Racing Films

My first impressions of Rush when I saw it at the cinema was that it was a two-hour cigarette commercial.  I have never left a cinema craving a cigarette more than I did when I watched this film.  It also installed in me the belief that “well we’re all going to die anyway so I might as well have a Marlboro or two…”.  I figured this was a cunning trick on the part of tobacco companies, sure we can’t advertise in the present day…but if we present something historical it has to be accurate so we should splash cigarette advertising everywhere we can.

Directed by Ritchie Cunningham from Happy Days (not Richie Cunningham from V8 Supercars), ‘Rush’ is a dramatic cinema recreation of the racing rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt in the 1970’s.  I stress the word ‘dramatic’ here as while the film is fairly factually accurate, condensing such an epic story into a couple of hours obviously offers the director some artistic liberty.  But with a film like 'Rush' which is going to be watched by a bunch of F1 train spotters you are not going to get away with a lot.  The tricky line that had to be walked with this film was to give it enough drama and action to attract the masses to the box office to sell them cigarettes whilst also appealing to the F1 aficionados who have already bought all the cigarettes they need but were starved of big budget cinematic F1 content.   I think Ritchie Cunningham does pretty well to walk this line.

So lets start with the box office.  In racing film terms ‘Rush’ was a total smash hit.  It grossed over $98 million through the worldwide box office, which is higher than ‘Death Race’ but still about $50 mil short of ‘Days of Thunder’ and ‘Talladega Nights’.  However on just the international box office alone it is a very close second to ‘Days of Thunder’ making ‘Rush’ the highest grossing international racing film since 1990. 

So why did ‘Rush’ do so well?  This probably has a lot to do with a combination of a popular director, with a healthy marketing budget and most importantly an excellent cast.  The elegant Alexandra Maria Lara could almost be a clone of Lauda’s wife Marlene Knaus.  Daniel Bruhl makes an excellent, although slightly more handsome, Nikki Lauda.  James Hunt is almost perfectly captured by Chris Hemsworth not only in appearance but also with a brash slightly edgy personality. 

It is not just the main stars where the casting makes this film great but also the true attention to detail with some of the less prominent characters.  Pierfrancesco Favino brings the lesser known Clay Regazzoni back to life, and if there is one person in this film who deserves to portrayed respectfully it is Regazzoni.  He was a classic racing journeyman who was permanently disabled in an accident in the 1980 US Grand Prix.  After unsuccessfully suing the race organisers Regazzoni went on to become one of the first disabled drivers to regain a racing licence and be competitive at a high level in motor racing.  Regazzoni also went on to be a champion for people with disabilities to get a fair shot at life.  The might of the USA finally got Regazzoni though after he was killed in a Chrysler on the A1 Motorway near Parma Italy. 

Another side character that brought a lot of joy to this film was Stephen Mangen playing Alastair Caldwell.  Mangen only has a few lines in the film but they are centred around a nice rant about Emerson Fitipaldi leaving McLaren, “Fiti-fucken-paldi!”  Very funny.  Caldwell, has quite a remarkable story.  After growing up in New Zealand he started out as a cleaner at McLaren and worked his way up to team manager.  After leaving McLaren his connection and enthusiasm for racing didn’t end  and he has since competed in many classic rallies around the world.  In 2012 he started competing in classic rallies with his 94-year-old mother, Alice, as navigator.  This made her the oldest rally navigator in the world.   Alice passed away earlier in 2021 at 103 years of age.  There is a great interview with them both from Radio New Zealand in 2016 here 

As for the other aspects of the film, the plot pretty much wrote itself.  The on track rivalry between Hunt and Lauda is a classic.  Two completely different personalities, Lauda, clinical and precise; Hunt brash and reckless.  It has all the ups and downs of a true drama with ever present risk, Ferrari v McLaren, Lauda’s accident, dramatic races, and a championship season that went all the way to the last race.  Ritchie Cunningham does take a few liberties with the plot though.  As Alastair Caldwell points out in the above interview Lauda and Hunt weren’t really enemies to the degree portrayed in the film.  Off the track they got on quite well.  When Hunt died in 1993 Lauda was a pall bearer at his funeral.  Also the fatal accident that occurs during the race where a driver is decapitated by an metal barrier did not occur in the way it is portrayed in the film.  The accident is clearly meant to show the fatal accident of Francois Cevert, as the markings on the car are from a Tyrrell, but he did not die in the horrific manner shown in the film, nor was he killed near the beginning of the season as the film implies.  Again we have a racing film taking some liberties with horror and tragedy in way that is not really necessary to the plot of the film.

The cars of the period are recreated beautifully, in full vibrant tobacco livery glory.   The McLaren M23 and Ferrari 312 T2 are the stars of the show but there is an array of other spectacular machines.  The film sourced two original McLaren M23’s, two Ferrari 312 T’s, two Lotus 77’s and two six wheeled Tyrrells.  Some of the other cars were commissioned for the film including two BRM P160’s, as well as some replicas of the Ligier- Matra and Brabham-Alfa.  No detail is spared as there are a lot of classics in the non-race scenes as well.  My favourite being the Lancia 2000 Berlina which Lauda uses to impress two Italian Ferrari race fans when they pick up Lauda and Marlene Knaus after her Pugeot 506 breaks down.

Overall, there is a lot to enjoy in ‘Rush’.  It is a reasonably accurate portrayal of an amazing Formula 1 story.  The characters are brilliantly cast and the cars look and sound great.  I’m sure James Hunt would agree that stretching the truth in the interests of fun is perfectly acceptable, although I’m sure he would have put it more eloquently.  Perhaps like this, “The sum of life needs to be pleasure, what’s the point of having a million medals, cups and trophies if you don’t have any fun?  How is that winning?”