Yes, it's a soap opera set against the backdrop of the International racing world, but it's so well done, it has to be recommended. Director John Frankenheimer assembled a top cast including James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and Antonio Sabato as the racers and Eva Marie Saint, Jessica Walter and Francoise Hardy as the women in their lives. Garner and Bedford both vie for Walter, classy reporter Eva Marie Saint hooks up with Montand and Sabato and Hardy are the swinging Europeans. Toshiro Mifune plays a Japenese race car manufacturer. Jessica Walter is stunning and most of the acting is first-rate although Montand's accent is too thick and is pretty distracting. Bedford spends most of the movie in body cast. How they all end up is unimportant.
Frankenheimer's direction is stellar and he's helped out by the great Saul Bass who supplied some very nifty montage sequences.
Frankenheimer's direction is stellar and he's helped out by the great Saul Bass who supplied some very nifty montage sequences.