Pleins phares

Terrific remake of JOHNNY DARK (Universal, 1954), like the title says, this is a lively, fun picture. A young auto enthusiast and race-car driver, Casey Owens (James Darren reprising the Tony Curtis role from the earlier picture) enters a cross-country endurance road race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada. The car(s) he enters in the race were the unique Chrysler Turbine Cars, of which 50 examples were built; a few of them were used on loan from Chrysler Corporation to make this movie, a few were sent to Auto Museums around the country after their testing was completed, and the rest were unfortunately destroyed to please the IRS. A cool, very enjoyable teenage-market movie, although with the usual teen romance, this was made by Universal to compete with Elvis Presley's MGM picture VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964) then in production, and this movie turned out to be more satisfying with an audience than the contrived romance of ELVIS and Ann-Margret, despite their obvious on-screen chemistry. And, to be even more cool, there were some surf music-hot rod songs by The Surfaris, like "Boss Barracuda", a song by hit pop singer Joanie Sommers (in her only movie role), "Casey Wake Up!", and the first film score written by pop singer Bobby Darin, who wisely did not sing in this movie. But what put this picture over the top was the elaborate, realistic, grueling road race from L.A. to Las Vegas, covered by real KMPC Radio announcers Dick Whittinghill and Captain Max Schumaker. Great stuff! Great cast! Highly recommended. From the same team that made the classic Universal sci-fi movies of the 1950s like IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. So what's not to like? So Universal, why isn't this out on video?

The main reason I love this movie is because it shows off the Chrysler Turbine Car to great effect. The scene where the camera zooms in on the exposed turbine engine during the road race still gives me goosebumps when I see it. Back in the sixties that was like saying, "Here's the Future, folks; get a close-up look at it in action!"

The rest of the movie is admittedly a bit stilted and obvious, but Darren and McClure are earnest and believable, and the race scenes are well staged and filmed. Seeing the actual race drivers in their younger days is kind of fun, too.

I was shocked upon a recent viewing because when I saw this film as a kid I remember believing that the evening desert scenes were actually filmed outdoors! Now the studio lighting and backdrops are painfully obvious to adult eyes.

I always wondered why such a Chrysler-oriented movie would have so many Mercurys hanging around (Pam's convertible Comet, most notably.) Were there some hard feelings between the studio and Chrysler, for some reason, which may have caused the director to populate the sets with competitor's cars? I would much rather have seen Furys and 300 Letter cars in this instance. However, those two great Engel Imperials are worth the price of admission for me.

that was a pretty harsh review. I thought it was light and entertaining and enjoyed the old school racing scenes. This movie is not much different than the Elvis Presley movies of that era ... the acting wont blow you away but it will entertain you, seems like most reviewers agree.

BTW, it was racer Dave MacDonald who did some of the driving scenes for this film, he also appears in a cameo role. He was killed in the 1964 Indy 500 before the movies release date.

Pamela Tiffin is gorgeous so it was a pretty easy movie to watch.

I believe it was Bobby Darin who did the soundtrack

I just watched this movie on AMC and I was struck by how similar it was to the cartoon "Speed Racer". I loved that cartoon as a child, and I wondered how Peter Fernandez (voice, writer and talent behind the cartoon) veered so completely from the more violent Japanese Anime original, to focus on a much more "Americanized" theme (Peter Fernandez wrote the scripts). It is interesting to see the cartoon's probable genesis.

James Darren plays a character just like Speed Racer--a young man totally focused on cars and racing, and how to make a car engine better, faster. He even has a white race car with the number five painted on it. His character, Casey Owens, is hard working and relentless, someone who would rather spend his talents creating than sitting in a college classroom. He wants to do things his own way, with or without help, so he drops out of college to satisfy his dreams of building a faster engine.

But he learns (by family and friends pushing him into it) that hard work and talent are not enough in the real world-- you have to have an edge (i.e. money). Eventually, with the support of friends and family, Casey builds the revolutionary turbine engine.

According to AMC, the film uses the real turbine engine that Chrysler pioneered. Three hundred were made and they ran on almost anything--perfume, alcohol, whatever. The engines were eventually destroyed, but at the time, they were ahead of their time, a hint of the technology to come.

Just like "Trixie" in the cartoon, Casey has a wonderful brunette sidekick in the way of actress Pamela Tiffin. She is a beauty, reminiscent of actresses Karina Lombard and Catherine Zeta-Jones, with a great comedic flair. Her character, Eadie Manning, knows about cars, and tolerates Casey's obsession. At first, all she wants is to marry Casey, then just to be his bud--she genuinely wants him to win, to help make his dreams come true.

Who can resist that kind of support? Casey isn't stupid--he doesn't, they marry and he wins the race of course. The only thing missing from this entertaining movie, is a small boy and a monkey. :-)

Great race scene at the end--but remember, this was made in the sixties.

I first saw this movie when I was in the Air Force back in 1964. I like it very much then. I saw it again last night on AMC and I still liked it a lot but I did not realize back in 1964 how hokey the non racing scenes where. However, there were enough racing scenes to carry the movie and it was fun to see it again. I recommend it to anyone who wants some "light" racing car entertainment. I think it was better than any Elvis movie of the era.