Toto Blu-ray Review: ‘Le Mans’ (1971)

Cool doesn’t need no stinkin’ dialogue.

Steve McQueen’s 1971 race car drama “Le Mans,” just released on Blu-ray, has so little dialogue you could jot it all down on the inside of a paperback book cover.

For the King of Cool, an actor whose icy stares often replaced emoting, the lack of spoken material hardly counts as a revelation.

But “Le Mans,” one of the lesser known titles in McQueen’s canon, deserves applause simply for taking the road far less traveled. It’s a plainspoken ode to race car driving, a sport distilled in the film to its core elements and the human need for speed.

And for those with patience and curiosity to burn it’s an exhilirating ride.

McQueen stars as Michael Delaney, an American race car driver still haunted by the memory of an accident at the world famous Le Mans involving him and a fellow driver who didn’t survive. A year later, Michael returns to the same punishing 24 hour race.

The film’s first act contains no traditional dialogue save overheard snippets of conversation and the pronouncements from the race track announcer. The camera intrudes on every aspect of the event, from fans gathering for a glimpse of racing history to drivers wearily answering questions from the press.

The effect is like peering at the race from the crowd and occasionally working your way near the course itself to see the participants up close, their faces guarded and blank.

Michael draws plenty of interest, but he offers well wishers little of himself. He’s saving everything for his Porsche 917.

A few traditional story arcs emerge, ever so slowly. The girlfriend of the driver who died in last year’s race attends the latest Le Mans, and she and Michael share a few brief, awkward exchanges.

“What is so important about driving faster than anyone else?” the girlfriend asks.

“A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it’s … life. Anything that happens before or after, it’s just waiting,” Michael tells her.

One’s appreciation for “Le Mans” will largely hinge on the sight of race cars zooming across the screen in a seemingly endless loop. Director Lee H. Katzin doesn’t go for flashy camera angles or other “look at me” trickery. He’s more intent on capturing the intensity of the race and the sounds of these machines roaring over roadways dark and wet at unholy speeds. When the camera tracks McQueen behind the wheel we get little beyond a slightly arched eyebrow or heavy sigh.

What matters most to Katzin is the danger inherent in the sport. The inevitable car crash sequences are shattering to watch, elegant vehicles shredded like paper by the combination of speed and immovable objects. The director dabbles in a few standard film tricks here, like slow-motion, to highlight the cars being torn asunder.

Modern race care movies would inevitably fall back on CGI magic or “Fast and Furious” style crashes to gin up interest. “Le Mans” settles for the basics, and when it’s firing on all cylinders it bullies past Vin Diesel and co. in terms of bravura movie making.

The Speedvision documentary “Filming at Speed: The Making of ‘Le Mans’” rounds out the Blu-ray package. Chad McQueen, son of Steve, hosts a comprehensive look at the making of the movie. His father fought for years to create the ultimate car racing film, but lost an early round when “Grand Prix” hit theaters in the late 1960s.

McQueen the megastar persevered, and eventually turned his attention to “Le Mans,” a project that attached as many as five cameras to the cars to capture as much of the racing experience as possible. Other cameras, manned by live operators, stayed on the job for a full 24 hours while filming an actual Le Mans event.

And that’s McQueen himself behind the wheel for much of the action. Would you expect anything less from the King of Cool?

(Photo: Steve McQueen indulges his car lust in “Le Mans,” arguably the purest racing car movie ever made. Paramount Home Entertainment)