Ever since the myth of Icarus, we have understood that audacity can take you only so far – but it often makes for a great story. The biodoc Framing John DeLorean tells PART of the story of a man whose audacious risk-taking invented the muscle car, propelled a meteoric corporate career, led him to found an automaker and to become a global celebrity and to marry a supermodel. And then to stumble into criminal prosecution, bankruptcy and divorce.
Framing John DeLorean leads through the familiar DeLorean story of his rise and flame-out and General Motors, the founding of the DeLorean Motors Company and the FBI videotaping him in a hotel room with $6.5 million of cocaine. We hear from Bill Collins – DeLorean’s engineering whiz for the Pontiac GTO and the DeLorean – and from DeLorean’s son and daughter. (But not from Cristina Ferrare, DeLorean’s celebrity trophy spouse). There a few unfamiliar nuggets, like DeLorean’s getting cosmetic surgery to enhance his jaw – and make him look like the swashbuckler that he was.
However, there’s a massive hole in Framing John DeLorean. A sketchy deal with a company called GPD is mentioned, but even with a forensic accountant as a talking head, the film doesn’t answer, or even pose, some questions that come immediately to mind. This article in Car and Driver provides more insight into the real story than does Framing John DeLorean.
The actor Alec Baldwin claims that DeLorean himself once suggested that Baldwin play him on screen. Framing John DeLorean has Baldwin play DeLorean in re-enactment scenes (along with Josh Charles as Bill Collins). The scenes with Baldwin add nothing to the film. I suspect that these Baldwin scenes were added only to use Baldwin’s drawing power to create a more marketable, not a better, film.
Framing John Delorean repeatedly asks why a narrative feature film has not been made about DeLorean and his pulpy story. But there isn’t a clear answer, and asking that question should be left to the audience of any documentary.
If you don’t know anything about John DeLorean, Framing John DeLorean is a decent primer. If you already know the story, I’d recommend the Car and Driver article instead. Framing John DeLorean is available to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.