Lamborghini: The man behind the legend

[PowerPlant]

I always make a conscious choice for my first movie of the year, and usually pick one I have been anticipating for a while. This year, it turned out to be the Lamborghini biopic, which, being a car guy, I had been looking forward to with excitement for quite some time now, but decided to postpone it for my jan 1st movie. Right off the bat, however, I must say, it fell way short of my expectations from a “car movie”. It starts with young Ferruccio Lamborghini returning from WW2 to his family farm, proclaiming to his father he does not much feel like ploughing, but instead wants to participate in a car race to make money and a name for himself, in order to start building tractors. In real life, the race in question was the 1948 Mille Miglia (called something else in the movie, perhaps due to copyright), but it was the point in the plot that made me realize this movie was not made by car people at all. What bothered me were the cars. The race clearly takes place in 1948 (as highlighted on a poster on the podium behind Enzo Ferrari, played by Gabriel Byrne), but the cars Lamborghini and his friend are racing against are a Mercedes 190 SL and Porsche 356 Speedster, both of which were made years later, in the mid 50’s. Sure enough, both are pretty looking cars, but I’d say this is a glaring mistake for any car buff, and somewhat off-putting. Furthermore, engine sounds throughout the movie are mostly wrong, and most of the driving/racing scenes are quite dull/slow looking, all of which is not saying much for a “car movie”. To top it all off, there is an “imaginary” drag race scene between Lamborghini and Ferrari, supposedly a methaphor on their competition in life, which keeps popping up throughout the movie, in various stages. Ok, neat idea, but the problem I had, this being a car movie, was the choice of rides. Lamborghini drives a blue Countach, which is an iconic car, sure, but it happens to be a US spec car, and the movie clearly takes place in Italy, while Ferrari drives an underwhelming Mondial (also a car targeting the US market), instead of an F40, for example, which would have been more logical. Another off-putting, non-car related thing, was the accents, which range from bad to attrocious. As for the drama itself, it matches the slap-happines of the production aspects regarding the cars. The entire movie, which could have been an interesting, charged story of the triumph of an emotionally unavailable and unscrupulous farmer, who decided to throw away everything, including his family, in order to make expensive cars just to stick it to the man, Enzo Ferrari, when he brushed off Ferruccio’s suggestion of partnering-up, seems kinda roushed-through in just 90 or so minutes, and while the relatively short running time is a blessing of sorts, considering the tedium, one can’t help but wonder how this story might have played out over two hours in more apt hands. I’m thinking Ford vs. Ferrari. That said, hopefully the upcoming Ferrari biopic will wash out the sour taste of this unfortunate misfire. Shame, really, because Lamborghini is an icon. He/it deserved to have this story told a little bit better than it was with this attempt. Of course, this is just my 2 cents. Let me know what you thought! Thanks!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Too bad. Sounds like the non-car-enthusiast production people just phoned it in. Think I'll pass.

I bet the crew was ethnically and gender diverse though.

Everybody knows that 3rd rate trash is OK as long as it's made by wokesters, no matter how talent-free or ignorant of the subject.  

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[PowerPlant]

5 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Sounds like the non-car-enthusiast production people just phoned it in. Think I'll pass.

I bet the crew was ethnically and gender diverse though.

Everybody knows that 3rd rate trash is OK as long as it's made by wokesters, no matter how talent-free or ignorant of the subject.  

They clearly chould have made a better effort regarding automotive consultants on the film. I guess a non-car person might not care the slightest bit, and find the movie interesting enough, but it ruins it for me when a supposed “car movie” keeps getting the car bit wrong! ?‍♂️

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 minutes ago, PowerPlant said:

 ...I guess a non-car person might not care the slightest bit...

Yeah, but why would a non-car-person see a movie about Ferruccio Lamborghini anyway?

I was somewhat similarly disappointed over the holidays by the book McLaren Sports Racing Cars. Though it has some fine photographs of Bruce and his cars in action, I wanted it primarily as a reference work, mistakenly assuming it would be heavy on technical information.

Nope.

[stitchdup]

its not supposed to be a car movie, its about the guy himself. the clues in the name. if it was about the cars it wouldn't be called the man behind the legend

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just now, stitchdup said:

its not supposed to be a car movie, its about the guy himself. the clues in the name. if it was about the cars it wouldn't be called the man behind the legend

If it wasn't for the dammed cars, there wouldn't be any point in making a movie about the guy.

[stitchdup]

3 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

If it wasn't for the dammed cars, there wouldn't be any point in making a movie about the guy.

why not? the cars were just a way of flipping the bird at ferarri. thats what the movie is about

[PowerPlant]

8 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

its not supposed to be a car movie, its about the guy himself. the clues in the name. if it was about the cars it wouldn't be called the man behind the legend

Well, I’d have to disagree, since his entire life was obsession driven to build expensive cars, few people could afford, just to prove to Ferrari that he could do it better, knowing well it will be the end of him. If a car/cars were pivotal to any man’s life, it was Ferruccio Lamborghini. Therefore, I don’t see how one could make a movie about his life, without it being a car movie. That said, this movie does in fact try hard to be a car movie, but fails, unfortunately, on many fronts, with that respect.

Edited January 2, 2023 by PowerPlant

[PowerPlant]

Besides, a biopic of any person is s movie about the thing a person does/did. Lamborghini did cars. Hence, car movie. Definitely not a boxing movie, say, if we were talking Raging Bull, for example - the Jake LaMotta biopic. Ya know what I mean? ?

Edited January 2, 2023 by PowerPlant

[Ace-Garageguy]

22 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

...the cars were just a way of flipping the bird at ferarri...

Somehow, I think you may have missed the whole point of the cars...  

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[PowerPlant]

There is a funny scene about how the Miura “eyelashes” supposedly came to be… Ferruccio was sketching it on a napkin during some event or another, when a pretty girl walks up and starts inquiring about the drawing… he replies he’s sketching an idea for the most beautiful car ever… he shows it to her and then tells her to shut her eyes, and looking at her adds the lashes on the car. Then his wife, played by Mira Sorvino, rushes over from the ladies room or wherever she had been to, apparently not getting the joke and telling little miss thing where to go and all ? but, it seems the eyelashes on the Miura remained, nonetheless. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by PowerPlant

[1930fordpickup]

You can't tell a story about the cars without talking about the Man himself.  Most cars don't have 1.5 hours of interesting conversation for a movie to make money on. If you want a story about the Miura, that is a 30 minute after school special. Don't forget just because we would love an in depth movie on our favorite car, that swill not pay the bills.

[Ace-Garageguy]

24 minutes ago, 1930fordpickup said:

You can't tell a story about the cars without talking about the Man himself.

The point was: if you're going to make a movie about a major league car guy who built some of the finest cars on the planet...get the damm parts about the cars RIGHT. It's not really that hard.

EDIT: Or maybe it is...

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[1930fordpickup]

The Hollywood movie makers have  always had a  hard time making movies about cars. Maybe that is why they like the EV'S so much.  How many times have 5 and 6 hubcaps flew off of a car in a chase scene?  How about when a car goes sliding in a corner and they use a different car for the stunt. not even the same brand of car. It had 4 doors anyway. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

12 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

The Hollywood movie makers have  always had a  hard time making movies about cars...

Agreed, with a few notable exceptions.

For the most part, Hollywood's understanding of and use for cars is primarily 1) showing expensive vehicles as a means to flaunt wealth as an aphrodisiac, usually by characters lacking any other attractive qualities, and 2) things to be run off cliffs, blown up, or otherwise mangled in the apparent goal of providing vicarious thrills for the lowest-common-denominator, short-attention-span, blissfully-ignorant target audience.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[webestang]

I want to see the movie but with B-movie actor Frank Grillo and only 7% on Rotten Tomatoes I bet it's not that good. 

[MrMiles]

Unfortunately for me I bought it on Amazon prime. It was one of the worst movies I have seen. They never did any character build up and the different areas of his life are all glossed over quickly without ever covering any part of it in detail. 

There was not any part of the movie that was good