History Film / Rush2013

* DoesNotLikeShoes: James Hunt, whom we see barefoot at many times when most other people would be wearing shoes.

* JammedSeatbelts: Niki is seen struggling with the release on his five-point harness [[spoiler: as his car is in flames around him. Undoubtedly his difficulty with it is due the to fact that his face is on fire and he's trying not to breathe superheated toxic fumes. The drivers who rescue him manage to pop the release once they are able to get through the flames.]]

* CastingGag: This is the second time Natalie Dormer ([[HospitalHottie Nurse Gemma]]) has had a small but memorable role where she got make out with an ''Avengers'' cast member (the first being with Chris Evans in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'').

* CompositeCharacter: The film combines the deaths of Francois Cevert at Watkins Glen in 1973, and Helmuth Koinigg at the same track a year later. It's Cevert who dies, but the location and [[OffWithHisHead manner]] of his death are those of Koinigg.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, which actually raced in 1976 and 1977, and even won a race.

** Jochen Mass played himself, and can be seen walking past Niki Lauda's and James Hunt's stuntmen during the German GP scene. This led to a funny moment during the filming when the PA asked his real name when he worked on the end-of-movie credit roll, with the PA didn't believing that its Mass himself.

* DownToTheLastPlay: With Lauda withdrawing from the race, James Hunt needs to finish fourth or better[[note]][[spoiler:Despite what the announcers said, fourth place finish is enough since Hunt would tie Lauda's points, but he will took the title since he won more races than Lauda]][[/note]] in the last F1 race of the season to be world champion. [[spoiler:After having a tire problem late in the race and taking a pit stop which dropped him to fifth, he finishes third on the last lap of the race to beat Lauda by a single point and becomes world champion.]]

--> '''Marlene''': Mein Gott, ein poet

* ForegoneConclusion: Anyone who's familiar with F1 will know that [[spoiler:James Hunt will finish third during the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix and Niki Lauda will retire from racing due to his extensive burn injuries]].
** [[spoiler:Niki Lauda continued to race for a few more years, retiring in 1979 but briefly returning for the 1984 and 1985 seasons]].

* HappilyMarried: Subverted with James Hunt and Suzy Miller. Played straight with Niki Lauda and Marlene. [[spoiler:Just don't read Niki's Wikipedia page regarding that.]]
** [[spoiler:On a happier note Niki and Marlene [[AmicableExes never stopped caring for each other]], and despite Niki remarrying he and Marlene still keep in touch and even get together occasionally for dinner.]]
* HeroesGoneFishing: James is seen early on to keep budgerigars.
** Referenced by James at the end when he says to Niki, "Some of life has to be for pleasure. What's the point of having a million cups and medals and planes if you don't have any fun? How is that winning?"

* HeroicSecondWind: In the Italian Grand Prix, [[spoiler:Niki starts poorly with his vision impaired as the commentators wonder if he's a danger on the track. Then there's a crash between the #34 March of Hans-Joachim Stuck & the #5 Lotus of Mario Andretti [[note]]in real life, they indeed crashed on lap 23 of that race [[/note]]in front of him, he somehow evades the wreckage, his vision suddenly clears and he's back to his old skill]].

* IronicEcho: At the Nürburgring, when Niki calls for the race to be cancelled on account of the treacherous rain, James sways everyone to race anyway by suggesting Niki's only doing it to preserve his chances of retaining the title. Cue Fuji, and worse rain, and James is the one calling for the race to be cancelled, even though doing so automatically gives the title to Niki. Not that it mattered, both races went on. (In real life James actually did try to withdraw. Alastair literally threatened to break James's neck if he got out of the car.)

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: James Hunt came across as an asshole, but beneath that hedonistic façade there was a genuinely [[NiceGuy decent guy]]. Shown especially after Niki Lauda's post-accident press conference.

* LadykillerInLove: Averted with James, who marries Suzy after knowing her for a matter of weeks but seemingly couldn't care less when she leaves him. In real life he even befriended the man she left him for.

* MeetCute: Niki and Marlene's first meeting (Starts with Niki picking up all the faults in her car with his butt, and ends in an epic joyride in an Alfa)

* NoOSHACompliance: As has been the state of Formula One racing in the Seventies. At least two drivers were killed in crashes or other such accidents per year, leading racers to more or less accept the fact that their next race could be their last. Niki's horrific accident at Nürburgring's Nordschleife course turned out to be the final straw for its Formula One history, and has not hosted an F1 event since then. With this in mind, the GP-Strecke was constructed with safety in mind.

* RatedMForManly: Racing 800kg 450hp cars at 200+kph during insanely dangerous driving conditions - oh, hell yes!
** Doubly so during the last race, when James Hunt's gearlever snaps off - and he bloodies his hands shifting.
* RealMenWearPink: Yes, Hesketh Racing really did use teddy bears as their emblem.

* ReplacementScrappy (InUniverse): Niki made it clear from his tone that he was ''not pleased'' that Ferrari hired Carlos Reutemann to fill his seat-before he even got to the hospital! [[spoiler: To be fair, real-life Niki ''did'' have a problem with Reutemann, as Reutemann's recruitment was a big factor in causing Niki to quit Ferrari at the end of the 1977 season.]]
* [[RichBitch Rich Bastard]]: Hunt makes his initial contempt for Lauda clear, seeing him as a rich kid who has to buy his way into racing. Lauda promptly shows him that rich does not equal untalented.

* SceneryPorn: There's a shot of the beautiful Italian landscape when Marlene's car breaks down.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Niki pulls two of these [[spoiler:after his accident.]] After the rude British journalist offends Niki at the press conference by asking how his marriage can survive [[spoiler:as a result of his injuries]], Niki [[PrecisionFStrike insults the journalist]] and angrily walks out.

** Except that it's shown on the Flugplatz, which is known for making race cars jump regardless of the cars' aerodynamic. The airtime was to show his speed and timing, the suspension was to some the on-coming mechanical failure. It's 100% played straight.

* StressVomit / VomitIndiscretionShot: James throws up before every race. We are treated to several of these.

* ThatOneLevel (InUniverse): The Nürburgring (to be specific the Nordschleife circuit where the race was held). Between it being a MarathonLevel (the lap record is ''7 minutes'' and technically Niki has gone under that in a test session, hence him saying he has the record) and long stretches where it's difficult to impossible to have marshals nearby or medical cars to get there easily, it was little wonder Niki tried to boycott the race. After Niki's accident the Nürburgring didn't hold a Formula One race for eight years, and when it did it was on the shorter and safer Strecke circuit.

* FatalMethodActing: InUniverse, we see Francois Cevert's headless body sitting in his car, where it apparently went ''through'' the guardrail. Niki Lauda had a near miss himself, when his car caught fire after crashing.

* NiceHat: At the final scene we see Niki's iconic red hat that he started wearing to hide his scars (before he started renting out the front for advertising space, anyway).

The film centers on the real-life UsefulNotes/FormulaOne rivalry of British playboy James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Austrian precision driver UsefulNotes/NikiLauda (Bruhl), culminating in their 1976 duel for the world championship, which is widely regarded as the most dramatic season in motorsports history. The score was composed by Music/HansZimmer and the script was penned by Peter Morgan. The real Niki Lauda acted as a consultant for both Peter Morgan and Daniel Brühl. The movie premiered in the UK on September 2nd and opened in the US on September 27th.

[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rgtu_851.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:224: Egos clash at 200mph]]

-->-- '''James Hunt and Niki Lauda''', about each other.

''Rush'' is a 2013 film directed by Creator/RonHoward and starring Creator/DanielBruhl and Creator/ChrisHemsworth. The film dramatizes the real-life UsefulNotes/FormulaOne rivalry of British playboy James Hunt and Austrian precision driver UsefulNotes/NikiLauda, culminating in their 1976 duel for the world championship, which is widely considered the most dramatic year in motorsports history. The score was composed by Music/HansZimmer and the script was penned by Peter Morgan. The real Niki Lauda acted as a consultant for both Peter Morgan and Daniel Brühl. The movie premiered in the UK on September 2nd and opened in the US on September 27th.

[[caption-width-right:224:Bromance at 200mph]]

* AdultFear: For Marlene, whose husband [[spoiler:is injured and nearly dies in a horrific crash]]. As if that wasn't enough [[spoiler:said husband decides to return to the tracks after a mere six weeks. He then begins the Japanese Grand Prix despite horrible weather conditions, though thankfully for Marlene he decides to quit the race after only one lap.]]

* {{Fanservice}}: Quite a few male and female characters are naked or half-naked. It's hard to leave the theatre disappointed.
* FacialHorror: [[spoiler:Niki got burned up bad in his crash and they were ''not'' afraid to show it. Just [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_muhhus7hqx1qjbryso1_250_3668.png compare Brühl's makeup job to Lauda's real burns.]]]]

** There are a number of big names mentioned during the film, some of them motorsports legends in their own right such as Emerson Fittipaldi, Jody Scheckter, and Mario Andretti. Here they're all supporting cast at best and most of them don't even get speaking parts. Fittipaldi does at least get to make an impact on the plot, [[spoiler: his departure from [=McLaren=] leaves a seat open for Hunt after Hesketh folds.]]

* SoundEffectBleep: The heavy feedback through the PA system ''sort of'' cover up James's CountryMatters joke (more so on the DVD version).

* AnyoneCanDie: With an average of 2 deaths a year, most drivers learned to live with the thought that the current race could be their last. Just to drive the point home we see François Cevert get decapitated at the Watkins Glen race, and another driver get his leg hideously fractured at the Nürburgring [[spoiler: the day before Lauda himself is almost killed]].

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A major reason open wheel racing in the seventies was so dangerous was due to the addition of front and rear wings on the cars. Speeds increased by 10-20 miles per hour each lap. Those kind of increases generally take decades, so the drivers were not prepared. Formula 1 is safer these days.

* ShownTheirWork: Barring the historical inaccuracies made for dramatic effect, the film largely got things right which was part of its appeal with audiences.

* {{Fanservice}}: Quite a few male and female characters are naked or half-naked. It's hard to leave the theater disappointed.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: The movie goes out of its way to not pit either James or Niki as the 'hero' or the 'villain' in the story. Neither are bad people per se, just two very different people with two different and equally valid lifestyles and driving styles.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Niki insists that every risk he takes is carefully calculated and he would never ever do anything where the payoff doesn't outweigh the risk, and yet he allows himself to be goaded into taking risks that he himself considered to be unacceptable twice during the course of the movie. The first is when he's driving with Marlene through the Italian countryside, and the second is at the Nürburgring when he wants to have the race abandoned due to the conditions (see NobodyCallsMeChicken, above).

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Niki (Technician) vs. James (Performer). Interestingly, the film does not favor the one over the other - both men are presented as very talented, each in his own way.

* TheAllegedCar: Marlene's car, which she claims to have it given an expensive repair job only for it to stall at the middle of the road.

* BallsOfSteel: James Hunt was once asked what he had that made him so quick. His answer: "Big balls".

* BrutalHonesty: Niki will speak his mind, no matter what and no matter who is present. This was apparently TruthInTelevision too: a favorite story of Daniel Brühl's is when he and Niki decided to meet, Niki told him to just bring hand luggage so 'if they didn't like each other he could piss off right away'. (In case you're wondering, Daniel spent so long in Vienna he ended up buying more clothes.)

* AluminumChristmasTrees: the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, which actually raced in 1976 and 1977, and even won a race.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: James Hunt came across as an asshole, but beneath that façade there was a genuinely [[NiceGuy decent guy]]. Shown especially after Niki Lauda's post-accident press conference.

** Except that it's shown on the Flugplatz, which is known for making race cars jump regardless of the cars aerodynamic. The airtime was to show his speed and timing, the suspension was to some the on-coming mechanical failure. It's 100% played straight.

''Rush'' is a 2013 film directed by Creator/RonHoward and starring Creator/DanielBruhl and Creator/ChrisHemsworth. The film dramatizes the real-life UsefulNotes/FormulaOne rivalry of British playboy James Hunt and Austrian precision driver Niki Lauda, culminating in their 1976 duel for the world championship, which is widely considered the most dramatic year in motorsports history. The score was composed by Music/HansZimmer and the script was penned by Peter Morgan. The real Niki Lauda acted as a consultant for both Peter Morgan and Daniel Brühl. The movie premiered in the UK on September 2nd and opened in the US on September 27th.

** Look at the finishing order of the Japanese Grand Prix. The film shows Patrick Depailler, Hunt, Clay Regazzoni, and Jacques Laffite as the drivers finishing from second to fifth respectively. Alan Jones, the actual fourth place finisher, isn't included in the list presumably because he drove for Surtees at the time, which was less known than the likes of [=McLaren=] (Hunt), Ferrari (Regazonni), Tyrrell (Depailler), and Ligier (Laffite). Especially considering that the [=McLaren=] and Ferrari are the two protagonists, Tyrrell had the six-wheeler, and Ligier was making their Grand Prix debut that season.

** There are a number of big names mentioned during the film, some of them motorsports legends in their own right such as Fittipaldi, Scheckter, and Andretti. Here they're all supporting cast at best and most of them don't even get speaking parts. Fittipaldi does at least get to make an impact on the plot, [[spoiler: his departure from [=McLaren=] leaves a seat open for Hunt after Hesketh folded]]
** Speaking of Fittipaldi, he makes two wordless blink-and-you'll-miss appearances in the movie. One during the drivers meeting pre-German Grnad Prix, and another while [[spoiler: helping Niki Lauda out during the near-fatal crash at the same race]]. Fittipaldi is never mentioned as a character in the credits, but veteran Formula One fans will easily recognise his Copersucar suit with rainbow coloured stripes and his signature red and blue helmet.

** A more minor example: a driver ''was'' beheaded by a crash barrier at Watkins Glen, as depicted in the film, but that was Helmuth Koinigg in 197''4''. Cevert, similarly, ''did'' die at Watkins Glen in 1973, but at a different corner than that depicted in the film, and he wasn't beheaded (though he was [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe nearly bisected]]).

** Look at the finishing order of the Japanese Grand Prix. The film shows Patrick Depailler, Hunt, Regazonni, and Jacques Laffite as the drivers finishing from second to fifth respectively. Alan Jones, the actual fourth place finisher, isn't included in the list presumably because he drove for Surtees at the time, which was less known than the likes of [=McLaren=] (Hunt), Ferrari (Regazonni), Tyrrell (Depailler), and Ligier (Laffite). Especially considering that the [=McLaren=] and Ferrari are the two protagonists, Tyrrell had the six-wheeler, and Ligier was making their Grand Prix debut that season.

* FakeNationality Both the lead characters: James Hunt (British) is portrayed by Chris Hemswworth (Australian) and Niki Lauda (Austrian) is played by Daniel Bruhl (German). Then there's Olivia Wilde (American) playing Suzy Miller (British) and Pierfrancesco Favino (Italian) playing Clay Regazzoni (Swiss).