Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from the Internet
Arrow Video
MVD Visual
92 minutes, filmed in 1967, released in 1969 / this release is 2015
www.mvdvisual.com
With this early indie low-budget
classic, we are introduced to Rick Bowman (Dick Davalos, whose Bronx accent
occasionally comes through), a tough-as-nails street racer in California who is
taken under wing by eye-on-the-buck industrialist and different kind of rat, Grant
Willard (the last film of character actor Brian Dunlevy, d. 1972). Willard owns
racing cars and a majority share of the local track where stock car drivers
race the “Figure 8,” a stupid and dangerous trial by smash-up, and he brings
Rick into the fold by psychologically squaring him off against the ridiculously
named Hawk Sidney (Jack Hill regular, Sid Haig), who is the one to beat.
With his sullen good looks and bad-boy
demeanor (not to mention hair that is so greased it literally reflects light),
Rick is a heartthrob to the ladies. There are two here (and the only two
significant female roles in the entire film, as race car is a man’s sport; where’s Danica Patrick when
ya need her?). The first love interest is Jolene (Beverly Washburn, sister of
co-star George; she was also powerful in Hill’s 1967 Spider Baby). She sports short hair, drinks and chews a lot of gum, and while gruff is extremely
sympathetic. The other is Ed’s wife and car expert, Ellen McCloud (Ellen McRae,
who would soon change her last name to Burstyn and win an Academy Award in in
1974 as the title character in Alice Doesn’t
Live Here Anymore; though my favorite film of hers is 1980’s Resurrection). When we meet Ellen, she
is wearing a similar hair style and one-piece jumpsuit as Raquel Welsh in Fantastic Voyage (1966). There is an immediate
attraction between the two, which is obvious.
Images from the Internet
Pit Stop
Directed by Jack HillArrow Video
MVD Visual
92 minutes, filmed in 1967, released in 1969 / this release is 2015
www.mvdvisual.com
I know I saw this film in the theater
when I was a kid but all I remember is the race car driving. While I was never
into car culture, such as NASCAR or whatever it was called back then, seeing
all the crashes was fun. I don’t recall any part of the actual story, so here
was my opportunity to revisit this classic B-film.
Car racing has been both a mainstream
and indie genre for quite a while, sometimes goofy like The Great Race (1965) or Viva
Las Vegas (1964), to the more gritty and serious films such as Gran Prix (1966), Winning (1969; the reason why the name of this film was changed
from The Winner), Le Mans (1971) or Little Fauss and Big Halsey (1970). Of course, this would lead to
the likes of off road chases like one of Ron Howard’s early directorial efforts,
Grand Theft Auto (1977), or even Smoky and the Bandit (1977). And don’t
get me started on The Blues Brothers (1980).
The latest interpretations could be seen as The
Fast and the Furious and Transporter
franchises, which are essentially races to the death.
Brian Dunlevy, Beverly Washburn, Sid Haig, Dick Davalos |
Two of the main characters are wholly
driven by ego, in two different ways: Rick is a sullen, burning fire of anger,
and Hawk is an extroverted loudmouth with a streak towards violence and
revenge. Both of them dream of the big time, in the pro races (not a sport I
follow, so please excuse the ignorance; for me, while I occasionally drive too
fast – or too slow – cars are something for someone I pay to fix). Representing
that level is professional race driver and ally Ed McLeod (George Washburn) and
the “other side” is Sonny Simpson (Ted Duncan). Stragedy (as Bugs Bunny would say) plays a key part in the roles
each character takes in the rise to the top or vice versa in this story of
multiple double-crosses, the result of them, and what it takes to go all the
way.
Ellen McRae (Burstyn) and George Washburn |
This black and white release is a
pretty dark story (some use the word “gritty”), with the Rick character sort of
being the race car version Stephen Boyd’s Frank Fane in The Oscar (1966). Davalos does a good job as the sullen and hungry
Rick, in an overaged JD sort of way. He doesn’t talk often, but when he does,
his words boomerang rather than hang. If you can picture a yin and yang symbol
with both sides being the same color, that would be Hawk. One is a quiet, smoldering
time bomb at 11:58 o’clock; the other is a bombastic ass who thrives on
attention. As usual, Haig does an excellent job at both manic and depressive,
and as always, his eyes tell you he’s in the moment; a great and underrated
actor who famously uses the method acting style.
Among the cast are quite a few contemporary
racing stars from the circuit playing themselves, which certainly must have
helped the box office the Deep South, where race cars are king. There are quite
a few then-new technologies shown as the torques is checked, wheels are reinforced,
and engines are often revving. Oh, and lots and lots of cars in motion, filmed
during six live races. Of course, what we see is mostly the crashes more than
the actual events.
The look of the film is dark and,
yes, gritty, but thanks to restoration from one of the original prints (aka minus-1
generation from the negative), the contrasts are pretty sharp, which is
explained in one of the many extras (such as the original trailer) included on
this new edition, the 4-minute “Restoring Pit
Stop.” They show before and after images, and well as side-by-side, and it’s
quite the difference for the better. It’s still a bit muddy here and there, but
much cleaner than it was.
In an 11-1/2 minute featurette, “Roger
Corman and the Genesis of Pit Stop,” Corman
explains how he was involved with the production, but of course, it’s more
about Corman than Pit Stop, but I
really don’t have a problem with that. The man is just interesting, and he
knows how to tell a story.
“Drive Hard: Sid Haig Remembers Pit Stop” is a 17-minute short
interspersed with clips of the film. Haig is a well-spoken man who plays
dangerous characters. He talks about motivation, the crew, and a bit about
Tarantino. It went by quick and remained entertaining. He’s also a good
storyteller. Director Jack Hill gets his own shot with the 15-1/2 minute “Crash
and Burn: Jack Hill on the Making of Pit
Stop,” with some tales of Pit Stop,
though lots of his memories are also in the commentary.
For the full-length commentary, Hill
discusses the picture and his entire career in the ‘60s and ‘70s with British film
historian Calum Waddell, who literally wrote the book about him, Jack Hill: The Exploitation and Blaxploitation
Master, Film by Film (2008); Calum also directed much of the extras here,
which explains the British uses of spelling in the captions (such as replacing
the “z” with “s”). While some of the same material is re-discussed as in the Jack
Hill interview short, as I said above, there is so much more here that gets
covered, and Hill comes across as a very honest and affable guy, who is willing
to talk about anything about his filmmaking, from successes to failures; an
example he gives of the latter is his Me,
a Groupie, from 1970.
Now, here is a weird point: oddly
enough we do not see a single pit stop in the film. But of course, taking in a writ large way, Figure 8 racing could be
seen as a pit stop in Rick’s career. Or am I over-analyzing? Either way, this
was an enjoyable ride, but you may want to wear a helmet when viewing.
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