Bobby Deerfield
Encyclopedia
Bobby Deerfield is a 1977 film based on the novel Heaven Has No Favorites
Heaven Has No Favorites
Heaven Has No Favorites is a novel by the German writer Erich Maria Remarque. This novel is a story about passion and love with a background of automobile racing....

("Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge") by Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...

, and stars Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...

 as the title character. The film costars Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...

 and was directed by Sidney Pollack.

Plot

Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 auto racer Bobby Deerfield is a calculating, control-obsessed loner who has become used to winning the checkered flag on the track. But after he witnesses a fiery crash that kills a teammate and seriously wounds a competitor, Deerfield becomes unsettled by the spectre of death.

During a visit to the survivor, Deerfield's world is further set askew when he meets Lillian Morelli (Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...

), a quirky, impulsive woman racing against time.

Cast

  • Al Pacino
    Al Pacino
    Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...

     as Bobby
  • Marthe Keller
    Marthe Keller
    Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...

     as Lillian
  • Anny Duperey
    Anny Duperey
    -External links:*...

     as Lydia
  • Walter McGinn as The Brother
  • Romolo Valli
    Romolo Valli
    Romolo Valli was an Italian actor.Valli was born in Reggio Emilia. He was one of the best known Italian actors from the 1950s to his death. He worked both for the stage and the silver screen...

     as Uncle Luigi
  • Stephan Meldegg as Karl Holtzmann
  • Jaime Sanchez as Delvecchio
  • Norm Nielsen
    Norm Nielsen
    Norm Nielsen, Born February 17, 1934 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is an American magician and business owner.-Early life and career:Nielsen's interest in magic started at a young age after watching his barber perform a few cigarette tricks. After seeing Neil Foster perform at a magic convention in White...

     as The Magician

Critical reception

Critics panned Bobby Deerfield as an over-the-top melodrama with a plodding story line; audiences reportedly laughed at scenes intended to be dramatic.

Race-film fans, expecting another Grand Prix or Le Mans
Le Mans (film)
Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race....

, were disappointed that the story did not play out on the race track; however, the action footage was filmed by racing cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

s over the course of the 1976 Formula One season and features actual drivers, including Carlos Pace, James Hunt
James Hunt
James Simon Wallis Hunt was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in . Hunt's often action packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt." After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman...

, Patrick Depailler
Patrick Depailler
Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler was a racing driver from France. He participated in 95 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 July 1972. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.Depailler was born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme. As a child, he...

 and Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...

.

Bobby Deerfield was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 for the first time on March 11, 2008. The soundtrack, recorded on the benighted Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...

 label, has been unavailable for years.

Remarque's novel on which the screenplay is based is far different from the movie, taking place just after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 town of Leukerbad
Leukerbad
Leukerbad is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.- History :The story of Leukerbad dates back to the 4th century B.C. Graves and ceramics attest the presence of habitation in Leukerbad...

makes no mention of the on-location filming that took place there.
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