RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975)

[The Burgomaster]

I just received this DVD in the mail.  It is one of my "guilty pleasures."

First of all, the cast:  Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker (from Dark Shadows!), and R.G. Armstrong.  You can't get much better than that for a B-movie action/horror flick!

Next, the plot:  Fonda, Oates, Swit and Parker are on vacation in a luxury R.V. when they accidentally witness devil worshippers sacrificing a young lady.  They spend the rest of the movie on the run and they don't know who they can trust.

Overall:  It works better as a car chase movie than as a horror movie.  It set a stunt record for the most times a car rolled over in a movie.  The car just keeps tumbling and tumbling after it crashes off the road.  You need to keep an open mind throughout the plot though . . . a lot of holes and coincidences.  But it never gets boring!

The "extras" include a fairly short, but interesting interview with Peter Fonda.

And you can't beat the price.  I think I paid less than $9 for it!



Post Edited (07-05-05 08:37)

[odinn7]

Great movie. I used to watch this when I was a kid. It was on at least teice a year. You're right though, as a horror movie it's kinda weak but as a car chase movie it's solid.

[Yaddo 42]

Fonda said in his book that he and Warren Oates made this because it paid them well enough that they could make the movie they really wanted to make beforehand "92 in the Shade". They were buddies and wanted to work together again in something good, so this allowed that to happen.

Not a big fan of this one, even when I allow for the holes in the plot. ALthough I like the title sequence, it seems so big and dramatic, that the puny film that follow seems like it doesn't belong.

Odd connection to this film: I went to a Better Than Ezra concert years ago, one of the opening acts was a band called the Poster Children. Between songs they would riff and chat with the audience. They offered a three-song tape of them to anyone who could name the movie they saw starring Peter Fonda and Warren oates being chased by devil worshippers. I knew but kept quiet (and was right in front of the stage too), no one else at the show said anything or knew I guess. They played on and threw someof the tapes into the audience later on. People threw them back.

[The Burgomaster]

Yaddo:

Fonda talks about that on the DVD, too.  He says how much he enjoyed working with Warren Oates and that they planned to make more movies together, but Oates died fairly young.  He also said that they got paid pretty well for making RACE WITH THE DEVIL - - a good salary, plus a percentage of the profits.  He said the original director got fired during filming (he didn't say who it was), and that Jack Starrett (who also has a small role in the movie) took over as director.  he also praised character actor R.G Armstrong and said he was great to work with.  He said Lara Parker had the most bloodcurdling scream he ever heard.

[Dutchman]

I think its a pretty fun movie, but my favorite Peter Fonda/Warren Oates film is 'The Hired Hand'