Ron Howard's movie about 1970s British swashbucking F1 star James Hunt and his antler-clashing rivalry with the icy Niki Lauda is a fast and furious treat

No matter how obsessed we continue to be with the 1970s, there's always one more myth left to excavate, and this very entertaining and well-made motor racing movie from director Ron Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan brings us a meaty tale from 1976: a story of antler-clashing, engine-revving alpha-males. This was a year in which not everyone in fact was obsessed with the release of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK. In the profoundly conservative world of Formula One, millions of TV viewers were increasingly preoccupied with an extraordinary duel developing between two drivers: the glamorous swashbuckler from Britain, James Hunt, and the icily correct Austrian Niki Lauda.

Hunt is played by the Australian star Chris Hemsworth, his shampooed mane swishing and shirt permanently open,...