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''Le Mans'' is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin, starring Steve McQueen. It features footage from the actual 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race in June 1970. Released in June 1971 and given a G rating, the film is still popular today among race fans, as it is a relatively accurate depiction of the era. It features lots of racing but very little dialogue (there is brief dialogue approximately 6 minutes into the film, then the PA announcer at 11 minutes, more PA announcements at 14 minutes, with McQueen's first dialogue at 36 minutes into the film). Due to this, and to the American market's obliviousness towards the Le Mans 24-hour race and foreign auto racing in general, it was a flop at the box office in the United States. It followed in the wake of the similar but much more successful 1966 film ''Grand Prix'' (for which McQueen had turned down the starring role, given afterwards to James Garner). ==Story== Michael Delaney (McQueen) spots racing rival Belgetti's widow Lisa (Elga Andersen) buying flowers; he then drives his 1970 Porsche 911S to the scene of the accident which killed her husband. He has a flashback of Belgetti losing control of his Ferrari just in front of Delaney, who also crashes. Lisa Belgetti likely thinks that Delaney is to blame for the death of her husband. At the next year's race, she appears downcast next to her new boyfriend, Claude Aurac (Luc Merenda). After 13 hours of racing, Erich Stahler spins his Ferrari at Indianapolis Corner, causing his teammate Claude Aurac to veer off the track in a major accident. Delaney is distracted by the flames of Aurac's car and suffers an accident of his own. He tries to avoid a slower car and collides with the crash barrier, writing off his Porsche. Although these are separate accidents, they were so close in time and place that it appears to observers that the accidents are linked. Delaney and Aurac survive, but Aurac's injuries are far worse. In the hospital after the crashes, Delaney consoles Lisa Belgetti and rescues her from a horde of reporters. After he puts her in a waiting car, a journalist asks Delaney whether his and Aurac's accident can be compared to the one with Belgetti in the previous year's race. Delaney does not respond. A subplot involves Johann Ritter (Fred Haltiner) and his beautiful wife Anna (Louise Edlind). He senses that she would like for him to stop racing and take up other employment. He suggests it, thinking she will be overjoyed. She demurs and says she would like it only if he likes it. He chides her a bit about not being entirely honest. Later the decision is taken out of his hands when the Porsche team manager David Townsend (Ronald Leigh-Hunt) replaces him for not being "quick enough." Anna tries to comfort him, reminding him that he was planning to quit anyway. Meanwhile, Lisa Belgetti is strangely drawn to Delaney. She seems to want him to quit racing because of the danger, but he finds the thrill is too addictive. During their conversation, Townsend enters Delaney's house trailer (caravan) and asks him to take over driving Ritter's car. After a moment's unspoken communion with Lisa, he follows Townsend. In the closing minutes of the race two Porsches and two Ferraris closely compete. The Porsches are driven by Delaney (now in car #21) and Larry Wilson (Christopher Waite) in car #22. One of the Ferraris, leading the race, suffers a flat rear tire and is out of the race, leaving just one Ferrari driven by Delaney's archrival Stahler (#8). Wilson is in the lead, but Stahler and then Delaney quickly catch up. Delaney passes Stahler for second place. Delaney, on the right, sees slower traffic ahead in his lane and must slow down, letting Stahler pass him, and then follows Stahler in the left lane around the slower car. Then they both catch Wilson. Delaney could remain in the left lane to follow Stahler around Wilson and then try to pass Stahler, but he wants to gain both the top two positions for Porsche rather than winning himself. Instead of remaining in the left lane, Delaney switches to the right lane immediately behind Wilson's bumper and alongside the overtaking Stahler. The drafting maneuver speeds up both Porsches, and they pull away from the Ferrari. During the maneuver, Delaney's Porsche bumps the Ferrari, and Stahler throttles back to avoid spinning out when his car goes partially off the pavement. Delaney then blocks Stahler, forcing him to remain in third position to avoid the guard rail. Although Delaney does not win the race, he beats archrival Stahler, and Porsche takes the top two positions, relegating Ferrari to third. Although the movie does not explain why Wilson’s Porsche #22 is slower than Delaney’s #21, a hint may be found in that in the real race #22 had a 4.5-liter engine, and #21 had the more powerful 5-liter. The movie does make it obvious that Delaney is a team player and knows that if he went for first place Wilson would take third. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Le Mans (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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