In 1970, Steve McQueen, at the height of his fame, put everything on the line to make the definitive motorsports movie. The resulting film, ‘Le Mans’, although a classic now (especially amongst motorsport fans), was a box office flop, and added to the list of disastrous events in McQueen’s life since he started making it. ‘Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans’ is a documentary of that period.
As a motor racing fan, I really like ‘Le Mans’, as it is very evocative of the racing at the time and truly reveals the rawness and passion of racing. Historically, general American audiences haven’t really been that familiar with much racing beyond local series such as NASCAR and Indy racing and so I can see why the film didn’t do well at the time, despite the legendary status of the Le Mans race in the rest of the world. It must be said though, that the script was rubbish and it’s only the racing that make it a classic, so that have had something to do with it too.
The documentary ‘Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans’ (released in November 2015) focusses on the passion that McQueen had for racing and his ‘at all costs’ attitude to getting the film made and will no doubt be a painful watch in some regards due to what he lost. The soundtrack therefore, should reflect that rawness of spirit, as well as the mixture of joy and tragedy that runs throughout this story.
Directors John McKenna and Gabriel Clarke have brought in Jim Copperthwaite to compose the score to the documentary, who has some experience, having composed for shorts and documentaries on TV since leaving the band ‘Aqualung’.
As befits the story of McQueen’s life during production, the soundtrack moves between lighter, more open style music and dark, slow, emotional pieces, clearly depicting the highs and lows of the period, as well as the cue’s titles.
Surprisingly, the score starts off with some very brooding cues, only leading to the lighter ones much later in the soundtrack, but the general tone is very oppressive. Based on this mixture of dark to light, I can only imagine that there will be quite a lot of intense emotions and dark parts in the film!
The general style is piano and orchestral led and has a rich sound throughout, occasionally being complemented by some electronic sounds. This sometimes wistfully open, sometimes claustrophobically oppressive sound is very effective at conveying a visceral punch and will no doubt compliment film well.
The soundtrack album also has four additional tracks at the end from the original ‘Le Mans’ soundtrack composed by Michel Legrand and Copperthwaites music is much more melancholic in comparison, although I suspect that difference is a reflection between what McQueen wanted on screen in the film, compared to the actuality of making it.
If this soundtrack is anything to go by, then the documentary appears as if it will be a great film, filled with tense emotions and a compelling narrative.
