --> 00:58:08.340
with their rival picture, "Grand Prix".

1296
00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:10.620
Nine months behind "Day of the Champion"

1297
00:58:10.720 --> 00:58:14.260
but now shooting real race
scenes, with real actors,

1298
00:58:14.360 --> 00:58:15.460
in real race cars.

1299
00:58:15.560 --> 00:58:18.720
(racing cars revving)

1300
00:58:22.480 --> 00:58:23.980
- [Announcer] These are
the Cinerama cameras

1301
00:58:24.080 --> 00:58:25.780
of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,

1302
00:58:25.880 --> 00:58:28.260
about to attempt one of
the most challenging feats

1303
00:58:28.360 --> 00:58:31.860
in motion picture history
with these exciting,

1304
00:58:31.960 --> 00:58:34.660
international stars from America,

1305
00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:37.860
James Garner; the celebrated French star,

1306
00:58:37.960 --> 00:58:40.940
Yves Montand; Italy's
sensational young talent,

1307
00:58:41.040 --> 00:58:44.740
Antonio Sabato; and
England's Brian Bedford.

1308
00:58:44.840 --> 00:58:47.060
For Frankenheimer, for any film maker,

1309
00:58:47.160 --> 00:58:49.160
this is a monumental challenge.

1310
00:58:50.600 --> 00:58:52.540
Less than an hour before the actual race,

1311
00:58:52.640 --> 00:58:54.860
he is staging his own start.

1312
00:58:54.960 --> 00:58:56.280
- [Frankenheimer] Well, what
we hope to be able to do is

1313
00:58:56.360 --> 00:58:57.160
to show them what a real race

1314
00:58:57.240 --> 00:58:59.320
is really like from the driver's viewpoint

1315
00:59:00.680 --> 00:59:03.940
- [Announcer] The crowds are
real, so is the excitement.

1316
00:59:04.040 --> 00:59:07.060
And for Frankenheimer,
the suspense is very real.

1317
00:59:07.160 --> 00:59:10.140
This is not a studio;
these are not stuntmen.

1318
00:59:10.240 --> 00:59:11.020
In just seconds,

1319
00:59:11.120 --> 00:59:13.220
Phil Hill in the camera
car will lead Garner,

1320
00:59:13.320 --> 00:59:15.780
Montand and the others
around the Monaco circuit

1321
00:59:15.880 --> 00:59:19.340
at actual speeds of
over 125 miles an hour.

1322
00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:21.060
(racing car engine revs)

1323
00:59:21.160 --> 00:59:22.540
- [Frankenheimer] In Monte Carlo,

1324
00:59:22.640 --> 00:59:26.460
they began to see we
knew what we were doing.

1325
00:59:26.560 --> 00:59:28.700
We were very well organized,

1326
00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:32.540
we went out there and we
were doing real stuff.

1327
00:59:32.640 --> 00:59:35.020
And that began to get their attention.

1328
00:59:35.120 --> 00:59:36.900
(racing cars engines revs)

1329
00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:39.760
(crowd chatting)

1330
00:59:41.160 --> 00:59:44.020
- [Windsor] 1966 Monaco, I mean you can't

1331
00:59:44.120 --> 00:59:45.020
even get your head around it

1332
00:59:45.120 --> 00:59:48.300
in terms of today's
standards of operation.

1333
00:59:48.400 --> 00:59:49.900
Princess Grace was just
the beginning of it.

1334
00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:51.340
She was there obviously.

1335
00:59:51.440 --> 00:59:53.740
It was Jackie Stewart's
second Grand Prix win but

1336
00:59:53.840 --> 00:59:54.980
while all this was going on,

1337
00:59:55.080 --> 00:59:56.380
Frankenheimer in his mind

1338
00:59:56.480 --> 00:59:58.740
was creating another Monaco Grand Prix,

1339
00:59:58.840 --> 01:00:01.180
which was the "Grand Prix", "Grand Prix".

1340
01:00:01.280 --> 01:00:03.860
And to think about that happening today

1341
01:00:03.960 --> 01:00:06.100
and to have the camera cars
there in the way they did,

1342
01:00:06.200 --> 01:00:08.780
and the changing liveries of the cars

1343
01:00:08.880 --> 01:00:10.060
and of the driver's helmet.

1344
01:00:10.160 --> 01:00:12.260
- You know, one of the few
people who wasn't involved

1345
01:00:12.360 --> 01:00:14.940
in either movie was John Surtees.

1346
01:00:15.040 --> 01:00:18.580
He got absolutely fed
up to the teeth with it,

1347
01:00:18.680 --> 01:00:20.820
he had it up to here.

1348
01:00:20.920 --> 01:00:24.020
"Bloody film people I
wish they'd push off!"

1349
01:00:24.120 --> 01:00:25.420
But of course typical John,

1350
01:00:25.520 --> 01:00:30.220
he just said, "But well, you
know, there's always a way

1351
01:00:30.320 --> 01:00:34.020
around these things and
the Hollywood people stuff

1352
01:00:34.120 --> 01:00:36.480
their mouths with money
and stop them talking."

1353
01:00:37.360 --> 01:00:38.420
- It didn't worry me at all.

1354
01:00:38.520 --> 01:00:43.540
It didn't, Francoise Hardy
occasionally would upset me.

1355
01:00:43.640 --> 01:00:46.940
She was a very pretty looking
girl walking down the pits.

1356
01:00:47.040 --> 01:00:48.380
It really didn't matter.

1357
01:00:48.480 --> 01:00:51.700
I can't say at any time
was it an intrusion

1358
01:00:51.800 --> 01:00:56.780
into my preparation for a
race or in the race at all.

1359
01:00:56.880 --> 01:00:58.540
It didn't bother me at all.

1360
01:00:58.640 --> 01:01:01.820
- But, generally, the chaos
would have been incredible

1361
01:01:01.920 --> 01:01:04.860
and whilst Jackie was accepting

1362
01:01:04.960 --> 01:01:06.460
the trophy from Princess Grace,

1363
01:01:06.560 --> 01:01:08.060
just a little bit further down the road,

1364
01:01:08.160 --> 01:01:11.340
there was Sarti, Yves Montand,

1365
01:01:11.440 --> 01:01:14.840
accepting the trophy for
the "Grand Prix" Grand Prix.

1366
01:01:16.960 --> 01:01:19.380
- [Alan] Their own winner
will need a victor's cup

1367
01:01:19.480 --> 01:01:21.420
but they plan to use the
excitement at the end of

1368
01:01:21.520 --> 01:01:24.500
the race to slip a cuckoo
into the nest to film the man

1369
01:01:24.600 --> 01:01:26.420
who won the celluloid race,

1370
01:01:26.520 --> 01:01:29.920
wearing an open wreath and
looking modest, as well he might.

1371
01:01:31.440 --> 01:01:34.220
The actual winner today is Jackie Stewart.

1372
01:01:34.320 --> 01:01:35.460
As his car comes home,

1373
01:01:35.560 --> 01:01:38.780
Yves Montand, face glistening
with instant sweat,

1374
01:01:38.880 --> 01:01:41.000
prepares for his moment of hollow victory.

1375
01:01:42.040 --> 01:01:45.540
- I was not aware of it,
I was perfectly naive.

1376
01:01:45.640 --> 01:01:46.860
(laughs)

1377
01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:49.540
And you know, when you win a Grand Prix,

1378
01:01:49.640 --> 01:01:50.780
in Monaco in those days,

1379
01:01:50.880 --> 01:01:52.380
the Grand Prix was 100 laps.

1380
01:01:52.480 --> 01:01:57.480
Something like 8,600 gear
changes, all by hand,

1381
01:01:57.840 --> 01:02:00.700
and you were fairly tired
when it was finished.

1382
01:02:00.800 --> 01:02:03.820
(crowd applauds)

1383
01:02:03.920 --> 01:02:07.140
- When you're in a car,
particularly a Formula car,

1384
01:02:07.240 --> 01:02:10.860
but any car, you cannot
think of anything else.

1385
01:02:10.960 --> 01:02:12.620
I mean if you don't think of going

1386
01:02:12.720 --> 01:02:13.980
from one point to another,

1387
01:02:14.080 --> 01:02:18.460
from your braking point
to your gearing down

1388
01:02:18.560 --> 01:02:23.060
to make your turn into a
corner, if you stray from that,

1389
01:02:23.160 --> 01:02:25.100
and you worry about where that camera

1390
01:02:25.200 --> 01:02:28.280
is or anything like that,
then you're off the course.

1391
01:02:29.760 --> 01:02:32.460
So, we strictly do not worry about it,

1392
01:02:32.560 --> 01:02:34.860
we'll do our acting in the pits.

1393
01:02:34.960 --> 01:02:35.720
- [Narrator] Another member of the

1394
01:02:35.800 --> 01:02:39.060
"Day of the Champion" team was
also in Monaco that weekend.

1395
01:02:39.160 --> 01:02:41.180
Stirling Moss was keeping a close eye

1396
01:02:41.280 --> 01:02:44.100
on Frankenheimer's team
and sent a telegram back

1397
01:02:44.200 --> 01:02:47.020
to the Alan Mann garage
after seeing how the cars

1398
01:02:47.120 --> 01:02:49.700
on "Grand Prix" were
slowing down the filming.

1399
01:02:49.800 --> 01:02:52.420
- [Announcer] "Dear Alan,
Having just returned

1400
01:02:52.520 --> 01:02:55.420
from Monte Carlo and seeing how
the other lot are operating,

1401
01:02:55.520 --> 01:02:57.420
I feel we need to make some adjustments

1402
01:02:57.520 --> 01:02:59.860
to our cars so we don't
have to stop and start

1403
01:02:59.960 --> 01:03:02.100
with such regularity.

1404
01:03:02.200 --> 01:03:05.180
Please can you start to
adjust the compression rates,

1405
01:03:05.280 --> 01:03:09.300
dampers and engine idle
before we get to Germany.

1406
01:03:09.400 --> 01:03:12.180
Kind regards, Stirling Moss."

1407
01:03:12.280 --> 01:03:13.460
- [Narrator] Panic was also setting

1408
01:03:13.560 --> 01:03:15.540
in amongst the Warners' management.

1409
01:03:15.640 --> 01:03:17.420
Panic about McQueen's physical condition

1410
01:03:17.520 --> 01:03:19.420
but also about the unrealistic schedule

1411
01:03:19.520 --> 01:03:20.820
of 'Day of the Champion',

1412
01:03:20.920 --> 01:03:23.740
given their A-list star
was still in Taiwan,

1413
01:03:23.840 --> 01:03:26.740
where 'The Sand Pebbles'
was seriously over-running.

1414
01:03:26.840 --> 01:03:28.340
By June 1966,

1415
01:03:28.440 --> 01:03:31.260
John Sturges was already in
London to work on pre-production

1416
01:03:31.360 --> 01:03:33.740
for the remaining 'Day
of the Champion' shoots,

1417
01:03:33.840 --> 01:03:36.860
when he received an
extraordinary telegram.

1418
01:03:36.960 --> 01:03:39.420
- [Announcer] "Dear John,
It is needless to tell you

1419
01:03:39.520 --> 01:03:42.140
that I am very worried
because of the possibility

1420
01:03:42.240 --> 01:03:44.340
of "Grand Prix" coming out in Cinerama

1421
01:03:44.440 --> 01:03:46.700
or any other format ahead of our picture.

1422
01:03:46.800 --> 01:03:49.380
I would not put it by these
boys to release their picture

1423
01:03:49.480 --> 01:03:51.700
on 35 millimeter at the same time

1424
01:03:51.800 --> 01:03:53.800
that it's released in Cinerama.

1425
01:03:54.200 --> 01:03:56.660
Isn't there some way you can
start your pre-production

1426
01:03:56.760 --> 01:03:59.740
sooner and also have McQueen
get over to England sooner,

1427
01:03:59.840 --> 01:04:01.780
or something of this order?

1428
01:04:01.880 --> 01:04:04.700
I would hate like hell to be
given the bird and huge laugh

1429
01:04:04.800 --> 01:04:06.800
by all concerned with GRAND PRIX.

1430
01:04:07.760 --> 01:04:09.580
I don't want to say I would
not have gone into this

1431
01:04:09.680 --> 01:04:12.300
if I had known of the unfortunate
delay that has been caused

1432
01:04:12.400 --> 01:04:14.260
by "The Sand Pebbles".

1433
01:04:14.360 --> 01:04:15.860
What about phoning Bob Wise to see

1434
01:04:15.960 --> 01:04:18.580
if he can release McQueen earlier?

1435
01:04:18.680 --> 01:04:21.820
Again, in closing, see if
you can't beat GRAND PRIX

1436
01:04:21.920 --> 01:04:23.380
after you leave the starting gate.

1437
01:04:23.480 --> 01:04:25.480
Jack Warner."

1438
01:04:28.280 --> 01:04:30.560
(chuckles)

1439
01:04:34.480 --> 01:04:37.080
(racing bangs)

1440
01:04:41.000 --> 01:04:44.180
- (chuckles) just blown out.

1441
01:04:44.280 --> 01:04:45.020
- That's your job.

1442
01:04:45.120 --> 01:04:47.180
No wait a minute, that's your
job to make it really look

1443
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:49.280
like, where's Beady Eyes?

1444
01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:51.980
- [Narrator] With production
moving at a frantic pace

1445
01:04:52.080 --> 01:04:53.580
for "Grand Prix" in Monaco,

1446
01:04:53.680 --> 01:04:55.580
an unscripted halt is
brought to proceedings

1447
01:04:55.680 --> 01:04:57.220
when local shop keepers protest

1448
01:04:57.320 --> 01:04:59.440
about street closures harming their trade.

1449
01:05:00.920 --> 01:05:04.020
Tempers flare, proving
that even Hollywood's

1450
01:05:04.120 --> 01:05:07.940
most consummate leading men
can still lose their cool.

1451
01:05:08.040 --> 01:05:09.500
- I am freezing my ass off,

1452
01:05:09.600 --> 01:05:12.340
now get your butt out of
here or I'm gonna throw you

1453
01:05:12.440 --> 01:05:14.440
in the fucking water!

1454
01:05:15.400 --> 01:05:16.380
Just get out or I'm gonna bust you,

1455
01:05:16.480 --> 01:05:17.300
I'm gonna put in there

1456
01:05:17.400 --> 01:05:19.400
and I'm gonna hold you under now get out!

1457
01:05:21.080 --> 01:05:22.140
What is your problem?

1458
01:05:22.240 --> 01:05:24.940
I am freezing to death
out here for a half hour

1459
01:05:25.040 --> 01:05:26.020
while you talk!

1460
01:05:26.120 --> 01:05:28.260
If you want to talk,
I'll talk to you later.

1461
01:05:28.360 --> 01:05:30.360
How much money do you want?

1462
01:05:30.920 --> 01:05:32.220
- I speak English, Mr Garner.

1463
01:05:32.320 --> 01:05:33.900
- Well then you get the
hell out of that shot

1464
01:05:34.000 --> 01:05:35.020
or I'm gonna put you out!

1465
01:05:35.120 --> 01:05:36.100
- [French Male] Yes sir.

1466
01:05:36.200 --> 01:05:38.780
- [James] I tell you!

1467
01:05:38.880 --> 01:05:42.040
You better count to 60 and
get your ass out of here!

1468
01:05:45.840 --> 01:05:48.760
(racing car bangs)

1469
01:05:49.920 --> 01:05:51.900
- After Monte Carlo was over,

1470
01:05:52.000 --> 01:05:56.260
I put together a quick 30
minutes of stuff I shot

1471
01:05:56.360 --> 01:05:58.020
at Monte Carlo,

1472
01:05:58.120 --> 01:06:02.820
called Ferrari and asked
him if he would look at it.

1473
01:06:02.920 --> 01:06:05.340
He said 'well I don't have
any projection equipment,

1474
01:06:05.440 --> 01:06:06.460
I don't have anything like that.

1475
01:06:06.560 --> 01:06:09.140
I said, "Just tell me you'll look at it."

1476
01:06:09.240 --> 01:06:10.540
So he said "Yes I will."

1477
01:06:10.640 --> 01:06:14.040
So I shut the movie
down, chartered a plane,

1478
01:06:15.120 --> 01:06:16.980
brought the film, a projectionist,

1479
01:06:17.080 --> 01:06:20.300
projectors and everything
else to Maranello,

1480
01:06:20.400 --> 01:06:24.480
to his office, set it up
and ran him the 30 minutes.

1481
01:06:25.400 --> 01:06:27.140
When it was over the lights came up,

1482
01:06:27.240 --> 01:06:32.300
he embraced me, he said,
"You can have anything."

1483
01:06:32.400 --> 01:06:35.220
And he said, "I don't even
want to talk to you about money

1484
01:06:35.320 --> 01:06:36.460
because I don't want any money from you,

1485
01:06:36.560 --> 01:06:38.220
because when Ferrari gives you something,

1486
01:06:38.320 --> 01:06:39.340
he gives it to you."

1487
01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:40.900
So he never charged us a penny.

1488
01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:44.580
He gave us the Ferrari team,
he gave us the factory,

1489
01:06:44.680 --> 01:06:45.700
he gave us everything!

1490
01:06:45.800 --> 01:06:47.780
Well, of course, once we
got that kind of acceptance

1491
01:06:47.880 --> 01:06:50.620
from Ferrari, I mean that was that.

1492
01:06:50.720 --> 01:06:51.940
- "We were less than a week away

1493
01:06:52.040 --> 01:06:54.260
from filming principal
photography in Germany

1494
01:06:54.360 --> 01:06:56.500
in July of 1966 and Steve McQueen

1495
01:06:56.600 --> 01:06:58.940
was still busy filming "The Sand Pebbles".

1496
01:06:59.040 --> 01:07:00.100
At midnight one evening,

1497
01:07:00.200 --> 01:07:02.500
Jack Warner called my
office at Pinewood Studios.

1498
01:07:02.600 --> 01:07:03.740
"How are ya, Bob?"

1499
01:07:03.840 --> 01:07:06.180
"Well, I'm cramming to
get everything in order

1500
01:07:06.280 --> 01:07:08.540
before I leave for Germany,
how are you, Jack?"

1501
01:07:08.640 --> 01:07:09.820
"I'm great, great thanks.

1502
01:07:09.920 --> 01:07:12.700
Right Bob, listen, about
that racing picture:

1503
01:07:12.800 --> 01:07:14.140
close it down."

1504
01:07:14.240 --> 01:07:15.580
"Excuse me?"

1505
01:07:15.680 --> 01:07:18.940
"Listen," Bob said, "Bob
Wise won't release McQueen."

1506
01:07:19.040 --> 01:07:21.980
That means "Grand Prix" will
be first to the theaters,

1507
01:07:22.080 --> 01:07:25.380
and am not gonna to be
second so shut it down."

1508
01:07:25.480 --> 01:07:28.540
"But, we've already got loads of footage,

1509
01:07:28.640 --> 01:07:31.020
I've got an entire crew
in Germany ready to go,

1510
01:07:31.120 --> 01:07:33.060
you've already committed a ton of money.

1511
01:07:33.160 --> 01:07:34.500
Bob, listen to me.

1512
01:07:34.600 --> 01:07:38.760
Send everybody home and shut
it down now, it's over."

1513
01:07:41.320 --> 01:07:45.180
- McQueen went mad on the
set of "The Sand Pebbles".

1514
01:07:45.280 --> 01:07:48.500
Sturges tried to get him to
leave as soon as possible,

1515
01:07:48.600 --> 01:07:50.220
but Robert Wise wouldn't let McQueen go.

1516
01:07:50.320 --> 01:07:51.020
He needed him.

1517
01:07:51.120 --> 01:07:51.920
His wife said to him at the time

1518
01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:55.180
"You can't get that angry
because you turned down

1519
01:07:55.280 --> 01:07:58.780
this role," but that
didn't really stop him.

1520
01:07:58.880 --> 01:08:01.220
He was determined to
make the definitive film

1521
01:08:01.320 --> 01:08:05.980
about Formula 1, about
motor racing and yeah,

1522
01:08:06.080 --> 01:08:07.860
he'd been beaten to the punch.

1523
01:08:07.960 --> 01:08:08.660
- I think the trucks were

1524
01:08:08.760 --> 01:08:11.860
in Dover already about to
depart for the Rheims Grand Prix

1525
01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:14.740
when a telegram came in from Warner Bros

1526
01:08:14.840 --> 01:08:19.060
to say stop all transport and
the whole thing's canceled

1527
01:08:19.160 --> 01:08:21.160
and go back to base.

1528
01:08:22.400 --> 01:08:23.140
- [Craig] The next morning,

1529
01:08:23.240 --> 01:08:24.980
I called Sturges to give him the news.

1530
01:08:25.080 --> 01:08:27.540
He was completely void of any emotion.

1531
01:08:27.640 --> 01:08:29.780
"Well that's that", he said.

1532
01:08:29.880 --> 01:08:32.980
I said, "Sorry John, we
would've made a great film,

1533
01:08:33.080 --> 01:08:34.500
I'm sure of it.

1534
01:08:34.600 --> 01:08:37.140
Well, I think I'll take a few
weeks vacation," John mused.

1535
01:08:37.240 --> 01:08:39.620
"Maybe I'll go to Europe."

1536
01:08:39.720 --> 01:08:42.100
- Before departing for
the continent, Sturges,

1537
01:08:42.200 --> 01:08:43.340
ever the gentleman,

1538
01:08:43.440 --> 01:08:46.300
sent a telegram to Alan Mann
conveying his deep regret

1539
01:08:46.400 --> 01:08:49.020
over the collapse of
"Day of the Champion."

1540
01:08:49.120 --> 01:08:52.380
- [Announcer] "Dear Alan,
As all of us are depressed

1541
01:08:52.480 --> 01:08:55.300
and unhappy over the
collapse of the project.

1542
01:08:55.400 --> 01:08:57.620
I think we would have achieved
some marvellous results

1543
01:08:57.720 --> 01:08:58.900
and it's a shame to miss the fun

1544
01:08:59.000 --> 01:09:01.080
and excitement we'd have had getting them.

1545
01:09:02.000 --> 01:09:04.540
You must know I'm very
grateful for the enthusiasm

1546
01:09:04.640 --> 01:09:05.820
and efficient help you gave us

1547
01:09:05.920 --> 01:09:08.420
and I'm truly sorry for any disruption

1548
01:09:08.520 --> 01:09:10.520
there has been to your plans.

1549
01:09:11.720 --> 01:09:14.140
I look forward to when we
meet again and once more,

1550
01:09:14.240 --> 01:09:16.100
my thanks for Le Mans.

1551
01:09:16.200 --> 01:09:18.820
With all the best, John."

1552
01:09:18.920 --> 01:09:20.700
- He had quite a good
relationship with Sturges

1553
01:09:20.800 --> 01:09:23.740
and they were obviously both disappointed

1554
01:09:23.840 --> 01:09:28.860
that it didn't come to any
fruition but they obviously had

1555
01:09:28.960 --> 01:09:30.620
some mutual respect for each other.

1556
01:09:30.720 --> 01:09:33.420
- I had a letter from
Brookwood Productions,

1557
01:09:33.520 --> 01:09:35.620
Pinewood Studios, 'Regret,

1558
01:09:35.720 --> 01:09:38.900
here's a cheque for two weeks money.

1559
01:09:39.000 --> 01:09:43.020
Steve McQueen is ill and
he cannot make this shoot.

1560
01:09:43.120 --> 01:09:45.820
- [Narrator] With Frankenheimer
seemingly victorious,

1561
01:09:45.920 --> 01:09:47.460
his Cinerama circus moved

1562
01:09:47.560 --> 01:09:49.540
onto other locations around Europe.

1563
01:09:49.640 --> 01:09:52.860
Filming in Clermont
Ferrand, Spa-Francorchamps,

1564
01:09:52.960 --> 01:09:55.060
Brands Hatch and Monza.

1565
01:09:55.160 --> 01:09:57.420
Not content with the drivers
he had already signed

1566
01:09:57.520 --> 01:09:58.780
to exclusive deals,

1567
01:09:58.880 --> 01:10:01.900
he also wanted the two
remaining big F1 stars

1568
01:10:02.000 --> 01:10:03.580
who had signed to Warner.

1569
01:10:03.680 --> 01:10:07.420
- My understanding is that
the insurance company,

1570
01:10:07.520 --> 01:10:09.180
that was what we were told,

1571
01:10:09.280 --> 01:10:12.260
that the insurance company
wouldn't allow Steve

1572
01:10:12.360 --> 01:10:17.020
to do a full-blown motor racing series

1573
01:10:17.120 --> 01:10:20.500
that we was directly involved in.

1574
01:10:20.600 --> 01:10:24.260
So, when that fell through,

1575
01:10:24.360 --> 01:10:28.660
Frankenheimer already had the
program going and in fact,

1576
01:10:28.760 --> 01:10:30.860
I don't know how long after we were told

1577
01:10:30.960 --> 01:10:32.960
that the movie wasn't going to happen,

1578
01:10:34.120 --> 01:10:36.940
Frankenheimer offered me another amount

1579
01:10:37.040 --> 01:10:40.020
of money to do some stuff with him

1580
01:10:40.120 --> 01:10:43.620
because one of the featured
drivers in his movie

1581
01:10:43.720 --> 01:10:46.460
was wearing my helmet colors.

1582
01:10:46.560 --> 01:10:48.980
And so I got paid twice really!

1583
01:10:49.080 --> 01:10:50.580
And so did Jimmy.

1584
01:10:50.680 --> 01:10:51.380
(laughs)

1585
01:10:51.480 --> 01:10:56.660
- We got these guys to drive
for us at $200 dollars a day.

1586
01:10:56.760 --> 01:11:00.940
So you put it in today's dollars
that's $2000 dollars a day.

1587
01:11:01.040 --> 01:11:04.660
The picture in 1966 all-in

1588
01:11:04.760 --> 01:11:07.180
with accelerated
post-production cost about nine

1589
01:11:07.280 --> 01:11:08.340
and a half million.

1590
01:11:08.440 --> 01:11:10.820
- Put that in the context of
today's Formula 1 and imagine

1591
01:11:10.920 --> 01:11:13.180
what it would be like
having a Hollywood crew

1592
01:11:13.280 --> 01:11:15.460
in the pit lane at a
proper Formula 1 race,

1593
01:11:15.560 --> 01:11:17.100
it would never happen in a million years.

1594
01:11:17.200 --> 01:11:20.100
But Frankenheimer was able
to do that and to his credit,

1595
01:11:20.200 --> 01:11:22.660
and I think to the credit
of the actors involved,

1596
01:11:22.760 --> 01:11:24.180
it all worked.

1597
01:11:24.280 --> 01:11:27.340
Probably it was the Francoise
Hardy accept of it all!

1598
01:11:27.440 --> 01:11:29.660
The drivers found her
very friendly to the eye,

1599
01:11:29.760 --> 01:11:33.260
I think, but no in general I
think they did a very good job

1600
01:11:33.360 --> 01:11:35.220
of understanding what it was all about

1601
01:11:35.320 --> 01:11:36.980
and they became part of the fabric

1602
01:11:37.080 --> 01:11:40.060
of Formula 1 throughout that '66 season.

1603
01:11:40.160 --> 01:11:42.260
- "Making a picture is a strange thing

1604
01:11:42.360 --> 01:11:44.420
because everybody hates
you when you are making it.

1605
01:11:44.520 --> 01:11:47.780
It's when the picture comes
out that they say, "Oh boy,

1606
01:11:47.880 --> 01:11:49.820
you know, it's really pretty good."

1607
01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:52.620
Or visa versa, everybody loves
you when you are making it

1608
01:11:52.720 --> 01:11:54.900
and the picture comes out and
you never work again you know.

1609
01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:56.980
It can work that way too!"

1610
01:11:57.080 --> 01:12:00.160
(racing car revving)

1611
01:12:04.080 --> 01:12:06.540
- [Narrator] August 1966 and Steve McQueen

1612
01:12:06.640 --> 01:12:08.820
is finally back in
California after wrapping

1613
01:12:08.920 --> 01:12:10.660
on "The Sand Pebbles".

1614
01:12:10.760 --> 01:12:12.420
Six months behind schedule

1615
01:12:12.520 --> 01:12:16.260
and his dream Formula 1
movie project in tatters.

1616
01:12:16.360 --> 01:12:18.780
- Steve was exhausted
after "The Sand Pebbles",

1617
01:12:18.880 --> 01:12:22.060
probably he did his best
acting of his career possibly

1618
01:12:22.160 --> 01:12:25.980
with the exception of
"Papillon" and he'd put so much

1619
01:12:26.080 --> 01:12:28.580
of himself and his energy
into "The Sand Pebbles"

1620
01:12:28.680 --> 01:12:30.260
that he needed a rest.

1621
01:12:30.360 --> 01:12:31.140
There was no way he could go

1622
01:12:31.240 --> 01:12:33.900
and make "Day of the Champion" after that.

1623
01:12:34.000 --> 01:12:37.100
He and Bob Relyea, his
great producer friend,

1624
01:12:37.200 --> 01:12:38.780
they felt they'd got their butts kicked

1625
01:12:38.880 --> 01:12:41.900
when "Day of the
Champion" didn't get made.

1626
01:12:42.000 --> 01:12:44.740
- But by early '67,
McQueen was back riding

1627
01:12:44.840 --> 01:12:46.100
the crest of a wave.

1628
01:12:46.200 --> 01:12:50.020
"The Sand Pebbles" was a
critical and box office hit.

1629
01:12:50.120 --> 01:12:51.620
- The only thing that McQueen seemed

1630
01:12:51.720 --> 01:12:53.300
to really focus on when he got back

1631
01:12:53.400 --> 01:12:57.180
to America was the Oscars
campaign for "The Sand Pebbles".

1632
01:12:57.280 --> 01:13:01.340
He was determined that he
deserved a Best Actor nominee

1633
01:13:01.440 --> 01:13:03.100
and he did in fact get it.

1634
01:13:03.200 --> 01:13:06.500
A little bit of brokenness,
I think, comes to that role,

1635
01:13:06.600 --> 01:13:07.700
aided and abetted by the fact

1636
01:13:07.800 --> 01:13:10.700
that he actually quite ill
through a lot of the filming

1637
01:13:10.800 --> 01:13:14.380
so he does actually look kind
of dissipated or off-kilter

1638
01:13:14.480 --> 01:13:17.900
in some of the scenes and that
was a way to throw himself

1639
01:13:18.000 --> 01:13:19.180
into something which,

1640
01:13:19.280 --> 01:13:20.900
was not colored by the disappointment

1641
01:13:21.000 --> 01:13:23.980
of not being able to make
this passion project.

1642
01:13:24.080 --> 01:13:25.420
- McQueen must have been gutted

1643
01:13:25.520 --> 01:13:27.740
to think that he got his
first Oscar nomination

1644
01:13:27.840 --> 01:13:31.060
for a film that actually stopped
him making the film he had

1645
01:13:31.160 --> 01:13:32.780
always dreamt of making.

1646
01:13:32.880 --> 01:13:34.820
- [Richard] "Sand Pebbles"
and "Grand Prix" were released

1647
01:13:34.920 --> 01:13:37.380
the same week in December '66.

1648
01:13:37.480 --> 01:13:39.140
- [Christina] "Grand
Prix" was a huge success.

1649
01:13:39.240 --> 01:13:41.940
It was up against "The
Sand Pebbles" at the Oscars

1650
01:13:42.040 --> 01:13:46.380
in several categories
and it won three Oscars

1651
01:13:46.480 --> 01:13:49.060
so that really added
probably insult to injury,

1652
01:13:49.160 --> 01:13:50.300
in some ways, for McQueen.

1653
01:13:50.400 --> 01:13:52.900
- At that time, there was,

1654
01:13:53.000 --> 01:13:56.220
you could get little hand
grenade-looking things made

1655
01:13:56.320 --> 01:13:59.700
of compressed paper with a
small French banger inside.

1656
01:13:59.800 --> 01:14:02.660
James Garner's and Steve
McQueen's houses were adjacent

1657
01:14:02.760 --> 01:14:04.260
to each other in Hollywood

1658
01:14:04.360 --> 01:14:07.860
and Steve's was a little uphill
from Garner's and so he used

1659
01:14:07.960 --> 01:14:11.180
to throw his grenades down into the yard

1660
01:14:11.280 --> 01:14:14.140
of Garner's house and
illicit a big police reaction

1661
01:14:14.240 --> 01:14:15.660
and everything and wait for all that

1662
01:14:15.760 --> 01:14:18.980
to dissipate and lob another one over

1663
01:14:19.080 --> 01:14:20.460
and generally wind him up.

1664
01:14:20.560 --> 01:14:22.860
- Finally his son, Chad,

1665
01:14:22.960 --> 01:14:25.160
made him go and take
him to see "Grand Prix"

1666
01:14:26.600 --> 01:14:29.380
and from that time on
we were talking again.

1667
01:14:29.480 --> 01:14:32.140
But Steve was a wild
kid, he was a wild kid.

1668
01:14:32.240 --> 01:14:33.420
He didn't know where he wanted to be

1669
01:14:33.520 --> 01:14:35.140
or what he wanted to do.

1670
01:14:35.240 --> 01:14:38.340
- Tell him exactly where
Garner's going to pass him.

1671
01:14:38.440 --> 01:14:39.300
Jimmy Garner!

1672
01:14:39.400 --> 01:14:40.100
Jimmy Garner!

1673
01:14:40.200 --> 01:14:41.860
Where is the exact place you pass him?

1674
01:14:41.960 --> 01:14:46.060
- Just before the overpass,
he's gone that way.

1675
01:14:46.160 --> 01:14:49.640
Just before the overpass,
alright we gotta go.

1676
01:14:51.400 --> 01:14:54.020
(chuckles)

1677
01:14:54.120 --> 01:14:55.380
Which side?

1678
01:14:55.480 --> 01:14:56.220
Which side?

1679
01:14:56.320 --> 01:14:58.320
- I pass him on the left!

1680
01:14:59.680 --> 01:15:00.380
- Okay!

1681
01:15:00.480 --> 01:15:02.940
Okay!

1682
01:15:03.040 --> 01:15:06.900
- When I first saw "Grand
Prix", sitting at a cinema,

1683
01:15:07.000 --> 01:15:08.420
the impact was tremendous

1684
01:15:08.520 --> 01:15:10.860
because you were seeing
Formula 1 cars racing

1685
01:15:10.960 --> 01:15:15.740
on a big screen, in color,
close-ups on the drivers.

1686
01:15:15.840 --> 01:15:18.300
There was a whole depth there

1687
01:15:18.400 --> 01:15:20.180
which we never had on television.

1688
01:15:20.280 --> 01:15:24.100
Television coverage in the
1960s was extremely primitive

1689
01:15:24.200 --> 01:15:26.420
and for people who'd never
been to a motor race,

1690
01:15:26.520 --> 01:15:29.300
which is where a lot of the
audience would have come from,

1691
01:15:29.400 --> 01:15:30.940
they would have seen this on television,

1692
01:15:31.040 --> 01:15:35.460
but the impact of seeing it
on a proper cinema screen.

1693
01:15:35.560 --> 01:15:36.980
Enormous.

1694
01:15:37.080 --> 01:15:38.020
- Frankenheimer did hire me

1695
01:15:38.120 --> 01:15:39.700
as a consultant when he was thinking

1696
01:15:39.800 --> 01:15:42.220
about doing a "Grand Prix 2".

1697
01:15:42.320 --> 01:15:44.620
I'm talking early '80s now.

1698
01:15:44.720 --> 01:15:46.380
But then of course like
everybody at that time,

1699
01:15:46.480 --> 01:15:50.460
he was completely shocked
at how much Formula 1 i.e.

1700
01:15:50.560 --> 01:15:53.180
Bernie Ecclestone wanted
in order to have the same

1701
01:15:53.280 --> 01:15:55.340
sort of access that he'd back in '66

1702
01:15:55.440 --> 01:15:57.780
and at that point it became a non-starter,

1703
01:15:57.880 --> 01:16:00.180
like a lot of other movies
that people have tried

1704
01:16:00.280 --> 01:16:01.660
to make about Formula 1.

1705
01:16:01.760 --> 01:16:02.520
- [Nigel] I will always be grateful

1706
01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:06.180
that "Grand Prix" exists because
apart from anything else,

1707
01:16:06.280 --> 01:16:08.660
it amounts to such, in effect,

1708
01:16:08.760 --> 01:16:12.820
a record of how Formula 1 was in the '60s.

1709
01:16:12.920 --> 01:16:14.820
- [Narrator] During the
second half of the 1960s,

1710
01:16:14.920 --> 01:16:18.300
Steve McQueen's Hollywood
career went stratospheric.

1711
01:16:18.400 --> 01:16:20.620
The outsider had made it inside,

1712
01:16:20.720 --> 01:16:23.260
becoming the highest
paid actor in the world.

1713
01:16:23.360 --> 01:16:25.100
His disappointment over the failure of

1714
01:16:25.200 --> 01:16:28.220
"Day of the Champion" only
served to fuel his obsession

1715
01:16:28.320 --> 01:16:30.180
with cars in the movies.

1716
01:16:30.280 --> 01:16:34.020
In 1968, "Bullit"' was
the result of his efforts.

1717
01:16:34.120 --> 01:16:36.420
Again, he insisted on doing the majority

1718
01:16:36.520 --> 01:16:38.060
of the stunt work involved

1719
01:16:38.160 --> 01:16:40.060
and this is widely considered

1720
01:16:40.160 --> 01:16:43.020
to be the greatest car chase of all time.

1721
01:16:43.120 --> 01:16:47.940
(brakes screeching)
(racing car revving)

1722
01:16:48.040 --> 01:16:50.940
- Those mid '60s years
were the hottest years

1723
01:16:51.040 --> 01:16:51.740
of his career.

1724
01:16:51.840 --> 01:16:54.540
He had five hits one after the other,

1725
01:16:54.640 --> 01:16:56.780
starting with "The Cincinnati Kid",

1726
01:16:56.880 --> 01:16:58.780
and "Nevada Smith", "The Sand Pebbles",

1727
01:16:58.880 --> 01:17:01.380
"The Thomas Crown Affair", and "Bullitt".

1728
01:17:01.480 --> 01:17:03.300
Now if we'd have seen
"Day of the Champion"

1729
01:17:03.400 --> 01:17:04.340
in the middle of that,

1730
01:17:04.440 --> 01:17:06.700
we might never have seen
"The Thomas Crown Affair"

1731
01:17:06.800 --> 01:17:07.700
and "Bullitt".

1732
01:17:07.800 --> 01:17:10.020
- [Narrator] But he was
still obsessed with his dream

1733
01:17:10.120 --> 01:17:12.580
of a motor racing film
and now had a great deal

1734
01:17:12.680 --> 01:17:16.260
of star power, the juice as he called it.

1735
01:17:16.360 --> 01:17:18.460
He did, of course,
finally make that movie.

1736
01:17:18.560 --> 01:17:22.420
"Le Mans" was released in 1971.

1737
01:17:22.520 --> 01:17:23.260
- [James] With "Bullitt",

1738
01:17:23.360 --> 01:17:25.940
"Thomas Crown" being such
massive hits, essentially,

1739
01:17:26.040 --> 01:17:27.780
he's allowed to do
whatever he wants to do.

1740
01:17:27.880 --> 01:17:30.140
That's when "Le Mans"
comes back into the mix

1741
01:17:30.240 --> 01:17:35.020
and he thinks I am gonna make
the ultimate racing car movie.

1742
01:17:35.120 --> 01:17:37.220
- By the time he got to "Le Mans",

1743
01:17:37.320 --> 01:17:39.060
he was feeling so much pressure that

1744
01:17:39.160 --> 01:17:41.540
this film had to succeed

1745
01:17:41.640 --> 01:17:44.700
that it definitely affected
his personal relationships,

1746
01:17:44.800 --> 01:17:47.900
with his wife, with his
friend Robert Relyea,

1747
01:17:48.000 --> 01:17:52.700
with his director friend from
over a decade, John Sturges.

1748
01:17:52.800 --> 01:17:56.540
I think he was dead set that
this movie had to be a success.

1749
01:17:56.640 --> 01:17:59.260
- [John] I think, at
least from my standpoint,

1750
01:17:59.360 --> 01:18:00.340
in an action film,

1751
01:18:00.440 --> 01:18:04.140
it gives you an opportunity
to put people under pressure.

1752
01:18:04.240 --> 01:18:06.220
And when they're under
pressure, they're emotions,

1753
01:18:06.320 --> 01:18:07.980
good or bad, come out.

1754
01:18:08.080 --> 01:18:10.420
What you're really looking for is emotion.

1755
01:18:10.520 --> 01:18:12.660
A fight is no more meaningful than

1756
01:18:12.760 --> 01:18:15.420
how much care somebody wins.

1757
01:18:15.520 --> 01:18:18.180
Two unknown people could
beat each other to death,

1758
01:18:18.280 --> 01:18:21.220
balanced on a girder,
40 stories in the air,

1759
01:18:21.320 --> 01:18:23.820
you wouldn't care unless
you were pulling for one

1760
01:18:23.920 --> 01:18:24.820
or the other.

1761
01:18:24.920 --> 01:18:26.140
- [Interviewer] I think the thing

1762
01:18:26.240 --> 01:18:27.300
that fascinated most people

1763
01:18:27.400 --> 01:18:29.900
about "Bullitt" was that
sensational car chase

1764
01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:31.660
in San Francisco.

1765
01:18:31.760 --> 01:18:34.780
Are you going to try for
anything like that in this film?

1766
01:18:34.880 --> 01:18:37.740
- [John] Well, we hope
to do as well of course.

1767
01:18:37.840 --> 01:18:40.540
It won't be a chase in any sense

1768
01:18:40.640 --> 01:18:43.380
and they will be cars
driven under control as they

1769
01:18:43.480 --> 01:18:44.460
are here in the circuit,

1770
01:18:44.560 --> 01:18:47.900
as opposed to a kind of flat-out stunt.

1771
01:18:48.000 --> 01:18:51.260
It's similar in that there
are cars and there is speed,

1772
01:18:51.360 --> 01:18:53.260
but totally different otherwise.

1773
01:18:53.360 --> 01:18:56.220
(racing car revving)

1774
01:18:56.320 --> 01:18:58.860
- [Natasha] When something
is a passion project,

1775
01:18:58.960 --> 01:19:01.500
logic goes out of the window.

1776
01:19:01.600 --> 01:19:04.020
For McQueen, it stopped
being about creating

1777
01:19:04.120 --> 01:19:07.100
an amazing piece of cinema and it became

1778
01:19:07.200 --> 01:19:08.380
about fulfilling a dream

1779
01:19:08.480 --> 01:19:10.180
and those two are never going to marry,

1780
01:19:10.280 --> 01:19:13.220
even more so when
Sturges left the project.

1781
01:19:13.320 --> 01:19:15.780
- [Samuelson] Steve,
who's production company

1782
01:19:15.880 --> 01:19:17.880
was making the film,

1783
01:19:18.200 --> 01:19:21.140
really didn't know how you make a film,

1784
01:19:21.240 --> 01:19:25.380
how you string a script
together, how you block a scene,

1785
01:19:25.480 --> 01:19:28.660
and I think it must have
been awful for John Sturges.

1786
01:19:28.760 --> 01:19:33.220
Steve was very, very famous

1787
01:19:33.320 --> 01:19:37.500
and also I think in many
ways, out of control.

1788
01:19:37.600 --> 01:19:39.460
- [Christina] I think "Le
Mans" is a cult classic

1789
01:19:39.560 --> 01:19:41.140
because it,

1790
01:19:41.240 --> 01:19:45.700
yes, largely appeals to people
that are really interested

1791
01:19:45.800 --> 01:19:48.460
and passionate about cars and racing,

1792
01:19:48.560 --> 01:19:50.540
but that film kind of speaks

1793
01:19:50.640 --> 01:19:52.980
to a particular style of filmmaking

1794
01:19:53.080 --> 01:19:56.180
which is unique to its moment

1795
01:19:56.280 --> 01:19:58.980
and had this kind of existentialism to it,

1796
01:19:59.080 --> 01:20:00.540
this kind of minimalism,

1797
01:20:00.640 --> 01:20:04.780
this story which was
completely self-contained

1798
01:20:04.880 --> 01:20:09.880
which didn't need the various
complications of traditional,

1799
01:20:10.440 --> 01:20:12.380
classical Hollywood cinema.

1800
01:20:12.480 --> 01:20:13.620
- I felt very strongly

1801
01:20:13.720 --> 01:20:17.960
that racing would be a
great background to a story.

1802
01:20:19.240 --> 01:20:24.180
I believe that Steve felt
racing would be a great film

1803
01:20:24.280 --> 01:20:26.280
with some story around it.

1804
01:20:26.880 --> 01:20:30.620
It may be oversimplifying but
even if it is that simple,

1805
01:20:30.720 --> 01:20:32.100
that's a big difference.

1806
01:20:32.200 --> 01:20:34.620
- Well, I'll go with you that
we concentrate on the race,

1807
01:20:34.720 --> 01:20:38.260
yes, whether anything else
is kept to a minimum or not,

1808
01:20:38.360 --> 01:20:39.620
I don't know.

1809
01:20:39.720 --> 01:20:41.260
- [Samuelson] I don't
think Steve really cared

1810
01:20:41.360 --> 01:20:45.100
about the story and the
love interest and so forth.

1811
01:20:45.200 --> 01:20:48.480
He just wanted to film the definitive,

1812
01:20:49.720 --> 01:20:52.400
really documentary of cars going fast

1813
01:20:53.440 --> 01:20:57.460
and the fiction side of it
was I think a bit shrug.

1814
01:20:57.560 --> 01:20:59.100
- I don't know if
anybody's ever discovered

1815
01:20:59.200 --> 01:21:01.140
the beginnings of a plot.

1816
01:21:01.240 --> 01:21:02.340
(laughs)

1817
01:21:02.440 --> 01:21:04.860
I don't think I ever detected one!

1818
01:21:04.960 --> 01:21:06.580
(chuckles)

1819
01:21:06.680 --> 01:21:08.880
- [Robert] Steve has from the beginning,

1820
01:21:10.280 --> 01:21:15.380
pushed and insisted upon a
reality approach to the picture.

1821
01:21:15.480 --> 01:21:18.180
The real cars that were
really in the race,

1822
01:21:18.280 --> 01:21:19.820
driving at real speed.

1823
01:21:19.920 --> 01:21:23.340
Not trick photography,
not rear projection,

1824
01:21:23.440 --> 01:21:25.380
not on a location that
looks like "Le Mans"

1825
01:21:25.480 --> 01:21:26.220
for a certain time,

1826
01:21:26.320 --> 01:21:28.680
but racing conditions
with the actual machinery.

1827
01:21:30.320 --> 01:21:32.260
- If you look at the script
for "Day of the Champion",

1828
01:21:32.360 --> 01:21:36.700
it's actually quite similar to
"Grand Prix" in certain ways.

1829
01:21:36.800 --> 01:21:38.940
Much more of a traditional narrative

1830
01:21:39.040 --> 01:21:40.420
than "Le Mans" ended up being.

1831
01:21:40.520 --> 01:21:41.300
And like "Grand Prix",

1832
01:21:41.400 --> 01:21:43.860
it follows several drivers
over a whole season.

1833
01:21:43.960 --> 01:21:47.620
There are elements that
were retained for "Le Man".

1834
01:21:47.720 --> 01:21:50.220
He's called Mike Pearce
in the original script,

1835
01:21:50.320 --> 01:21:52.420
Mike Delaney, of course, in "Le Mans".

1836
01:21:52.520 --> 01:21:55.500
But there are still a couple of lines

1837
01:21:55.600 --> 01:21:56.780
in the "Day of the Champion" script

1838
01:21:56.880 --> 01:21:59.900
that end up in the finished
version of "Le Mans".

1839
01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:02.020
- [Christina] McQueen
says in "Le Mans" that...

1840
01:22:02.120 --> 01:22:04.660
- Racing's important
to men who do it well.

1841
01:22:04.760 --> 01:22:06.760
Racing, it's life.

1842
01:22:08.240 --> 01:22:11.080
Anything that happens before
or after, it's just waiting.

1843
01:22:12.200 --> 01:22:13.120
- [Christina] That's actually originally

1844
01:22:13.200 --> 01:22:14.860
from "Day of the Champion".

1845
01:22:14.960 --> 01:22:18.740
- [Martullo] Do you remember
a man called Karl Wallenda,

1846
01:22:18.840 --> 01:22:21.840
the greatest of the high wire walkers?

1847
01:22:24.000 --> 01:22:29.100
After he fell and was broken,
when he went back, he said,

1848
01:22:29.200 --> 01:22:31.400
"To be on the wire is life.

1849
01:22:32.480 --> 01:22:35.420
The rest is waiting".

1850
01:22:35.520 --> 01:22:37.580
This was a wise man, do you know that?

1851
01:22:37.680 --> 01:22:38.820
(hopeful music)

1852
01:22:38.920 --> 01:22:40.920
- [Mike] I hope so...

1853
01:22:41.280 --> 01:22:44.020
- [Martullo] Only those of
us who have been on the wire,

1854
01:22:44.120 --> 01:22:47.100
who have held the wheel, only us.

1855
01:22:47.200 --> 01:22:49.860
No one else, the others, they cannot know

1856
01:22:49.960 --> 01:22:52.940
and it is foolish to try and tell them.

1857
01:22:53.040 --> 01:22:55.040
Never try and tell anybody.

1858
01:22:55.960 --> 01:22:58.580
They know or they can never know.

1859
01:22:58.680 --> 01:23:01.360
(hopeful music)

1860
01:23:06.520 --> 01:23:08.300
- [Narrator] "Day of the
Champion" remains one

1861
01:23:08.400 --> 01:23:12.340
of Hollywood's great "What
Ifs" Fragments of rushes

1862
01:23:12.440 --> 01:23:15.660
and an impoverished
script are all that remain

1863
01:23:15.760 --> 01:23:19.180
of the dream project of one
of the great movie stars

1864
01:23:19.280 --> 01:23:21.280
of the 20th century.

1865
01:23:22.400 --> 01:23:27.420
A contemporary F1 movie has
not been achieved since 1966,

1866
01:23:27.520 --> 01:23:31.480
while the sport grew exponentially
over the next 50 years.

1867
01:23:33.200 --> 01:23:34.420
After "Le Mans",

1868
01:23:34.520 --> 01:23:38.620
McQueen never did hit the
highs of the 60s again.

1869
01:23:38.720 --> 01:23:40.500
He divorced and remarried.

1870
01:23:40.600 --> 01:23:43.180
Then, divorced and remarried.

1871
01:23:43.280 --> 01:23:45.420
His relationships with Sturges

1872
01:23:45.520 --> 01:23:49.320
and Relyea remained strained
for the next decade.

1873
01:23:52.640 --> 01:23:54.300
- I think the best movie stars work

1874
01:23:54.400 --> 01:23:57.060
on variations on a theme,

1875
01:23:57.160 --> 01:23:59.300
in a way, or variations on a persona

1876
01:23:59.400 --> 01:24:00.220
that's always existed.

1877
01:24:00.320 --> 01:24:03.860
And so McQueen feels like Americana,

1878
01:24:03.960 --> 01:24:07.460
I think, to us now and, you know,

1879
01:24:07.560 --> 01:24:08.900
a slightly more old-fashioned,

1880
01:24:09.000 --> 01:24:11.820
traditionalism that I think
people kind of yearn for.

1881
01:24:11.920 --> 01:24:14.580
- Steve McQueen, away from the camera,

1882
01:24:14.680 --> 01:24:17.800
was a very complex

1883
01:24:18.760 --> 01:24:22.220
person with lots of moods,

1884
01:24:22.320 --> 01:24:24.480
lots of swings of those moods,

1885
01:24:25.520 --> 01:24:28.820
one of the most loyal
people I've ever known.

1886
01:24:28.920 --> 01:24:30.920
Very street smart.

1887
01:24:33.320 --> 01:24:36.080
(dramatic music)

1888
01:24:39.240 --> 01:24:42.260
(racing car revving)

1889
01:24:42.360 --> 01:24:47.360
♪ I'm gonna raise a fuss,
I'm gonna raise a holler ♪

1890
01:24:48.320 --> 01:24:53.320
♪ About a-workin' all summer
just to try to earn a dollar ♪

1891
01:24:54.680 --> 01:24:57.940
♪ Every time I call my
baby, try to get a date ♪

1892
01:24:58.040 --> 01:25:01.420
♪ My boss says, "no dice
son, you gotta work late" ♪

1893
01:25:01.520 --> 01:25:04.180
♪ Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do ♪

1894
01:25:04.280 --> 01:25:08.220
♪ But there ain't no cure
for the summertime blues ♪

1895
01:25:08.320 --> 01:25:09.940
- But more important to Steve

1896
01:25:10.040 --> 01:25:13.220
than anything in the world
would be to be remembered

1897
01:25:13.320 --> 01:25:15.740
as being a good human
being, not a good actor,

1898
01:25:15.840 --> 01:25:18.700
and most of all was
respected by his peers.

1899
01:25:18.800 --> 01:25:20.580
That the other race drivers,

1900
01:25:20.680 --> 01:25:22.220
whether they thought
he was an actor or not,

1901
01:25:22.320 --> 01:25:25.340
thought he could cut it on an even field

1902
01:25:25.440 --> 01:25:29.300
and I think the idea of getting
respect from other people,

1903
01:25:29.400 --> 01:25:31.780
which probably goes all the
way back to Boys Republic,

1904
01:25:31.880 --> 01:25:34.980
was probably what he would
want more than anything else.

1905
01:25:35.080 --> 01:25:36.080
♪ Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do ♪

1906
01:25:36.160 --> 01:25:40.220
♪ But there ain't no cure
for the summertime blues ♪

1907
01:25:40.320 --> 01:25:45.100
(racing car revving)
(dramatic music)

1908
01:25:45.200 --> 01:25:47.620
- You see the problem here,
man, is you gotta be happy.

1909
01:25:47.720 --> 01:25:48.460
If you're not happy,

1910
01:25:48.560 --> 01:25:50.560
you might as well chuck
the whole business.

1911
01:25:52.680 --> 01:25:55.100
(dramatic music)

1912
01:25:55.200 --> 01:25:57.880
(hopeful music)