Riders

Writer-director Greydon Clark mixes drag racing and crime melodrama in this b-movie about two Van Nuys drag racers (a boy and a girl) who want to get even with a rival, who gypped them out of a bet and they chase him into a rural community where the boy and girl develop friends with a more complex group of racers. However, trouble brews when the rival is killed in a fiery crash during a grudge race and his wealthy father (Stephen McNally) exacts revenge against the group, with reluctant help from the local sheriff and his drunken deputy. The character development is pretty minimal and the film's shock ending is rather surprising, but not bad for fans of '70s car films.

HI-RIDERS is one of those all-out speed flicks that were made during the 1970s to celebrate fast-moving vehicles and much vehicular mayhem. This one's about teen drag racing, so kind of an update on the old biker movie sub-genre, as it follows a young couple who join a drag racing gang and contend with all the usual trouble from rivals and the law.

Unfortunately, this is one of the worst of its type, a truly pitiful film in every respect. It doesn't help that the quality of the print in existence is extremely sub-standard. The direction of the drag racing scenes, of which there are many, is awful, and they look like stock footage. In fact, I'm surprised they're so mishandled when director Greydon Clark went on to make the above average sci-fi chiller WITHOUT WARNING.

The cast is eminently forgettable and the characters one-dimensional. A few weary-looking faces show up in supporting roles (Mel Ferrer, Ralph Meeker, and Neville Brand) but fail to register. The plotting is lifeless and dull, and the running time seems to drag on interminably until the blessed moment when the credits finally roll.

Yeah man!! This is like, so cool!! We got this gang of kids, yeah, who set up a club for those who like to build up some speed on the road. We challenge each other to super fast races, and the winner gets to keep the stakes in a big-stakes gambling game. Radical!! But in one of these recent contests, the son of a rich guy got killed, and now the father wants revenge. Bogus!! And as our number gets picked off one by one thanks to his totally heinous hired assassins, will we survive long enough to ever hit those most excellent highways ever again? Watch and find out, my brothers!! You're gonna love this movie!! It's got the lot: Dudes burning rubber, chicks taking their tops off, teens getting blind drunk, fat guys dancing, cops being blown up.. and all in the space of 90 slammin' minutes!! This is totally the best film ever!! Rent it today!! It's bodacious, peeps..

*COUTH* *COUGH* oops sorry.. I lost control of my senses there for a minute, I don't know what came over me. Anyway, what I REALLY wanted to say was: this movie sucks the big one. Every performance bar none is dire, the much-hyped race sequences are rendered boring thanks to sloppy camera-work and the soundtrack is so loud and obtrusive it will have the climbing the wall in seconds.

But what really puts the final nail in the coffin is the 'moral' which seems to be: no matter how many people die in this little group, as long as the survivors stick together.. nothing else matters because its all about 'street cred'. What a sad excuse for conformity, and if the government wants to know why there are so many individuals out there who can't think for themselves and can only function as a unit, my answer would be: take a look at this screenplay, and draw your own conclusions. 2/10

This flick is notorious for a few reasons. It do contain classic American muscle cars like a Firebird, Dodge Charger and a Mercury Cougar. There are more to see like a Ford Mustang but the 3 mentioned are the most important ones.

The flick itself is a bit slow sometimes and it really starts around 45 minutes when things go wrong while racing. From there on this flick moves faster but still it's tame for today's standards. But the way it was shot is well done and it shows, Dean Cundey was camera man here and he moved further to the classic Halloween (1978). There are also a few common faces to recognise. Just watch the sheriff, Mel Ferrer and his deputy Ralph Meeker but not only that, the bartender is played by Neville Brand.

But what made this flick notorious was that around the end of shooting a terrible accident occurred with Vic Rivers, the stunt man. He died while driving a truck that was meant to fly off an embankment. But Vic undershot the distance and the truck flipped and crashed near the bank of the river. Due the silt it took an hour to find him, death. But the shot was used.

Worth seeing for the cars only.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I enjoyed this film, i came across it one rainy day and said what the hell! Ill give it a shot. The story takes a pretty cool twist that i never saw coming! Which is rare for me because most movies are written with such obvious plots. The actors seemed natural and believable and wow the action is crazy cool. The cars where probably the best part of the movie . So all in all this movie is legit!!.