Red Line

A B-grade action movie with some well-known actors in it.

Look out for Jan-Michael Vincent as one of the bad guys. Notice anything peculiar about him ? Well, the truth is, Jan-Michael, as we all know, struggled with some drinking problems in real life, got smashed up in an vehicle accident a day or two prior to shooting this movie, but still showed up at the set - to everyone's surprise ! His face was still badly swollen and if you look carefully you will notice the hospital band on his wrist ! This actor quite literally got up from the hospital bed and went straight to the set - Amazing ! Anyway, Jan has been through some pretty rough times and we salute his courage to still honor his commitments in this entertaining, but forgettable "Friday-night video" type movie.

Lots of cars get wrecked in this movie which is only fitting, as this is a car wreck of a movie. You know you shouldn't stare, but you go ahead and do it anyway. If you hang in there and keep watching, you'll be treated to classic scenes such as a car chase in which identical film clips keep looping to give the impression that the chase stretches over an extended period. A lead actress so bad she would be hooted off the stage of a high school production. And former "big name" actors who have some explaining to do if they ever want to be taken seriously again.

Red Line is a cult classic in my house. Me and a buddy of mine have watched it about a hundred times. More recently I've uploaded it to iMovie and edited it down to a 45 minute version with a Rolling Stones soundtrack that works perfectly with it. Thing is, this is not a masterpiece but 50% of it is really good fun. It has a wonderful cast who look like they're having a great time. The dialogue is hilarious in some places, not necessarily intentional every time, but a lot of it comes across as very natural or possibly ad-libbed. Either way, much like Star Wars (which is renowned for bad dialogue) it's endlessly quotable. A few of my favourites include -

"Kill us and the deal's off"

"I got a name for ya Larry, Squidlips"

"No, no not the fag!"

"DD, VD, DD what the feck is a DD?"

"You ask a lotta questions, are you a fekkin cop?"

On top of all that you have Jan Michael Vincent who had been in a serious road accident just before filming. His face is a mess and looks horribly painful, but that doesn't stop Michael Madsen from making jokes about it in a scene with Chad McQueen. The soundtrack is terrible and makes some of the car chase scenes seem boring, when in fact they are actually well done. Add in a bit of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack (as I did) to accompany the chases and suddenly they're great fun. Anyway if you get a chance to see this, it has a lot to recommend. Like I said half of it is great, the other half just shows up how low budget it is. But I love this film all the same.

This movie is excellent for Race Car drivers and fans of Nascar, because this movie looks just like my video game, Top Gear Rally on the Nintendo 64 system. This movie has a great deal of good action, stunts, plot, exceptionally good acting, and stars from the past. Chad McQueen did an excellent job as an actor and a stunt car driver in this film, on how he set up two different organized crimes, and they killed each other while he ran off with a ton of smack. Jan-Michael Vincent did an excellent job too, even though his age is really starting to show in this film, but he did have a motorcycle accident the day before they started filming, at times in the film, you can actually see his hospital band believe it or not! Jan-Michael Vincent, dominated this film, just like all his others! Since now that his age is really kicking in, he makes a perfect bad guy or a psycho path (Hidden Obsession). I recommend this film to all Hollywood B-movie fans!

You have to like it for what it is. It is a cheep car movie with Corey Feldman and Jan Michael Vincent in it. It doesn't matter what else happens. That is what defines this one. With that said. It was fun. I enjoy the low budget car films. This has the car chases, a little t-n-a and a few big names and an odd cameo. First the cars and chases. You have a Corvette, a few Porshes, a Ferrari, a Jaguar and a few Mustanges. Chad McQueen, Steve McQueen's son, at one point drives a green 1968 Mustang Fastback I guess as a tribute to Bullett in which his father stared. The chases are good, not great. You can tell that one car is attached to a camera truck during one of the chases. The story is about what you would expect. Not going to elaborate. The stars. Well Chad McQueen is not his dad but is well suited for the lead in a low budget car film. Corey Feldman is ...well... Corey Feldman. Michael Madsen plays a guy like Michael Madsen would play. Jan Michael Vincent, I think had a motorcycle accident before this movie was made and his face looks like it went through a meet grinder. But he fits the over all theme of this movie. LOW BUDGET. Dom Delouis plays the worst role I think he has ever played. And if you watch close Ron Jeremy pops up twice in the film. Don't get me wrong. If you like cheesy low-budget car films, this will hit the spot. If you are looking for Bullett. Not it.