Contents.Plot Scott (Desi Arnaz, Jr.) and the couple John (Robert Carradine) and Suzie (Melanie Griffith) leave their jobs in California, and take their car on a ferry to Alaska with some saved money and dreams of making an easy fortune salmon fishing. Upon arriving, they enter a bar and the two men start slamming local hooch until they get drunk.
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Suzie meets an older man working for the oil pipeline who says he can get all three of them a job. The older man gives Suzie his card while Scott and John sleep off their drunkenness. The next morning, they find their car has been broken into and robbed.
Desperate for money, the two men land pipeline jobs with the older man's help, Suzy gets a waitressing job. They walk out of a food market with a shopping cart of unpaid-for meat while it is being robbed.Scott goes to a bar and meets Cindy (Anne Lockhart), but gets turned off when Cindy asks Scott for money to go home with her.
Scott then buys three pistols, and all three spend the day improving their shooting abilities. Suzie tells John that they are back in the same lives they had in California. Scott pulls a gun on his coworkers to stop them from robbing the pipeline of equipment. Scott is fired and John is threatened off his job the next day.
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I just saw this movie and all I can say is, where are the drive in's these days. This seems like it would have been a great 2nd feature at a drive in in 1977 (maybe playing with one of those Joan Collins movies), but it's only worth watching now if you're feeling nostalgic for the 70's.
Suzie quits her job after being groped once too often by her employer. All three are forced out of their apartment.
Cindy finds Scott at the bar again, buys him a beer, and says he does not have to pay for it. When Scott pulls Cindy into the back seat of a car for some fun, two guys from the pipeline pull Scott out of the car and beat him up while Cindy runs off.
Scott's former boss Sanders (Tom Ligon) lets him know he is responsible for the beating.The three are down to eating dog food and resort to selling their car to survive. Scott and John steal Sander's car, take it for a joyride, and end up totaling it at a garbage dump. The two men then go back to the bar and win enough money at a to buy a 1957 Pontiac. Also among the winnings is an endorsed payroll check from the pipeline.
Because the payroll office refuses to cash this check, they rob the office at gunpoint and then use Cindy, who is coincidentally there as a hostage to escape the police. They switch from the stolen robbery car to their purchased 1957 Pontiac, which gets a flat tire and has no spare. While getting it fixed, they learn Cindy is a pipeline worker and they offer $5000 for her safe return. After aborting a forced abandonment of Cindy, they shoot a bear for food, then gag and tie Cindy up in the car while riding a ferry. Scott removes Cindy's gag and she says they should ransom her off for $300,000, which Scott talks the others into doing.
After Scott calls the pipeline company with a ransom demand, all four break into a house and party naked in its hot tub. They instruct the pipeline representative with the money to deposit it in an open railroad car which starts to move immediately after the representative puts the money inside. The representative follows the train which results in a car chase and pistol shots through the window when he spots them picking up the money, but they escape by flipping the representative's car during the chase. After switching from a stolen car to their purchased 1957 Pontiac, they abandon Cindy at a police station. Knowing the police know the serial numbers of the $300,000, they do not spend any of it and get a job melting scrap metal.After John catches Scott showering with Susie, he gets mad, dumps groceries on the bed to let them know that he knows, and then steals a camera while being caught on surveillance tape. John throws some of the stolen money at the shop owner, who then tries to choke him as he drives away.
John tries to leave alone, but all three reconcile and they all drive away together. John is still angry, so he pulls over and has a shoving match with Scott on the highway, while almost getting hit by a passing car. Abandoning their 1957 Pontiac for another stolen car, they run a U.S./Canada border checkpoint after they think that the officer has recognized them.
After running a road block and surviving a shotgun blast through a window, they drive into the Canadian mountains where their car runs out of gas. John and Susie sleep the night in the car, while Scott goes in search of another vehicle. Scott succeeds, but John appears to have died from exposure. Luckily, Scott is able to slap John awake and he, John and Susie drive away in the newly stolen truck, talking of a better future as the credits roll.Principal cast ActorRoleScottJohnSusieCindy YoungSandersCliff LenzHendersonRobert LoperSimon WilliamsDiana GrayfRhondaProduction The film was shot in and and on the.
Worked as Production Manager and Assistant Director.References.
Paul Walker was a car guy in the truest sense of the words. Much like his acting predecessors – Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and James Garner – Walker was known to spend much of his private time purchasing, driving, and wrenching on a variety of high-performance vehicles.Of course, Walker’s on-screen legacy will forever be associated with his starring turn as Brian O’Connor in no less than six of the blockbuster Fast and the Furious franchise films (one posthumously using CGI). Nonetheless, he appeared in another, little-known automotive-themed movie in 2001. I thought we’d take a look at it, so without further ado, here is this month’s installment of Rob’s Car Movie Review, Joy Ride. Joy Ride theatrical movie poster (Image courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.)Joy Ride was a co-production of New Regency Pictures, Epsilon Motion Pictures, Bad Robot, and LivePlanet. The film was distributed in all US territories by Twentieth Century Fox.
The movie had a rather illustrious above-the-line team which included producer Arnon Milchan, producer and co-writer J.J. Abrams, and director John Dahl. Dahl had recently helmed the Matt Damon and Edward Norton hit, Rounders. Steve Zahn largely steals the movie as Fuller, Lewis’ misguided older brother. (Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.) The Storyline & Cinematography:The movie tells the story of college student, Lewis Thomas (Walker), who embarks on a cross-country road trip to pick up a girl, Venna (Sobieski), who he has long had a crush on. His intention is to drive her home to Texas for spring break.On the way, Lewis learns that his black sheep brother, Fuller (Zahn), has been arrested for the umpteenth time.
Lewis takes a brief detour to bail Fuller out, and together, the two of them travel to pick up Venna. The film generates a good amount of suspense as the unseen villain increases the intensity of his bad deeds. (Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.)Joy Ride is a modern spin on the “killer on the road” horror/suspense genre film. Similar to notable movies from the past, such as The Hitcher, Duel,. It delivers a fine amount of suspense throughout the story, as the villain remains unseen while he ratchets up his evil deeds designed to terrify the protagonists.The acting in the film is largely very good, with Walker turning in a solid blue-eyed good guy performance, and Zahn stealing the show as the misguided and rascally older brother. Only Sobieski phones it in, with her performance coming off as rather stilted and wooden. She does have a certain charm and screen-presence though, with her offbeat good looks.
The movie’s cinematography is especially effective, depicting the American West as a sparsely populated wasteland of cheap motels and truck stops. (Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.)The cinematography by Jeffry Jur, is slick and effective. He creates mood by lensing fantastic roadside locations throughout the West as lonely, decaying milieus. Equally effective is the film editing, which doesn’t fall prey to the “cut-a-second” trend of films of this type in recent decades.
A perfect road trip car. (Phot courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.)Most of the car’s exhaust notes in the film seem to be sweetened or entirely dubbed, making it tough to identify its engine. Although, it is no doubt a big-block V8. By Chrysler Newport equipment of the time, it suggests the movie car either packed a 383 or 440.For those enamored with modern European muscle, a brief appearance of a silver 2000 BMW M-Roadster will make you happy. Especially in a shot from the rear as the car drives away, displaying its almost ludicrously wide, stock rear rubber. The brothers steal a perfectly beat and weathered 1975 F250. (Photo Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment.)For you muscly-pickup enthusiasts, the brothers steal a very cool, Medium Green Gold 1975 Ford F250 pickup beater.
I personally always loved the front end and grille-work on those particular trucks.Other cars in the film include a 1972 Buick Electra 225, a great 1982 Chevy Camaro Z28, and a slew of Peterbuilt, Kenworth and Freightliner big-rigs. Conclusion:Joyride is an exceedingly watchable film. It’s packed with a good cast, top-notch mise-en-scene, and a trio of pretty cool cars and automotive action. It’s a great way for a car nut, Mopar fan, or enthusiast of suspense films to kill a couple of hours.While not quite in the league of the original The Hitcher, my personal favorite of the genre, I nonetheless enjoyed it quite a bit. I recommend you see it too. I give Joyride seven out of ten pistons.
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February 2023
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