Gresh’s review of Ford versus Ferrari had my attention, and SWMBO wanted to see the movie, so off to the theatre we went. My take on it was pretty much identical to Joe’s: Grand entertainment, lots of grimaces and Hollywood liberties with the facts, but overall, an entertaining if not entirely accurate flick.
Later that evening, we were channel surfing and we flopped over to Netflix, and what do you know, a documentary titled The 24 Hour War popped up. I know Amazon, Facebook, and others use all kinds of spyware to figure out what to pitch to us next, but wow, this was amazing. That very day, and a pop up for another movie about the great Ford versus Ferrari war and Le Mans. Hey, in for a penny, in for a pound, so we watched The 24 Hour War.
Unlike Ford v. Ferrari, The 24 Hour War took no liberties with the truth, the facts, the timelines, or the vehicles themselves. It was a damn fine bit of actual, factual reporting, and I enjoyed it more than the movie we had seen earlier that day. If you get Netflix, it’s free, and if you own a microwave and a refrigerator, you won’t have to pay $15 for popcorn and a couple of Cokes (like Gresh did).
A few more good things about The 24 Hour War: It went into much more detail about Henry Ford and Enzo Ferrari (I found that interesting), and portions of the show were narrated by A.J. Baime. Mr. Baime does a series on interesting cars people still drive in The Wall Street Journal and I love his writing. I’m just finishing up a book by Baime about our industrial mobilization prior to and during World War II, and it, too, focuses heavily on the Ford family. The guy is a great writer, and I’ll have a review here on Baime’s book, The Arsenal of Democracy, in the near future.
One more thing regarding the cars themselves: To me, it’s not really a contest and I don’t much care who won Le Mans. Given the choice between owning a Ford GT or a Ferrari, to me the answer is obvious: It’s Ferrari all day long.
But I digress. Back to the review. The bottom line? Ford versus Ferrari was an entertaining movie, but the The 24 Hour War is an absolutely outstanding documentary. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Looking forward to the book review. Love stuff like that. There’s another great modern writer of history named Geoffrey Perret who has done a few books on WW2 history but several other eras as well. He is remarkably readable and if you get a chance check some of his stuff.
Thanks, Bob. I’ll check it out.
Yes Joe, F vs. F was great entertainment. I enjoyed it very much. The theater I saw it in had an outstanding sound system. At the beginning of the film, the sound of the exhaust in the darkness of Le Mans rattled my bones. Worth the price of admission for that alone. The 24-hour War was factual and interesting, but give me a good story every time. My vote goes to F vs. F.
I enjoyed it, too, Marty. Thanks for posting and enjoy Thanksgiving!
Much enjoyed the 24 hour war. Haven’t seen F vs F yet. Thanks for the tip
You bet, Steve. I think you will enjoy it.
I also enjoyed Ford vs Ferrari . When I go to the movies, I don’t especially look for accurately described history, as much as entertaining value. Yes, they might have started with a true story , and flourishes it with a little “Hollywood ” into it. And, yes, as someone else mentioned, I also agree, the sound (what do they have now? 9 speakers? ) is worth a large portion of the enjoyment. It really “puts you in the drivers seat”
Good inputs, Marty and Duane. Thanks for commenting!