 |
| Dat booty, tho! |
There have been quite a few classic car movies with a large cult following. Which ones are considered the classics, you might ask? Films like "Two-Lane Blacktop", "Smokey and the Bandit", "The Fast and the Furious", "Drive" and many more have left significant marks in the history of the big screen. However, the more films you watch, the more you realize the lack of original narrative in each story as if someone made one car movie and everyone else more or less copied the idea. More often than not, a car movie consists of 1. some vagabonds trying to make money in a quick and illegal way or an undercover loner cop trying to catch the baddies 2. lots of chases, crashes, and explosions, and 3. all the in-between parts HAVE to be as cliche as a Gen Zer schooling unassuming blokes on "political correctness". The craziest part is how we can forgive a movie for having cringe dialogs and a simplistic plot, only because of its cool rides and brainless though sensational, almost feature-long chases. With further ado, let us take a peek at another petrolhead movie worth watching: "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry".
 |
| The original poster |
Released in 1974, "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" is a typical American counterculture movie, directed by John Hough, and based on a 1963 book called "The Chase" by Richard Unekis. The plot talks about an amateur racecar driver Larry (Peter Fonda) and mechanic Deke (Adam Roarke), two lost souls searching for a way to hop on the NASCAR bandwagon. So, they decide to use the unconventional method of robbery to gather the 150 grand necessary for their race team finances. The target is a large supermarket with a safe inside the manager's office. Screeching away in the 1966 navy blue Chevrolet Impala sedan, the plan is for Deke to take the manager's wife and daughter hostage, while Larry will use this situation to extort the money out of the safe. After Larry successfully robs the supermarket and makes his way to the Impala, he's surprised by his one-night stand, Mary (Susan George), who'd followed him to the supermarket. Since he now has a witness to his mischievous activities, he lets her tag along as he drives off on his way to pick up Deke and escape. Meanwhile, the word has spread on the robbery and the police are out on patrol, setting up roadblocks. A cowboy-hat-wearing-no-gun-carrying alternative cop (Vic Morrow) becomes in charge of the chase and decides to use all the methods available to catch the trio of doom.
 |
| Bye Bye Charger |
Following a couple of fender-benders in the Impala, the gang finally arrives at the fair where the beautiful, lime green with a black stripe, 440-powered 1970 Dodge Charger R/T becomes the new getaway car. This is where the truly exhilarating part begins and continues 'till the end of the film. When the cops get outpaced by the Charger, the cowboy cop decides to use speed just like baddies. He assigns a young cop to a 440-powered Dodge Polara while he uses the police helicopter. His plan ends up working quite well, really giving the Charger and Larry's driving a run for their money. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you see it, the baddies manage to escape until Larry's inner Evil Knievel puts them in a bit of pickle. Wanting to get ahead of the coppers, Larry miscalculates his and the upcoming train's speed. Instead of crossing the railroad ahead of it, he smashes the Charger head-on to the train's side, engulfing the car in flames. The End.
 |
Deke, Larry, and Mary
a.k.a. The Trio of Doom |
Well, that's a pretty sizeable middle finger to Hollywood's happy endings! These counterculture films always crack me up because just as it seems that the heroes will manage to escape, they die as the action is at its peak, shortly followed by the credits. The wrath of the normies always catches up with the rebels, one way or another. A couple more tidbits that bothered me in "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" was the stark contrast between the gut-wrenching, action-packed shots of the Impala and Charger racing all over the place and the plot littered with predictable lines and scenes. Larry, Deke, and cowboy cop do a wonderful job of showing different facets of their characters' personalities throughout the film. However, as these three try to keep the acting interesting, Mary just annihilates their efforts with her sub-par performance. She has to play this stereotypical dumb blonde character, and she still manages to screw it up. Her only two emotions are super happy or sad and her performance would be right at home at a first-graders play than being one of the four main characters in a Hollywood movie. The same can be said for the cop driving the 440 Polara. I was really looking forward to the Charger vs Polara duel, and to my disappointment, it was a short scene and the cop recited his ten lines like a five-year-old playing with his ride-on police car. Nevertheless, as frustrating as they may be, neither the acting nor the ending truly matters in this movie. So let's talk about the real reason "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" is worth your time: the driving.
 |
| Charger VS Chopper |
A quote that helps you forget the sloppy ending and can make you truly understand the goal of the film is this: "It's all about the journey, not the destination". Basically, the story is about the final hours of the crew trying to escape successfully from the cops, which probably is the reason why the chase was shot in an exemplary manner. The use of desolate open roads gives us the impression of freedom on the trio's horizon until it's cut short by the train in the final scene. To add suspense towards the end, we're teased earlier in the film with Larry managing to jump ahead of a train in the Impala, making us assume he'll also be successful later in the Charger. The absence of music during the majority of the film, using instead the authentic exhaust sounds from the cars driven (something that can't be said for many other movies like "The Fast and the Furious"), helps us feel the seriousness of the situation and the occupants' thirst to escape. But what really stands out are the stunts.
 |
| Can't catch THIS Impala! |
Now, in the era of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), the car chases have become insanely fake and insanely... insane. Cars jumping off skyscrapers, driving-off military planes sure looks impressive but it's overdone and unauthentic. On the contrary, everything was real in the '70s. "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" features lots of satisfying crashes (except the ones with the Charger... they'll make you weep), jumps, beautiful close-ups to give us a sense of speed, and overall surreal stunt driving. My favorite part of the movie was the legendary scene of the Charger vs police chopper, filled with stressful close-calls and butt-clenching shots of it flying next to the car. Honestly, just the fact of them using a real Charger and chopper is enough to enter the scene in the "Top 5 Car Chase Duels Of All Time" list.
 |
| P is for Presence |
In conclusion, "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" is an incognito car movie more than anything else. The car chase is absolutely sensational, filled with suspense, and unique in its own manner, something that can't be said for the cliche plot. I absolutely loved seeing the lime-green Charger being thrown around mercilessly, the stunt driver showing jaw-dropping driving skill in a now pricy and desirable classic. Also, the period-correct (obviously) environment takes you back to a totally different era in motoring and I couldn't help myself from ceaselessly car spotting during the movie. In short, if cars and pure action is your jive, you're going to appreciate this silver screen classic. Eat your heart out, "The Fast and the Furious"!
