Le Mans

"Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!"

1971 1h 44m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 284

ActionDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Filmed during the annual 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans, Michael Delaney is a Porsche driver haunted by the memory of an accident at the previous year's race in which a competing driver was killed. Delaney also finds himself increasingly infatuated with the man's widow.

“Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Steve McQueen
Michael Delaney
Siegfried Rauch
Erich Stahler
Elga Andersen
Lisa Belgetti
Ronald Leigh-Hunt
David Townsend
Fred Haltiner
Johann Ritter
Luc Merenda
Claude Aurac
Christopher Waite
Larry Wilson
Louise Edlind
Anna Ritter

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writers: Harry Kleiner
Languages: English, French, German, Italian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Lee H. Katzin, shot by René Guissart Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ghislaine Desjonquères shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Steve McQueen and Siegfried Rauch and Elga Andersen carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0067334 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Lee H. Katzin directs. René Guissart Jr. behind the camera. Michel Legrand scores. Ghislaine Desjonquères cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, German, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

155 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Italian.
3Directed by Lee H. Katzin, shot by René Guissart Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Ghislaine Desjonquères shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Steve McQueen and Siegfried Rauch and Elga Andersen carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Steve McQueen takes you for a drive in the country. The country is France. The drive is at 200 MPH!".
8IMDB entry: tt0067334 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "sense of guilt", "road trip", "le mans", "race car driver".

The technical file

Cinematography: René Guissart Jr.
Original score: Michel Legrand
Editing: Ghislaine Desjonquères
Production design: Phil Abramson
Costume design: Phil Abramson
Makeup / hair: Marie-France Seyrat
Sound: David Dockendorf
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,500,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Le Mans (1971)

Also by

Lee H. Katzin

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-04-13
★ 6/10
By all accounts, Steve McQueen was an ardent motor sport enthusiast - and that certainly comes across in this almost documentary style depiction of the legendary Le Mans race. There is a story, well more of a theme, but it's so peripheral as to be tangential to the real purpose of the film - a showcase of the fast and furious race, complete with some spectacular (even now) in-car coverage of the races, plenty of crashes, near misses and you can almost smell the fumes of the cars as they race past. There's no doubt the photography is superb, and the Michel Legrand score instantly recognisable. The rest of it, though, is pretty unremarkable. There is a paucity of dialogue that makes any investment by us in the characters pretty difficult, but I'm not sure Lee Katzin (or McQueen) really had characterisations in mind when they devised this adrenalin rush of a feature. It's an authentic looking and sounding delight for petrol-heads all over, but as a piece of drama it falls well short. A cynical person might call it a vanity project!

Production companies