With two weeks until the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paramount Pictures releases “Le Mans” on Blue-Ray and DVD. 40 years ago, director Lee Katzin and Steve McQueen set out to give us the best racing movie ever made. Leading up to this years 24 Hour race, the ACO, CBS, and Paramount will have a special screening on the pit straight.
While we take today’s on-board cameras for granted, actual on-board footage was used from the 1970 24 Hour of Le Mans. This was a first. Additional Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 models were made for shooting after the race.
The digitally restored film uses a high-bitrate with a 1.85:1 image, allowing the picture to come alive on your screen. For those with a decent home theater set up, the sound has been remixed for DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, with the original mono track preserved.
Buy now on Le Mans (Blu-ray)
For the fortieth anniversary of the opening of Steve McQueen’s film “Le Mans”, there will be an exceptional screening of the movie organized jointly by the ACO, CBS, and Paramount on Tuesday 7th June 2011 on the legendary pits straight of the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit.
Legendary actor Steve McQueen, a true motor sport lover and no bad driver in his own right, decided to make a film in homage to the Le Mans 24 Hours. The movie opens at over 320 km/h with the heart-stopping roar of the engines and a dose of pure adrenaline. The spectator is thrown into the heat of the action thanks to the use of the first on-board cameras and innovative special effects. The actors are eclipsed by the real stars of the film, the Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, which express all their sound and fury in this classic movie whose making was an epic in itself!
To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of “Le Mans”, which is still the best film ever made on motor racing, CBS and Paramount have digitally restored the film and will bring it out on Blu-ray and DVD on June 1, 2011 (May 24th in the U.S). The Blu-ray showcases the film in brilliant high definition, with the audio option of 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Both the Blu-ray and DVD include the unique special feature called “Filming At Speed, the making of the Le Mans movie”, which shows the secrets of the shoot and the special effects, as well as the numerous anecdotes which have contributed to making it a legend.
As part of this extraordinary celebration, the film will be shown in its entirety in the open air on a giant screen in the middle of the legendary pits straight of the Le Mans 24-Hours circuit on Tuesday 7th June at 22h00, four days before the start of the 79th Le Mans 24 Hours (11 & 12 June).
“Le Mans” completes an exceptional entertainment programme with the concerts of Raphaël and Sarah Bessie (Wednesday 8th June), Julian Peretta and Mia Wallas (Thursday 9th June) and Razorlight and Concrete Knives (Saturday 11th June).
Cast
Elga Andersen – Lisa Belgetti
Jean-Claude Bercq – Paul Jacques Dion
Alfred Bell – Tommy Hopkins
Ronald Leigh-Hunt – David Townsend
Luc Merenda – Claude Aurac
Steve McQueen – Michael Delaney
Jonathan Williams – Jonathan Burton
Siegfried Rauch – Erich Stahler
Richard Rudiger – Bruno Frohm
Carlo Cecchi – Paolo Scandenza
Gino Cassani – Loretto Fuselli
Louise Edlind – Anna Ritter
Michele Scalera – Vito Scalise
Christopher Waite – Larry Wilson
Fred Haltiner – Johann Ritter
Angelo Infanti – Lugo Abratte
Crew
Director: Lee H. Katzin
Musical Direction/Supervision: Michel Legrand
Composer (Music Score): Michel Legrand
Screenwriter: Harry Kleiner
Makeup: Emile LaVigne
Cinematographer: Robert B. Hauser
Producer: Jack N. Reddish
Second Unit Director: Jack N. Reddish
Producer: Robert E. Relyea
First Assistant Director: Gus Agosti
Sound/Sound Designer: David Dockendorf
Costume Designer: Ray Summers
Editor: John M. Woodcock
Sound/Sound Designer: Glen Glenn
Set Designer: Phillip Abramson
Production Designer: Phillip Abramson
Costume Designer: Phillip Abramson
Special Effects: Sass Bedig
Songwriter: Alan Bergman ,Marilyn Bergman
Editor: Donald W. Ernst
Art Director: Nikita Knatz
Sound/Sound Designer: Glen Glen
Buy now on Le Mans (Blu-ray)
- ACO | IMDb | wiki
