John DeLorean

  • Framing John DeLorean (2019)

    Framing John DeLorean (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2020) The premise of Framing John DeLorean (“Why hasn’t there been no movie about John DeLorean given the dramatic elements that it contains?”) is now dated since the release of 2018’s Driven (featuring Lee Pace as DeLorean), but that doesn’t stop the film from being a compulsively watchable overview of DeLorean’s life from his heydays at GM to the aftermath of his bankruptcy and legal proceedings. The intelligible and absorbing talking-head format is considerably enlivened by fictional recreations of events featuring a heavily made-up Alex Baldwin happily delving into the role, and another excuse to see a glamorous Morena Baccarin on-screen as DeLorean’s wife. Unusually enough, there’s quite a bit of footage about the making of those sequences, and the actors are asked to expand upon their thoughts on the character they play… which works better than expected. Interview subjects include his kids (who are not happy about the way their family was destroyed by his hubris), Back to the Future producer Bob Gale to talk about the cultural impact of the film on DMC, and various people who were involved in the company at the time. The film pulls no punches in highlighting that even if DeLorean was not sent to prison, he still lost his company, his Fifth-Avenue Manhattan residence and his family, and ended up living the last few years of his life in a one-bedroom apartment. I liked Framing John DeLorean quite a bit more than Driven—it’s more entertaining, far more detailed, significantly more even-handed in its depiction of the character and delves into a fun metafictional game, as it allows Baldwin and others to influence DeLorean’s fictional depiction. The ultimate impact, however, does remain one of a classical tragic downfall—arrogance leading to bad luck leading to a desperate attempt to save it all that backfired.

  • Driven (2018)

    Driven (2018)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, May 2020) Considering the outrageous nature of John DeLorean’s story in founding DMC at the beginning of the 1980s, it’s a wonder that a film about his life hasn’t been made earlier. But maybe some distance helped, as suggested by the darkly funny tone taken by Driven as it fictionalizes the incredible crime story that transformed DeLorean from a car maven entrepreneur to a convicted felon. Wisely, the film doesn’t focus on the grander-than-life DeLorean as much as one of the supporting characters in his story—the man who would eventually become an informant for the FBI and expose DeLorean’s drug deals to finance his company. It’s all very entertaining, but take everything with a grain of salt, of course—Driven isn’t interested in factual accuracy as much as its breezy, very seventies atmosphere and comic approach. A bunch of likable actors help make the film even better—Lee Pace as the very tall, white-haired DeLorean, Jason Sudeikis in the lead role, and notables such as Judy Greer and Corey Stoll in supporting turns. Despite the comic intent, the film does demonstrate the reasons why DeLorean turned to drug dealing for last-resort cash, and even finds some empathy for the doomed character stuck in ambitious schemes that could not come to a happy conclusion. While very watchable, Driven does come with a few warnings—there’s an undercurrent of sadness behind it all, the film isn’t too sure of how far it should push the comic tone, and it’s very distant from the true story of what happened. [July 2020: If you’re interested in the facts, take a look at the documentary Framing John DeLorean, which is even better than the fiction.]