It's been a banner year for Formula 1 racing at the movies; Ron Howard's "Rush" was an adrenaline fueled thrill ride about the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1976 season. Five years before the real Lauda and Hunt were battling for Grand Prix supremacy, racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart was chasing his own glory. "Weekend Of A Champion" was a documentary produced by Roman Polanski, chronicling the filmmaker as a fly on the wall as Stewart prepared for the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix. After debuting at the Berlin Film Festival in 1972, the film was considered lost. But Brett Ratner, director of the "Rush Hour Trilogy" and "Tower Heist", found the old movie and has brought it back to life.
"Weekend Of A Champion" offers a unique glimpse into the life of an athletic rock star. Even for non-racing fans, there is something utterly fascinating in watching Stewart make his race preparations. In one brilliant sequence, Polanski joins Stewart for a casual drive around the Monaco track. At every turn Stewart narrates where exactly the car is supposed to be, which direction it should be pointing, which gear he should be in, and why. He uses markers such as a manhole cover as a reference point to inform him when he should be shifting or slowing down. This pays off beautifully when, later, we view the exact same course over Stewart's shoulder while he's going full speed in the race.
On the other hand, we get to see Stewart interact with his fans. As the biggest name in Formula 1 racing at the time, Stewart drew a big crowd and could hardly walk through the streets without being stopped by a fan. One extended shot shows us Stewart walking through a crowd, vacantly grabbing pens that have been shoved in his face and jotting his name down on whatever paper they handed him. The impersonal way in which he handles these autographs could be perceived as ungrateful, but we see it as something more. He's not ungrateful, he's just trying to keep his mind on the race. It's probably the same story every track he goes to, and he's become used to being an autograph machine.
The footage is surprisingly high quality and avoids feeling like a home movie. (I'm unsure whether Ratner and his company restored the footage in any way). What suffers here is the audio, which frequently becomes muddled and incomprehensible. You'll have to listen carefully in many scenes to hear what Stewart is trying to say, whether because cars are whizzing by or a crowd of racing fans are cheering around him. These moments of incoherence don't last long enough to damage the overall film, but can be an annoyance.
The new-and-improved "Weekend Of A Champion" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this past year, featuring an additional epilogue with Polanski and Stewart sitting in the same hotel room they stayed in in 1971. This new ending was essential to bringing "Weekend Of A Champion" to a true conclusion. Polanski and Stewart, now 40 years older, reminisce about the days of 1970s F1 racing, and analyze the way it's changed over time. We also learn some fascinating facts about Stewart we didn't originally get from the film, the most surprising being that the champion didn't know how to read!
"Weekend Of A Champion" opens theatrically at the IFC Center and Lincoln Center on Nov. 22
