Posts tagged John Counsell

“Two Beautiful Drivers”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

Rush is the latest film from Ron Howard, maker of many successful films, and it is about the 1976 Formula 1 championship race, which was notable because of the closeness of the race and the rivalry between the two competing drivers on different teams, James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

The races lasted all year long, and the championship that year came down to the final race held in Japan.

However, that year the intense race for the championship was unique in what happened in August to Lauda, the 1975 world champion.

Chris Hemsworth plays Hunt, the flamboyant playboy driver from England, and Daniel Bruhl plays Lauda, the methodical brilliant technician from Austria, who was a genius at setting up his car for a race.

The two drivers met in 1970 when they were both driving Formula 3 races, and Hunt tells his current girlfriend, “The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel.”

However, they both want to move up and drive the more prestigious, more glamorous, and more dangerous Formula 1 race cars, and because of his family background, Lauda gets a ride first with the successful Ferrari team.

Then Hunt quickly follows by signing with the McLaren team, and the race to the top of their sport is on.

Then the movie starts following each race in 1976, and with beautiful cinematography and excellent camera work we get a terrific feel for how tight, how dangerous, and how exciting Formula 1 racing is.

In the meantime, we meet the love interests of the two drivers, Suzy, played by Olivia Wilde, whom Hunt beds and weds, and Marlene, who eventually becomes Lauda’s wife.

Incidentally, there is a hitchhiking scene with Lauda and Marlene that is reminiscent of the hitchhiking scene in the 1934 It Happened One Night, but with a much funnier ending.

Hunt begins to have trouble at home as well as on the racetracks, and Lauda is affected by marriage, because he believes that “happiness is the enemy” and now he has something to lose, which is a distraction while he is racing.

And then comes the race in August in Germany which changes everything for both drivers.

By the way, you don’t have to be a racing fan to enjoy this tremendous film.

Rush is about not one, but two beautiful drivers.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”