Shelby on the Big Screen (feature)

[Historybuff]

I think if it's a drama set in the mileau of a certain period of racing
it will all be poetic license, i.e. made up. But that doesn't mean it can't be realistic. I think in the film Saving Private Ryan there was a real person similar to Private Ryan in real life but yet the movie was a drama with fictional characters.

Like you , I hope that the real events of the '50s or '60s are depicted. For instance I have read precious little about the '55 crash at LeMans--where more than 80 spectators were killed when a Mercedes SLR crashed into the grandstand-- and yet I have only seen one comment by the Americans who were racing that year--when one of Briggs Cunningham's crew rolled into the pits and said he was quitting racing on the spot. I'd like to see a lot of these famous events--win, lose or draw--told from the more personal standpoints of individuals.

One of my favorite WWII movies is Battle of Britain , set in WWII but with all fictional characters (except the high commanders like RAF head Dowding, Churchill, etc.) but I think it pretty much conveys what that period was like.

Of course now that we have gyroscopically controlled cameras (Steadicam) the mass audience will see new shots of old racing cars that vastly increases their appreciation of the race cars of the Fifties and Sixties compared to the old photography of films like Grand Prix, McQueen's LeMans, etc. I hope not too much cgi is used as that can ruin a good moment if it's detected by the viewers.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

I think in the film Saving Private Ryan there was a real person similar to Private Ryan in real life but yet the movie was a drama with fictional characters.

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