| Madison | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | William Bindley |
| Produced by | William Bindley |
| Written by | William Bindley Scott Bindley |
| Starring | James Caviezel Jake Lloyd Mary McCormack Bruce Dern Brent Briscoe |
| Music by | Kevin Kiner |
| Cinematography | James Glennon |
| Editing by | William Hoy |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | April 22, 2005 |
| Running time | 99 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Madison is a semi-fictional 2001 film about APBA hydroplane racing in the 1970s. It stars James Caviezel as a driver who comes out of retirement to lead the Madison, Indiana community-owned racing team.
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Madison, Indiana, on the Ohio River, has sponsored powerboat racing since 1911 and began holding an annual race called the Madison Regatta in 1929. Beginning in 1954, the race became affiliated with the American Power Boat Association, held annually in July. Though Madison has a population of only 12,000, the Regatta maintains its place in the Unlimited hydroplane American Boat Racing Association series, whose other races are in Seattle, Detroit, and San Diego, among others.
The Regatta regularly draws about 70,000-100,000 people and is a tremendous source of pride for residents of the town. Also significant is that Madison has the world's only community owned unlimited hydroplane, Miss Madison, which usually appears near the bottom of the circuit. Indeed, In forty-plus years of racing, U-6 (its number regardless of its name) ref? had won just six races prior to 2005.
Among the recorded victories of "Miss Madison" prior to 2005, the win at the 1971 Regatta was especially notable, and later became the basis for the movie. Making this victory even sweeter was that it was also for the APBA Gold Cup.
Caviezel's character, Jim McCormick, was a real-life veteran racer and boat owner who drove the Miss Madison in 1966 and 1969–71, then raced his own boat until becoming seriously injured some years later. Many of his actual seven-man pit crew, including Harry Volpi, Bobby Humphrey, and Tony Steinhardt, were also portrayed in the film, while Steinhardt himself appeared as a fan in a cameo.
Filmed in 2000 and completing post production in 2001, this film sat unreleased for nearly five years and was finally given a limited release on April 22, 2005. It ended up being the last film ever released by MGM as an independent company.