I taped the movie from the Speed channel over
Thanksgiving. I didn't tape long enough and
missed about 15 minutes worth. I did see
part of the Monza race. Can anyone tell
me how the movie ended? Did someone crash
and die during the race? Who won
the final race and championship?
Thanks. I don't want to rent the movie
when I just missed a few minutes.
Yes,it's pretty tragic really. First up, Sarti stalls at the start but yells at the marshalls to not push start him & hence disqualify him. He finally starts his Ferrari from the button on his tiny dash & does a gorgeous full power racing start, filmed from directly above, the car squirming left & right till it finally gains traction & he's off. A lot of film is spent on the beautiful Ferrari as the potential champ carves his way through the slower back markers. We then see truly amazing film of cars 'slipstreaming' along Monza's back straight interlaced with interviews with the drivers (stars). Back to Sarti still overetaking and on the legendary banking that is Monza, one of his exhaust headers rattles from the car and one of the rear tyres runs over it, upsetting the cars ever so delicate balance. At full speed, 180 mph (300kmh) the car & driver slip up the track, through the armco & sail off into the air to have the car crash back to ground, very bent & bursting into flames, in another part of the track while it's pilot gets flung into a slightly different trajectory & ends up limp & dead in a tree. An absolutely stunning & timeless sequence.
Back to the race, more passing, more slipstreaming, more great action. Near the end of the race we witness a rapid succession of events which take the movie to it's credits. Stoddarts BRM spins out at top speed at the first Lesmo but this is shot from so many different angles & cameras that we witness this in such an array of difference that it's too complex to write. The skid marks from the 4 tyres criss crossing each other is so cool, the smoke, the noise, Stoddarts face while it's happening, him getting stuck & unable to re-enter, the other drivers following having to dive their cars out of the way. Argain more timeless stuff. Then comes the final lap (which may have lasted too long) with very close racing between Barlini & Aron. The two change places 3 times & get side by side 4 times - gripping stuff indeed. Last corner, the Parabolica, a corner of 110 mph, Aron up the inside to outbrake Barlini and big lockup, a lot of smoke & noise, more smoke but this smoke is the two cars tyres touching then into the corner side by side, we hear the Italian circuit commentator sceaming at fever pitch but also layered by (probably) Murray Walker talking crazy. Aron & Barlini's cars touch sending them both off the tarmac, the Ferrari barrel rolling along the top of the armco for just too long, throwing the second Ferrari driver heavily onto the circuit and we witness him, or at least his now lifeless body roll to a stop in front of the main grandstand as the camera pauses long enough to see trickles of blood flow through his racing suit. The Italian crowd stunned into silence.
Aron has also feared badly, careening from the outside armco, tearing both outside wheels away, which just disappear out of screen, and the rest of the car slithers across the track, ricochets off the brick wall guarding the pits and comes to a smoking, steaming stop teatering at the very finish line, half of the car over, the front still on the racing side. And we never get to find out if Our Pete Aron won...
Thank you for the detailed description. I think I only missed about 10 minutes of the movie, but I missed a lot. It seems odd they have all this death and
destruction at the end of the movie, but there wasn't too much during the rest of the film. I really enjoyed seeing the old cars and tracks such as Monza.
I agree with many that it is the best racing movie ever made.
Are we all talking about the same movie? This is totally different from the ending I saw...
But it sounds pretty crazy haha
Same movie. I think it is ridiculous for someone to not want to fork out a few dollars (or pounds or which ever currency nong-head has) to hire the video or DVD to watch very classic racing. He/she deserves to be told what I wrote.
"Name two ways of getting them flowing, Watson".
Did they have two versions of this? The one I saw was like you described through Sarti getting killed, but then the commmendetore' black flagged Barlini. Aaron and Stoddard raced wheel to wheel to the finish, with Aaron taking the World Championship with Stoddard joining him on the podium. The track announcer mentions how tragic an end to a terrific season with Sarti dying, and that neither Aaron or Stoddard would have wanted it that way. The movie ends with Aaron standing on the front stretch at Monza in front of an empty grandstand
shareI remember the very ending being something like this:
Aron's car started to catch fire towards the final few hundred metres. He still crossed the finish line, and then immediately parked the car on the side. He jumped out and the fire marshalls helped him.
I think one of the other drivers ran across to help him too.
Then they show Aron getting the World Championship title and some speech from the circuit person about the loss of Sarti, and you could see the smoke in the distance from his crash.
Then it shows Aron walking alone on the starting grid and then the end credits roll....
no, he cought fire at Brands Hatch, the second last race
shareVery strange version by snoreflottado. FWIW I have to agree with BiggieTheSpaceman, MAShooter72, and helltopo--the Ferrari drivers get black-flagged; Aron, the person to whom the victory means the least, wins; and there a bit of a podium reconciliation between him and Stoddard, who has come a close second.
(My old memory is also that Sarti's car runs over a tailpipe that fell from Aron's car, not his own--shades of the Concorde tragedy...)
Hullo Cherns.
It is a piss take. I think I explained in a previous post that anyone who watches 9 tenths of a very classic movie then won't spend a few dollars or pounds to see the end via video or DVD, well, deserves to be led on the chase of the undomesticated goose!
"Name two ways of getting them flowing, Watson".
Good work, in a cruel way, snoreflatto.
Ashame he missed the strong script where the various drivers have mental flashbacks in the right half of the screen while driving the Monza wall. The young Italian driver is on a beach with his babe, who asks "Are you never afraid?"
He replies "Never"
She asks "Why?"
He says "Because I am immortal."
Also, the part where the injured, post-crash Sarti is beaten to death on the stretcher by his wife and girlfriend, who later drive a convertible together across the American desert west while the end titles roll.
The tailpipe that causes Sarti's crash doesn't come off Aron's Yamura, it comes off the sister car driven by Tim Randolph (played by real F1 driver Phil Hill).
www.rhubba.com for comedy movies, radio, blogs and...erm...stuff.
The version I saw had Eva Marie Saint doing a striptease on the podium.
Are we all talking about the same movie here?
[deleted]
The account written by snoreflottado is pure fiction and the film really ends like this.
Sarti crashes spectacularly after his car hits a piece of debris. He is flung from his car and we last see him clinging to life on a stretcher. His lover Louise rushes to be at his side, but only Sarti's nasty wife is allowed into the amulance. We last see her is a state of emotional collapse waving her bloodied hands at a group of photographers. Sarti's death is confirmed when Ferrari boss Manetta withdraws Barlini (who was leading) from the race as a mark of respect. This leaves Aron & Stoddard to fight for first place and the championship. Aron wins by a tiny margin but his victory is soured by the news of the death of Sarti. Before the race, Stoddard and his wife Pat had got back together and on the victory podium, Aron invites Stoddard to join him, which he does after encouragement from his boss Jordan. The film ends with Aron walking alone at the deserted circuit.
Ignore the others just seen it. Sarti dies from crash as tail pipe for James Garners car comes off.
Ferrari team mate Nino is flagged down out of the race.
Neck and neck with Britch guy and James Garner. Garner accelerates and passes about a nose infront of Scott.
On the podium James Garner hands trophy with champage in it to Scott. Then announcement says Sarti is dead.
Last scene. Empty track litter on side of it. James Garner is smoking a cigarette with sound effects of cars going past :-) Can someone now help me with end of Infernal Affairs 2 please!
Whacked Tom Cruise http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2196812000100119259ULHDOv
I thought the loose exhaust that caused Sarti's accident came off of Stoddard's BRM not Pete's car. I could be wrong. You could just picture the commotion caused by this if it happened today, Ferrari taking BRM to court and BRM being emitted from the constructer's championship etc.
shareIf the exhaust had come off Scott Stoddart's car, he wouldn't have been fighting Pete Aron for the lead. Bang goes a whole chunk of his engine compression!
shareI thought it came off another car, neither of the two that contested for the win at the end.
sharebigal_a: "Bang goes a whole chunk of his engine compression!"
Are you able to explain to an Automotive Engineer why engine compression would diminish "...a whole chunk..." in a four stroke?
"...and if the bible has taught us anything (and it hasn't)..." Homer
I think the answer is that removing the exhaust pipe alters the back pressure within the exhaust manifold, in turn affecting the compression within the cylinder. It quite obviously would alter flow out of the cylinder. Since the ignition firing and fuel mixture is designed with a certain level of back pressure in mind, altering that pressure would likely affect the physics of the firing sequence in the piston.
Not being an engineer, that is my best guess and what I have always generally understood to be the problem with losing an exhaust header.
Although it has been many-a-moon since I've been an engineer, I'm pretty sure that you may be mistaking 2 stroke engines for the ol' 4 stroker.
From memory, a four stroke has to get the burnt fuel/air mixture out as soon as possible. However, a 2 stroke can create a slight 'supercharging' effect by the employment of what is known (in my country) as an 'expansion chamber'. The effect has it that during peak performance the exhaust is somewhat blocked from exhausting. More fuel/air can be delivered into the cylinder than if an expansion chamber was not fitted. This is achieved because the engine design (enormous inlet & exhaust ports) has large amounts of unburnt fuel as a consequence of the enormous power/capacity (compared to 4 stroke). So the partial "blocking" of the exhaust forces back into the combustion chamber some of the already passed through unburnt fuel.
Wow, that was long winded. Sounds like it would cure insomnia!
"...and if the bible has taught us anything (and it hasn't)..." Homer
I just watched the movie again, both Stoddard and Aaron have intact exhaust assemblies at the end of the race. The tail pipe falls off another car.
It's amazing, how we remember the ending. 'Snore's' fantasy was to mock the guy who didn't want to spend a buck on the rental. Most of the others are mis-remembered. The tail pipe was from another car. I believe it hit Sarti in the face. He surely dies in that tree, and the body on the stretcher is lifeless. (as his wife is cold!). Louise' hands never touch Sarti in the final race, the blood is from when he crashes in the rain, earlier.
Nino is called to the pits, and his race is done. Pete and Scott race to the end, and Pete coaxes Scott up to the podium.
I love the final scene, where Pete walks the track, with the voice-over and the rising roar of the engines.
(so OK - what did I mis-remember? I'd love to see it again. For research, of course. And to feel 16 again, and as a farewell to James Garner on this day of his passing. RIP, big guy!)
jondoe888, what did you mis-remember? Most of it. The tail pipe went under Sarti's car, not in his face. He died on the stretcher, not in the tree. The blood on Louise's hands does come from his body, unless she hasn't washed her hands since Spa. There is no voice over as Aron walks the along the pit straight at Monza at the end. And if you'd really love to see it again there's something called home video, the Blu-ray is superb.
shareI just watched this.
The pipe did NOT come from Garner's car or Aron's. It was a darker car, not sure which one.
It did not hit Sarti in the face. He ran over it, and the car lost traction for just an instant running off the road and ejecting Sarti.
Sarti was alive but died on the way to the hospital.
GREAT movie, tons of excitement. Actors really driving cars (at least sometimes) read dirt, glare, fire, smoke. No digital effects.
In film school, we studied the scene near the beginning when Garner goes off the track into the lake. It was done with a full sized car, no engine, and an air cannon!