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(More customer reviews)I love the 1977 film "The Car" for a number of reasons. One of which, I suppose, was that I first saw this "B" horror flick at the neighborhood theater as a child. Yes, it scared me then and makes me smile now.
"The Car" is so extravangantly cheesy as to be almost surreal. To really understand the greatness of "The Car," one must compare it to John Carpenter's "Christine," another haunted car film based on one of Stephen King's weakest novels. I've seen "Christine" once and really don't care to view it again. I've seen "The Car" many times and will watch it every chance I get.
Accurately noted by several reviewers, "The Car" is really "Jaws" on land. This souped up automobile is a sleek black Lincoln possessing a fog horn and a bumper the size of Wilford Brimley's mustache. It runs over bikers, hitchhikers and tuba players with hungry ease, tormenting the local yokel police force with demonic glee. The cast is the key here, with small town policemen James Brolin, John Marley and Ronnie Cox joining forces with dynamite expert R.G. Armstrong to corner The Car and blow it kingdom come. These actors have been around the block a few times in films far better than "The Car," but their experienced presence adds a note (albeit a small one) of respectability to the precedings.
But before this salty crew goes after the metallic Beezlebub beast, The Car must terrorize a high school band, Brolin's hometown squeeze Kathleen Lloyd (whatever happened to her?) and several unlucky travelers in the wrong place at the wrong time. Needless-to-say, car insurance companies were left mightily frustrated after The Car paid a visit to Santa Ynaz.
I don't know why The Car likes to drive in the desert, just as I don't know why it seems to have a crush on James Brolin, teasing him unmercifully while slowly picking off his crew one by one. I do know that the car chases in this film are tremendously exciting. The direction and editing is crisp. Leonard Rosenman's musical score is above average. And the final confrontation, while laughable in its epic excess, is memorable.
"The Car" is a fun movie, glorious in a "B" movie comic book kind of way. It's "Creature From the Black Lagoon," "The Omen," "Jaws" and "Smokey and the Bandit" all rolled into one hilariously transcendent package. It is celluloid pulp fiction, with the nutritional value of a whopper and fries. Please grill the onions.
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