The off-track action is sub-soap-opera stuff: half psycho-babble musing about the need for speed, half “Goddammit man, she’s my wife!” emoting as Formula One drivers James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and Antonio Sabato slam cars round the circuits of Europe, while Eva Marie Saint and Jessica Walter simper in the pits. Thankfully the on-track stuff, as you’d expect from John Frankenheimer, is petrolhead heaven.

It was shot before, after and, occasionally, right in the middle of the 1966 Grand Prix season, with the actors doing their own driving (Garner trained for two months before shooting). And the footage is astonishing, even 40 years later. Relish the half-dozen races, largely shown with no sound other than the roar of giant engines and the screech of brakes.

DVD Extras:

There’s no commentary, but the docs are belters. The focus on Saul Bass’ work constructing splitscreen montages is fascinating, while the Making Of is packed with juicy anecdotage – not least snippets of Garner telling a stroppy Monte Carlo shopkeeper to fuck off out of the shot. Best of all though is the chat with real-life ‘60s F1 drivers, men like Stirling Moss, who can skip from tales of waving at pretty girls while braking at 150mph to the time he broke his back at the Belgian Grand Prix – both told in exactly the same cheery tone. A package with real horsepower.