This site is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of 1960's and '70's Musclecars. I will answer any and all questions about what is original, and what are "Period Correct" modifications. I will also post my personal opinion about what is and is not proper. People are encouraged to debate me or share their own opinions or experiences.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Other Car Chase classics people want to re-do.....
I spoke the other day how I didn't think Quentin Tarantino should attempt a "White Lightning" remake. Someone tried to do "Vanishing Point" a few years ago and it failed miserably, mainly because they totally changed the story and tried to make it politically correct and heart-wrenching. In the original Kowalski bets his drug dealer the tab for some speed that he can make it from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hrs. That's why he's hauling ass and eluding the cops, aided by "Super Soul" a blind, clairvoyant DJ on an outlaw radio station. Simple and cool. Along the way he meets some characters including a snake hunter, some gay guys who try to rob him and a gorgeous,tanned blonde who rides a dirt bike naked. The look on Barry Newman's face when he hits the bulldozers is ethereal. That's why it has been an existential classic for 40 years. In the remake Viggo Mortenson plays Kowalski, who delivers high-end restored musclecars to elite buyers. His next run is in a 1970 Hemi Challenger. And here is where it goes off the rails. His wife is 9 months pregnant and has lupus. Gag. In the original Kowalski's wife died in a surfing accident and they had no kids. Ok, if she's sick and ready to give birth at any moment how about not go on the trip at all and stay with her? He goes on the trip and halfway there gets the call that she's in labor and her and the baby's lives are both in danger. How about park the car and get on an airplane? That would be common sense, but the film makers had none. So he's racing home to the wife and kid. Super Soul is not only not black, he's also not blind or clairvoyant. He's played by Jason Priestly and looks like the unabomber, and instead of helping Kowalski he whips up a media frenzy that makes everyone think he's a 9/11 type terrorist. And brings out Steve Railsback-who's a maniacal highway patrolman who apparantly belives that speeding should carry the death penalty. He ditches his cop car and goes after Kowalski in his personal '68 Charger, and trys to kill him at every turn. Uber-sexy Peta Wilson of "LaFemme Nikita" fame makes a cameo as the motorcycle rider, but sadly, she's not naked or even gratuitously barefoot in a bikini. Nope she's wearing coveralls and combat boots!! She does take off the coveralls to reveal a halter top and jeans, but it doesn't have the effect of the buck naked dirt bike rider. At the end they try to imply that Kowalski somehow bailed out of the car and escaped before it hit the bulldozers and went home to raise his kid. Gag, retch, puke. That pretty much makes "Vanishing Point" untouchable. Some other classics people have asked about-the grand-daddy of them all-"Bullitt". "Bullitt" was based on the novel "Mute Witness" by Rober L. Pike. The story was a gangster bookkeeper ripped off the mob in Chicago for a pile of money and then ran to San Francisco to cut a deal with an ambitious prosecutor and rat out the guys who were after him. Robert Vaughn played the smarmy D.A. who recruits Detective Frank Bullitt to protect the guy until he can get the guy's statement and proceed to trial. That would all still fly today-you'd just have to change the dollar amounts. It goes sideways the first night and a cop is badly wounded and the witness is on death's door, and does in fact die later in the night. Bullitt recruits a doctor to help him hide the body in the morgue and lose the guy's chart and leave the ICU room open like the guy's still alive so he can catch the killers. The car chase could be done with a modern Hemi Challenger and a modern 5.0 Mustang. The final shootout at the airport would still be cool. Who could play Frank Bullit? Matthew Mconaughey or Bradley Cooper come to mind, as long as they put their own spin on the character and don't try to mimic Steve McQueen. You thought Jacqueline Bisset was hot at 33 in "The Deep" ? ( Her wet t-shirt poster outsold everything that year except Farrah Fawcett in the red bathing suit ) She was only 24 when she made "Bullitt" Who's going to fill her spike-heeled pumps? Jeri Ryan ( "Seven of Nine on Star Trek Voyager, Body of Proof, Boston Legal ) is still smokin' hot. So is Eva Mendes. It could fly if it was done right, with the right people. # 2. "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" This one starred Peter Fonda as an ex-race-car driver who with his mechanic, decides to pull a robbery to fund his return to NASCAR. Susan George is a one-night stand he takes along, and she spends the entire movie barefoot in hip-hugger jeans that barely cover her ass-crack and a straining denim halter-top that barely contains her magnificent, bordering on spectacular, tanned breasts. This is, if anything, a plus factor. Anyhow the robbery plot of a Wal-Mart type superstore is good and suspenseful and would still fly-again you'd just have to change the dollar amounts. There's some good auto action early on in a '66 Chevy Caprice, but it really ramps up when they dump the Chevy and pickup the now iconic yellow '69 Charger. Vic Morrow is the cop obsessed with catching them. The final crash was used in the opening credits of "The Fall Guy" for years. Like I said once before-I see a great idea for a sequel. Change the ending and instead of everyone dying in a blaze of glory, let the cops catch them. The boys have hidden the money somewhere and won't talk. Mary claims they kidnapped and raped her and forced her to go along. The driver and the mechanic go to prison, Mary goes scot-free. A few years later Mary is married with kids and living the dream. The guys get out of prison and track her down and want their money back. The mechanic stays with her husband and kids and the driver does kidnap her this time, and tells her he'll rape and kill her and maybe not in that order if she doesn't get him the money. Or if she pulls any shit and tries to escape or call the cops, his buddy will kill her husband and kids. The cop that caught them the first time can be on the case. I think it would be a great heist / revenge flick. I see Chris Hemsworth in the Peter Fonda role, and Scarlett Johanssen as Mary. Since Larry and Mary are now enemies you could even have a gratuitous scene in motel room of ScarJo in some ultra-strict, inescapable bondage. He can be snoozing in the bed, and she can be savagely hog-tied on the floor, blindfolded and gagged of course. She can turn the tables on him and kill him and go save her family or the cop can help her-either way she can beat them again. Or you could go the other way-her family gets killed for her past misdeeds, and she has to live with that. A lot of potential here I think. # 3. "Thunder Road". This was the highest grossing movie of 1958 and made Robert Mitchum a big star. Mitchum played a Korean War vet who was running moosnshine for his dad while trying to stay ahead of atf agents and other moonshiners out to take his business. You could modernize it and he could be an Afghanistan vet who still has contacts over there and is selling heroin through strip clubs and pool halls. His buddies can all be combat vets so you can have some good martial-arts action and car chases too. If he'll stop phoning in "Fast&Furious" appearances, Jason Statham is the obvious choice for Mitchum's part. Or because of his veteran status, he could have a legal marijuana dispensary and be making a little too much on the side, which gets the feds on his ass. A lot of potential here too. Mastermind
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