Hollywood Goes Racing: Movies and Motorsports

Submitted by Larry Edsall on July 15, 2010 - 2:15pm

Ever since (and perhaps even before) Fatty Arbuckle shot “The Speed Kings” in 1913, there are those in the motion picture industry who have had a fascination with movies about motorsports.

Here are just a few of the ways the reel world has portrayed the real world of auto racing:

  • 1932 – “The Crowd Roars,” starring James Cagney
  • 1936 – “Speed,” starring James Stewart
  • 1949 – “The Big Wheel,” starring Mickey Rooney
  • 1950 – “To Please a Woman,” starring Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck
  • 1966 – Not only “Fireball 500,” starring Frankie, Annette and Fabian and “Spinout” starring Elvis, but “Grand Prix,” starring James Garner, Yves Montand, Jessica Walter and Eva Marie Saint, and “A Man and a Woman,” starring Jean-Louis Trintigant and Anouk Aimee
  • 1969 – “Winning,” starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Robert Wagner 1971 – “Le Mans” and “On Any Sunday,” both starring Steve McQueen
  • 1977 – “Greased Lightning,” starring Richard Pryor
  • 1983 – “Heart Like a Wheel,” starring Bonnie Bedelia and Beau Bridges
  • 1990 – “Days of Thunder,” starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
  • 2006 – “Cars,” by the amazing animators at Pixar, the far less amazing “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly

As I said, that’s only a partial list. Of those I’ve listed, I think I’ve seen all but Arbuckle’s “Speed Kings,” Elvis’ “Spinout,” McQueen”s “Any Sunday,” and “Talladega Nights.”

My favorites have been “Grand Prix,” “Le Mans,” and “A Man and a Woman.”

But enough about me. What have been your favorite motorsports movies?


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Photo Credit: MK Williams