Panique sur la voie express

Some may consider Runaway Car to be cheap exploitation--a Speed-ripoff in the high-occupancy lane. But this made-for-T-V thriller starring Judge Reinhold and Nina Siemazsko is so much more. Yeah, it's about a car that can't stop. But, Runaway Car is a wake-up call, a nightmarish fantasy about the total breakdown of the service industry. Siemazsko is Jenny, a nurse-in-training who nearly causes a botched operation. Upset, she picks up her car from the shop, where a desperate Reinhold finds out his car won't be ready for another week. He's got an important meeting with venture capitalists interested in his website idea. Jenny volunteers to give him a lift, but first they must pick up her sister's infant daughter. Baby makes three, and they're off. But before they can get out of the subdivision, they nearly run over wisecracking skateboarder Dex (Brian Hooks). He's hurt his knee, so Jenny offers to take Dex to the emergency room over the objections and grumbling of Ed. When they hit the freeway, the gas pedal gets stuck to the floor. When they try to pull it up, it breaks off, as does the key in the ignition. Soon the car is barreling down the freeway out of control. A good-hearted cop (single-named actor Leon) rides by their side trying to help, but much of the force would just as soon `take them out' as let them cause a pile-up. Also offering support is a police dispatcher who's (you guessed it) one day from retirement and a couple of talk-radio jocks. But they can do little for this disaster on wheels. Can they find a way to stop the car before it plummets off a raised drawbridge? Can a traffic helicopter lift the baby to safety? Did that cop really say, `It's not just a drawbridge-it's the end of the line'? This being on FOX, the answer is, of course, yes. The real moral of this story-know your mechanic.

This film was great.

The plot was preposterous.

The action sequences contrived.

But, provided you can lighten up enough to laugh, it was a throughly thrilling romp combining Keystone Cops and the Lone Ranger.

The baddies were more silly than bad. The good guys weren't too good. The black actors played normal characters rather than black stereotypes.

The inclusion of a baby added a good touch. Sympathy might have been a little difficult otherwise.

I have to disagree about the acting. It was, on the whole, very good. I really wanted to punch Judge Reinhold.

And, after all, isn't that the mark of a really good movie, wanting to punch Judge Reinhold?

This 1997 film-blanc classic tale of smoldering passion has achieved its well-deserved legendary status as one of the screen's greatest sagas of a doomed and hopeless love. The pervasive, ongoing and progressive magnetism between Judge Reinhold and what's-her-name is sure to set many a viewer's heart a-flutter with memories of one's own first crush. The brilliant screenplay dangles this embryonic affair-to-be in front of the enraptured audience, sitting transfixed as the abstract, almost-expressionist cinematography deep-focuses on the just-under-the-surface desires that ebb and flow between the principals. You can cut the sexual tension with a dull tire iron.

A tiny drop of perspiration on the end of a nose catches the bright sunshine, and leaves no doubt as to its significance. Scenes like this abound and bear watching again and again. As with "Jane Eyre" and "Rebecca" (to which this masterpiece is so often compared), the closeups of the actors' faces as they experience the slow dawning of the great love-that-is-not-to-be will haunt you forever.

The now-classic RC soundtrack score, with its creative and unique use of solo synthesizer, emphasizes the emotion that drips throughout like a leaky crankcase.

If I had any criticisms at all by mentioning what I consider a minor flaw (and dared to risk the wrath of the millions of fans who hold this classic so dear to their hearts), I would say that the hallmark of "Runaway Car" - its sense of mounting sexual tension - is briefly broken by the highway scene, which now after repeated viewings seems just a bit overlong (and probably even unnecessary?) to the eternal, bittersweet tale of Love Interrupted.

Dare I advance what I perceive as the tiniest of flaws in this critically-acclaimed triumph of modern cinema? 'Citizen Kane' had its 'Rosebud' . . . 'Runaway Car' should have its catchword as well. Perhaps the film could have opened with an extreme closeup of Judge Reinhold saying something such as "A car is an extension of its owner!", and the rest of the storyline could then be dedicated to parsing every syllable, subtlety and nuance of that phrase. Had that plot line been done, this film could have topped "Titanic" at the Golden Globes that year, I'm convinced.

My one regret? That I didn't read the novel first.

Allegedly based on a true story, Siemaszko is a nurse having second thoughts about her career when she finds herself heading down the freeway with Judge Reinhold (in his most embarrassing screen appearance) and another dude, when her Rambler Hornet decides to drive itself!

Allegedly travelling at 100 MPH (which is more than 170 kph) we are treated to numerous external scenes where it is obvious the car is going no more than 30 or 40 mph. A baby in the besieged compact is winched to safety...something they could have done one hour earlier! The suspense is laughable, the effects worse, and the ending - missing! Why did no-one think to rip out the back seat, crawl into the trunk and puncture the gas tank or pour some water/soft drink into it??

Ultimately, the car crosses a bridge, falls off a road at about 30 mph and the credits roll! No explanation tendered for anything! About the same level as PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE except THAT was a classic movie!

Look, although we don't like to admit it, we've all have to suppress our fears concerning the extreme likelihood of experiencing the events that take place in this movie. You know: you get into your car and you immediately start thinking,"Gosh, I hope today isn't the day that my accelerator sticks at a comfortable cruising speed of 55 mph, all four door latches break in the locked position, both my main and emergency brake fail, my ignition switch can't be turned off, and I've got a full tank of gas; all simultaneously." Fortunately, for most of us, our Thorazine kicks-in before we actually decide that it's a bad idea to be driving a car. Not so for the makers of the harrowing, white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat (if only in preparation to leave the room) action juggernaut, "Runaway Car" But they go ahead and drive anyway!

I am endlessly pleased to have found (thanks to the imdb) that this movie is real, and that I didn't merely dream it.

This movie is, at the very least, one of the fantastic sights you will see on your journey to find the El Dorado of Very Bad Cinema.

I highly recommend it.