Some more '60's and '70's cult action flicks with muscle cars....

In "Death Proof"  Kurt Russell tells Rose McGowan that he's sick of CGI-that he longs for the "Vanishing Point" Days-the "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry days-when you had brave men doing great feats with great cars.  We've talked about movies featuring muscle machines before but there's always a few we overlooked. Here's some I was reminded of recently. # 1. "The Born Losers". Tom Laughlin starred in and directed-( under the pseudonym -"T.C. Frank" ) this little-known, but well done action flick. "Losers" actually introduced the "Billy Jack" character in 1965-six years before he had a surprise hit in 1971. Of the two films-"Born Losers is by far the better work. While "Billy Jack" was full of anti-Vietnam War rhetoric, and Civil-Rights struggles-BJ protects "The Freedom School" from angry rednecks. Even the theme song-"One Tin Soldier" is blatantly anti-war. If you watch it today, it's so dated it's hailarious. However-Born Losers is still easy to watch as a good, badass action flick. Billy Jack is a half-Indian ex-Green Beret Viet Nam vet / Cowboy / Rodeo rider who gets in trouble when he stops a Hell's Angel type biker gang from killing a motorist in the beach resort town he lives near. The biker gang is also selling drugs and raping young girls, and generally terrorizing the town. The small town sheriff's department is helpless to stop them. When they rape Billy Jack's girlfriend and trash his trailer, he takes the law into his own hands. Laughlin was a talented martial-artist; his Hapkido style of Kenpo Karate is fluid and realistic in the fight scenes-he looks much more at ease than Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. You get the feeling that he's been in real fights off the movie set. Him quietly asking the bikers not to mess with him in a gas station is more manacing than Vin Diesel's famous "500 Fights" speech from Knockaround guys. Needless to say he kicks a lot of ass and as he promised earlier-shoots Jeremy Slate-the biker gang leader right between the eyes. Lot's of vintage motorcycles and cars, and girls in bikinis. Even 48 years later, except for the cars and the hairstyles-it's not dated. That makes a good action flick.  # 2. "Gone in 60 Seconds". To quote Tracie Thoms in "Death Proof"-the badass original not that Angelina Jolie Bullshit"  H.B. Halicki wrote, directed and starred in this surprise hit about a car theif-thus the title-your car is "Gone in 60 Seconds". 90 minutes of automotive mayhem starring a yellow 1973 Mustang Mach 1- named "Eleanor". Halicki tried again in 1977 with The Junkman" but that never went anywhere. "Gone in 60 seconds was like "Deep Throat" a low-budget flick that grossed many millions. It's still fun to watch. # 3. "Eat My Dust".  Before he became an Academy Award winning director- Ron Howard was an actor. Trying to shed his Mayberry RFD and Happy Days Goodie-two-shoes image he made two action movies in 1976-one was the John Wayne classic "The Shootist"  The other was this drive-in cult favorite. Howard's character steals a '68 Camaro Race Car and leads the police and the whole town on a series of spectacular chases. Why was it one of Billy Bob's drive-in favorites? "Blew his fuckin" fenders off!!" was the most dialogue delivered by anyone in the film. 12 year old boys then and now love this flick. # 4. Bobbi Joe and The Outlaw."  Evangelist turned-action-star Marjoe Gortner was sexy and menacing as a drifter / Car thief who kills someone in self-defense. A pre-"Wonder Woman"  Lynda Carter gets naked a lot which is a plus. Decent car chase action featuring a Mustang and other musclecars that Gortner steals. Low-brow, but entertaining in a Roger Corman cult classic kind of way. Did I mention Lynda Carter spends a lot of time naked?   # 5. "A Small Town in Texas". Southern-Fried revenge tale that's lean and mean. Quentin Tarantino wishes he could make stuff like this, but he get's bogged down in too much dialogue. A young Timothy Bottoms is a Texas football hero who may or may not have been railroaded to prison on drug charges. by corrupt sheriff Bo Hopkins. He's done his time and just wants to re-unite with his high-school girlfriend and their son that he's never seen. The smokin' hot Susan George- ( "Mandingo", "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" ) was at her bleach-blonde, straining halter-top, barefoot southern tramp best. Since Hopkins has been dating her while Bottoms was in jail, and doesn't want to lose the town hottie to her old boyfriend, he tries to set him up on drug charges again. Several great chases one with Bottoms riding a 650 Triumph, another with him driving a 427 powered '65 Chevy Pickup. After Hopkins kills his best friend and trashes their shop and a classic car they were restoring. Bottoms quietly, but menacingly proclaims "I see now, my only option is to kill that man."  "I wish I'd seen it sooner."  And then he leaves to go murder Hopkins and run away to Mexico with Susan.  Totally Badass. I don't know why it wasn't a bigger hit.  # 6. "Mitchell". Bo Svenson got the "Walking Tall" sequel because Joe Don Baker was making this film at the same time.  Baker made the right choice. The Walking Tall sequel was awful-no where near as good as the orignal and it flopped. Mitchell wasn't a huge theatrical hit; but it got good reviews and reigns as a drive-in and cable-tv cult classic. Mitchell is a burned-out detective who thinks rich fat-cat John Saxon murdered a latino burgular in cold-blood. He also thinks Saxon and Martin Balsam are partners in laundering drug money. A couple of good chases featuring a Mustang and some cop cars, and some dune buggies. A pre-"Dynasty" Linda Evans is great as a high-priced hooker that Saxon tries to bribe Mitchell with. Her Ice-Queen image is perfectly portrayed in a great scene. She's lying naked on the bed on her stomach., reading Playboy and giving a running commntary on what she thinks of the Playmates and how she compares to them while Baker is kissing her gorgeous feet, legs and ass. When he stops and gets up to go to the bathroom, she shakes her foot, and then looks over her shoulder, genuinely surprised that he stopped, and continues reading Playboy aloud. I liked the Ice-Queen Hooker way better than the whiny Krystal Carrington she played on Dynasty. Only topped by the scene where he arrests her for drug posession and drags her into the station handcuffed in lingerie and high heels. She asks the booking officer-"Does it matter that he screwed me before he arrested me?". The booking officers says- "You really screwed that?"  "Hell, Mitchell I'm Impressed."  A fight-to-the-finish finale with ex-Rams defensive tackle Merlin Olson is pretty good too. Overall a good, macho action flick.  # 7. "The California KId". This made for TV movie has a lot of star power. Martin Sheen, Vic Morrow and Michelle Phillips star in this revenge tale. It's set in 1958, and Vic Morrow is a corrupt sheriff who gets his jollies by running speeders off the road to their deaths in his Hemi Cop Car. One of the speeders he killed is Sheen's brother. A disgruntled Korean War vet, Sheen swaggers into town in a hopped up, flamed, black '34 Ford Coupe. The car, built by Pete Chapouris, became so Iconic-that you can order a new Harley with a "California Kid" paint job-black with yellow and orange flames. The tension builds until their final showdown on a curvy road. A cult classic.  Mastermind           .