Zero to Sixty

I first saw this on cable probably 25 years ago. When it came up on Prime I decided to take a trip down Memory Lane. Some films age better than others...this one not so much. Still, if you enjoy the '70 teens and cars genre (Grand Theft Auto, The Van, etc.), you'll probably find something entertaining in this low-budget car theft comedy. It's always a pleasure to watch Darrin McGavin in comedic roles and he lifts the script (which he co-wrote under his birth name) higher than it has a right to be. The rest of the cast succeeds or fails to various degrees.

The good: Dick Martin as a shady divorce lawyer.

Denise Nickerson as Larry, the teen car thief.

The mediocre: Sylvia Miles as the repo company owner.

Lyle Wagonner as a gay bartender.

The bad: Joan Collins as the same tramp Joan Collins always plays.

The horrendous: The Hudson Brothers during their 15 minutes of fame.

One final note: this film probably falls into the "they couldn't make this today" category.

Darrin MacGavin's Michael character is probably in his late 30's-early 40's. Larry is a 16 year old girl. (actress Denise Nickerson is really 31, looking every bit of 16). While pulling up just short of statutory rape (and Larry tries like heck), Michael resists, but nonetheless there is a creepiness hovering over them. It does gets resolved in the end.

This awful movie purports to be a comedy, but the only way to tell is from the "wacky" music that plays during the supposed funny parts.

The story is almost non-existent, the characters are annoying and the chase scenes are trite. A car chase through a vegetable market? How unique.

I don't know how this movie got made but it had some fairly big TV stars for its day in the cast. Dick Martin and Lyle Waggoner had cameos. I'm not really sure why Darrin McGavin made this and he probably isn't either.

The movie is really terrible but it still has some power to make you sit transfixed and acknowledge how bad it is with out actually doing anything about it.

Perhaps best known as Carl Kolchak and the Old Man character from A Christmas Story, Darren McGavin, who also wrote the screenplay, (under his real name, W. Lyle Richardson) stars as Michael Nolan, a middle-aged loser, whose wife divorces him and leaves him for broke, and screwed over by his slimy attorney (Dick Martin). He eventually befriends Larry (Denice Nickerson), a street-smart teenager, who has a job repossessing cars. Larry is determined to take back a silver Pontiac Trans Am belonging to sexpot socialite Gloria Martine (Joan Collins), who Michael is immediately turned on by. Of course, there's plenty of car chases and crashes and supporting parts from Sylvia Miles as the wacky agency owner, Dick Martin as a slimy divorce attorney and The Hudson Brothers as a trio of morons, who also work at the agency as repo men.

I just picked up this movie on the internet and after watching had mixed emotions. There really is NO plot line here. Darren McGavin has lost everything and seems like a wishy washy kind of turd in the punchbowl. Someone tries to Repo his ex-wife's car and that's how gets involved with the inept ring of repo guys, headed up by the tough as nails Sylvia Miles. McGavin's character Mike is teamed up with a 16 year old juvy who takes him in and falls in love with him. He doesn't feel the same(does the word statutory rape ring a bell???) but she wants to bang him anyway. Mike is too interested in banging some of the women who's cars are wanted by the bank and he ends up doing them too. There's not much to see in this film. Gratuitous car chases, goofy performances by the Hudson Brothers who were like the Three Stooges or trying to be like them, horrible fight scenes(though McGavin did know Karate but that wasn't evident here) and one bad love making scene with McGavin and Joan Collins(yes, Joan Collins). But it's fun to watch McGavin, he's a delight no matter what he does. Why did he do this schlock(filmed in Toronto I might add)? It was the pet project of his second wife, the late Kathie Browne. Oh, let me add 2 gratuitous scenes of McGavin's untanned butt. The highlight of the movie(at least to me).

Having read the other comments here *prior to* watching this movie, I didn't go in expecting much. Yeah, there's no deep plot here... just a simple one about loony circumstances leading to a friendship and a love based not on pure nothingness (as in many movies) but upon that friendship and sticking up for one another. A simple movie just about that simple concept... with a lot of car chase scenes thrown in.

I didn't realize Denise Nickerson as Violet Beauregarde, but her acting really stood out for me as quite genuine in this movie -- I think it held up against modern day standards for this type of spunky character... and I'm someone who thinks that most 70's movie acting bites a big one. That, and she reminded me of an ex girlfriend almost to a tee, personality-wise. McGavin played very naturally as well... the two obviously had fun working together and stood way above the rest of the cast -- which WAS typically 70's in their performances.

I like this movie.. and might keep it as a nostalgic link to simpler, far more naive, times.