Ford v Ferrari Movie Analysis

In the movie Ford V. Ferrari, Carroll Shelby and his ragtag racing crew team up with the famous Ford Motor Company to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race against Ferrari. During the movie, Ken Miles, Shelby’s friend and driver of choice, is motivated by the desire to drive the perfect racing lap, which causes him to find alternative means of accomplishing his goals. His motivations reveal that we sometimes must break the norm in pursuit of our dreams.

At the beginning of the movie, Miles is established as a hot-headed racer who will do anything to win. For example, at Miles’ European specialty car shop, Miles reminds an irate customer that there's nothing wrong with his MG, but that the customer should drive the car harder to make it run well, advising him to drive it like a sports car, not “like a school teacher”. This further angers the customer, who drives off. Other mechanics would have just given into the customer’s demands, but Miles values speed and the performance of the car over customer service. He tells the truth, even at the expense of the customer’s ego. Later, at the Willow Springs race, a Sports Car Club of America official disqualifies Miles’ AC Cobra over a regulation trunk space requirement. Miles flips out at the official, livid that he was being blocked from the race for something so small. Instead of laying down and admitting defeat, Miles attempts to fight the ruling he believes is unjust to do what loves. Right after this, Miles angrily smashes out the trunk of his Cobra, remedying the missed regulation. Other teams would have packed up and gone home to get or make a new trunk, but Miles takes action on the spot to get rid of anything keeping him from getting onto the track. This unorthodox fix allows him to enter the race, letting him chase his dream. Out on the track, Miles ends up locked in a close battle behind Dan Gurney. On the last corner of the last lap, Miles sticks two wheels onto the dirt and takes an unexpected line around Gurney’s outside, catching him completely off-guard. Miles then powers past Gurney, taking the win. Gurney, like the SCCA official and the other racers, are just obstacles in the way of Miles’ pursuit of victory. Where other racers would have given up and accepted 2nd place, but again Miles finds an unconventional way to win. Miles has a fiery start to his path to victory but then mellows out, still chasing his goals.

As the movie continues, Miles is portrayed as an honest guy who’s still just trying to chase his dreams. When Miles returns home to find his shop repossessed by the IRS, he vows to quit racing to support his family. Here, Miles acknowledges that he has to make the tough choice to give up what he loves, for the sake of his family. Miles thinks he can just quit his passion, but the racer inside him will never give the dream up. This new life as a humble mechanic doesn’t last for long. Miles’ friend and racing partner-in-crime, Carroll Shelby, invites Miles to hear his speech. Shelby indirectly speaks to Miles when he says, “There's a few, a precious few...who find something that they have to do. Something obsesses them. That if they can't do it, well it's gonna drive them clean outta their mind.” Shelby sees past the insincere promise of giving up on racing. Shelby reminds him racing is the thing he “has to do.” This is further evident by the smile on Miles’ face when he test drives the GT40. Providing for your family is important, but if it leaves you hollowed out, is that truly the right thing to do?  Mollie later confronts him about sneaking off with Shelby, angry that he had lied to her about quitting. Miles calms her down, apologizing but then telling her that they’re planning on paying him more than enough to put food on the table. Mollie’s anger is a representation of his own internal conflict between his responsibilities to his family and his passion for racing. By taking Shelby’s offer, Miles finds a way to take care of his family and chase his dreams. However, as Miles’ road to victory continues, interference from others causes him to take more drastic action to chase his passion.

Towards the end of the movie, Miles’ drive to accomplish his goal leads him to disobey direct orders. At the 24 Hours of Daytona, Leo Beebe, the scheming Motorsports Director at Ford, orders all the drivers to stay under 6000 RPM during the race. Miles, however, pushes the GT40 past 7000 RPM on Shelby’s signal, winning the race and securing his place on the Le Mans team. Both Shelby and Miles see Beebe’s orders as a measure to keep Miles from racing at Le Mans, and they decide that disregarding his plans is the only way to give Miles the shot at victory he craves. This shows that Miles is willing to strike out against the decisions of his superiors just to chase his dreams. Beebe’s plans are foiled again at the end of the Le Mans race when Beebe tells Miles to slow down so that the three Ford cars can cross the finish line together for a picture. Miles ignores this and continues to push the car hard, running a 3:30.6 lap. The fastest Le Mans lap in history; the perfect lap. Miles is once again so obsessed with chasing his perfect lap that he brushes Beebe’s promotional picture aside to drive that lap. Where other drivers would have submitted to Beebe’s attempt to downplay their greatness, Miles disobeys him to become a legend of his own right. However, after he sets the track lap record, Miles slows down to bring Bruce McLaren and Ronnie Bucknum in for the checkered flag together. They cross the finish line, and the winner is announced to be...McLaren, winning on a technicality. Miles, however, is not that upset, telling Shelby “You promised me the drive, not the win.” Having run his perfect lap, Miles has won his own victory and is content to let Beebe have his picture. Even though he was technically not the winner, he was not upset because he finally accomplished his goal of running the perfect lap. He got “the drive” that he always wanted, and didn’t need to be the winner of the race. He exits the scene with Shelby, both smiling and discussing ways to make the car faster.

Miles’ struggles against Beebe, the IRS, other racers, and even himself suggest that we should always find a way to chase our dreams, to run our perfect lap. His unorthodox methods of accomplishing his goals against the suits at Ford imply that, in a world increasingly dominated by the soul-crushing 9-to-5 corporate work culture, we too must find what obsesses us, what we “have to do”, and to do it even if it means going against what others want--or order--us to do. His reflection at the end of the Le Mans race poses the question to us too: would you rather win the race or enjoy the drive?