1/52 Docs - Framing John DeLorean

I stumbled on this completely by accident, while scrolling through the documentary options one afternoon and I was immediately intrigued. Back to the Future was a big movie back in the day and I dutifully saw them all, more than once. The DeLorean was the time traveling machine of choice for Doc Brown and Marty. Like a lot of households, the franchise has been enjoying a surge in popularity, now that our kids have discovered it and watched all the movies many times over. One of my daughters has a lot of feelings about the time travel story line and she is happy to discuss. 

Prior to watching this, I had the vague notion that this story was dicey, just from my husband's general comments over the years, but I couldn't have relayed any specifics. When I mentioned watching this to him, he was all in. This was a combination documentary and docudrama, starring Alec Baldwin as John DeLorean, who's acting I appreciate. This seemed like it was going to check a lot of boxes.

Initially I was concerned the docudrama parts would detract from the story, but I actually did appreciate the re-enactments, but even more so, Baldwin's take on how to portray John DeLoean and who he was as a person added a nice layer to the story telling. The story itself is a wild ride. DeLorean went from a wonderkid at General Motors, rising through the ranks by helping develop such things as the Pontiac GTO, but ultimately his playboy lifestyle and criticism of GM led to him founding the DeLorean Motor Company which eventually produced the DeLorean we all loved in Back the the Future. Turns out the company was as flimsy as a house of cards which eventually led to a host of legal trouble including drug charges among other things.

The documentary features interviews with DeLorean's children as well as colleagues from GM and DMC. it was definitely a wild ride and we both enjoyed watching it. I knew very little of the story going in, really just that the DeLorean Motor Company has gone out of business before it ever got to accomplish much of anything, making that time traveling car something of a unicorn. The tone and pace of the story made it very watchable and it scores high on the "conversation starter at a party" index. If you are interested in cars (even just the DeLorean specifically) or modern day stories of flying too close to the sun, I would recommend this. 

We watched this on Crave