by dodint on Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:47 am
Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in Le Mans (1971):
"A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting."
It's a bit of a trope in the racing world, but I was rewatching Le Mans on AMC last night while falling asleep and the delivery in context is so, so good. For those that aren't familiar with the movie, he's a racing driver talking to a widower who just saw her new fiance get in a similar wreck as her former husband. She can't grasp the value in risking lives for racing, and he drops that on her with perfect sympathy as he grabs his helmet and heads back out for the final stint. So, so good.