Poursuite sans pitié

My review was written in February 1990 after watching the film on Academy video cassette.

"Driving Force" is a contrived action pic that fails to whip up the populist sentiment of '70s truck driving man features.

Direct-to-video pic was shot in the Philippines by Aussie filmmakers, with several supporting players dubbed with an American accent. Its foreign origins are betrayed when an all-American girl calls the bad guys "bikies", Australian slang instead of the U. S. term biker for motorcycle types.

Sam J. Jones gets a job driving a tow truck to earn a living and keep custody of his daughter; his wife died and the grandparents want hr4. Unscrupulous fellow tow truckers led by evil Don Swayze are causing accidents and strong-arming innocent folks to drum up business. When Jones interferes, a boring vendetta begins.

Film founders due to a series of idiotic, almost impossible coincidences in the final reels, all designed to pile tsouris on Jones until he gets mad and gets even.

Jones is okay in this standard issue role, with Catherine Bach adding some glamor as his girlfriend (she's also convincing in the action scenes). Swayze, Patrick's near lookalike brother, goes through the motions as the cardboard villain.

I was looking for an action packed movie...with trucks! And, I got that, kind of. The movie seems to fall flat in the development of the characters and their relationships, and the movies feels flat. Sam Jones and Catherine Bach are good enough. Don Swayze is not too bad as a bad guy.

Movie is far from a waste of time, but not something I would probably watch again.

DRIVING FORCE - aka ROADWARS - is a typical MAD MAX rip-off, made on the cheap with little in the way of excitement or danger to recommend it. Instead it has cheesy action scenes in which the actors seem to move in the slowest way imaginable, and random interludes where it doesn't even look like a post-apocalyptic world at all. Sam J. Jones gives his usual wooden turn as the hero, counterparted by Don Swayze hamming it up as the baddie, and I spotted Billy Blanks in a small role too.

Thank God this film has all but vanished now, because it's a complete waste of space. I was expecting a lot of cool vehicular action after seeing the trailer on the internet, but while the film delivers that kind of action, it is bogged down too much with the soap opera stuff with Sam Jones (FLASH GORDON) trying to prevent his rich in-laws from getting custody of his daughter, or the stuff with Jones trying to win Catherine Bach's heart.

Don Swayze, brother of Patrick, is okay as a bad guy but he really needed a better movie to display his talents in. DRIVING FORCE is a complete stinker, through and through. Avoid.

Has there ever been a movie that portrays the future as anything but bleak and desperate? "The Jetsons" was so beloved because it showed a future full of hope, with flying cars that fold into briefcases, jet packs, and robot maids. Movies, on the other hand, present a future where vicious gangs, who look like pro wrestlers in new wave bands, roam a dystopian planet to rape and pillage. "Driving Force" is of the latter, but without the visual style of "The Road Warrior". Or new wave pro wrestlers. The movie is alleged to take place in the "near future", which appears to be a week later than it was filmed. There are no space ships or androids, nor are there barren wastelands with feral children. The only futuristic visuals in "Driving Force" are Lord Humungus-brand cars, with chain link doors and windshields. This makes me think rain has been eradicated from Earth. Otherwise, there is nothing that will make you believe the future isn't just a continuous loop of 1989.

"Driving Force" stars Sam Jones as Steve, a widowed, humble, stoic, hard-working, down-on-his-luck, and other hyphenated adjectives, father. You maybe remember Jones as Flash Gordon from "Flash Gordon", and as Sam Jones from "Flash Gordon" in "Ted". Daisy Duke herself, Catherine Bach, is Harry, who we first see as a pair of amazing legs stepping out of a Whitesnake video. Patrick Swayze's methy looking brother Don is the leader of a gang of vile, renegade, murderous, umm..tow truck drivers. One of his henchmen is Tae Bo creator Billy Blanks, a name that also describes his acting style. The other looks like the make-up wearing son of Klaus Kinski, whacked out on various combinations of Adderall and Xanax. Bad guys wearing make-up is another futurist "Mad Max"ism. Steve manages to run afoul of the Black Knights Towing Company (really!) as an independent driver trying to survive and provide for his 8 year old plot device. I meant, daughter. He also has to deal with his dead wife's parents, who want to take custody of their granddaughter. The grandmother is portrayed as if she wants to skin the girl for her Dalmatian fur.

This is 90 minutes of tow truck chases, tow truck crashes, and tow truck explosions. The crashes are straight out of an episode of "CHiPs", where cars burst into flames on the slightest impact. Hazard County police deputies were more competent drivers. There's one scene where everybody trades in their trucks for motorcycles, giving the BK an opportunity to wear matching, cutting edge leather outfits. Perhaps this was a tribute to Mario Bava's "Planet of the Vampires"? Eh, probably not. There are some pretty brutal looking accidents to Steve's daughter and Harry, where both come out unscathed. Hell, Harry looks look even more radiant in the aftermath! I also forgot to mention Steve's old buddy, a lecherous mechanic who also gets mangled by a car crashing through his garage door, yet is ready for battle 10 minutes later. Either people in the future are built like Terminators or the cars are built like Hot Wheels. And there's one scene that comes waaaaay out of left field to explain why Dollar Store Swayze is so damn mean. I think. And if you want to see something really bizarre, check out the poster for the movie. It's Sam Jones and Catherine Bach standing in front of a truck, but their heads have been photoshopped onto different bodies. And the heads are twice the normal size! I think they missed a merchandising opportunity with Flash Gordon and Daisy Duke bobble head dolls.

In the realm of "so bad, it's good" movies, this falls under "so bad, it's mediocre". Sam Jones is the perfect straight-to-video hero, and Catherine Bach is an entire season of Silk Stalkings-hotness in a mini-skirt and heels. Don Swayze isn't his brother, but I'm sure he wishes he was. Well, maybe not currently. "Driving Force" is definitely something you would've been fooled into renting at Blockbuster, or stumbled upon drunkenly during "USA Up All Night". You could do worse. You could always do worse.