A lot of people drive A car but nobody drives THE CAR!
By Andrew Haworth • Feb 6th, 2008 • Category: Roundtable ReviewsBill: The one surprising element missing from THE CAR is religion. Where’s the town priest who attempts an exorcism and is run over for his troubles?
Andy: That was probably the low-budget issue you have already mentioned. But at least we DID get one rambling quote about “hallowed ground”.
Bill: Oh, and I guess we did get the ominous forecasting from the old Navajo woman to add to the mystical aspect. Still, pretty interesting that, aside from that ancient cowboy cemetery, Christianity seems to be absent from the town. Maybe that’s why they’re being visited by The Car.
Ashlon: And how is it that the old Navajo woman is the only person who can see there is no driver of the car?
Stewart: Well, if not for the pre-supposed theories about the plots and intentions behind movies like this I imagine we wouldn’t have that much to discuss anyway. Part of me always assumes that any sort of deep-seated meaning the filmmakers strive to infuse in their storytelling is incidental. I think we can all agree that it’s hard enough just to complete production than it is to complete production and have made a statement about something by the end of it. For me (and again this is highly dependant on my blood-alcohol level) I either choose to be academic about what we watch or as you saw in my attitude of our BOOBY TRAP roundtable, choose to leave such criticism to you professionals.
Bill: I didn’t intend to rain on your parade — suppose all you want! That’s what’s fun about film criticism.
Stewart: I looked up some of the credits for Armstrong and he’s been in a ton of stuff, mostly westerns. Andrew you may remember him from your review of DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL as Dunworth. He also played Pruneface in DICK TRACY which reminded me of Ashlon’s comment about his striking resemblance to the monster in 300.
Ashlon: That’s it! Pruneface! I knew I saw him in something somewhat recent. Thanks for clearing that up, Stewart.
Andy: So what’s the verdict gentlemen? It was a solid three-star effort I think.
Stewart: THE CAR was great. I give it a solid three stars.
Ashlon: The completely ridiculous stunts make this picture a winner for me. Throw in overacting at every possible turn and the plot device of mechanized death and you got me! Three stars! I’d like a little more sleaze but this picture is solid.
Bill: About as entertaining as a PG-rated drive-in movie can be, I give THE CAR 3.5 stars!
Stewart: A lot of people drive A car but nobody drives THE CAR!
Check out a trailer for THE CAR below:
Andrew Haworth is the editor of Shameful Cinema. After working as a print journalist for the better part of 10 years, he now produces Internet videos for a large daily newspaper and is a habitual freelance/fine art photographer.
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Aaah, those memories! I was just a teenager when I saw this movie in the cinema. Even today I still remember a lot of scenes from it. Especially the start scene with the bicyclists but also the garage scene.
That car made a big impression on me back then, I really would like to see it again but I haven’t been able to find it (never seen it being released on vhs or dvd)
Anyway, this is a great post, also really cool looking site, has been added to my favorites.
[...] De gastsprekers beperken zich niet enkel tot hedendaagse films, een voorbeeld hiervan vond ik op hun site onder de vorm van “The car“ [...]
I was attending film school when THE CAR was first released and it was it became a topic of speculation, not for its quality as a film but because it was touted to have paid THE HIGHEST FEE for a first time screenplay! Anyone who has seen the film, comes to two conclusions: The writer’s had the great agent of all time or Universal suffered from a unfortunately short lived lapse of sanity and actually paid out a generous sum for A Jaws/Killdozer B-movie variation it could crank out, using their list of on payroll TV actors and technicans. Universal was well known at the time for producing and inventoring TV movies and B films for use at later dates.
[...] A lot of people drive A car but nobody drives THE CAR! [...]
If you can believe it — I actually enjoyed THE CAR more than I did another little low-budget flick from 1977 called STAR WARS… But I was into Lovecraft and Creepy magazine, not Doc Smith and Flash Gordon. So it goes.