Written & Directed By: Mike Marvin
Cinematography By: Reed Smoot
Editor: Scott Conrad & Gary Rocklen
Cast: Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Nick Cassavettes, Randy Quaid, Matthew Berry, Clint Howard, Griffin O’Neal, Steven Eckholdt, Brooke Burke
Packard Walsh and his motorized gang control and terrorize an Arizona desert town where they force drivers to drag-race so they can 'win' their vehicles. After Walsh stabs the decent teenager Jamie Hankins to death for being intimate with a girl whom Walsh wants for himself, the mysterious Jake Kesey arrives, an extremely cool motor-biker with an invincible car. Jake befriends Jamie's girlfriend Keri Johnson, takes Jamie's sweet brother Billy under his wing and manages what Sheriff Loomis can’t - the methodical and otherworldly elimination of Packard's criminal gang.
It might be me getting older knowing and witnessing how much older the cast is now. Even for the time period these actors look way too old for their roles. I mean I realize the characters are on the cusp of adulthood they look already there.
The black car featured in the movie was a real-life technological wonder, the Dodge M4S. A joint effort of the Dodge Division of Chrysler Motors and PPG Industries, one of the highly sophisticated PPG Pace Cars for the PPG-CART Indy Car World Series. The M4S was designed and constructed at an estimated cost of $1.5 million, and featured performance and technology to match that lofty figure. The innovative body design was developed in the Chrysler studios, while PPG developed the finish - a special bronze pearl paint job formulated just for this car. The M4S was powered by a Chrysler 2.2-liter four-cylinder one-of-a-kind engine that exceeded 194 mph. According to 'Gary Hellerstein', transportation coordinator for this film, a total of seven versions of the M4S were needed for filming. The original, on loan from Dodge, was used for close-ups and details. Two more "drivers", consisting of perfectly detailed bodies on dune buggy chassis, were used for stunt driving chores. There were four "shells", empty bodies on bare, towable frames, that were sacrificed in various crash scenes.
This film seems influenced by the Clint Eastwood film HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER as far as story goes, but seems to have inspired the film and Comic Book THE CROW as far as characters inspiration and loose inspired story. This film also seems to have one character inspired by ERASERHEAD here named Rughead played by the oldest looking member of the gang Rughead played by Clint Howard.
I would like to say that you would have to been able to see this when the film was out in theaters. To take it seriously, to tell the truth it was just as ridiculous when it came out. I will admit to watching it continuously over time as it was always on HBO and channel 11 Wpix in new York edited on the later. The main reasons for me watching it were Sherilyn Fenn and her nude scene, The car the Wraith Drives and the cartoon character like gang the villain uses who seem rather ruthless to be a dangerous threat to the town ,but seem so incompetent. it’s amazing that they have lasted this long. In fact Nick Cassavettes with his feathered hair seems the most dangerous and is working with what he has, but also like a guy who dropped out of high school and still hangs around for girls and to be seen as cool, but works as the bus boy at a local bar. Like Matthew McCognahey’s character in DAZED & CONFUSED.
At the time this was as close to supernatural horror as I got when I was around 11. I steered clear from horror. Though the only really scary scenes are that after the guys in the gang die the bodies are discovered cold and in one piece though going through many explosions they just are missing their eyes. Literally their eye sockets are empty.
Packard Walsh drove a late-1970s Chevrolet Corvette with a custom paint job and nose clip; Oggie drove a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z; Minty drove a 1977 Pontiac Firebird with a highly-visible (but apparently non-functional) supercharger; Skank and Gutterboy drove a beat-up 1966 Plymouth Barracuda; Rughead was driving a late-70's Chevrolet pickup. The couple who are cheated out of their car in the first race were driving a 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z (distinguished by its' pop-up headlights, unlike the exposed headlights of Oggie's 1986 model). The police drove a variety of mid-1980's Plymouth Caravelles and Gran Furys, as well as early-1980's Chevrolet Malibus; Sheriff Loomis drove a "civilian" Plymouth Caravelle. While filming a chase sequence shot on a mountainside outside of Tuscon, a crew member was killed and another was critically injured.
The "futuristic" weapon wielded by The Wraith is a Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun, with a folding stock. It's a 12-gauge tactical shotgun made in Italy, and has the unusual property of functioning in both pump and semi-automatic modes. The odd hook on the weapon is for firing the weapon one-handed with the stock extended, as it wraps around the forearm.
This film contains recognizable elements from a clutch of other popular films: lights flying along lonely roadways and up into the night sky (1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind), heavy, mechanical breathing from a lone menacing figure dressed in an all-black body suit (Darth Vader in 1977's Star Wars), road pirates terrorizing a wasteland territory in their modified cars (1981's The Road Warrior), waving a handkerchief between two cars to start a two-car road race (1955's Rebel Without a Cause) and a dark car from Hell (1977's The Car). "I don't know, but whoever he was, he's weird and pissed off!" is a strikingly similar line to one spoken in John Carpenter's The Thing in 1982.
Ultimately this is a revenge movie Starring Charlie Sheen who plays more of a supporting to minor role in the film.
This is as close to 80’s American cheese as you can get, but while you roll your eyes and slap your head while watching it. It never gets boring and while never truly inventive it rolls along and keeps your interest. Sure it’s stupid and predictable, but for me it’s somewhat nostalgic and worth a look.
As I mentioned before the film has a notorious (At least for me) nude scene played here to be more romantic then exploitive as most in teen films of the 80’s tried to be when it was supposed to be true love.
The film also has one of the most questionable death scenes as we flashback to a important point. In which a murder takes place that seem to hope the witness will either be blinded or predict that the witness will get amnesia and though they bound her naked never attack further nor rape her which seems like something that would come natural to this gang, But instead though she isn’t supposed to remember and knows her boyfriend and his gang are no good stays with him and never wonders why. Though he cheats and treats her horribly. He seems to treat her more as a trophy that he puts on a pedestal as they never seem intimate.
No explanation is given for the unusual metal bar body attachments that disappear after a kill, though some fans believe these are similar to support braces given people who've gone through severe physical trauma.
See this is the type of film where there really is no mystery you just sit and wait to see how things you know will happen do and how. If you think too much with this film you will drive yourself crazy or expose how idiotic the film is, It’s best just to sit back, observe and go with the flow.
SPOILER
In some releases of this film, the sound of screeching tires and a crash can be heard as the credits roll, suggesting Jake and Keri have ridden off to their deaths to be together in the afterlife, furthering the idea that Jake is not an agent sent from Heaven.
GRADE:C+
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