Ford v Ferrari transcends from being entertaining to iconic because it aligns so closely with both the American mythos and culture. It is America vs. Italy, David vs. Goliath, and the individual vs. the corporation. But more than that, it leverages nostalgic feelings from the 60s. The roll-out of the Ford Mustang is featured in the film and is a focal point to define some of the major interactions between the principal characters. My father was a kid in this time period, and when he got older, he bought and restored a red and black ‘69 Ford Mustang. My great-grandfather would sometimes sit in a chair and tell my dad what to do from memory, based on a career as a bomber and Cadillac V8 engine mechanic. That’s the car I learned to drive on, trying to rev it up as high as I could bear on the straightest back street in the neighborhood. From the perfection of the assembly line, to ramping up manufacturing to beat a foreign foe, to the spirit of independence afforded by cars, to family bonding, for more than a century American culture has been closely intertwined with car culture, and nothing embodies that more than Ford.
“…took a big risk with an expensive film where there is no best-selling book, and there is no superhero.”
In this era of trying to appeal to international markets, telling a thoroughly American story feels like a throwback. In keeping with the time period, the cast is lily-white, and there’s only one barely sketched out female character who’s a wife. At one of the Toronto premieres, director James Mangold said, “This was a scary proposition for the studio. They took a big risk with an expensive film where there is no best-selling book, and there is no superhero.” This is only partly true — the initial iteration of the project was to star Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and was based on the 2009 book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Ultimately the book’s author A. J. Baime doesn’t get a screenwriting credit in the finished film, and Legendary obtained the rights for development into a TV series. But you can’t blame Mangold for spinning the story of his big-budget film into an underdog tale. He’s damn good at it if he can convince us that one of the largest car corporations in the world is an underdog,
Even if the film took longer to make than the racing car did, Ford v Ferrari ultimately crosses the finish line a winner. It was well-received at its Telluride premiere and got standing ovations at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is one of those rare films that please both audiences and critics and will satisfy people no matter their generation or political affiliation. Like the GT40 itself, Ford v Ferrari is an American classic, even if it was made with a little help from our friends around the world.
Ford v Ferrari made its North American premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
