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This racing picture is a period piece, set in the early 1960s, and there’s also something retro about the kind of movie storytelling it represents. Directed by James Mangold and given spectacular horsepower by dual male leads Christian Bale and Matt Damon , “Ford v Ferrari” recounts, in a sometimes exhilaratingly streamlined fashion, a tale of Motor City dominance-seeking that compels you to root for good guys who are doing the bidding of rather bad guys.

Damon plays Carroll Shelby, a champion racer whose hypertension forces retirement. His opening voiceover about what it feels like to hit 7,000 RPM with a car sets the tone in the “Why We Race” category. After hanging up his gloves/helmet in Hollywood, Shelby goes into car sales with a sideline in modification and design, and he also manages some racers, including the hotheaded Ken Miles, played with a cheeky, elastic physicality by Bale. Both fellows are at low ebbs when opportunity knocks.

The opportunity originates in Detroit. There, Henry Ford II, played by Tracy Letts as if he’s suffering incurable heartburn, is dissatisfied with things at the company founded by his grandfather. (While the car is never mentioned in the movie, the Edsel had made its disastrous debut four years prior to the action in this film beginning.) He wants new ideas, and he’s not too crazy about the one brought to him by youngish hotshot exec Lee Iacocca ( Jon Bernthal ). The idea is to buy the Italian car giant of the movie’s title. Enzo Ferrari not only refuses the Ford offer, he delivers, via Iacocca’s proxy, some vivid insults to Ford the Second. This hurts Ford’s pride. And makes him determined to best Ferrari’s cars on the race track of Le Mans, home of a 24-hour race that has never been won by an American car.

You don’t need to be a car person to appreciate the conventional but crackling human drama that animates “Ford v Ferrari.” On the one side, there’s Shelby and Miles. Both mavericks, but one with a little more give than the other. Tasked by Ford with creating not just a car but a racing team that can best Enzo’s, they go all out with Ford’s money. On the other side are the often truculent Ford and his second-in-command Leo Beebe ( Josh Lucas playing buttoned-up cocky). Beebe’s not an ambitious bootlicker. He’s something worse. He’s a guy who adheres to corporate principle because he actually believes it’s right. He doesn’t want Miles as the new car’s driver because the volatile “beatnik” (Beebe’s term) doesn’t conform to his or anyone’s idea of a “Ford man.” Beebe gets his way once, and it doesn’t work out for him.

But the thing about a character like this is if you thwart him once, he will just keep coming back. Beebe’s persistent attempts to screw Miles, in this film scripted by Jez Butterworth , John-Henry Butterworth , and Jason Keller , juice up the rooting interest aspect of the movie. As do its support characters: Caitriona Balfe as Miles’ wife, who is not, contrary to the usual practice in such films, a disapproving worrier; Noah Jupe as Miles' son who idolizes his dad unconditionally; Ray McKinnon as Shelby’s most trusted engineering lieutenant.

Damon is superb in the kind of role he excels at: a man of integrity who gets steered off the path and is subsequently righted. Lest all of this sound heavy, I should assure you that “Ford v Ferrari” is exactly as fun, maybe even more fun, than its well-put-together trailer makes it out to be. The dialogue is replete with zingers and the racing sequences are a blast. Mangold sticks to the verities and conveys high speeds and potentially deadly impacts with a lot of gusto; there’s very little that looks tricked-up or obviously animated.

As for the retro part, well it’s kind of sad: 30 or 40 years ago, a movie like “Ford v Ferrari” would be a staple of studio fare. Nowadays, it’s actually considered a risk, despite being, by an older standard, about as mainstream as mainstream gets. “Ford v Ferrari” delivers real cinema meat and potatoes. And its motor show spectacle deserves to be seen in a theater.

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Ford v Ferrari (2019)

152 minutes

Matt Damon as Caroll Shelby

Christian Bale as Ken Miles

Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca

Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II

Caitriona Balfe as Mollie Miles

Noah Jupe as Peter Miles

Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe

Ray McKinnon as Phil Remington

James Mangold
Jez Butterworth
John-Henry Butterworth

Director of Photography

Phedon Papamichael
Michael McCusker

Original Music Composer

Marco Beltrami

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‘Ford v Ferrari’ Review: It’s a Gas

Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in James Mangold’s look back at the golden age of auto racing.

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‘Ford v Ferrari’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The director james mangold narrates a scene featuring christian bale and matt damon..

Hi, this is Jim Mangold, director of ‘Ford v Ferrari.’ As we begin this sequence, we’re at the top of the third act of the film, and Christian Bale, playing Ken Miles, is walking out about 10 minutes before the race begins to prepare to start a 24 hour race at Le Mans. My camera kind of tries to set up what this place looks like in the stands, and the spectacle of it. We’ve seen it earlier in the film empty, but never seen it in this moment in full flower, packed with crowds and about to go. The point for me, or the strategy here, was to kind of show the calm before the storm. There’s a lot of pageantry and everyone’s tense. Here’s Matt Damon, who plays Carroll Shelby, joining Christian, looking over the Ferrari cars as they go by, which are their chief nemesis in the race and the most brilliantly engineered cars that exist at that point, “Looks flash, don’t it?” “Eh, looks aren’t everything.” Enzo Ferrari in the stands watching over them. For me, the goal in this sequence was to show the kind of stress that everyone is living with, but playing down, going about their tasks, getting ready to start the race. “You can take ‘em. Four minutes, Ken. Four minutes, buddy.” “Live from Le Mans, France—” “Mom! Come on.” ”—it’s the world’s most—” - Alright, coming ”—brutal, torturous automobile race.” Here we see Ken Miles’ family back at home in Los Angeles watching. For all the characters you see, these Ford executives— that’s Jon Bernthal is Lee Iacocca, Enzo Ferrari— all the characters brought to this point in time with the fate and their future at stake in this race. That’s kind of the reason the whole film is building up to what becomes an almost hour long race of many chapters and many adventures, and the lead trading many times. Beautiful tradition at Le Mans that’s long since passed is that all the drivers start on the opposite side of the road from their cars. I thought this was a really unique opportunity to stage a kind of start of a race in a different way with each driver uncontained by the shell of their car, just left with their own thoughts standing there on the side of the road moments before they have to leap in the cars, turn the ignition, and begin what will be a 24-hour endurance test for them in the vehicle. [MUSIC PLAYING] [ANNOUNCER SPEAKING FRENCH] This next shot was a bear to get, but one I really wanted to get in one piece, which is feeling all the drivers leaping in and pulling out. What makes it difficult? Well, we shot with real cars, not digital ones. So getting 25 expert drivers to drive vintage and semi-vintage cars pulling out all in unison from the stands with 400 extras, is a challenge. And of course, the light’s beautiful. We waited for the right moment to do the shot. All of that to create a kind of moment of expectation as this race begins. “What happened to Miles?” [MUSIC PLAYING, TIRES SCREECHING] One of the very true and kind of interesting facts of the race that I wanted to very much replicate was that Ken Miles in his very first lap had a malfunction immediately with the door of his car. He couldn’t shut it. So he’s driving in excess of 150 miles an hour on a track with a door that won’t shut, and is already after— preparing for this race and preparing this car for so long, running into trouble in the most mundane of ways. You might notice that I’m shooting this sequence very much from the point of view of the driver or very close to the road. My goal was to somehow tell the story of an auto race, but not emulate the coverage you see on sports shows, but to put you much more behind the wheel and on the track so that you’re feeling much more what these drivers feel. Not only the harrowing nature of the speed and the thrills and the danger, but also the adrenaline and the excitement and the sense of even a kind of perfection that they’re chasing when the driving is going right for them. “Where the hell is Ken?” “I don’t know.” The actual work of the visual effects team in this sequence is much less about the cars and much more about the stands. We built about a football field length of grandstand, but obviously I couldn’t afford to shoot every day with 20,000 people in the stands, so the work of our many visual effects people are extending our backgrounds to the horizon and also populating the stands. “The bloody door won’t close. All right, all right.” I kind of saw this movie as a ‘Saving Private Ryan’ in reverse. It’s much more of a drama, I think, than many people expect when they see the film for 3/4 of the film, and we put almost all our resources into giving you kind of pretty intense action sequence at the third act of the film. “Go, go, go.” [TIRES SCREECHING, ENGINE REVVING]

By A.O. Scott

Quick : Who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 ?

If you know the answer without Googling, then I probably don’t have to sell you on “Ford v Ferrari,” James Mangold ’s nimble and crafty reconstruction of a storied moment in the annals of auto racing. You will probably go in prepared to spot torque differentials and historical discrepancies that escaped my notice. (Please let me know what you find.) If, on the other hand, you are (like me) a bit of a motor-sport ignoramus, then you might want to stay away from web-search spoilers and let the film surprise you.

It is, all in all, a pleasant surprise. Partly because Christian Bale and Matt Damon , the lead actors, are really good, and are supported by a fine cast that includes Tracy Letts in one of the best and least-expected crying scenes of the year. And partly because the car stuff — in the garage and on the track — is crisply filmed and edited, offering a reminder that movies and automobiles have a natural affinity and a lot of shared history. From the Keystone Kops days to “ The Fast and the Furious ,” some of the best motion in motion pictures has come from gasoline-powered vehicles.

But “Ford v Ferrari,” written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller , pushes the connection further, suggesting subtle but unmistakable links between racing and filmmaking as aesthetic and economic propositions. Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles , the car designer and driver played by Damon and Bale, are risk-hungry free spirits gambling with someone else’s money, unruly individualists who nonetheless depend on the good will of a large corporation.

The conflict alluded to in the title — between the assembly lines of Detroit and the artisanal workshops of Modena, Italy, for supremacy in the racing world — is a bit of a red herring. The real struggle is between the managers and bureaucrats of the Ford Motor Company and the mavericks whose work rolls out onto the track bearing the Ford logo. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine Carroll and Ken as filmmakers fighting with studio suits for creative control.

They are, in any case, cool guys of a particular vintage, avatars of a salty, clean-cut, old-style masculinity that is enjoying a somewhat improbable vogue these days. Their effort to build a Le Mans-winning racecar for Ford is an engineering challenge similar in ambition to the Apollo program commemorated in Damien Chazelle ’s “First Man,” though smaller in scale. The chalk-and-cheese friendship between Carroll, a solid, unflappable Texan, and Ken, a spidery, easily flapped Englishman, might remind you of the bond between Brad Pitt’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s characters in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

Like those movies, this one embraces a view of the ’60s in which the square American mainstream is where the action is. Well, not every kind of action. If “Ford v Ferrari,” with its loose-limbed narrative rhythm and its love of grease and noise, had been made a few years after the events it depicts, it might have starred someone like Steve McQueen, Robert Redford or even Burt Reynolds — actors who infused whatever else they were doing onscreen with a frank, sometimes aggressive sexuality. Damon and Bale, both charismatic movie stars, don’t put out quite the same kind of erotic magnetism, and their characters are decidedly not tomcats or horndogs. Ken is the picture of uxoriousness, devoted to his sighing, supportive wife, Mollie (Caitriona Balfe ), and their son, Peter ( Noah Jupe ), who idolizes his dad. Carroll, as far as we know, has no personal life at all.

I’m not complaining, just taking note of a shift in mores. Onscreen and maybe off, ambition has taken the place of lust. Work is the new sex. And work — its pleasures and frustrations, the interference of bosses and the camaraderie of colleagues — is what propels “Ford v Ferrari.”

Carroll, a former Le Mans champion who gave up competitive driving for health reasons, knows Ken, who runs a struggling repair shop in Los Angeles, from the American racing circuit. The two of them take up a commission bestowed by Henry Ford II (the wonderful Letts). His family business is threatened by the doughtiness of its products, which restless young baby boomers don’t want to buy. Beating Ferrari at Le Mans will be part of a rebranding strategy that also includes the introduction of the sporty Mustang.

The Italians are foils — old-world artisans and Machiavellian schemers whose ethos is embodied by the company patriarch, Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone ). Carroll and Ken don’t have much to do with their rivals before the race itself, tangling instead with Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal ), a frustrated semi-visionary in the ranks of the Ford executives, and Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas ), who is given control of the company’s racing program.

Beebe, with his side-parted hair, his boxy suits and his unctuous grin, is the designated villain, with a special animus against Ken, who is evidently “not a Ford man.” Carroll is caught in the middle, since he is technically Ken’s boss and the person Ford has, somewhat reluctantly, decided to trust. The boardroom intrigue enlivens the raceway drama, and vice versa.

“Ford v Ferrari” is no masterpiece, but it is — to invoke a currently simmering debate — real cinema, the kind of solid, satisfying, nonpandering movie that can seem endangered nowadays. (I should note that Mangold’s résumé includes “Logan” and “The Wolverine,” two of the more interesting superhero movies of the last decade.) To put it in the simplest terms: You may not think you care who won at Le Mans in 1966, but for two and a half hours, you will.

Ford v Ferrari

Rated PG-13. Strong language and fast driving. Running time: 2 hours 32 minutes.

An earlier version of a capsule summary with this review misstated the type of racing the movie is about. It is car racing, not Grand Prix racing.

How we handle corrections

A.O. Scott is the co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Ford v Ferrari review – motor-racing drama gets stuck in first gear

Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in a handsome-looking but dull account of the rivalry between the US and Italian car-makers

F ord v Ferrari is a great-looking, handsomely produced but tiringly acted and inert sports drama about two good ol’ boys from the self-admiring world of motor racing – which a character here wryly calls “turning left for four hours”. This picture goes straight ahead for two and a half.

Based on a true story, it is crammed with unearned emotional moments and factory-built male characters whose dedication to their sport we are expected to find adorable and heroic by turns. This is a standard-issue, middleweight biopic-type film, which comes complete with the now mandatory three factual sentences over the closing credits and the black-and-white photographs of the real-life people involved looking less attractive than the Hollywood stars who played them. James Mangold directs, from a serviceable original script by playwright Jez Butterworth , John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller.

Cup holder … Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles.

A relaxed Matt Damon brings his familiar, untroubled boyish charm to the role of Caroll Shelby, the racing-driver-turned-designer who was hired by Ford in the late 60s to put together a car and a team that would defeat Ferrari, those arrogant Italian artisans who presumed to think that their tiny little outfit had an artistry and flair superior to the corporate mass production of Ford.

Christian Bale plays Ken Miles, the difficult, impulsive, grumpy but brilliant Brit hired by Shelby as his star driver – to the irritation of the pointy-headed, bean-counting suits at Ford, who want an obedient team player. Tracy Letts plays Henry Ford Jr with gusto and Josh Lucas plays Leo Beebe, his creepy assistant. Jon Bernthal does what he can with the underwritten and underimagined role of Lee Iacocca , the Ford executive whose idea it evidently was in the first place for Ford to go into the glamorous but costly world of motor racing.

The person with the most thankless role is Caitriona Balfe , who plays Miles’s adoring wife, Mollie. She doesn’t have that much to do, and this is very much a guys’ film. At one point, an irritable Beebe tells Shelby that Miles has the wrong attitude to be their driver and Shelby derisively replies that they could get some poster boy if he’d like and adds: “Hell, we can set up Doris Day behind the wheel if all you wanna do is lose!” That’s a rather ungallant line that reveals a little bit more about the film’s attitude to women than it intended.

Bale’s performance is the polar opposite of Damon’s laid-back impersonation of Matt Damon . It is an actorly display: a spiky, gawky, angular and borderline ridiculous collection of mannerisms, an accent that mixes Pete Postlethwaite with a bit of Noddy Holder and some body language that, at times, reminded me of Jack Douglas from the Carry On team. Bale drives along muttering, “Giddy-ap!” (Jodie Kidd did something similar behind the wheel when she was on Top Gear.)

The film comes to life briefly in the jolts and crashes that occur when fiercely competitive drivers bash into one another, and we realise that, unlike many other sports, motor racing is life-threateningly dangerous and was especially so in the 60s. So why are they doing it? Why is Miles pursuing something that could widow his beloved wife and make his son, Peter (Noah Jupe), fatherless. What has it all been for? The glory of the Ford motor company? Selfish speed thrills? It’s a mystery that is unsolved at the end of this blandly sentimental movie, which can’t reach out beyond the petrolhead fanbase.

Action and adventure films
First look review
Toronto film festival 2019
Toronto film festival
Christian Bale
Motor sport

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Ford v Ferrari Reviews

It is a very solid film, which has both entertainment and emotion. Through an excellent script it will manage to keep the viewer expectant and intrigued. Its greatest success is that both car fans and non-car fans can really feel the adrenaline.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10 | Jan 27, 2024

FORD V FERRARI is an extremely entertaining and intelligent film made with the same type of drive for excellence that possessed the creators Ken Miles, Carroll Shelby and Enzo Ferrari and gives the viewer a window into the creative mind and spirit...

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

The best thing about Ford v Ferrari is how effective it is in injecting its adrenaline. Christian Bale is incredible in one of the movies with the most impressive sound design I've ever heard. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 21, 2022

...a rousing racing drama that doesn’t shirk on the human element.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 20, 2022

Mangold transitions flawlessly into the period and subject matter, as one might expect. He's among our most talented journeymen directors.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 23, 2022

James Mangold proves to be one of the better working directors in the business today with Ford v Ferrari. The film features an impeccable cast, led by an excellent performance by Christian Bale.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 20, 2022

Episode 53: Honey Boy / Earthquake Bird / Ford v Ferrari

Full Review | Original Score: 80/100 | Dec 1, 2021

Ford V Ferrari is a thrilling crowd-pleaser that works whether you know the outcome of the story or whether it's all new to you.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 20, 2021

It is an Oscar bait-y movie... The whole cast brings it together.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2021

Ford v Ferrari, the latest from James Mangold, is infused with love of the cinematic experience.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2021

The sound design is almost flawless, and even if you're not a fan of racing movies, this one is for film lovers all over the planet.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Sep 5, 2021

Whether or not you're a racing enthusiast, Ford v Ferrari pleases the crowd, taking the racing genre to new heights. Still, it's the human elements of the film...

Full Review | Aug 12, 2021

Driven by a pair of amazing performances and white knuckle racing sequences.

Full Review | Original Score: 10 | Jun 24, 2021

Like an unreliable car, Ford v Ferrari works only in spurts.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 14, 2021

Ultimately, Ford v Ferrari is an entertaining yarn, but possibly a movie that'll only make multiple laps around the track if you're a petrolhead.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 25, 2021

Ford v Ferrari could have been better, delving into more specifics for those of us who aren't intimately familiar with the history. But the performances of the stacked cast and the intensity of the various racing scenes make up for that lack.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2021

A thrilling, playful middle finger to corporate conservatism.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 16, 2021

Le Mans '66 is a polished film about a race to win, not about a race.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 9, 2021

[Director James Mangold] humanizes this true story, making it interesting for those with extensive car knowledge and palatable for others, like this reviewer, who wouldn't be able to locate the engine with a gun to her head.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2021

It's not often a movie breaks no ground whatsoever, is chock full of clichés, is two-and-a-half hours long, and somehow still finds a way to be completely entertaining.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2021

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Film Review: Christian Bale and Matt Damon in ‘Ford v Ferrari’

Playing colorful 1960s racing icons, Christian Bale and Matt Damon try to convince their bosses at Ford that the company can win Le Mans in this Horatio Alger-esque American success story.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Most racing movies are about rivals, but not so “Ford v Ferrari,” which, despite its competition-oriented title, is actually the story of two friends, Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles (played by Matt Damon and Christian Bale ), who partnered with the Ford Motor Co. to beat Italian sportscar designer Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Shelby had bested Ferrari once before, winning Le Mans in 1959 behind the wheel of an Aston Martin, but was benched soon after on account of a bum ticker, so he turned to his best driver to develop and commandeer the car that would do the feat. Miles was more of a wild card, a British tank commander who’d survived World War II but went on to become a daredevil racer, pushing his cars to the limit on the track. Miles once quipped, “I’d rather die in a racing car than get eaten up by cancer.”

Before Miles met his unnatural end, he and Shelby made history. Watching Bale and Damon channel those two speed freaks in all of their surly, testosterone-spitting glory is a reminder of how much fun it was to watch Bale play a similar character opposite Mark Wahlberg in “The Fighter.” The best sports movies aren’t so much about the sport as they are the personalities, and these two go big with their performances — Damon in a 10-gallon hat, sounding like Tommy Lee Jones, and Bale all gangly and slump-shouldered, playing the man with nothing to lose — as their characters face greater obstacles back home than they do on the famous French course.

If that sounds like a hoot, then what “Walk the Line” director James Mangold has done with “Ford v Ferrari” will wow you, balancing the burnt-rubber thrill of the sport with scenes in which the two men butt heads with their corporate overlords about how to get the job done. But that description also reveals what’s wrong with this movie, in which Ferrari doesn’t feature nearly enough, and the main conflict seems to be between the dynamic racing duo and the American moneybags who hired them.

In the end, Mangold and his three screenwriters — Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller — have made a movie about how Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) set out to buy a racing title, and then nearly sabotaged it by getting his marketing department involved. Frankly, that’s thinking like a studio filmmaker and not a great storyteller, since such debacles happen all the time in showbiz but hardly matter to the folks at home: The suits get involved and ruin the picture, or else drop a fortune on the Oscar campaign, spending their way to a statue that should have gone to someone more deserving.

Both companies, Ford and Ferrari, are hurting when the movie opens. The American brand is having trouble attracting young buyers. Enter the Mustang — a beautiful set of wheels that Miles doesn’t take seriously — and a bold plan to buy out the Italian sportscar manufacturer. But Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) doesn’t go for it, upsetting Henry Ford II (the assembly-line genius’ insecure grandson) with harsh words about how he does business (the Italian cars are made by hand, and sit in a class of their own). Now his pride’s on the line, and Ford, who was threatening to shut down his factory in his introductory scene, is willing to spend whatever it takes to break Ferrari’s winning streak at Le Mans.

One doesn’t have to be a racing aficionado to know where this David-v.-Goliath story is headed — except, in this equation, isn’t Ford playing both roles? The company is by far the behemoth in this equation, but is also granted underdog status because it’s never built a car that could best a Ferrari. The first two years were a bust (one in conveniently compressed movie time), and yet, thanks to Shelby and Miles’ efforts, the car manufacturer finally has something to show for it: the GT40 Mark I, which is fast enough to set speed records, even though it didn’t win the race.

The script makes it sound like those know-nothing Ford bureaucrats — led by petty VP Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas, looking mal-coiffed and knickers-twisted), who been given the reins of the racing program — were against sending the hot-tempered Miles to Le Mans, and maybe they were, but there’s a little too much creative license at play in the version of history the movie presents. Miles did go to Le Mans in 1965, where he lost to Ferrari, and it wasn’t until 1966 that the team started to win.

Although Mangold re-creates stretches of Shelby’s 1959 Le Mans victory and Miles winning a non-Ford-sponsored race at Willow Springs to whet audience’s appetites early on, the only thing louder than the engines were the snores at the film’s Telluride premiere. Maybe it was all the formula family drama with Miles’ wife Mollie (Caitrona Balfe) and son Peter (Noah Jupe) that bored those overheard napping. In any case, they seemed to sit up for the final stretch, when Mangold’s filmmaking most impresses.

Still, there’s something missing from a glossy big-screen rally that we get from the real thing, where the possibility that someone could crash and burn at any time supplies a kind of morbid tension to the sport. Compare it with classic racing movies — James Garner and Steve McQueen reportedly did their own driving in “Grand Prix” (1966) and “Le Mans” (1970), respectively, as did Tom Cruise 20 years later on “Days of Thunder” — and “Ford v Ferrari” looks like Pixar’s “Cars” or the Wachowskis’ “Speed Racer,” despite the fact no CGI was used during these scenes.

That brings the attention back to the acting, which is where the movie excels. Damon’s role may not be as showy, but he gets most of the meaty confrontations, including one in which he locks Beebe in his office and takes Ford for a breakneck ride. Bale has shed the weight he gained to play Dick Cheney in “Vice,” working with the fact that some scenes call for him to use his whole body, at which point there’s a clownishness to his movements, while others play out across a face half-hidden by helmet and sunglasses, the embodiment of focus.

The real Miles sounded like David Niven and spoke with a polite, distinguished British accent, but that’s gotta go for his interpretation of the character to work. Bale sees Miles as a hothead, and the scene where he tosses a wrench at Shelby is a keeper, topped only by the fight that breaks out between them across the street from his house. The movie ends on that same corner, energetic but overlong at two and a half hours, and yet, we’ve traveled the distance with this pair during that time. The race doesn’t go entirely as you might expect, and in a melancholy twist, earlier this year, Ford terminated its factory Le Mans GT program, launched on the 50th anniversary to the events shown here.

Reviewed at Telluride Film Festival, Aug. 30, 2019. (Also in Toronto Film Festival — Gala Presentations.) Running time: 152 MIN.

Production: A Twentieth Century Fox release and presentation, in association with TSG Entertainment, of a Chernin Entertainment, Turnpike Films production. Producers: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, James Mangold. Executive producers: Kevin Halloran, Dani Bernfeld, Michael Mann. Co-producers: Addam Somner, Aaron Downing.
Crew: Director: James Mangold. Camera (color): Phedon Papamichael. Editors: Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland. Screenplay: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller. Music: Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders.
With: Matt Damon, Christian Bale , Jon Bernthal, Caitrona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, Ray McKinnon, JJ Field, Jack McMullen.

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Ford v Ferrari Review

Christian bale and matt damon play the masterminds behind ford’s efforts to defeat ferrari at le mans ’66..

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Matt Damon and Christian Bale in Ford v. Ferrari

Like a race car without an engine, Ford v Ferrari looks good on the surface, but fails to motor for its 150-minutes. There’s fun to be had watching the Ford executives clash, and the driving scenes are shot with real artistry and skill, but they’re interspersed with scenes of true inertia; of Ken Miles listening to the radio while fixing his car, or having yet another argument with his wife. So while Le Mans might be the most exciting race on the planet – as we’re told over and over again, ad infinitum – a film about that race is a very different proposition, with Ford v Ferrari lacking urgency and thrills, and instead simply chugging along in underwhelming fashion.

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‘ford v ferrari’: film review | telluride 2019.

THR review: Christian Bale and Matt Damon play 1960s racing legends Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, respectively, in 'Ford v Ferrari,' James Mangold's drama about Ford Motor Company's efforts to top Ferrari.

By Todd McCarthy

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The characters can seldom compete with the cars in auto racing movies, but that’s not the case with Ford v Ferrari, a full-bodied and exciting true-life story in which the men behind the wheels are just as dynamic as the machines they drive. Fronted by fine lead performances by Christian Bale and Matt Damon as, respectively, racing legends Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, this is a well-built vehicle in every respect that should make a good run through theaters and have a substantial home-viewing afterlife.

This is a racing saga with strong dramatic and historical underpinnings. In the world of international racing heading into the 1960s, nobody could touch Ferrari, the ne plus ultra of fast carmakers. During a company downturn, Henry Ford II and his lieutenant Lee Iacocca, who played a big role in introducing the Mustang and Ford Pinto, got it into their heads to produce a race car that could displace the Italians, which seemed like a joke at the time. But they made it happen.

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Movie Reviews

'ford v ferrari' will get your heart racing.

Ella Taylor

Matt Damon stars as an American car designer in Ford v Ferrari . Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox hide caption

Matt Damon stars as an American car designer in Ford v Ferrari .

In a deliciously digressive sequence of the rollicking Ford v Ferrari , Mollie ( Outlander 's Caitriona Balfe), the otherwise supportive wife of test car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), treats her husband to a taste of his own medicine after he unilaterally takes what ought to have been a joint family decision. Exasperated, Mollie propels Ken into a hair-raising speed-ride through hairpin bends in the staid family car. The joke is that Ken, a congenital speed freak who also loves his wife to distraction, is terrified and begs her to slow down. The rest of the film is a celebration of Ken's inability to slow down anywhere, anyhow, for anyone.

Ford v Ferrari is based on real-life events, but I have no idea whether this wild ride ever took place. Not that it matters: Mollie's tough-love therapy inserts an intrepid woman into a mega-manly movie that could hardly be otherwise given its setting in the 1960s, when women were largely absent from the racing world. Director James Mangold ( Walk the Line , Logan ) has made Miles's story his own in a romp that takes to the road on its own terms, merrily having it all ways as it recounts Miles' alliance with former Le Mans champion Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to design a racing supercar for the profitable but stolid Ford company that will rival the unprofitable but glam Ferrari fleet that reigned over race tracks at the time. Along the way Mangold and screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth have their boisterous way with Sixties geist , with family and friendship, and above all with the case for passion over profits.

As played with relish by Tracy Letts, Henry Ford II is an old-school autocrat whose boorish autocracy thinly veils a deep insecurity as the son of a successful, overbearing father. Entranced by the prospect of beefing up the company's dull image as a mass producer of sensible family sedans, Ford assigns oversight of the race car program to Leo Beebe (a very good Josh Lucas in very bad hair), a corporate stuffed shirt who gets in Shelby and Miles' way wherever possible. The firm's true visionary is the forward-looking Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal), a son of the working class who sees the cultural winds blowing away from post-World War II austerity toward a new generation hungry for speed and glitz. While Ford interferes, tinkers, and loses interest by turns, Iacocca cunningly steers the ship toward Shelby and Miles' efforts to craft a car that will win not only Daytona but the coveted Le Mans trophy.

Front and center of this exuberantly overdrawn ensemble are two fractious, very different men welded together by mutual obsession. When his racing career is abruptly halted by a heart condition, Shelby turns car salesman and designer. When his cars, built by a team of mechanics headed by Miles, perform well against the Ferrari fleet at Le Mans, he's recruited by Ford to build a model that will best the Italians'. A former war hero and a brilliant driver and mechanical trouble-shooter, Miles is both Shelby's trump card and a thorn in just about everyone's flesh, his own included. "He's difficult but good," Shelby assures Ford in a massive double understatement.

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Miles is as truculent, uncompromising, and congenitally furious as Shelby is wily about how to handle the vain, clueless Ford while he maneuvers in back with Iacocca. Where Shelby understands how to forge strategic alliances, the poetically profane Miles offends everyone and thinks nothing of hurling a wrench at his partner when crossed. The role is made for Bale, and though the actor's ordinarily uncanny mastery of accents veers oddly here between Cockney and Miles's native British Midlands, he's clearly having a blast as a monomaniacal speed racer unconsciously at war with his instincts as a devoted husband and father.

A populist sports picture from the get-go, Ford v Ferrari is dotted with race scenes that build toward a bravura climactic sequence of the 24-hour race at Le Mans that's so drawn-out and filled with obstacles, it feels as though it's unfolding in real time. Its outcome is a spoiler, but for a brief, show-stopping moment, Miles becomes someone he could never sustain over the long haul: a team player.

Notwithstanding its catchy title, Ford v Ferrari is less about a rivalry between two giants of the automobile world than about the struggle between two seemingly marginal individualists who insist on doing things their way for the love of it. That's the American way, at least in the movies, but this wildly entertaining film — a magnificent thrill even for those of us who know nothing and care less about car racing — sneaks in between the lines to make the case for craft. "You can't win a race by committee," Shelby tells Ford. If the CEO hadn't headed out early for dinner in his 'copter, he'd have learned that you might, however, get there with a dedicated team of persevering nutballs.

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‘Ford v Ferrari’ Review: Damon, Bale and the Need for Speed

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Vroom! You can feel the power thrumming under James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari — and that’s a shock because this thunderously exciting true story is based on a stuffy business proposition. Back in the 1960s, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) determined to beat Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) at his own game by building a hot, fast race car — the GT40 — that could win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, pitting American crass against Italian class.

Luckily, Mangold fuels his true-life plot with enough flesh-and-blood action to leave to leave you dizzy. Matt Damon is Texas native Carroll Shelby, a former Le Mans champion — he was a co-driver in the Aston Martin that won the race in 1959 — brought on to design Ford’s rocket. Damon, that rare movie star with an actor’s ability to suggest a character’s inner life, catches Shelby’s Lone Star bluster, the quick mind behind it, and the deep-seated feelings he mostly hides about the heart condition that keeps him out of the driver’s seat.

It’s Shelby who persuades the suits to hire Brit driver Ken Miles ( Christian Bale ), a hothead who does things his way or not at all. Bale, considerably slimmed down from his role as Dick Cheney in Vice, has the lean-and-hungry look of a driver built for speed. As ever, Bale is astonishing, portraying Miles with scorching wit and staggering physicality. Even wearing a helmet, Bale lets you exactly what’s going in the mind of Miles. He doesn’t make a false move on screen. The conflict Miles has with Shelby, chiefly money driven, doesn’t mean the two men don’t deep friendship, even when it comes to wrench-throwing and a knock-down, drag-out fight in Miles’ yard.

Miles prefers a low-paying job as a Los Angeles mechanic to kissing corporate ass, repped here by Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas is sleaze incarnate). Ford’s right-hand man has a knack for riling Miles. Shelby exacts a kind of revenge when he takes Ford himself for a jaw-dropping spin around the track to teach the old man about the true power of a racing engine. The scene is hilarious, allowing Letts to go for broke. But even when he’s not sitting scared shitless in a racecar’s passenger seat, the Pulitizer-winning playwright is superb at finding the wounded pride in Ford who resents being No. 2 to his famous granddaddy. If he can’t buy Ferrari (he tries and fails), he intends to beat him at his own game and risk the family business to prove it.

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And it’s intriguing that the script for Ford v Ferrari is also the work of a playwright, Jez Butterworth, who won the Tony this year for The Ferryman. Jez, who wrote the screenplay with his brother John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller, has a knack for the dynamics of human interaction caught in the clutches of American imperialism.

A few cliches do sneak in, mostly in the home life scenes between Miles, his wife Mollie (Catriona Balfe) and their son Peter (Noah Jupe). But Balfe, so soulfully romantic on TV’s Outlander, and Jupe, a wonder in Honey Boy, have the goods to make us understand and care. Mangold has proven skills as a director of actors — think Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line, Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted and Hugh Jackman in Logan — and his intuitive guidance of the cast here can go from subtle to eruptive with no bumps in the road between.

It takes a few failed tries before Shelby and Miles are ready to show what they’ve got at Le Mans in 1966. But getting there really is half the fun, as is getting to know the characters as more than instruments charged with making it first to the finish line. By then, Mangold has us in his grip with no intention of letting go. The thrill-a-minute race scenes are shot by the great Phedon Papamichael ( 3:10 to Yuma, Nebraska ) with an eye for catching every flash of beauty and terror. Mission accomplished.

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Ford v ferrari, common sense media reviewers.

Entertaining, well-paced racing biopic has strong language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie is partly about loyalty, with one friend try

Carroll Shelby is a bit of a blowhard and isn't ab

Cars crash and explode. Characters on fire. Charac

Married couple flirts briefly.

Uses of "f--k," "s--t," "horses--t," "a--hole," "s

Coca-Cola mentioned. Racetrack corporate sponsorsh

Prescription pills taken for heart condition. Back

Positive Messages

Movie is partly about loyalty, with one friend trying to stand up to powerful authority figures to defend and protect another friend.

Positive Role Models

Carroll Shelby is a bit of a blowhard and isn't above the occasional dirty trick, but he's brave enough to stand up to powerful men, tries his best to defend and protect his friend. He's portrayed as a hero, a racing champ with hordes of young fans. Ken Miles, while also a racing champ and a good dad, is an otherwise explosive, bad-tempered character, not much of a role model.

Violence & Scariness

Cars crash and explode. Characters on fire. Characters die. Characters get into a fight -- punching, wrestling, etc. Fits of anger/violent tantrums.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Uses of "f--k," "s--t," "horses--t," "a--hole," "son of a bitch," "jackass," "dumbass," "pr--k," "piss," "goddamn," "damn," "hell," "whores," "wanker," "buggered," "screw you." Uses of "oh my God/by God." Cultural slur ("greasy wop").

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Coca-Cola mentioned. Racetrack corporate sponsorship includes Budweiser, Coppertone, Good Year, etc.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Prescription pills taken for heart condition. Background smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Ford v Ferrari (also known as Le Mans '66 ) is a fact-based racing drama about events leading up to and including the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale , it's briskly paced and entertaining enough to appeal even to nonracing fans. But it does include car crashes, explosions, drivers on fire, and people dying. Characters also fight, punch, and wrestle, and there are some violent temper tantrums. Language is fairly strong, with uses of "f--k," "s--t," and more. Era-appropriate brands are seen around the racetrack (Coppertone, Good Year, Budweiser, etc.). One character takes prescription medication for a heart condition, and there's some background smoking. A married couple flirts briefly. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Kids say (41)

Based on 31 parent reviews

Exciting movie with good messages

One of the greatest movies ever made, what's the story.

In FORD V FERRARI, race car driver Carroll Shelby ( Matt Damon ) wins the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans race but is forced to retire due to a heart condition. Meanwhile, at the Ford Motor Company, Lee Iacocca ( Jon Bernthal ) proposes that the company start making race cars as a way to improve their image with younger drivers. An attempt to partner with Ferrari goes south, so Ford hires Shelby to build their car. Shelby, in turn, hires Ken Miles ( Christian Bale ), a talented but volatile driver, to help work out the bugs. Henry Ford II ( Tracy Letts ) puts executive Leo Beebe ( Josh Lucas ) in charge of the racing division, and Beebe immediately sets out to get rid of Miles. But Miles and Shelby have an ace up their sleeve: They actually have the talent to win races and have their sights set on the 1966 Le Mans. Nevertheless, Beebe has one last weaselly plan.

Is It Any Good?

This enjoyable fact-based racing movie runs a little long, but it manages to keep up a good, breezy pace, focusing more on pure entertainment than on trying to be dutifully "important." At the heart of Ford v Ferrari are two fine performances by Damon and Bale, whose characters forge a touching friendship that's based more on small gestures than on big demonstrations. Miles is a show-off, but Bale makes him seem real, with relatable worries and outrages. And Damon clearly enjoys his clever, quick-witted character, who still somehow makes genuine connections. Just as good is playwright Letts as the stern, rocky second Henry Ford; he's reduced to terrified screaming and joyful tears when Shelby takes him for a high-speed ride in his new car.

At the wheel, director James Mangold gives Ford v Ferrari the crisp, confident energy of his best genre films, Logan and 3:10 to Yuma (the latter of which also starred Bale), without letting it drift into the stodgy, awards-bait seriousness of his previous biopic Walk the Line . Ford v Ferrari is so simple and classic that it could have been sent here directly from the early 1960s. Perhaps its most niggling flaw is Lucas' slimy, one-dimensional villain character, who acts out of pure selfishness. But the racing sequences are impeccably timed, with thundering, thrilling sound design that could convert newbies into hard-core racing fans. Still, the movie's best achievement is the sly way it depicts the central friendship, largely unspoken but still surprisingly tender.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Ford v Ferrari 's violence . How does it compare to what you might see in an action movie? What are the consequences? Do you think some people really watch racing just for the crashes?

Does the movie glamorize racing? How exciting does it look? How dangerous?

Are Shelby and Miles role models ? They're both champions, but they're also complex people with weaknesses and dark sides. Does this make them bad people?

Why do you think there's so much advertising associated with racing? Does seeing a brand's logo at the racetrack make you want to seek out a specific product?

Could Henry Ford II be considered a bully ? How does Shelby handle him? What other ways are there of dealing with bullies?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 15, 2019
On DVD or streaming : February 11, 2020
Cast : Christian Bale , Matt Damon , Caitriona Balfe
Director : James Mangold
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
Genre : Drama
Topics : Cars and Trucks
Run time : 152 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : some language and peril
Last updated : June 20, 2023

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Ford v Ferrari (2019)

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Ford v ferrari review: christian bale & matt damon go like heck, between its thrilling racing sequences and underlying commentary, ford v ferrari makes for an entertaining spin on the traditional sports biography..

On paper, a movie about the Ford company's efforts to defeat its rival Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans probably only sounds interesting to either racing enthusiasts and/or anyone who actually knows what a 24 Hours of Le Mans even is. Thankfully, the final film, Ford v Ferrari (which was titled Go Like Hell early on in development), transcends its biographical trappings to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience for gearheads and race-car novices alike. And with director James Mangold (of Walk the Line and Logan fame) calling the shots, the biopic is mostly successful in getting at the heart of what makes this story interesting - namely, the struggle between commercialism and creative integrity. Between its thrilling racing sequences and underlying commentary, Ford v Ferrari makes for an entertaining spin on the traditional sports biography.

Ford v Ferrari is set in motion when CEO Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) - acting on the advice of his VP, Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) - tries to buy Ferrari, only to be rebuffed by its founder, Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), who knows he's only after Ferrari's world-famous racing program. Incensed, Ford II directs his own racing division to build a car that will beat Ferrari at the next 24 Hours of Le Mans (an event Ferrari has won for the last several years) in 1966. In order to do that, Iacocca turns to the retired racing legend and automotive engineer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and his own team, including his hot-headed race-car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale). Can Shelby and Miles do the impossible and emerge victorious in this battle of David vs. Goliath vs. Goliath?

At its core, the Ford v Ferrari script credited to Jason Keller ( Machine Gun Preacher ) and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth ( Get on Up ) is part American corporate myth and part real-life story about a ragtag group of artists in their profession who're trying to stay true to their vision while working for a company that's far more concerned about public image and selling their products to the masses. Of the two, the latter element is more compelling than the former and gives the film a beating heart, even when it's all too apparent where the story is going next. Having spent much of his career directing within the Hollywood studio system, it's perhaps unsurprising that Mangold seems to really relate to Shelby's crew and their struggle to keep their own meddling bosses happy as they work around the clock to deliver what they believe is a solid product. And by zeroing in on their clash of egos with Ford's men, he's able to keep things engaging, in spite of the movie's clear-cut trajectory and occasionally patience-testing runtime.

It may stick firmly to the racetrack (sorry, these puns write themselves), but Ford v Ferrari knows what matters most are the people who come along for the journey. In this case, Damon and Bale have excellent chemistry as Shelby and Miles, and their dynamic (the former is very much the level-headed foil to his friend) gives the film much of its flavor, whether they're bonding over their shared passion for racing or coming to blows in what's typically a very funny fashion. Their personalities are well-complimented by those of Ford's business suits, with Letts and Bernthal doing excellent work as always and Josh Lucas bringing on the smarm as the Ford executive Leo Beebe (who proves to be the biggest thorn in Shelby and Miles' side). Caitriona Balfe and Noah Jupe are relegated to supporting roles as Miles' wife and son, yet their scenes with Bale offer a welcome glimpse at Miles' softer, family man persona.

But of course, the race-car sequences and recreation of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans are the primary attractions as much as anything else here, and (to its credit) Ford v Ferrari very much delivers the goods in this regard. Mangold and his DP Phedon Papamichael shoot these scenes with a steady hand, allowing viewers to actually see everything that's happening while still experiencing the sheer exhilaration that comes with being a body that's "moving through space and time" (as the film puts it). The movie's racing sequences combine practical stunt-driving with limited CGI, and the resulting spectacle is truly visceral in the way it captures the cacophony and exhaust-clogged environment of the race course. Ford v Ferrari never comes across as old-fashioned in these moments either, even releasing after highly-stylized true story racing dramas like Rush in recent years.

Between its (excessive?) running time and distinctly anti-franchise design, it feels like Ford v Ferrari might be Mangold's means of participating in his own David vs. Goliath vs. Goliath battle involving studios competing to release the next big crowd-pleaser at the box office (something that adds yet another layer of meta meaning to the whole film). Be that the case or not, he's all the same succeeded in delivering a very good sports biopic fueled by great acting and exciting car races. Perhaps even more impressively, he's made a movie about racing that has something to offer those who know little more (or care to know much more) about Ford and Ferrari other than they both sell cars. That alone is deserving of a victory lap.

Ford v Ferrari is now playing in U.S. theaters. It is 152 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for some language and peril.

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DVD & Streaming

Ford v Ferrari

Drama , Sports

Content Caution

In Theaters

November 15, 2019
Christian Bale as Ken Miles; Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby; Caitriona Balfe as Mollie Miles; Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca; Noah Jupe as Peter Miles; Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II; Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe

Home Release Date

February 11, 2020
James Mangold

Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox

Movie Review

Once upon a time, Henry Ford II decided to buy up a little Italian car company called Ferrari. You know, to add a bit of racing cred to his family-car image. I mean, Ferrari’s meticulously hand-crafted sports cars offered a lot of panache, but selling them at their required price point, even in the early 1960s, wasn’t easy. Ferrari was losing money hand over fist. Ford at that time, however, had plenty of cash. So it seemed to be a match made in motoring heaven.

Until it wasn’t.

Seemingly on the verge of a deal, Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari veers into a different lane (thanks to a 12th-hour lifeline from Fiat). That gives the proud Italian the freedom to speak his mind … bluntly . Ford makes “ugly little cars,” Enzo sneers, “in big ugly factories.”

Henry Ford is furious. And a man like Henry Ford II is not one to be trifled with. So he decides to beat Ferrari at its own game, on its own turf: the fabled 24 Hours of LeMans, where Ferrari’s race cars reign supreme.

Henry Ford II will bring in the brightest. He’ll bring in the best. And he’ll build his own Ford racer. In fact, he’ll build the best racing car in the world, and it will bury Ferrari at Le Mans, he fumes.

To make that all happen, Ford taps one Carroll Shelby.

Shelby had been known as one of America’s most incredible racers back in the late ’50s. But after he figuratively hit the wall with some unexpected heart problems, things had to change. Now, in the early 1960s, he’s parlaying his past fame and his car-designing know-how into selling sports cars baring his name.

Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say Shelby was selling a sports car: the Shelby Cobra 427. Things are tight, and he only has a single car to sell right at the moment … which he does. Repeatedly. But when Ford, one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, comes a-callin’, Shelby quickly signs up for the endeavor.

Shelby tells Ford that the only guy good enough to drive the car he’s going to make is Ken Miles, an irascible Brit with motor oil in his veins. “And how long did you tell them you needed? Two, three hundred years?” Miles asks when told of the car-building proposal. “Ninety days,” Shelby retorts amid his friend’s gails of laughter.

So now, the hard work begins. With a blank check, a racing car frame from England, and all the racing tech that money can buy, the men set to the task. They can imagine this wonder car, smell it, taste it, feel it in their bones.

And there’s really only one thing standing in their way: a little thing called … physics.

Positive Elements

In spite of their iron-sharpens-iron type of relationship—or maybe iron beats iron, as they’ve got a tendency to solve disagreements with their fists—it’s clear that Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby have a great deal of respect, and even affection, for one another. That comes through loud and clear in key scenes where Shelby takes a stand and pushes back against Ford executives on his friend’s behalf, and when Miles reins in his own self-focused tendencies in turn.

Even though Ken Miles has a short fuse and tends to rage over small slights, the film’s tenderest moments are also his. On a couple occasions he takes time to talk about racing and life with his son, Peter. And even when there are other important things happening, Miles repeatedly notices Peter standing on the sidelines and takes time to include the boy in the creative experience. It’s evident that Peter adores him for it and looks up to his father.

Ken and his wife Molly also have a very supportive and loving relationship, and he tends to rely on her for wisdom and understanding that she readily gives.

Together, Ken and Carroll fight—sometimes against each other, sometimes against their corporate handlers, sometimes against Ferrari’s henchmen-like racers—to give Mr. Ford the victory he so desperately covets.

Spiritual Elements

An angry Henry Ford II talks of his grandfather calling him “Henry By-God Ford!”

Sexual Content

Ken and his wife, Molly, embrace and kiss several times. In one scene, Ken playfully asks his wife what kind of woman she is, and she replies in a seductive tone, “The kind that likes wet gasoline and burnt rubber.” Ken gasps, “Are you some kind of deviant?”

During a Ford planning meeting, an executive talks about soldiers getting home after the war and immediately having sex, producing the Baby Boom that’s fueling Ford’s surging sales.

Another exec, wanting to change Ford’s image, suggests that James Bond does not drive a Ford. “That’s ’cause he’s a degenerate,” someone answers.

Violent Content

Auto racing is obviously a dangerous sport when you consider that it’s all about men pushing their vehicles as hard as possible and trying to keep a couple thousand pounds of metal on a track while traveling at speeds that push past 200 miles per hour. That life-or-death tension, mixed with well-executed cinematography here, keeps viewers of this film always expecting something terrible to take place as cars careen and weave in front of each other. And of course, when things go wrong, that terrible expectation is fulfilled.

The film does a good job of keeping that destruction as palatable as possible. We never see anyone die in a crashing vehicle on screen or fall out of a car, for instance. But we do see a number of cars smash into each other, collide with walls and disintegrate into tumbling, flaming chunks. Two vehicles crash and explode just off screen. We see someone pulled from a flaming wreck, flames leaping off the back of his fire-retardant racing suit. And it’s implied that in another horrendous wreck, the exploding vehicle killed its driver.

During a pit stop, fuel is accidentally poured on a hot engine compartment and the car and its driver are both temporarily set on fire. Overly abused brakes literally melt down to slag in one case, leaving a driver in a hurtling vehicle without means of stopping.

Ken’s not the only aggressive driver in his family, though. At one point, his angry wife drives very recklessly to get his attention. She risks killing both of them just to get him to talk.

As noted above, the volatile relationship between Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles explodes in another way on a couple of occasions, too. In one situation, an angry Miles screams at Shelby and throws a wrench, barely missing Shelby and smashing a nearby windshield. And in another, the two men fall into a punching and wrestling brawl, throwing each other around and battering one another with everything from groceries to a trash can lid.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word and more than 25 s-words join multiple uses each of “d–n,” “b–ch,” b–tard” “h—” and “a–hole.” God’s name is paired with “d–n” seven times. There are some 15 exclamations of the British crudity “bloody,” often used in combination with some other profanity. We also hear single uses of the words “b–locks,” “pr-ck” and “whore.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Being the 1960s, we see men smoking in business meetings. Henry Ford II and other execs toss back glasses of booze on occasion, too, in meetings and during a Ford press event.

Alcohol flows freely in other settings as well. Ken and Molly drink hard liquor and beer on a couple different occasions. Shelby drinks beer on the nights before races and with the pit crew after. And we see him drag himself up one morning with empty beer bottles scattered about his trailer.

Shelby also has pills prescribed for his heart condition that he tends to pop on a regular basis. In stressful situations, he’ll dump several in his mouth at a time.

Other Negative Elements

The IRS confiscates Ken and Molly Miles’ garage for failure to pay back taxes. Ken also plays the “pull my finger” game with his son, to expected results. Henry Ford II uses a derogatory term for Italians. And in turn, he’s called “fat and pigheaded.”

At Le Mans and in the middle of the race, Carroll steals all of the Ferrari team’s stopwatches; he also drops a lug nut near their pit area, a subterfuge he hopes will prompt the panicked team to tell a car to pit in order to check the wheels. (The ploy, played for humor, doesn’t yield Shelby’s desired result.)

To get Henry Ford II to agree to let Ken Miles drive the race car he’s producing, Shelby tricks the Ford president into going for a ride with him. Shelby pushes the car to the limit, terrifying Ford, who ultimately acquiesces to Shelby’s demands.

One of Ford’s particularly nasty lackeys seeks to undermine Ken Miles at every possible moment.

If you’re watching a racing movie, it’s generally the cars and the blazing speed that gets your blood pumping. Ironically, the drivers usually take a backseat.

Not so here.

Sure, this is the tale of the Ford Motor Company’s audacious dream of besting the perfection-driven Ferrari team at the prestigious 24 hours of Le Mans. And, yeah, we get a burning rubber, brake-melting, scorched-corner look at all it took to craft Ford’s iconic GT40. But what keeps us strapped in tight behind the wheel of this film is its high-octane leads.

Stars Christian Bale and Matt Damon so fully embody the temperamental Ken Miles and the quick-cornering Carroll Shelby—all their flaws and strengths, on and off the racetrack—that it’s hard to look away as this 2.5-hour drama zips by. You care about the men. You care about their dream. In Miles’ case, you care about his family. And win-or-lose, you care about seeing this hammer and tongs struggle through to its completion.

In that sense, this movie is as well-crafted as any of the exotic racecars depicted.

That said, I wouldn’t want to, uh, steer the family audience wrong. This is an engaging film, but one that also comes with some content speed bumps. We witness some incredibly realistic race crashes, as well as angry men blowing an occasional gasket. Then there’s the steady stream of British and American crudities to contend with—some blowing as hot as any steam-hissing radiator.

And all that’s enough to at least raise a yellow flag, especially for younger racing fans.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Movie Review: Ford V Ferrari

The motion picture industry has been making movies about cars and car racing since the silent film era. After all, they’re called “motion” pictures, and race cars certainly do move. Racing has other elements, as well, that provide for dramatic and entertaining stories, not the least of which is life-or-death danger.

In many cases, though, racing movies have disappointed either car enthusiasts for their lack of realism, or their financial backers for their less-than-blockbuster ticket sales. Now and then, however, a gifted director gets the budget, the actors, the story, and the technical wherewithal to make a film that resonates with both knowledgeable enthusiasts and the general public.

James Mangold appears to have accomplished that with Ford v Ferrari ( Le Mans ’66 in foreign markets) starring Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby (who needs no introduction on this site) and Christian Bale as Ken Miles, the star-crossed but exceptionally talented driver and mechanic whose personal story provides the film’s main dramatic arc.

It’s an entertaining and visually beautiful film that has already grossed over $100 million dollars in less than two weeks and looks to end up as the most financially successful racing movie ever. I watched it at a theater in Birmingham, Michigan — an affluent Detroit suburb — at the early evening showing on the second Saturday of the film’s release, which was sold out.

While Ford v Ferrari makes for a fine movie, it’s a terrible documentary. It’s absolutely true that Shelby, Miles and the rest of the Shelby American team whipped the GT40 into fighting trim, battling the bureaucracy at Henry Ford II’s family firm before they could take on Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans. In that sense, Ford v Ferrari is a buddy flick and way, way more. Yes, it’s “based” on a true story, but from how the history is recorded, about half of the movie didn’t happen in real life.

I won’t bother recounting the factual inaccuracies, stretchings of truth, and outright fiction in the film. You can find plenty of articles on that topic already. Just about any movie, though, requires some suspension of disbelief, and the acting and filmmaking is on a level that allows you to enjoy the movie even as you are telling yourself, “But that’s not how it really happened.”

As a dramatic movie, Ford v Ferrari probably works better than any racing movie I can think of, but from a technical standpoint I don’t think the racing scenes quite live up to the standards set by Ron Howard in Rush and John Frankenheimer in Grand Prix (who pretty much wrote the book on how to shoot cars racing on a track).

The cars are gorgeous, however. The GT40 and Ferrari P3/4 are two of the most attractive automobiles ever made and the cinematography puts them in the kind of light that can only be realized with real cars on a real track, not CGI. However, if the GT40 was really doing 218 down the Mulsanne straight, it looked like it wasn’t going nearly that fast past the trees in the background in the film. Also, as Casey Putsch pointed out in his review, there was entirely too much of drivers taking their eyes off the road ahead and turning their heads to look at and grimace at competitors. That, however, is a racing movie cliche that goes back at least as far as the late silent era film The Speedway from 1929.

Still, I think car enthusiasts will like it, if they can suspend their disbelief at the liberties taken with the truth, and that should be easy. It’s beautifully shot, the characters are engaging and it’s far from a typical sports movie that ends with the underdog’s victory. Using Ken Miles as the main protagonist gives the story a dramatic arc with an actual denouement: Miles’ death. That’s not a spoiler, it’s history. Miles was killed two months after the 1966 Le Mans race, while testing the Ford “J Car”, the intermediate development between the GT40 that won in ’66 and the GT40 MKIV that Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt drove to victory at Le Mans the following year.

There are a lot of strong performances in the film besides Damon and Bale. Tracy Letts is being mentioned for a Best Supporting Oscar for his portrayal of Henry Ford II, but I think Ray McKinnon steals the show as Phil Remington. The movie deserves considerable props for showing Remington as the technical and fabricating genius behind Shelby American, even if the movie’s publicity materials erroneously perpetuate the myth that Carroll Shelby was a “car designer.”

Ultimately, I think that’s the film’s most enduring value to car guys — it gives proper credit to people like Remington and Miles, the Armando Galarraga of motorsports. Every baseball fan knows that the former Detroit Tigers pitcher got screwed out of a perfect game by an umpire’s admitted blown call on what should have been the final out. Anyone who knows the story about Ford’s GT40 effort knows that Miles was the de facto winner of the 1966 Le Mans race, even if Bruce McLaren was awarded the trophy because of the 1-2-3 photo finish arranged at the behest of Ford executives and a technicality in the Le Mans rules.

It’s not a perfect movie; Josh Lucas plays Leo Beebe, a senior Ford executive who takes the role of Shelby and Miles’ antagonist in the film. Lucas’ Beebe is a smarmy, almost cartoon caricature of a corporate snake, portrayed as more villainous than Enzo himself. That’s not necessarily Lucas’ fault — that’s just how the character is written and perhaps the role was influenced by Ford Motor Company’s reputation back then as being a political nightmare of ambitious executives jealous of others’ fiefdoms while they zealously protected their own. How much Beebe really stood in the way of Shelby and Miles is open to debate. The filmmakers could have just as easily focused on the genuine personal grudge between Shelby and Ferrari. As an up and coming racer (who would eventually win Le Mans for Aston Martin) Shelby turned down multiple offers of a factory ride from Il Commendatore . Shelby didn’t like how his friends who drove for Enzo ended up dead for their efforts and for his part, Ferrari was insulted that Shelby wouldn’t risk his life for the honor of driving with Ferrari.

One criticism of the film that I don’t think is fair has come from the “woke” crowd, complaining that the movie’s characters are almost entirely male, presumably of the straight white variety, capitalist planet despoilers and fossil fuel burners who should be as extinct as the decayed dinosaurs they are burning. The character of Mollie Miles, Ken Miles’ wife, played by Caitriona Balfe, has been criticized for being a more or less a traditional housewife, there to provide emotional support for her husband — ignoring that the story takes place no later than 1966, a time when most married women were indeed traditional housewives.

Like Forester wrote, the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. I don’t watch movies with a checklist to keep track of how many characters have what kind of genitals, nor a stopwatch to see if screen time has been allocated equitably and intersectionality, so I can’t say this for sure, but it seems to me that Balfe was on the screen more than either Letts or Remo Girone’s Enzo Ferrari, the two title characters.

If you’re not dangerously allergic to gasoline or testosterone, you should like Ford v Ferrari. Worthy of the ticket price and a spot reserved on your DVD shelf next to your copies of Rush, Grand Prix , Paul Newman’s Winning , and Steve McQueen’s Le Mans .

[Images: 20th Century Fox]

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We can all be thankful they didn't recast this with all females as seems to be the trend nowadays. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I loved this movie and thought Bale's performance was one for the ages. The guy completely transforms himself physically and mentally for a role. I do wonder if the scene where Shelby takes Ford II for a very scary track ride ever happened. Anybody know? My one peeve about the movie is the same one I have for all racing/car/action movies: drivers talking smack at each other while racing at high speed. I don't know what's worse, car drivers yelling at each other over their roaring 427's at 200mph, or motorcycle pilots insulting each other at 200mph like they're standing in a quiet room with no helmets on. It would be hilarious if someone made a satire flick about this, showing drivers trying to communicate petty insults over wind and engine and tire noise, finally having to used hand signals and head shakes to get their point accross before they run off the track.

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How Much of ‘Ford v Ferrari’ Is True?

While fairly accurate, ‘Ford v Ferrari’ adds some dramatic embellishments.

The Big Picture

Despite its dramatic embellishments, Ford v Ferrari accurately portrays the intense rivalry between Ford and Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
Matt Damon's portrayal of Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale's depiction of Ken Miles bring authenticity to the true story, showcasing their friendship and passion for racing.
The film captures the high stakes and sacrifices made by the Ford team in their quest to defeat Ferrari and prove themselves on an international stage.

Director James Mangold has made a name for himself making “old-fashioned” genre movies that feel like they belong to a different era. While he’s dabbled in franchise fair with blockbusters like Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , Mangold has managed to prove that classic westerns ( 3:10 to Yuma ), whodunit mystery thrillers ( Identity ), issue focused melodramas ( Girl, Interrupted ), and musical biopics ( Walk the Line ) still have a foothold with audiences. Mangold added the sports rivalry racing drama Ford v Ferrari to his filmography in 2019, which became both a commercial hit and a critical darling, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Although it certainly draws inspiration from classic sports dramas like Le Mans and Grand Prix, Ford v Ferrari is a fairly accurate depiction of an amazing underdog racing story.

Ford v Ferrari

American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.

What Is ‘Ford v Ferrari’ About?

Ford v. Ferrari centers on the peculiar friendship between the automobile designer Carol Shelby ( Matt Damon ) and the eccentric motorsport driver Ken Miles ( Christian Bale ) as they attempt to pull off a major victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans competition. Although the Ford Motor Company is considered to be an underdog in the competition , Shelby is hired by his employer, Henry Ford II ( Tracy Letts ) to create a new racing vehicle that could potentially disrupt the Ferrari company’s dominance within the event. Knowing that Miles is an expert engineer with an unparalleled ability to determine a vehicle’s merits, Shelby hires his old friend to help test the new Ford GT40 Mk I. Ford v Ferrari details the immense preparation Miles and Shelby took to retrofit their new vehicle ahead of the major race. It’s one of the rare sports movies where the build up is just as exciting as the championship at the end.

Nicknamed “Howard the Deuce,” Ford II entered the competition due to a feud with Enzo Ferrari , who had rejected his acquisition offer and barred the two companies from forming a partnership. Egocentric and skeptical of his rivals, Ferrari believed that the Ford Motor Company wasn’t capable of designing an advanced vehicle that rivaled his own. Ford v Ferrari accurately depicts the Ford Motor Company’s motivations for entering the Le Mans Competition. Ford II saw the race as an opportunity to prove Ferrari wrong , and spared no expense in pouring the company’s resources into the most advanced vehicle on the market. The global coverage of the Le Mans Competition also allowed Ford to showcase its new line of vehicles to a widespread audience.

‘Ford v Ferrari’ Depicts One of the Most Intense Racing Competitions Ever

Bale received significant acclaim for his performance , and the depiction of Miles in Ford v Ferrari is reflective of his real personality. After a brief stint driving lumber trucks for the British military during the tail end of World War II, Miles moved to Hollywood in order to take part in the emerging Southern California racing culture. It was during this period that he set many records for auto racing, and gained a reputation for taking inordinate risks to have his name remembered in history books. At the time that Shelby approached him about joining the Ford team ahead of the Le Mans Competition at the beginning of Ford v Ferrari , Miles was operating his own tuning shop alongside his wife Mollie ( Caitríona Balfe ) and son Peter ( Noah Jupe ). A series of financial setbacks resulting from unpaid taxes ends up inspiring Miles to join Shelby’s crew, even though he was never regarded as a “team player.”

As breathtaking as the film’s final act is, Ford v Ferrari is one of the rare films in which the true story almost feels like fiction . During the final stretch of the Le Mans race, Ford II realizes it would be a better publicity opportunity to have all of his vehicles cross the finish line at the same time, even though Miles’ vehicle was well ahead of his opponents. Miles eventually complied with the orders and slowed down his vehicle, resulting in an instantly iconic image that revitalized the Ford brand internationally. Unfortunately, this stunt also cost Miles the race that he should have won single-handedly on a technicality. In fact, Miles was declared the second place winner because the Ford car driven by racers Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon started the race behind his vehicle, and thus had a longer trek.

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Is More Historically Accurate Than You Think

‘ford v. ferrari’ added some dramatic embellishments.

The circumstances around the final arm of the race have been a matter of dispute, as Ford executives only learned too late that a single winner could be determined. Their plan of a three-way tie was impossible, but they were unable to communicate to Miles that he should speed up and ignore their previous plan. Although the film ends on the triumphant note of Ford's victory, Ford v Ferrari shows the tragic ending of Miles’ racing career. The pressure to conform to the photo opportunity, spearheaded by the Ford executive Leo Beebe ( Josh Lucas ), inspired Miles to begin preparations for the next year of the competition. Unfortunately, Miles was killed two months later due to a mechanical failure in his J-car during a testing period at Riverside International Raceway.

Although the film draws from the nonfiction novel Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A. J. Baime , some events in Ford v Ferrari are dramatized for the sake of making an exciting sports movie . The real Ford II never took a joyride in an untested vehicle with Shelby, and would not have taken such an active role in giving inspirational speeches to the mechanical team due to his business obligations. Similarly, the brawl between Shelby and Miles prior to the day of Le Mans is a purely fictional insertion, although the two did butt heads throughout their time together.

Ford v Ferrari is available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

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Movie Review: ‘Ford v Ferrari’

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You won’t find many adults on the planet who are less of a gearhead than yours truly. I live in New York specifically because I don’t drive. I gave up on learning after five lessons, one of which saw a cop car behind me (I can’t say I got “pulled over” because what I did was slam on the brakes in the middle of the road and just remain petrified). Also, I crashed a Power Wheel when I was three and a go-cart when I was fifteen. Though I must say that I am pretty good at not crashing bumper cars. The point is that the subject matter of “Ford v Ferrari” is very foreign to me. You may feel differently if you can sympathize with the adrenaline rush of pushing a racecar to its limit in a battle for automotive world dominance. Me, I can sympathize with driver Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) seemingly losing confidence in his racing ability because the track is wet.

The year is 1963 and both the Ford Motor Company and Ferrari are facing financial hardships. I would point out to Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) that angrily shutting down his factory’s famed assembly lines and chewing out blameless employees is not a step toward improvement. Ford VP Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) convinces Ford to try to buy Ferrari, but Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) rejects the deal, complete with personal insults toward Ford. Ford decides he wants to crush Ferrari by having a Ford car win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race.

At the top of the list to construct the car is former Le Mans winner Shelby, but way down the list of preferred drivers is Shelby’s friend Ken Miles (Christian Bale). Miles and his wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) are in financial trouble of their own, and Ken may have to quit racing, which is his passion but doesn’t pay the bills. It’s not that Miles isn’t a talented driver – he’s arguably the best in the world – but he’s an outspoken hothead who butts heads with just about every Ford executive, especially Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas). Other drivers are sent to Le Mans instead, but Ford performs dismally. Finally, in 1966, Ford agrees to send Miles to Le Mans, but only after Shelby puts his entire manufacturing company on the line if Miles doesn’t win that year’s 24 Hours at Daytona.

The movie of course climaxes at Le Mans, and when Ford is actually racing against Ferrari, the spectacle lives up to the hype. There’s a real sense of danger and consequence for any mistakes. Crashes are hair-raising and the movie is at least going to be in the conversation for sounds effects Oscars. But Ferrari turns out to not quite be the opponent it’s been made out to be. Ford’s toughest opponent in this movie turns out to be… Ford itself. For some reason, Henry Ford II keeps trusting himself and the boneheaded Beebe to make decisions that consummate professionals Shelby and Miles should be making.

A certain last-minute decision is the very antithesis of sports competition, and heck, capitalism. The human drama in “Ford v Ferrari” is compelling thanks to some fine performances by the stacked cast, but the storyline is completely typical of a sports movie that involves an underdog and/or a comeback. The race scenes are exciting enough during broad strokes like overtaking, finishing, crashes and fires, though I will confess that I was lost on many of the finer points of both mechanics and driving. I certainly won’t say that this is a “bad” movie, but I think it’s a failure on some level that I didn’t care about auto racing going in and I didn’t care about it coming out.

Grade: B- “Ford v Ferrari” is rated PG-13 for some language and peril. Its running time is 152 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at [email protected].

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The True Story of Ken Miles From Ford V Ferrari, Explained

Discover the inspiring yet tragic true story of British racer Ken Miles in Ford v Ferrari.

Ford v Ferrari realistically recreates intense racing rivalry between Carroll Shelby and Enzo Ferrari in 1950s and 1960s with dramatic flair.
Despite some creative liberties, movie accurately depicts Ken Miles' contributions and sacrifices in lifting Ford to prominence in racing history.
Ken Miles, although tragically killed, left a lasting legacy with Ford's dominance at Le Mans and induction into Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Released in 2019 to critical acclaim, Ford v Ferrari tracks the intense racing rivalry between automakers Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) in the 1950s and 1960s. Although a few story elements were made up to increase the dramatic stakes, the movie recreates many real-life auto races with stunning authenticity and historical accuracy. To help defeat Ferrari, Carroll forms an unlikely partnership with Ken Miles (Christian Bale), a hot-headed yet talented British car racer, mechanic, and engineer who goes to heroic lengths to lift Ford to prominence.

Despite remaining as faithful to Miles' story as possible, director James Mangold fudged a few facts, omitted some details, and fabricated parts of the movie that did not occur in real life. To help clarify the heroic sacrifices made by Ken Miles during his decorated racing career, it's worth explaining the true story of how Miles came to prominence and what led to his tragic fate in August 1966.

Ford v Ferrari

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Who is Ken Miles?

Played by Christian Bale in Ford v Ferrari , Ken Miles is a race car designer, driver, and mechanical engineer born in Birmingham, England in 1918. Miles dropped out of school when he was 15 and became an apprentice for Wolseley Motors ( via Motor Sport ). As an adult, he joined the British Army, serving in World War II and becoming a driving instructor. During his service, Miles climbed the ranks to become Staff Sgt. and a tank commander praised for his engineering skills.

Following military discharge in 1946, Miles moved to Los Angeles and began his racing career in 1952. In 1953, Miles won 14 consecutive races in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition. In all 14 victories, Miles drove a car that he designed and built himself. Then, in 1955, Miles modified the vehicle, which became known as "The Flying Shingle" for its speed. While this is not detailed in the movie, Miles defeated legendary actor James Dean with "The Flying Shingle" in a 1955 drag race. Although Miles was disqualified on a technicality, the race caught the attention of several auto industry professionals.

Following the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1959, American automaker Carroll Shelby recruited Miles to work with Ford to defeat team Scuderia Ferrari. Miles agreed and by 1963 was named the chief test driver for Shelby American Inc. One year later, as seen in the movie, Miles and Shelby began designing the Ford GT40 MK I. As shown in the film, Miles was angry about the "bloody awful" race car and demanded to design a new model. However, the MK I tested fast enough to instill fear and paranoia in Enzo Ferrari as a potential rival. As such, Henry Ford II commissioned Miles to work on the upgraded Ford GT40 MK II in 1965.

Although the Ford GT40 MK II boasted a more powerful 427 V8 engine, the car suffered from gearbox issues and was forced to retire from the 1965 Le Mans race before completion. In the movie, the gearbox problems were depicted during Miles' test drive of the MK II rather than his real-life Le Mans race. This was changed for the James Mangold movie because, in 1965, Miles was racing on behalf of Chevy. It wasn't until the 1966 Le Mans that Miles officially raced the MK II for Ford/Shelby.

Ken Miles at Le Mans 1966

The climax in Ford v Ferrari takes place at Le Mans 1966. Despite driving the race car he designed and leading team Ferrari toward the end of the race, Ford VP Don Bebee (Josh Lucas) orders Miles to lose the race on purpose. For Bebee, winning the race was less important than a three-way photo finish shared among three Ford racers, including Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. Despite his superior racing skills, Miles agreed to let the two other Ford racers catch up to him and share a three-way victory. Alas, McLaren was declared the victor because his car started further back in the starting position and traveled further than Miles. Even after sacrificing the good of the team, Miles lost the race and came in second place.

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Although Miles was cheated out of his 1966 Le Mans victory, the movie depicts him as having no hard feelings. He tells Shelby, "You promised me the drive, not the win." For Miles, winning was never more important than the thrill of racing itself, a personality trait downplayed in the movie. To create a combative relationship between Miles and Shelby before forming a partnership, the movie exaggerates Miles' hot temper. In reality, Miles was known for his courtesy while racing and had a playful sense of sarcastic humor that is overlooked in the movie. Moreover, he was not as competitive as the other racers, describing himself as:

"I am a mechanic. That has been the direction of my entire vocational life. Driving is a hobby, a relaxation for me, like golfing is to others. I should like to drive a Formula One machine, not for the grand prize, but just to see what it is like. I should think it would be jolly good fun!" ( via Go Like Hell )

Ken Miles' Tragic Fate in 1966

The most realistic aspect of Ford v Ferrari tragically occurred in reality. Two months after having his 1966 Le Mans victory robbed by McLaren, Miles suffered a fatal car crash on August 17th. As seen in the thrilling racing movie , Miles was test-driving the Ford J-Car designed to succeed the Ford GT40 MK II. The test took place at Riverside International Speedway in California. The fatal crash took place near the end of the track during a one-mile downhill portion. Upon reaching roughly 200 miles per hour, the J-Car abruptly flipped, crashed, and burst into flames. The car shattered into several pieces, fatally ejecting Miles. He was just 47 when he passed away.

Early Version of Ford V Ferrari Almost Reunited Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt

While Miles' tragic death is respectfully honored in the movie, Ford v Ferrari ends with Shelby visiting Miles' son, Peter (Noah Jupe). The two discuss Miles before Shelby gives Peter a wrench that Miles threw at Shelby during their first meeting. This meeting never occurred nor did Miles hurl a wrench at Shelby when they met. The final meeting between Shelby and Peter underscores how much Ken Miles meant to Carroll Shelby despite their personal and professional arguments, and how proud Peter is of his father.

Fortunately, the movie ends by honoring Miles' legacy in the final text epilogue, which states that Ford continued to dominate Le Mans from 1967 to 1969, while Miles was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2001. Without Miles' invaluable contributions and heroic sacrifices to advance the reputation and performance of Ford's race cars in the 1960s, there's no telling where the automaker would be in 2024. He gave his life to help an American company do what he loved the most: to drive as fast as possible on a racetrack.

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Ford v. Ferrari and Gran Turismo have nothing on my epic auto-racing drama.

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.

Close-up of the protagonist, BART SKIDMORE, behind the wheel. Scenery flashes by.

BART: I want to be a race-car driver, but nobody believes in me. Nobody thinks I can drive fast enough. My only chance is to win this weekend at the Big Driving Contest.

Cut to the people in the back seat of Bart's Uber, yelling, "We believe in you! Please let us out!"

Now we're at the Big Driving Contest. It's an autocross course in the parking lot of an abandoned Kmart. Bart puts on a helmet and climbs into his clapped-out Honda Civic. His nemesis, CHAD RICHMAN, approaches.

CHAD: What are you doing here, Skidmore? You know I'm gonna beat you. But don't worry, I'll hire you as the brake-dust taster on my dad's race team, which I drive for in my fancy race car.

BART: We'll see about that.

Montage of racing action. We see feet violently mashing brake and throttle pedals, so we know they're driving fast. Bart and Chad are door to door at the finish, but Chad wins by an inch and celebrates next to his Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The camera pans to the fence, where grizzled crew chief TAD IRATE scowls, spits out his toothpick, and approaches Bart.

TAD: Hey, kid. You sucked out there. You're bad at driving, and your head's not on straight. You're also the most talented driver I've ever seen. Come join my race team with a fledgling car company that needs to win on the track to sell cars for the street. Now get back in your car, and I'll pat it twice on the roof so you know it's time to drive away.

Cut to a car factory. Sparks fly from metal grinders, and a worker smacks an engine block loudly with a ball-peen hammer. Tad introduces Bart to ALESSANDRO FERRIGHINI, the owner of the company.

ALESSANDRO: This is my new driver? He looks like he should be driving a taxi to take my third wife to meet with her divorce attorney at 2:45 p.m. today. Listen, idiots. If you don't win the Big Race with my race car, I will never be able to charge people $7593 for carbon-fiber dash inserts in my street cars. As you see, so much is on the line, and I am a tough bastard but also brilliant.

Cut to the Big Race. Eager spectators fill the grandstands. Race cars drive past slowly but rev loudly because that's how they warm up. Tad talks to Bart on the radio.

TAD: You gotta follow our race strategy. Step on the gas really abruptly. Stomp the brake pedal like there's a spider on it. If you need to pass someone, upshift, and you'll accelerate faster. And remember, there's always another gear, even if you've already upshifted 10 times.

BART: But Tad, I'm scared. Remember how I crashed that one time? I better drive slow so I don't crash again.

We see Bart dropping back to last place. Chad gives him the finger as he laps him. Tad trashes the pits, and Alessandro strolls to a pawnshop right there at the track to hawk his mistress's mink coat. It seems like it's over.

TAD: Listen, Skidmore. You can do it if you remember to forget. Steer hard in the corners. Do it for me. Do it for your girlfriend, who seems like a more interesting character than you but whom we haven't really seen. Do it for Alessandro. I just saw him tell his secret family they're all fired, and none of them even work for him.

Bart flips up his visor so we can see him squint. He starts overtaking cars. They're on the racing line, and he just drives around way outside or squares off the corner at 90 degrees, and somehow that's faster. Chad starts to look nervous. On the last corner, they're door to door, and Chad is furious. He swerves, smashing his car into Bart's, and both spin backward across the finish line—with Bart's red Ferrighini just in the lead.

The spectators turn into werewolves and attack everybody, and the credits roll, starting with the director: QUENTIN TARANTINO.

Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.

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10 Best Movies Like Ford v Ferrari

W hen Ford v Ferrari suddenly appeared on the big screen, it surely caught everyone off guard—in the nicest manner possible. This true-story drama starred Christian Bale and Matt Damon and had thrilling auto racing, but it also cut far deeper and captivated a wide range of moviegoers. It’s time to hunt for other films that are similar to this Oscar-nominated favorite while it’s still fresh in our memories. These are the 10 best movies like Ford v Ferrari for when you’re itching for the fast-paced, dramatic anticipation of this blockbuster film.

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10. The Damned United (2009)

There will undoubtedly be conflict when former successful manager Brian Clough takes over England’s premier football team Leeds United due to his aggressive demeanor and obvious distaste for the players’ nasty style of play. A glimpse inside his past career explains both his animosity toward former manager Don Revie and how much he misses Peter Taylor, his right-hand man who has remained faithful to Brighton & Hove Albion. This is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari as it features a tense, fast-paced, ambitious sports film based on a true story.

9. Heart Like a Wheel (1983)

Judith Muldowney née Roque naturally developed a passion for driving fast automobiles when her father let her sit behind the wheel of his car when she was a young child and after she and her then-boyfriend Jack Muldowney competed in neighborhood street races as teenagers. Although Jack considered his wife’s desire to compete in National Hot Rod races more as a hobby than as a prospective career, he did support her in certain ways as her technician and original race car builder.

Connie Kalitta, a fellow driver who had more than just a professional interest in Shirley, helped her overcome the stereotype that anyone who participated in any sort of motorsport had to be a man in the middle of the 1960s so that she could obtain her National Hot Rod Association license. Connie gave her the nickname “Cha-Cha” (which she detested) due to her female chutzpah, which would be widely utilized by the general public and the media.

Shirley’s relationships with Jack and Connie would be put to the test as she advanced in the sport, both personally and professionally. Based on a true story and featuring a suspenseful, exciting plot, this is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari for when you’re itching to recreate the film’s magic.

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8. Dirt (2018)

In the film Dirt , a young criminal attempts to better his life and that of his younger sister thanks to the help of a nice police officer, a program for troubled youth, and an auto racing team. There will be lots of automobile action, including multiple wrecks, but none that cause significant harm or death because it is centered on off-road racing championships held at several motor speedways.

Other dangers include a gang of auto thieves’ threats and danger, a brawl, vandalism, and fire. Some of the female racetrack attendants wear provocative costumes, and the movie is mostly focused on men. One strong woman acting as a parent strikes a balance against it. This is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari as it features a motorsport premise, a compelling protagonist, and a glowing redemption arc.

7. King Richard (2021)

Richard Williams is adamant about immortalizing his daughters Venus and Serena in history, and he does so with the help of a bold 78-page strategy and a clear vision. The girls are formed by their father’s unwavering determination and their mother’s balanced viewpoint and strong intuition as they train on Compton, California’s abandoned tennis courts, rain or shine, defying the apparently insurmountable obstacles and prevailing expectations put before them.

Based on the inspiring true story, “King Richard” depicts the uplifting journey of a family who produces two of the greatest sports giants in history thanks to their unflinching resolve and steadfast faith. Based on a true story of a high-powered sport, this is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari , especially as it features Will Smith in a powerful and unique role.

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6. The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

Golden puppy Enzo recounts his lovely life with loyal owner Denny in death basket flashbacks. Denny is a gifted and aspiring Formula One race car driver who put his racing ambitions on hold in order to marry Eve and raise their daughter Zoe. Denny doesn’t accept a test driver position at Ferrari’s Milan headquarters until after Eve dies in a catastrophic accident and her wealthy parents lose a contentious custody battle against him.

By that time, inseparable Enzo is so sick that he can only take one more ride in Denny’s state-of-the-art F1 car, but he is sure that eight years from then he will be reborn as a promising racer. This is undeniably one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari , incorporating the racing theme alongside a compelling, heartwarming character arc and plot.

5. Driven (2001)

Jimmy Bly, a talented rookie race car driver, has started to lose focus and is falling in the standings. It makes sense given the tremendous pressure his wildly ambitious promoter brother is putting on him, as well as Bly’s relationship with Sophia, the fiancée of his arch-competitor. Car owner Carl Henry enlists former racing champion Joe Tanto to assist Bly because there is a lot riding on him.

Tanto must first cope with the psychological wounds left over from a devastating racing accident that almost cost him his life in order to push Bly back to the top of the standings. Though a smaller, lesser-known film, this is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari , especially as it focuses on racing and relationships.

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4. Moneyball (2011)

The Oakland A’s of general manager Billy Beane in 2001 suffered a postseason loss to the Yankees and subsequently lost three stars to free agency. With the A’s player salary being less than one-third of those of wealthy teams, how is Beane able to produce a competitive team? Beane employs and speaks to Peter Brand, a recent Yale graduate who assesses players using Bill James’ statistical approach, much to the dismay of his scouts.

On paper, Beane puts together a team of unknown players that can reach base and score runs. The players won’t then be used in the manner that Art Howe, Beane’s manager, desires. Can Beane defeat Howe, win games, advance to the 2002 World Series, and defy baseball’s rigid rules? As another true story and compelling plot, this is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari .

3. Le Mans (1971)

This film depicts an automobile race in the 1970s at the world’s most challenging endurance track, Le Mans in France, in breadth and detail that is almost documentary-like. 13.4 kilometers of closed country road are used for the race, which lasts for 24 hours. The two drivers of each car switch out every few hours, yet maintaining focus and material is still difficult.

The competition between the German Stahler driving a Ferrari 512LM and the American Delaney driving a Gulf Team Porsche 917 is the main attraction. Delaney is under a lot of pressure because the previous year he was responsible for a serious accident that resulted in the death of his friend Lisa’s husband. An oldie but goodie, this is one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari .

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2. Born to Race (2011)

The protagonist of this tale is the disobedient young street racer Danny Krueger, who is headed for danger. He is transferred to a tiny town to stay with his estranged father, a retired NASCAR racer, after a crash at an illegal street race. When Danny is in high school, he meets Jessica. He accepts her party invitation. Danny accepts the offer in an effort to fit in.

Danny encounters local hotshot Jake Kendall at the event. The two individuals argue. Danny will need to uphold Jake’s high standards for the neighborhood in order to be accepted, which will require him to compete once more. In the meantime, there are ups and downs in Danny’s relationship with his father. Danny still hasn’t recovered from his father abandoning him and his mom when he was just a little child.

He can’t avoid his father as he tries to navigate his new community, and as they converse, the two slowly come to see that they have more in common than they initially thought. Danny is compelled to ask his father for assistance in defeating his competitor Jake Kendall when he decides to compete in the NHRA High School Drags. This is a classic and one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari , hands down.

1. Rush (2013)

The film is based on the true story of a fiercely competitive clash between the dashing English playboy James Hunt and his meticulous, brilliant competitor, Austrian driver Niki Lauda. It is set against the sensual, seductive golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s. The narrative covers both drivers’ vastly different personal characteristics on and off the oval, their relationships, and the incredible 1976 season in which they each risked everything to win the world championship in a sport where mistakes are fatal.

Hunt and Lauda couldn’t have been more dissimilar from one another, both on and off the track. Despite the fact that Lauda’s reputation for rigid control of perfectionism and Englishman Hunt’s exuberant public persona frequently clashed, both men were undoubtedly among the best racecar drivers to ever grace the track.

But after Lauda nearly loses his life in a tragic incident at the 1976 Nürburgring Grand Prix, there is reluctant respect between the two racers as Hunt learns how dedicated Lauda is to the sport they both love. This is undeniably one of the best movies like Ford v Ferrari and will be the perfect addition to your next comfort movie night.

Need an adrenaline rush? These are the 10 best movies like Ford v Ferrari for when you’re itching for fast-paced drama and action on the screen.

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COMMENTS

Ford v Ferrari movie review & film summary (2019)
Ford v Ferrari. This racing picture is a period piece, set in the early 1960s, and there's also something retro about the kind of movie storytelling it represents. Directed by James Mangold and given spectacular horsepower by dual male leads Christian Bale and Matt Damon, "Ford v Ferrari" recounts, in a sometimes exhilaratingly ...
Ford v Ferrari
When Enzo Ferrari insults Henry Ford II, Ford hires American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles to develop a race car to defeat Ferrari and win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Starring Matt ...
'Ford v Ferrari' Review: It's a Gas
"Ford v Ferrari" is no masterpiece, but it is — to invoke a currently simmering debate — real cinema, the kind of solid, satisfying, nonpandering movie that can seem endangered nowadays.
Ford v Ferrari review
F ord v Ferrari is a great-looking, handsomely produced but tiringly acted and inert sports drama about two good ol' boys from the self-admiring world of motor racing - which a character here ...
Review: 'Ford V Ferrari' : NPR
Review: 'Ford V Ferrari' LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan talks with NPR's David Greene and reviews the new film Ford v Ferrari, ... If you go see the new movie, "Ford V Ferrari," in a theater ...
Ford v Ferrari
Ford v Ferrari (titled Le Mans '66 in some European countries) is a 2019 American biographical sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller.It stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, with Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, and Ray McKinnon in supporting roles.
Ford v Ferrari Is the Rare Car Movie with Good Storytelling
And Ford v. Ferrari, which tells the story of how Ford beat Ferrari to win Le Mans in 1966, has those in spades. Beautifully shot, suspenseful racing pervades the film, and the cars—Ford GT40s ...
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Ford v Ferrari: Directed by James Mangold. With Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe. American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
Ford v Ferrari
Ultimately, Ford v Ferrari is an entertaining yarn, but possibly a movie that'll only make multiple laps around the track if you're a petrolhead. Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 25, 2021
'Ford v Ferrari' Review: The Story of a Competitive Friendship
Most racing movies are about rivals, but not so "Ford v Ferrari," which, despite its competition-oriented title, is actually the story of two friends, Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles (played by ...
Ford v Ferrari Review
This is an advance review out of the Toronto International Film Festival. Ford v Ferrari opens Nov. 15 in the US and UK and Nov. 14 in Australia. You can watch our video review for Ford v Ferrari ...
'Ford v Ferrari' Review
THR review: Christian Bale and Matt Damon play 1960s racing legends Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, respectively, in 'Ford v Ferrari,' James Mangold's drama about Ford Motor Company's efforts to top ...
Review: 'Ford v Ferrari' Takes The Checkered Flag : NPR
Ford v Ferrari is based on real-life events, but I have no idea whether this wild ride ever took place. Not that it matters: Mollie's tough-love therapy inserts an intrepid woman into a mega-manly ...
'Ford v Ferrari' Review: Damon, Bale and the Need for Speed
Back in the 1960s, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) determined to beat Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) at his own game by building a hot, fast race car — the GT40 — that could win the 24 Hours of Le ...
"Ford v Ferrari" Movie Review: Translating One of Racing's Most
The movie's conflict is more "Car Guys (including Mollie Miles) v. Ford Motor Company" than "Ford v. Ferrari," in that Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) and his executives, engineers, and drivers are ...
Ford v Ferrari Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 31 ): Kids say ( 41 ): This enjoyable fact-based racing movie runs a little long, but it manages to keep up a good, breezy pace, focusing more on pure entertainment than on trying to be dutifully "important." At the heart of Ford v Ferrari are two fine performances by Damon and Bale, whose characters forge a touching ...
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
8/10. Engaging Action Film. claudio_carvalho 15 June 2020. "Ford v Ferrari" is an engaging action film based on a true story, when the American manufacturer Ford decided to build the racing car Ford GT40 to defeat the Italian Ferrari at the "24 Hours of Le Mans" in 1966.
Ford v Ferrari Movie Review
Thankfully, the final film, Ford v Ferrari (which was titled Go Like Hell early on in development), transcends its biographical trappings to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience for gearheads and race-car novices alike. And with director James Mangold (of Walk the Line and Logan fame) calling the shots, the biopic is mostly successful in ...
Ford v Ferrari
Movie Review. Once upon a time, Henry Ford II decided to buy up a little Italian car company called Ferrari. You know, to add a bit of racing cred to his family-car image. I mean, Ferrari's meticulously hand-crafted sports cars offered a lot of panache, but selling them at their required price point, even in the early 1960s, wasn't easy.
Ford v Ferrari Movie Review: MotorTrend's Take on the 2019 Racing Movie
Ford v Ferrari, whose release date is November 15, is an example of the latter. But don't be dissuaded. Viewed through a documentarian's lens, there's a great deal missing and/or wrong with the ...
'Ford v Ferrari' movie review: A masterpiece that races ...
There is so much to love about Ford v. Ferrari. It's well-cast, well-acted, well-directed, and beautifully crafted from stem to stern. And for a movie that doesn't necessarily subscribe to ...
Rob's Car Movie Review: Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Ford v Ferrari was produced by Chernin Entertainment and released in the United States in 2019 by Twentieth Century Fox. Throughout its development, the film was considered a top project around town. As such, it ended up attracting an illustrious cast and above-the-line crew. James Mangold, all-star helmer of such films as Walk the Line ...
Movie Review: Ford V Ferrari
While Ford v Ferrari makes for a fine movie, it's a terrible documentary. It's absolutely true that Shelby, Miles and the rest of the Shelby American team whipped the GT40 into fighting trim, battling the bureaucracy at Henry Ford II's family firm before they could take on Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans. In that sense, Ford v Ferrari is a buddy ...
How Much of 'Ford v Ferrari' Is True?
James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, is a fairly accurate depiction of the amazing underdog racing story. While fairly accurate, 'Ford v Ferrari' adds some ...
Movie Review: 'Ford v Ferrari'
The movie of course climaxes at Le Mans, and when Ford is actually racing against Ferrari, the spectacle lives up to the hype. There's a real sense of danger and consequence for any mistakes.
The True Story of Ken Miles From Ford V Ferrari, Explained
The climax in Ford v Ferrari takes place at Le Mans 1966.Despite driving the race car he designed and leading team Ferrari toward the end of the race, Ford VP Don Bebee (Josh Lucas) orders Miles ...
10 Car Movies Based On A True Story To Watch If You Loved Ford V Ferrari
Ford v Ferrari is an exhilarating true story that provides epic car racing scenes for fans of car movies.; There are standout car movies based on real events, like The Hitch-Hiker and The Great ...
Ezra Dyer: My Racing Movie Is the Next Big . . . Racing Movie
From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.. In the past few years, there have been several movies about cars and racing: Ford v.Ferrari. Ferrari. Gran Turismo, featuring some Ferraris.Even ...
10 Best Movies Like Ford v Ferrari
W hen Ford v Ferrari suddenly appeared on the big screen, it surely caught everyone off guard—in the nicest manner possible. This true-story drama starred Christian Bale and Matt Damon and had ...

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