Madison - A Movie Review

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

The movie MADISON, directed by William Bindley, should do for boat racing what John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film GRAND PRIX did for car racing. MADISON is a magnificent calling card for the sport in general and the city of Madison, Indiana, in particular.

MADISON had its Mid-West premiere on Thursday, October 18, at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis. The capacity crowd, which included a large delegation from the tiny Ohio River town, gave the film a standing ovation at the end of the screening.

The racing sequences were stunningly photographed. On the big screen, they were simply breathtaking. MADISON is a movie that demands to be seen in a theatre--not on television. And the camera pays loving attention to the picturesque southern Indiana locations.

The script is based upon the true story of the underdog MISS MADISON Unlimited hydroplane, which won the 1971 APBA Gold Cup before the hometown crowd with Jim McCormick driving.

And yet, strictly speaking, MADISON is not a racing film. It is the story of a man and his son--Jim and Mike McCormick--and the effect that the race has on an economically challenged community. Actors Jim Caviezel as Jim and Jake Lloyd as Mike bring their characters to life. And Hollywood legend Bruce Dern does a memorable star turn as Harry Volpi, whose prowess with the Allison engine proves invaluable to the MISS MADISON team.

Broadcaster Jim Hendrick, who announced the 1971 Gold Cup thirty years ago, makes a cameo appearance in the film as himself.

Some matters of historical fact are glossed over for dramatic effect. But this is a movie not a documentary. And as a movie, it succeeds on its own terms. Granted, there is a lot of fictionalizing. But the characters ring true. I knew all of the real people portrayed in the script. And I can visualize the real people saying and doing many of the things that they say and do in the movie.

The sub-plot involving Jim McCormick’s relationship with a young driver, played by actor Richard Lee Jackson, is an obvious reference to McCormick’s real life friendship with George “Skipp” Walther. Skipp was fatally injured at Miami Marine Stadium in 1974 while testing the RED MAN hydroplane, which McCormick owned.

The film footage that represents the crash involving Jackson’s character (fictionalized as “Buddy Johnson”) is actually taken from KING-TV film of the 1962 MISS SEATTLE TOO disintegration on Seattle’s Lake Washington.

Power boat racing has definitely been given short shrift as a topic for Hollywood films. I’ve only seen two others. And neither of these had to do with the Unlimited Class of hydroplane. One was CLAMBAKE, a mediocre Elvis vehicle, which did the sport no great service. The other was RACING FEVER, an absolutely wretched drive-in opus from the early ‘60s that makes PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE look like GONE WITH THE WIND.

The MADISON movie is in a class by itself. Never has this much talent been lavished on a boat racing subject.

For almost as long as I’ve been a hydroplane fan, I’ve also been a film buff. With MADISON, I’m able to enjoy both of my passions. When I read the script two years ago, I concluded that if the filmmakers adhered to the screenplay as written, they would have a pretty darned good movie. They did not disappoint me.

The first race that I ever saw on the Ohio River was the 1971 Gold Cup. In my whole life, I’ve never been happier than when MISS MADISON flashed over the finish line as the winner. It was also the first race that I had ever attended that was won by a personal friend, Jim McCormick.

It was Jim’s dream that this movie be made. Prior to his death in 1995, he had planned to portray his own father in an earlier version of the script.

When the end credits rolled during the screening in Indianapolis, I was pleased to see a montage of outtakes from the ABC WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS telecast incorporated into the film. Through the magic of motion pictures, my friend Jim was able to appear in “his” movie after all.