nzpedals
From very near the start, Newman and Woodward look so comfortable in each others presence. Well, they had been married for eleven years by then! There are other films where the "married" couple just look as though they are acting, and are not real. Here, it is so different and makes watching the rest of it worthwhile, and pleasant.OK, so we know that neither Newman nor Kapua won the 1968 Indy 500, so-what? It is easy to join in the excitement and appreciate the drama. The joining of real footage, especially of the first-lap pile-up is neatly and realistically done.Coping with infidelity is always going to be hard, by both partners, here they do it OK.Richard Thomas as the adopted son is good enough and led me to then watch his simply brilliant "All Quiet on the Western Front".
muffy_diver
This movie was made about 10 years after Newman became famous. As far as I can see it was just to waste time dreaming about car racing, I have no problem with that, but the story line was limp. Guess he just needed some tax write-offs.The race scenes are probably good, but having "what-his-name" as the bad guy, did not work. The love scenes were a waste of time. I guess as a period piece and a nod to Newman it has a niche in history, but its really not a very good flic.The nascar crowd undoubtedly adore it but again , its limp. Newman looks way older than his present age, which is almost 40 years ago.Try as I might, I cannot say much good. Joanne Woodward, looks great as usual,but looks alone do not make a movie worth watching.
Bob-45
I first saw "Winning" in 1969 and was utterly unimpressed with it. When TCM recently showed it, I decided to watch it again to see if my opinion of it had changed after 36 years. Nope. Underwritten, episodic plot line, dull characters , documentary-style, almost indifferent racing footage and, worst, the usual restrained, passionless chemistry between Newman and Woodward. Whatever has kept these two together for almost 50 years remains a mystery. Both Woodward and Newman have shown a playful sexiness with other screen partners (most notably, Woodward in "3 Faces of Eve"). However, I wish they'd given Newman another love interest. About the only high point of "Winning" is Richard Thomas as Woodward's son. Thomas works very well with Newman. Maybe they should have made HIM Newman's love interest. Oh well. I give "Winning" a "5".
Jonathan Doron
The feeling I had during the movie is: this could have been better if it was totally different: More relations between characters and less cars. And even when there is a race, we get weird 60's shots of people not even watching the race. How about more about the rivalry between Newman and Wagner. What does Joanne do- is she a housewife, raising by herself a child since he was three? Richard Thomas (Charlie) and Newman should have had more scenes before Charlie is sad of the breakup; I would have been sad losing a father like Newman, but we should see why Charlie is sad. Newman puts as much character to Frank as the script allows. Too long, not too predictable (not that there are any big surprises, other than the credits coming a bit early in the last scene). Paul and Joanne are great together, see Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990).
AD
