Starring: Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti
Director: Stephen Low
Narrated by: Paul Newman
Studio: Image Entertainment ID51150WBD
Video: 1.85:1 widescreen for 16:9 color, 1080p HD
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1; French, Spanish DTS 5.1
Extras: Making Of Documentary, Trailers, Featurettes, Trivia Track
Feature Length: 50 minutes
Rating: ****
The Super Speedway Blu-ray disc comes from a feature that was originally created for IMAX theaters. The film follows two basic story lines, which revolve around drivers Mario and Michael Andretti, the process of building and racing an Indy car from the ground up, and the restoration of Mario Andretti’s first Indy-style car, which had been languishing in a chicken coop on the Andretti property in Pennsylvania. It’s actually a very interesting film, and with the Andretti’s winning pedigree, you’d think that the entire affair would be like shooting fish in a barrel, but nothing could be further from the truth. The experience chronicles numerous equipment and engine failures that are very disheartening to the Andretti team, but there are moments of hilarity as well, especially when the filmmakers and restorers are trying to get the old car out of the chicken coop and away from all the chickens.
While the film will be especially interesting to Indy car enthusiasts, there’s plenty for the casual viewer to enjoy as well, especially the on-track footage, in which an unwieldy, heavy and bulky camera was mounted on one of the Andretti cars and taken around various tracks at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour. While the home theater experience isn’t quite as thrilling as in the IMAX theater, it’s still quite a rush to zip around the track at those speeds from the comfort of your armchair! [And even higher resolution than any transfer from standard 35mm film…Ed.] The knowledgeable, yet comforting narration from Paul Newman greatly enhances the experience, and the film’s soundtrack is filled with really tasty guitar work from the likes of Mark Knopfler and Ry Cooder.
This is a really good-looking film, with really crisp and clear image quality and superb color representation. During the film’s final sequence, Mario Andretti is taking the newly restored race car for a spin through the Pennsylvania countryside during the peak of autumn leaf season, and the colors are absolutely eye-popping! Contrast is really excellent as well, and black levels are deep throughout. The audio quality is also fantastic, and there’s quite an extensive complement of bonus materials, including numerous trailers for other available Imax films, all of which looked incredibly interesting. The only quibble I’d have is that the interesting and informative making-of featurette is only available in standard definition, but that’s really a very minor complaint. Otherwise, this disc is very highly recommended!
— Tom Gibbs
