MAD MEN (FORD VERSUS FERRARI/LE MANS '66)

James Mangold's 'Ford versus Ferrari' is about the battle between two brands. 

But it could just as easily be called 'USA versus Italy' or, more accurately, 'Corporate Politicians versus The Experts'.

Like any Oscar winning movie worth its salt, Mangold's film (known as 'Le Mans '66' in some countries) is more than just a tale about motorsport.

'Ford versus Ferrari' is also about the battle to prevent corporate politics from suffocating creativity.

Mangold's movie, written by brothers Jez and John Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller, begins with Matt Damon's American racer Carroll Shelby winning the gruelling Le Mans 24-hour race in 1959.

The effort takes it out io him and he never races again, managing the Shelby American racing team instead and a car dealership.

Shelby is drawn to Christian Bale's English émigré Ken Miles who dazzles as a driver but has an explosive temper off the track.

Miles has a garage but is a disaster when it comes to running it.

When his assets are seized by the IRS, he tells his wife Caitriona Balfe's Mollie he will not race again.

Meanwhile in the Ford Motor Company in Michigan, Tracy Letts' Henry Ford II bawls out his workers over the decline in his cars' popularity.

Challenging them to come up with a strategy to reverse their fortunes, John Bernthal's vice president of marketing Lee Iacocca pitches that the only way for Ford to shake off its reputation for being dull is to go beyond US motorsport and set its sight on Le Mans by acquiring Ferrari whose focus on the sport has drained it of much needed funds.

Sent to Italy to make an offer to Remo Girone's Enzo Ferrari, Iacocca is outmanoeuvred with Ford's interest being used to leverage s better deal from Fiat.

He returns to Michigan with a stinging rebuke from Enzo Ferrari ringing in his ears, prompting Henry Ford instead to commit to building a car and a team that can break Ferrari's grip on the Le Mans 24 hour race.

Shelby is hired to lead that effort and recruits a sceptical Miles, Ray MacKinnon's Phil Remington and JJ Feild's Roy Lynn to design, build and test drive the Ford GT40.

However Josh Lucas' arrogant senior executive vice president at Ford, Leo Beebe takes an instant dislike to Miles and interferes in the program, often pulling rank to tell Shelby how to run the show.

What emerges is a fascinating battle between the suits around Henry Ford II and the creatives, as the bureaucrats and office politicians try to dilute and meddle with Shelby and his team's vision.

It's not hard to see the universal appeal of this tale, particularly to Mangold, his writers, cast and crew who know the many instances where the same dynamics have played out in Hollywood's film studios.

But what sets 'Ford versus Ferrari' apart is the film's recreation of what it is like to handle a racing car in the most testing of circumstances.

Mangold, his cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, sound editor Donald Sylvester, sound mixers Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A Morrow and film editors Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland not only capture every engine burn and roaring tyre.

They have created a film that is so visceral, it sweats oil and oozes rubber.

Not surprisingly, Damon and Bale dominate the proceedings and prove an electric screen pairing.

In the more showy role, Bale provides the pyrotechnics as the combustible but extremely driven legend from Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire.

Damon balances out their dynamic, as the likeable, more strategic Texan and he delivers a more subtle turn as a racer who has paid a physical and mental price but is learning to navigate the pitfalls of working within a corporate structure.

MacKinnon and Feild are good value as other members of the team.

Letts' Ford is delightfully pompous, prickly and imperial as Ford, while Bernthal does a good job as the executive with a bit of a heart.

Lucas gamely turns in the most dislikeable portrayal of an ambitious, interfering, arrogant office politician and bureaucrat since William Atherton's Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck unleashed hell on New York city in 'Ghostbusters'.

While Girone embraces the pomposity of Enzo Ferrari, you do not doubt for one minute he has more passion and appreciation for the sport than the entire Ford executive team trying to knock him off his perch.

And while the film is dripping with alpha male vibes, it is good to see Balfe in the only prominent female role as Miles' feisty but forgiving wife Mollie and Noah Jupe as his son Peter, providing a more tender family counterbalance to Bale's intensity on the race track.

As Shelby and his team patiently build and test their vehicle and battle the suits that get in their way, Mangold and his writers evoke the pioneering spirit of Philip Kaufman's astronaut drama 'The Right Stuff'.

Unlike Kaufman's film, Mangold's doesn't wade deep into the psychology of its characters, choosing instead to focus on the thrill of the race track and the pit.

As a pure thrill ride, 'Ford versus Ferrari/Le Mans 66' takes the chequered flag, putting it ahead of other motorsports dramas  like 'Rush,' 'Grand Prix', 'Days of Thunder' and 'Le Mans'.

That is no mean feat.

('Ford versus Ferrari/Le Mans 66' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on November 15, 2019 and was made available on DVD and streaming services on March 23, 2020)