One by One

OK, so this was made in 1974, and, wow!, it shows! It's about 80% filler & time wasted. It's obvious the the producers & director deliberately include a lot of 70s risque crap.

What IS worthwhile is the 20% of material that shows racing, incidents, discussion of racing by the drivers, a tour of the Nurburgring with Jackie Stewart, and the display of just how primitive and chaotic F1 was at the time.

It was, compared to today, a poorly administered exercise in making rich people richer, and letting fragile egos of a few European men play with lives of drivers and the welfare of their families.

It's not a proud time for F1, and this documentary suffers mightily in retrospect for choices made to put style first over actual content. It is, maybe, an effort to celebrate excess for its own sake. At best - trying to be generous - it's an experience of F1 of the times, moreso than an exposition.

Fortunately, there are much better documentaries and far better resources for learning the history of F1.

Something to watch in the off season. On one hand possibly the worst ever example of 1970's documentary film making (the editor must have been on LSD and the musical score later probably appeared in Deep Throat) BUT put that to one side and enjoy the spectacle of those incredible 1973 F1 cars and just how far the sport has come in the intervening years.

While the film is a little dated, it reminds you immediately why race car drivers are considered some of the coolest and most courageous athletes in the world. The opening scene sets the tone for the film. This is no film for the faint-hearted. In fact, if you are at all squeamish about scenes of car wrecks, this is not for you. There are scenes with not only wrecks but the carnage that follows. Far from being a glorification of that carnage, the accompanying interviews with formula 1 drivers from the early 70s remind you that there are people in those cars; people who get hurt or even killed in those crashes. I would recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of racing in any capacity.

Having been a race fan for many years I have always found the courage of both the drivers and course workers to be compelling.

While I have seen some horrifying crashes, the one which shows Pryce's car hitting and then launching a course worker into the air like a broken rag doll, virtually cutting his body in half, as he runs across the track to help another driver, is the worst I have seen.

As you see the track worker alive one second and horrifyingly killed in the next, you become painfully aware of just how precious life is, and how quickly a tragic and unforeseen event can cut it short.

I would have to say that while some racing enthusiasts suggest viewing this footage of Tom Pryce in the 1977 South African GrandPrix, I don't recommend it. You can hear about tragedies like this one, but when you see it even on film it is devastating. I can only imagine the nightmares that other course workers who immediately ran over to the mutilated body of their dead comrade, must have had for years afterwards.

Sometimes, it's just better to hear about these things rather then see them.

I now realise I have seen clips of this documentary used in other F1 films and it's good to see the whole film. It has some interesting and candid interviews with leading drivers of the day with no PR person in sight interrupting the interview. It starts with the horrific Tom Pryce accident in Kyalami but after that it's not too graphic. It's also sad to see Francois Cevert discussing how smoothly his team mate, Jackie Stewart, drives in the same year died. Another thing which is striking is how tatty and worn the cars look compared to immaculate specimens you see today and also how soft their suspension was. Also surprising is the amount of surplus people in the pits who have to dive out of the way when the cars come in The film is of its time and has a lot of the 70s trademarks - swirling aerial helicopter shots, rambling incidental music, lingering female breast shots, and goes down odd cinematic avenues to try and set the scene before jumping back into f1 but I am not complaining. It's also filmem, to a degree, from a 'let's teach the Americans about f1. Most of the video footage is of good quality and with age it has become a good historical record of an F1 era which must be fading fast, even from the memories of those who lived through it. Much like Steve McQueenks Le Mans