MovieChat Forums > Ferrari (2023) Discussion > The Crash! (spoilers)

The Crash! (spoilers)

posted 5 months ago by Sunny85 (4)
5 replies | jump to latest

Specifically the depiction of the real life 1957 mille miglia disaster. OMG that was horrific! People in my theatre where gasping during it.

The fact that the organisers and government policy makers thought that it was even ok for high speed races to happen in residential areas is bewildering. The film showed a young family having breakfast, a little boy hears the cars and runs out excitedly to watch with his dad at the end of the driveway then boom the race car literally rips them and their neighbours in pieces! The race was banned after this accident, but still it never should have happened in those conditions at all!

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8350) 4 months ago

It was an insane scene. One question I had was whether a car could actually get launched so far into the air that it would hit the top half of a phone poll just because it had a blowout. I don't know, but it really was a completely unexpected and captivating moment in a film was otherwise far too ponderous and dull.

I also was surprised to see car races right in the middle of cities and towns. I never knew that was a thing.

[–] biffleberries (52) 4 months ago

I think these movies really love to embellish car crashes. Same thing as earlier in the movie when the driver was on the test track, hit a curb but they made sure to show the wheels were turned at an angle to make you think it could happen. Enzo told the driver the car could hit about 130, I don't think that is fast enough on a flat course to launch a car 15 feet high and travel 50 feet in the air.

That being said, the scene in front of the house I could not believe that was on screen. Wow, took my by surprise. I agree watching rally/road races with the people standing feet from the road, that is a recipe for disaster.

[–] JohnRyder (47) 3 months ago

Both crashes were very accurately depicted. Both Castellotti's and De Portago's cars launched high in the air. You can easily find info and pictures of the real life incidents. A period picture exists of Castellotti's car "parked" high in the stands of that track. Look it up. There are police reports for the second accident. As for the safety/not of the 1957 Mille Miglia race it was nothing unusual at the time. There were road races like that taking place all over the world from the mid 1890s just after the invention of the automobile, up to the 1980s. You could stand at the side of the road and watch with no barriers between you and the cars. Track-only F1 was similar up to the 70s as even though most spectators were sitting on the stands there were photographers, policemen, stewards (and the occasional random person) etc walking by the side of the racetrack with no barriers, nothing between them and a 180+ mph passing racecar 2 feet away. Things have changed.

[–] DarthAckbar (962) 3 months ago

^^this guy gets it.

[–] TandyMan (10439) 3 months ago

Absolutely possible if the car was pulling a turn. Watch them "high speed highway carnage" videos. That stuff still happens all the time. The footage of old races is mind blowing. People standing right to extreme racing. It's still dangerous as hell today. Even in Nascar a car will sometime take sail right over the barrier into the stands.