Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

I have always liked Paul Newman as an actor, but never knew that he was so serious about car racing. He was Very Serious about car racing and very good at it, Risky Business.

This perfectly-paced film about Paul Newman, champion race car driver, is about the late star's life as a racer and his undying passion to continue to better his competency behind the wheel. I say "competency" because, judging by this lovely film and everything else I've read about Paul Newman, that's precisely the kind of understated term Mr. Newman would have preferred.Paul Newman, this film shows us, took on the art of driving well with a deliberate, humble, let's-get-this-right-if-it-takes-all-night approach. Here was a man not afraid of making mistakes—this, a lesson borrowed from his acting—who even invited error as a way of probing the perimeters of the possible, a way of becoming a better and better man. It's that breed of humility and deliberation that makes this documentary such an important and fittingly executed work: it simply tells the story of this amazing driver without pumping up the nostalgia, without needless flash and fanfare, and with the quiet, surehanded style required of its subject.In a clip included in the film, Paul Newman says that he took part of every role he played and built it, permanently, into his own character. Remember when "Fast Eddie" Felson says (of Minnesota Fats), in The Hustler, "I beat him all night and I'm gonna beat him all day"? It's such a great line, because Fast Eddie means it. He ain't kidding around, and you know it. It's in Paul Newman's eyes.Director Adam Carolla (who, to be frank, is equal-parts hilariously trenchant social commentator and irretrievable ignoramus: he has suggested, unapologetically, that men into cooking are, by definition, "losers" and that the Cecil [the lion]-killing dentist—who, with the release of a single arrow, made everyone's world a little smaller—should escape judgement because "he pays his taxes") depicts a man who revelled in the chance to show on the track that indeed he could, at the young age of 48 and later at 82, beat 'em all night (literally speaking, at Le Mons) and then beat them all day. Mostly, though, it shows us a man who wanted to be part of a team of extraordinary people, running the right lines at the right speeds in a perfectly tuned car, then hear from the other drivers that he ran a good race, and then wake up and do it again. He wanted to do this and this and the other things—like raising hundreds of millions for charity and giving sick kids a camp to forget their troubles—not because they were easy but because they were hard, and because it all propelled him closer, to use Newman's word, to a kind of "grace."You'll have a tough time finding anything wrong with this documentary, whether you're a car racing fan—or, for that matter, an Adam Corolla fan—or not. It'll sweep you up; it'll put you in the passenger seat and take you around the track, right next to The Man with the cerulean blue eyes. And if you're not a fan of Paul Newman—especially after seeing this gem of a doc—well, then God help you.

I grew up in a racing family, of sorts. My Dad raced Super Modifieds throughout New England as I was growing up so of course, it had a very big influence on me. Of all the amazing race car drivers in the world, I had 4 that idolized, Mario, Big E, Fittipaldi, & A.J. These guys were drivers I felt were naturals, born with the gift of greatness. Then there were the drivers that had an influence on me because their careers & lives were long shots that might not have happened without the character to find greatness within themselves. Those were the guys I wanted to be and "PL" was one of those guys. He blew my mind because he was an enigma to racing, I thought here's a guy that has no earthly business in anything with more than 100hp, let alone anything on a track in a competitive atmosphere. "Cool Hand Luke"!?! The friggin "Sundance kid"?! In a RaceCar!!?? No friggin way! I have, throughout the years read great stories about him, I watched just about every race he was in, that was televised, I knew a few people that knew him personally and literally everything about Paul Newman fascinated me. As I grew up, his story had an influence on me, now in my 50's, it's been a while since I have followed any driver, in fact since Dale JR retired, I haven't even so much as watched a race on tv. This movie is awesome! Thank you A.C for making it and thank you Amazon for having it. Prime is the perfect place for it. This film brings back a flood memories and I can't help reflecting on how certain icons in our lives live in the back of our minds as stalwarts to pull ourselves up with, you don't recognize them at the times of trouble but, here it is so many years later watching a movie about a guy that hasn't had a lot of relevance in my life for a long time and I'm like, "Oh yeah I remember this, that's where I picked that attitude up" LOL oh well, just can't say enough about this movie and "PL" himself, just very cool.

This documentary is a well-accomplished tribute to the side of "PL" that most Americans never got to know, other than fleetingly and as an aside to his acting and the Newman Foundation. It very accurately does depict the absolute veracity of the fact that Paul L Newman was a racer's racer, totally centered on the facts of racing. Having met and observed him several times as a course official [and low-level driver] at MidOhio Sportscar Course, I can directly attest to the accuracies of the movie. At the track, or for that matter away from the track if anything to do with driving was involved, his interest(s) and attention were solely on racing. Once, while he was on the pre-grid awaiting a race start, I saw him close his helmer shield and turn his head when another driver's wife started 'gushing' about movie roles. On the other hand, just before that, he and I had discussed extensively some of the nuances of the track, him wishing me good luck in another series a couple weeks later.The only thing that didn't seem to come through fully, was that if one was a racing fan, he really was approachable, to talk about racing - nothing else. My frequent 'guest pit crew' pal had the chance to experience this also, when he encountered him at the track - the fact that he was there with a track official & driver, and was an enthusiast of all forms of auto racing, was all it took for them to get along for several minutes, before PL had to go prep for a practice.I miss PL Newman, the driver -- much more than his other personae [though also a fan otherwise] -- and this movie brought it home to me. Thank you.

If you are a fan of Datsun racing cars from the 1970's this documentary has some great racing footage. You will see Datsun 510's, Datsun 240 Z etc.Bob Sharp ( Bob Sharp Racing) & ( Bob Sharp Motors) provides some narration and insight as he spent hundreds of weekends providing Paul Newman with race cars and support. Lots of other very interesting drivers and people from that era are interviewed. I won't mentions their names, but was very surprised and pleased to see them included. This production was well researched and executed. Watching this video brought back many memories of racing days gone by. I learned a bit more about Paul Newman the race car driver. Worth the purchase and multiple viewings.FIVE STARS !

Eine Bewertung nicht möglich, da die DVD den Ländercode USA hat.Der Film ist Importware. Das Buch war sehr informativ.

dvd magnifique sur la vie très complète et éclectique de cet immense acteur producteur et réalisateur. Le livre était impressionnant, ce dvd renforce cette impression. Superbe

Was quite a good documentary, well produced and professionally edited, I was very impressed and intrigued to find out how much Paul Newman's racing career meant to him and the amout of effort and work he put into pursuing racing, and further more he was evidently a excellent true racer. I was also quite surprised and impressed by the fact that Adam Corolla was actually the main producer/director editor of this documentary, and also that he to is involved in racing.

Leider Hat die DVD den Regionalcode für USA, d.h. läuft leider nicht! Dies war in der Beschreibung nicht ersichtlich. Schade!