Happy Days Ahead For Howard's 'Rush'

Take a second to think about the best automotive racing movie you have ever seen? I'm not talking about films with ridiculous car chases or momentary glimpses of vehicular greatness - I'm talking about movies ABOUT racing. Sorry about the caps, but I am trying to build up to my realization: there hasn't been a great one in a while. As a matter of fact, there really aren't any. (The documentary 'Senna' was fantastic.)

Maybe I am being a little too harsh, after all, Pixar's Cars was pretty good and the sequel wasn't bad either. And there you have it - the best movie about racing in the past 20 years, that wasn't a documentary, is an animated flick aimed at ten-year-old boys. See the problem yet?

Well, Ron Howard might have the answer. His new film Rush (Official Site) opens in theaters on September 27, 2013 and is exactly what has been missing from the cinema for racing fans. It's the dramatization of the battle for the 1976 Formula One drivers championship between English driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl).

Left: Hunt (Hemsworth) and Right: Lauda (Brühl)

The nice thing about the recreation of the drama between these two drivers is it needs no embellishment or dramatization. Their story was a script a Hollywood writer couldn't even dream up. And that has me happy as can be. Why you might ask? My answer is simply: Ron Howard.

Ron Howard took the story of the Apollo 13 space mission and made it one of the most successful movies of the 90s. And I think the story between Hunt and Lauda is compelling enough to be on the same level. James Hunt; womanizer, boozer, smoker, nutter, patriot, controversialist, blonde vs. Niki Lauda; determined, highly competent, not an easy person to get to know, the man to beat. These two were the reason fans flocked to racetracks in the 1975-1977 Formula One seasons - the ladies more so for Hunt.

A really nice thing about the concept of the movie is that it's not just for race fanatics (just in the way Apollo 13 wasn't just for astronauts.) And the cherry on top of this sundae is that the theater won't be packed full of male moviegoers, because Howard cast the female heartthrob Chris Hemsworth to play James Hunt. If you think you might have trouble getting your female co-driver to go the movies with you, just show her this preview for the movie by clicking this link.

The real Niki Lauda (left) and James Hunt (Right)