4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we pay tribute to the year 1978! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 1978 Films
Halloween (1978, dir by John Carpenter. DP: Dean Cundey)
Starcrash (1978, dir by Luigi Cozzi, DP: Paul Beeson and Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli)
Days of Heaven (1978, dir by Terrence Malick, DP: Nestor Almendros)
Hooper (1978, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Bobby Byrne)
Hey, it’s Hal Needham’s birthday. What other song could we go with?
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
Keep your foot hard on the pedal Son, never mind them brakes Let it all hang out ’cause we got a run to make The boys are thirsty in Atlanta And there’s beer in Texarkana And we’ll bring it back no matter what it takes
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
Ol’ Smokey’s got them ears on He’s hot on your trail And he aint gonna rest ’til you’re in jail So you got to dodge ‘im and you got to duck ‘im You got to keep that diesel truckin’ Just put that hammer down and give it hell
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
Today’s scene that I love comes from director Hal Needham. It really doesn’t get more early 80s than Barry Bostwick flying a motorcycle while wearing a headband and a skintight suit.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we take a moment to remember the great director and stuntman, Hal Needham. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Hal Needham Films
Smokey and the Bandit (1977, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Bobby Byrne)
Hooper (1978, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Bobby Byrne)
The Cannonball Run (1981, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Michael Butler)
Rad (1986, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Richard Leiterman)
In honor of National Speed Limit Day, today’s scene that I love features Burt Reynolds breaking the speed limit over and over again in 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit. This scene is almost enough to make me want to go on a road trip.
I, for one, am tired of the stereotype that women cannot drive.
I’m a woman and I can tell you right now that I am an above average driver. I’ve only had one major accident. Admittedly, I did smash into a parked car but it was raining and I really couldn’t see that well because I was driving convertible and the window was fogged up. Plus, whoever parked that car must have done a bad job and left it sitting out in the middle of the street. For the record, my convertible flipped over on impact so the parked car did far more damage than I did.
Other than that, I usually manage to stop in time for red lights. I’ve only driven through a few stop signs and that was just because I didn’t notice them. I’ve very rarely been given a speeding ticket. Instead, the police have always been very polite about just giving me a warning. And yes, it is true that I have trouble with curbs and turns and going in reverse and all that but I’ve seen plenty of men do the same thing.
The statistics show that, while women are involved in more accidents, the accidents are more likely to be fatal if a man is driving. Men are also more prone to get upset and pull a gun during a road rage incident whereas women just give other drivers the finger. Women are not inherently bad or dangerous drivers. The one exception, at least down here in Texas, are middle-aged women who drive SUVs with faded Beto stickers. You really don’t want to get stuck behind one of them in traffic.
I found myself thinking about the misogyny behind the “women-are-bad-drivers” stereotype as I watched 1979’s DeathCarOnTheFreeway. Death Car On The Freeway features a madman who is so sick of women driving in Los Angeles that he starts using his Dodge van to cause them to have accidents. We don’t actually see his face or really learn much about him. What we do see are his black-gloved hands on his steering wheel, which is a nifty homage to the giallo genre. (Giallo killers have a thing for black gloves.) Whenever the driver does try to force a woman into a fatal accident, he pops in an 8-track of hyperactive fiddle music. The fiddle has never sounded more menacing than it does in DeathCarOnTheFreeway. It’s almost like prog rock fiddling. Imagine a country western fiddler who has just done a mountain of cocaine and you’ll get a feeling for this guy’s taste in music.
News reporter Shelley Hack thinks that the public has the right to know that there’s a man causing women to crash their cars. Her ex-husband, played to smarmy perfection by George Hamilton, thinks that Shelley should quit her current job and come work with him. Meanwhile, police inspector Peter Graves is concerned that the media going to start a panic and make it more difficult for him to track down the “Freeway Fiddler.” (One gets the feeling that Graves feels this entire mess could have been avoided if women had never been allowed to drive in the first place.) At one point, Hack meets with a defensive driver instructor and he’s played by the film’s director, Hal Needham.
Oh, how I love this film! Seriously, it’s got car chases, car crashes, 70s outfits, George Hamilton, Peter Graves, and a genuinely frightening villain. This is one of those films where you might be tempted to be dismissive. Folks like Dinah Shore, Sid Haig, and Abe Vigoda show up in small roles, reminding you that this really is a 70s made-for-TV movie. But then, that fiddling explodes on the soundtrack, that van starts tailgating someone, and DeathCarOn The Freeway suddenly becomes a cinematic nightmare. It’s not a surprise that Hal Needham was able to stage some impressive driving stunts in Death Car On The Freeway. That was Hal Needham’s thing. But Needham also manages to craft a compelling and, at times, genuinely frightening film. Anyone who has ever glanced into their rearview mirror and suddenly realized that another vehicle is following them will be able to relate to the fear of the Fiddler’s victims.
This is a great movie and a reminder that women are not the most dangerous drivers on the streets. Unless, of course, they’re driving an SUV with a faded Beto sticker….
Hey, it’s Hal Needham’s birthday. What other song could we go with?
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
Keep your foot hard on the pedal Son, never mind them brakes Let it all hang out ’cause we got a run to make The boys are thirsty in Atlanta And there’s beer in Texarkana And we’ll bring it back no matter what it takes
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
Ol’ Smokey’s got them ears on He’s hot on your trail And he aint gonna rest ’til you’re in jail So you got to dodge ‘im and you got to duck ‘im You got to keep that diesel truckin’ Just put that hammer down and give it hell
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’ A-we gonna do what they say can’t be done We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there I’m east bound, just watch ol’ “Bandit” run
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we take a moment to remember the great director and stuntman, Hal Needham. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Hal Needham Films
Smokey and the Bandit (1977, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Bobby Byrne)
Hooper (1978, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Bobby Byrne)
The Cannonball Run (1981, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Michael Butler)
Rad (1986, dir by Hal Needham, DP: Richard Leiterman)
Music promoter M. Harry Smilac (Dirk Benedict) used to be a big deal in Los Angeles but lately, his ability to create stars appears to have left him. He still has his Porsche and his car phone but he is also several thousand dollars in debt and he only has one client, a garage hair band called Kick. No one wants to book Kick because no one wants to work with a known screw-up like Harry.
Desperate for money, Harry agrees to serve as the entertainment chairman for a stuffy candidate for governor. It’s while looking for potential acts to headline a fundraiser that Harry meets Quick Rick Roberts (Roddy Piper). When Harry sees Rick getting ripped off by a promoter, Harry assumes that Rick is a musical act and quickly offers to be Rick’s agent. It’s only after Rick has agreed that Harry discovers that Rick doesn’t play an instrument and can’t sing a note. Instead, Rick is a professional wrestler and, by singing him, Harry has now made an enemy of Rick’s former manager, Captain Lou Munaro (played by, you guessed it, Captain Lou Albano).
Now, Harry has to find a way to pay his creditors, make stars out of both Kick and Rick, and win the hand of Candace VanVargen (Tanya Roberts), the daughter of a wealthy political benefactor. What if there was some way to combine rock and roll with wrestling?
Dirk Benedict, Tanya Roberts, Roddy Pipper, and Captain Lou Albana, all appearing in a movie directed by Hal Needham? Body Slam is one of the most 80s films ever made. It’s not really a bad film. In typical Needham fashion, it’s a loose mix of broad comedy and scenes designed to appeal to teenage boys and their fathers. There’s a lot wrestling. There’s a lot of spandex. The movie opens with Harry ogling a woman in a bikini. Body Slam knew who its audience would be. Dirk Benedict gives a surprisingly nimble comedic performance and even Tanya Roberts has some deliberately funny moments. Roddy Piper is likable as the steady and fair-minded Rick. There’s nothing subtle about Captain Lou Albano’s performance but what else would you expect from a man wearing that many rubber bands? As was typical of Needham’s films, some of the director’s friends show up in cameos. John Astin plays a car salesman. Charles Nelson Reilly plays a talk show host. Billy Barty gets into an argument with Captain Lou. Burt Reynolds is nowhere to be seen.
Unfortunately, not many people got to see Body Slam when it was originally released. Body Slam was going to be Hal Needham’s big comeback film after the disappointing Megaforce but the film’s producers didn’t care much for the changes that Needham made to their script and they sued to keep the film from being released. As a result, the film never got a theatrical release and it was instead sent straight to VHS, with very little fanfare. It has since developed a cult following amongst old school wrestling fans.
Body Slam is a typically amiable Hal Needham film. It’s nothing special but it’s enjoyable if you’re in the mood for it.
The 1986 film, Rad, tells the story of Christopher “Cru” Jones (Bill Allen). Cru lives in a small, kind of ugly town in middle America. Cru has a job delivering newspapers so, every morning, he rides around town on a bicycle and he throws rolled-up copies of USAToday at people. He throws the papers fairly aggressively and doesn’t seem to have much concern about riding his bike through backyards or using his bike to jump over (or sometimes, onto) cars. And yet, no one can stay mad at Cru because he has a plucky, can-do attitude and he can do all sorts of tricks on his bicycle.
Cru has a decision to make. He can either go to college or he can compete in a bicycle race. If he goes to college, he might actually be able to get a career and actually have a future. If he wins the bicycle race, he’ll get a car and $100,000. His mother (Talia Shire) feels that Cru should go to college. Cru, however, says that his gut is telling him to enter the race….
Hey, Cru, your gut is lying to you! Seriously, I’m all for Cru competing and showing off how good he is at a rather mundane and kind of boring sport but college is college. There’s a scene early on in the film where one of Cru’s classmates is talking about all the schools to which he’s applied. “UCLA, Princeton, SMU, Harvard….” Cru rides by and laughs but, 35 years later, who do you think currently has the nicer house?
Of course, despite his willingness to give up his future for $100,000 and a new car, it turns out that Cru might not even be able to compete. The race’s evil sponsor (Jack Weston) is determined to make sure that his tea, wins the race and he keeps changing the rules to prevent Cru from being able to enter. He demands that Cru find an official sponsor so Cru starts his own business. He then demands that the business be worth at least $50,000! Cru doesn’t have that type of money but — wait a minute — is that Ray Waltson, playing an eccentric businessman!? Maybe he’s got $50,000!
Still, does Cru have the confidence necessary to enter the race and beat the best in the country? Don’t worry, Cru’s little sister designs a t-shirt that reads, “Cru is Rad!” Seriously, just try to beat that encouragement!
Anyway, you may be thinking that Rad sounds like it’s a pretty silly movie and it is. Having now watched Rad, BMXBandits, and Quicksilver, I am ready to announce that, in the 80s, there was absolutely no way to make BMX racing cinematic. At the end of the movie, Cru performs a series of tricks while the end credits role and, instead of being impressed, you just notice how much Cru is struggling to maintain his balance. Neither Bill Allen nor Bart Conner (who plays Cru’s main rival) have much screen presence and the whole film just looks and feels cheap.
And yet….
To be honest, it’s difficult to really dislike Rad. For all of its many flaws, it’s all just so damn sincere. Cru just wants to win that race so badly that it’s hard not to root for him and it is kind of touching to see the way the entire town rallies around him. While the lead racers may have been blandly portrayed, Talia Shire, Jack Weston, Ray Waltson, and Lori Loughlin all turn in effective performances. In fact, you could probably argue that Talia Shire is almost too good in her role. She so effectively portrays the anguish of a mother watching her son throw his future away that you really do find yourself worrying about what’s going to happen to Cru when he’s older and he can’t get a job because he blew off college. (I’m going to guess that Talia Shire’s presence in this film is due to the fact that it was produced by her late husband, Jack Schwartzman.)
Rad is sincere and unpretentious and rather silly. Like a lot of 80s movies, it’s got a good soundtrack. It especially makes good use of the song SendMeAnAngel. There’s also an out-of-nowhere scene where Cru and Lori Loughlin do a series of impromptu freestyle bike tricks on the middle of a dance floor and it’s just surreal enough to be memorable.
Rad is a simple but inoffensive tribute to throwing your life away.
Through the Shattered Lens 