Winning (1969)

A professional race car driver (Paul Newman) marries a divorcee (Joanne Woodward) with a 16 year old son (Richard Thomas) after a whirlwind courtship. But life after the honeymoon proves difficult for the driver to adjust to married life. Newman's company produced the film and given his love of the sport of auto racing, it's a pity the film isn't better than it is. As a racing car drama, it's no GRAND PRIX (the benchmark of auto racing movies) as the competitive racing takes a backseat to the mundane domestic relationships. The movie stops dead in its tracks when it dwells on Newman's relationship to his stepson and the trite dialogue between them is deplorable. The young Thomas is playing the sensitive young boy (the kind of parts Brandon De Wilde used to play) and he's so terrible you have to wonder how he ever got a career after this. But to be fair, nobody is at there best here. Sluggishly directed by James Goldstone but there's a nice score by Dave Grusin. With Robert Wagner, Clu Gulager and David Sheiner.