Winning Reviews

Newman is a bit tipsy after celebrating his win at a 200-mile auto race. He meets Woodward, who works in a car-rental store, and talks her into going for a drive with him. Soon the two are in love. They marry, and he adopts her son, 13-year-old Thomas, who idolizes Frank. The moment Frank weds, however, his sweet luck begins to turn sour. He loses race after race to his number 1 competitor, Wagner. As the Indy 500 approaches, the tension begins to take its toll on the marriage. WINNING was originally planned as a TV movie but was soon expanded, for the big screen, to include Newman (who was also an uncredited producer) and others in the cast. Newman did his own race driving (the studio insured him for $3 million)--and he continues to do so with vigor off screen. Several other real-life racers appear, including Bobby Unser, Tony Hulman, Dan Gurney, Roger McCluskey, and Bobby Grim. The footage in the Indy race is of the awesome 17-car crackup that began the 1968 festivities. Its insertion lends the picture even greater authenticity, although the film stock used in the race scenes appears to differ slightly from that used in the rest of the movie.