The Lively Set

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

My father stunt drove for James Darren in this movie. He has a lot of Lively Set info & stills at his house, including autographed pictures from James Darren, Doug McClure, Peter Mann, Marilyn Maxwell (Casey's mom), Pamela Tiffen, & Joanie Summers (Chuck's girlfriend). He was selected since he worked on the Turbine car project at Chrysler Corp., was a mechanic, and had some previous racing experience. This movie's race sequence had to be re-done. One of the drivers in the original sequences (Eddie Sachs I believe) was killed at the Indianapolis 500 just prior to the movies original release. Also a car magazine (Car & Driver?) had several years ago listed this movie in its top ten movies for action car scenes. My father probably has that information also. If you are interested in contacting my father for more information, etc. please send me an e-mail, and I will call him and ask.

Greg Morris (later of Mission Impossible fame) was the policeman who gave Casey & Chuck their tickets early in the movie.

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.

I just wanted to tell anyone interested in this movie that it's available on DVD from a small specialty supplier of hot rod movies and rock and roll videos, www.thevideobeat.com. The quality is very good (it appears that it was recorded from an AMC broadcast) and is well worth it if you, like me are a fan of the Chrysler Turbine Car program.

As for the movie itself, what can I say that hasn't been said in earlier posts? The most interesting elements for me are any of the scenes where the Turbine Car is featured, the scenes in and around Los Angeles (where you can see how the area has changed in the 40 years since the movie was filmed) and the racing scenes filmed in Death Valley (before it was a National Park) with the cooperation of the Department of the Interior, something that would never happen today.

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.