This is a movie based on the true story of how Ford ended up building a race car for the 24 hours of Le Mans race and eventually taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places all at the same time, beating out the presumed winner, Ferrari.

Ford had wanted to spruce up their image by buying Ferrari, and Enrico Ferrari appeared to agree. The Ford people went to Italy with the contracts, etc. and this was leaked to the press, prompting a bid from Fiat to buy Ferrari instead, which Ferrari accepted. Was it a setup by Ferrari from the get-go? Who knows, but after signing with Fiat, Enrico Ferrari also told the Americans personal insults to deliver to Henry Ford II, which they did. Enrico apparently wanted to really make this personal for Henry Ford II, and he did.

LOL, the movie shows Ford as being a rather belligerent man before any of this occurring when he's addressing his factory workers during a slow down in sales, and Ferrari's insults to NOT sit well with him! He authorizes the production of a racecar that will put Ferrari in his place and hit him where it hurts, and he wants it done *now*, which everyone says is impossible. The movie is about how his angry goal is turned in to reality.

Ford does eventually slap down Ferrari. Christian Bale does a good+ job as Ken Miles, the race car driver. Also shown in the movie is his son seeing Miles' car catch on fire during testing, with him making it out safely. The boy then is fearful throughout the rest of the film, and that really seemed authentic. As a big spoiler (stop reading if you are going to see the movie) Even though he wins the race, the actual victory is taken away from Miles by a snotty Ford executive who does a GREAT job at being the corporate schmoe you can't help hating. That must have really hurt Miles, but he handles it philosophically. What really hurt *me* was that months after winning the race he was testing the car for next year's race and died in a fire on the track, again with his son watching. How horrible was that? Also, I couldn't help thinking that in the 60's they didn't have huge life insurance policies, etc., like they do now, and his wife and son were probably on their own at that point with just an "I'm sorry" from Ford. Given that Mollie and Ken Miles were basically bankrupt *before* he started working for Ford, her life from that point on must have been pretty grim. A pretty bleak side to glory, but well done.

One thing I didn't like was Matt Damon being cast as Carol Shelby. Throughout the movie he looked like Matt Damon playing Carol Shelby. Someone else who would have been believable in the role would have been much better. LOL, an interesting aside about Shelby is that his car, the Shelby Cobra is part of the reason that England has speed limits, as before it no one was going 100+ miles an hour down the street. After many complaints about people roaring down the highway, and some guy doing like 140 mph, England passed its first highway speed limit. Good job, Shelby! Anyway, he seems like a remarkable man, being a pilot in WWII, finding out he had a heart problem and then going in to automobile racing, and when his heart got too bad for that, starting to *build* race cars. Eh, it's too bad Damon did a disservice to his memory (again, IMO).

A good movie to see, and the side plots of how corporate policies are really shaped by personal whims and how corporate politics really screw people based on those whims fills the movie out nicely, if in a depressing fashion.