User Reviews

Interesting piece on the days leading up to the release of the iconic DMC-12. I'd never even heard of the film until stumbling on it on the Documentary channel, one day.

The filmmakers set out to document the period by being a fly on the wall in several board meetings, dealer conventions and even the vehicle factory in Dunmurry. It was cool to see some market research in action, and feedback from consumers. But there's no real narrative here; no beginning, middle or end. This is something to watch if you already know the story on DMC's beginnings, the trials getting the car made and what ultimately went wrong (partnership with Lotus, a workforce that was largely inexperienced in the auto industry, etc). But for the uninitiated, it's just a string of droning board meetings, engineers talking shop, and at sixty minutes, it feels more like ninety.

I appreciated the film far more as a piece of "archival footage", if you will. Some random pieces of footage caught on camera in '80 and '81 and assembled in sort of a "deleted scenes" reel that was part of a larger, more extensive piece. Not a great documentary, but as found footage, it's pretty good.

5/10

I just caught this on the documentary channel. I remember a bit about the story.

Maybe a some notes of context. Back in the late 70's early 80's there was an sense that the US had really lost its' mojo. Nowhere was this feeling deeper felt than the car industry. There also was this feeling of annoyance and bafflement that the heads of the Major US automakers had really screwed up big. I mean they took what looked like a foolproof industry and turned it into crap, with their tone-deafness, and egos.

Along comes Delorean, who was seen as something of a folk hero back then. He seemed to be cut from a different cloth and hearken back to a time in the US when, the wildcatter, with the big idea could shake the foundations.

He produced a car that was nothing like anything that had ever been seen before. The Delorean looked like it was from the future. Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door as the old saying goes.

What is interesting here that you really get to see a real life example of another cliché "The Devil is in the details." Delorean's revolutionary idea gets bogged down, in over-hyped expectations, safety concerns, labor issues, perception problems, financing issues, partners not keeping their words and the like.

The film ends on an optimistic note. Unfortunately, the company went under a few years later.

What is seen here is not any conspiracy by the major automakers to crush Delorean. What is seen here is that in order to make a vision come true, it really takes lot's of work, patience and ability to handle balls that being thrown at you out of left field.

This is a must see for anyone who is thinking of starting their own business or wants to shake things up. The lessons learned here could be very valuable.