Blogfinger

Christian Bale as Ken Miles racing in the rain. Blogfinger.net.   Paul Goldfinger movie still as are the other images below.

Diminished visibility and danger at LeMans, at night. in the rain, seen through the driver’s  (Miles) window.

Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby  holding his Ferrari  stopwatch.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, film reviewer at Blogfinger.net.

This film is beautifully done and is directed by James Mangold. It received a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.   It is about international car racing at a major French course called Le Mans, where national pride is at stake, but also competition among men with immense talent and skill.

Ferrari, the Italian royalty of car racing machines, usually wins the 24 hour challenging and world famous LeMans race competition.  But the Ford company wants to wear the mantle of producing not only practical cars for every-man but also of crafting beautiful racing cars that can dominate the field and show up the arrogant elitists at Ferrari.

We meet the Ford executives who represent corporate America, and they, especially their leader Henry Ford II, appropriately are proud of their record up to the 1960’s, but they now want an extra measure of achievement.

They rightly can brag about what they accomplished in WWII producing most of the bombers that helped defeat our enemies, but Mr. Ford is eager to show the world what else the Ford company can do.

Henry Ford II enlists the help of two American racers/engineer/ designers:  Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles  (Christian Bale.)   Ford is willing to spend as much money as  is needed to stick it to the Ferrari braggarts.

Shelby and Miles are typical can-do Americans, but they receive considerable flack from the up-tight Ford suits. Yet the determined duo manage to come up with the Ford GT 40, a powerhouse vehicle that can exceed 200 mph at over 7,000 rpm. This car, with Miles behind the wheel, can win in the rain and the dark of LeMans, a scary race venue.

Shelby is a successful driver and producer of fast performance cars for competition and for driving around town with his wealthy customers.  He is no longer able to race.

Miles is a quirky and sometimes exasperating guy who knows how to win in dangerous conditions.  He and Shelby make a determined team and they bring their car to LeMans with fierce resolve.

If you see this movie, be prepared to view a lot of racing  scenes and hear a lot of car talk.  But all of that is well done.   Also, it’s too long at 2 1/2 hours.

However,  the filming is masterful, and the race scenes are gripping and exciting.  You want to hold onto your seats and you wish you had a seat belt.

Forgetting about the “win the race” story line, this movie can be appreciated at another level where intelligence, will power, cooperation, friendship and American values win the day.

Damon and Bale are wonderful actors.  Bale lost weight for his role while Damon looked a little rotund.  Bale, as Miles,  flashes his British accent, but his entire auto career has been in America.

The film is PG13, and  the beautiful Caitriona Balfe, as Miles’ wife, is dealt some dark moments, but nevertheless, she is quite sexy especially in an early scene where she shows up at her husband’s garage and they do some play acting together.  It is a heated and well done love scene, done with humor, which proves that a film doesn’t require actual sex to be erotic. Many old movies make the same point.  Caitriona is an Irish actress best known for her role in the “Outlander” series.

I found this movie at Red Box.  This is a re-post, so disregard my dates of showing.

“Stout Hearted Men” by The Royal Artillery and Parachute Regiment Bands and Chorus:     I learned to love this song at Rutherford High as a member of the Boys Glee Club.

8/26/23. Paul Goldfinger. Sunset Ave  Farmers’ Market 2023. Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net.  Jersey corn still around as autumn approaches.

BOB DYLAN.  “Maggie’s Farm”

Paris. Tuileries. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click once to enlarge. This was a challenge in the darkroom.

 

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net

As a teenager I learned to love Broadway show tunes thanks to my mother who was a fine singer and she knew the score of every Broadway show.

“Till There Was You”  was a favorite of mine—so beautiful and romantic.

It  was performed in the 1957 Broadway musical  “The Music Man” by Barbara Cook.  And it is heard in the movie version 1962.  The composer was Meredith Wilson.

Steve Fitch. 1973. New Mexico.

By Paul  Goldfinger, MD.  Editor Blogfinger.net

This image is for sale at the Joseph Bellows Gallery in California.   He loves to show vintage black and white photographs.

This Steve Fitch image is described by the gallery as a “Vintage gelatin silver print. 11×14”

The artist  calls it “Motel Highway 85.  1973. New Mexico.  Truth or Consequences”

Steve Fitch is now 77 years old. He is well known and has won many awards and has had many showings. He has taught at the college level.

I love his style of photographing vernacular subjects such as signs and motels on highways, as above. This image has a beautiful low contrast feel.  Great photos don’t have to be brightly lit or sharply focused.  I don’t know, but he may have shot this photo with a classic large format camera, a la George Tice.

As some of you know, I do admire subtle photo imagery in black and white, as in the “Blue Bird Court” above.

He and I are from the same era—Here are  two of mine:

Tapatia. Asbury Park, NJ. Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net

New York Mail. Movie still.   Paul Goldfinger. 2025 Blogfinger.net

To see some of my images, besides viewing Blogfinger.net, go to our home page and click on the photo gallery.

“Mamaleh”. Yaacov Shapiro from his “18 Pearls of Yiddish Songs.”    (“Mamaleh” means “little mother”)

Tent Village. Neighbors chat. Paul Goldfinger photo for Blogfinger.net. 8/31/24. Click once to enlarge.

BETTY CARTER:   “Everytime We Say Goodbye.”   Cole Porter.    This song is on the duet album above with Ray Charles, but now we feature Betty performing this incredibly beautiful song solo; on the album   “Night and Day” of Cole Porter hits. If needed, click on “Watch On You Tube,”

Hi Paul:

Greetings from Manhattan. Sometimes the working methods of the sea seem so similar to those of the poet, that they could be considered a metaphor for poetry composition. Here is the poem “At Sea Level,” from my work-in-progress, Circle of Time.

Best wishes,
Charles Pierre

Paul Goldfinger.  Gasparilla Island, Florida. c. 2014.

At Sea Level

By Charles Pierre

On this low-lying island,
edged all around with surf,

land and water absorb
each other along beaches,

where driven tides wash sand
to the sea, then shower it back

across shore, like a poem
in endless revision,

each new sheet of sand
spread flat and blank,

its shape and texture
worked by the weather,

until the draft is crumpled
and flung to the waves.

A.R. RAHMAN. “You Complete Me” from The 100 Foot Journey.

Ocean Grove boards. Paul Goldfinger. 2022.

Paul Simon.    “Bernadette” from. Songs from the Capeman

OG Boards. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net

Johnny Hartman:   “Mam’selle

Paul Goldfinger photo.  Click once to enlarge.

“Lift Thine Eyes”. The Priests.   From Elijah

Felix Mendelssohn:

“Pick up line.” Nagles.   Paul Goldfinger photo.  ln  Ocean Grove.   6/19/2026      Click once for all 5.6 MB enlarged. 

Jason Howard   “Lovely to Look At.”

Paul Goldfinger. Tent Village. Ocean Grove.

The Velours: