Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

For a movie bordering on three hours, John Frankenheimer's legendary 1966 opus Grand Prix is astonishingly short on story. Not that it really needs one, the stunning Formula One races and the spectacular cinematography the main reason this action epic has achieved the notoriety it has today. Often imitated, never duplicated, the automobiles go so fast and furious – before the day of CGI and digital trickery – you can't believe your eyes. This is one of those movies where a small screen, whether it be 20-inches or a monstrous 64, just will not do, the film begging for a theatrical re-issue so all can feel its astonishing visceral exhilaration in the medium the filmmakers intended.

Not that Warner Bros. shirks their duty and sends a sub-par DVD into the marketplace. Just the opposite, this new two-disc special edition one of the very best I've had the pleasure to review this year. The Widescreen (2.20:1) transfer is phenomenal, the sound (available in both a 5.1 Dolby Digital English and a 1.0 French audio tracks) is stirring and the bonus features are magnificent. Even the omission of an audio track can be forgiven, Frankenheimer's unfortunate death in 2002 reason enough for me to allow for the studio's decision to not bring in an outsider and record one of their own. The director was the one daring, maybe even stupid, enough to try and pull this film off and thusly he's the one I'd want to hear from.

Thankfully, Frankenheimer did do a rather extensive interview with the Speed Channel just a short time before his death, and his words come through loud and clear in the extensive 30-minute retrospective documentary "Pushing the Limit" which proves to be this disc's highlight. Everyone pretty much agrees that the director managed to pull off lightning in a bottle with Grand Prix, photographing the world of Formula One racing right when it was at its most adrenalized and dangerous shortly before safety concerns and commercialism changed the sport forever.

The other featurettes on the DVD are nearly as good. "Flat Out" talks about what it was like to race Formula One in the 1960's, the danger of the era coming through loud and clear in the surviving drivers' multifarious recollections. Designer Saul Bass is the focal point of "The Style and Sound of Speed," while "Brands Hatch: Behind the Checkered Flag" goes behind the scenes of one of the most difficult raceways in all the world that's featured prominently in one of the film's most rousing races. A public service announcement from the Speed Channel, the archival 1966 featurette "Grand Prix: Challenge of Champions" and the theatrical trailer round out the remainder of the special features.

As for the movie itself, if it weren't for the spectacular racing it's probably safe to say Grand Prix would be a silly, cliché-ridden waste of time. Somehow, because of Frankenheimer's kinetically visceral filmmaking, the banality of Robert Alan Aurthur's screenplay and story never really matters. Add in the phenomenal international cast (James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Toshiro Mifune, Jessica Walter, Antonio Sabàto and a heartbreakingly magnificent Yves Montand) and this movie is one of those old-school Hollywood epic phenomena impossible to take your eyes off of. No breaking here, this is a DVD worth hitting the gas and making an accelerated beeline for.