Moving Violation

This drive-in/exploitation movie from the almighty producer Roger Corman was filmed during the mid-seventies and takes place in a small town in the deep south. You know what that means, right? It means plenty of wild car chase action, crashes, lone heroes and dumb coppers, gratuitous violence and – of course – a lot of banjo music! But please don't expect another brainless comedy like "Smokey and the Bandit" or a carsploitation classic like "Death Race 2000" or "Cannonball". "Moving Violation" actually has a story to tell and the tone & atmosphere are often quite grim and disturbing. The best contemporary film to compare it with is probably the 1973 flick "White Lightning" starring Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. Both titles theoretically qualify as straightforward and undemanding 70's hillbilly car-chasing movies, but there are sober sub plots and characters with depth and background. The cops here might have big sweaty bald heads and clichéd names like Bubba, but they are vicious psychopaths instead of dim-witted losers and don't hesitate to cruelly execute innocent people. The charismatic drifter Eddie and his brand new ice-cream selling girlfriend Camille find themselves in a world of trouble when they accidentally witness how the corrupt Sheriff Rankin kills off one of his deputies because he wasn't satisfied with his share of palm oil. The nasty Sheriff naturally accuses the young couple of the cowardly murder and mobilizes his entire precinct to hunt them down. The virulent chase quickly leads to other counties, but the authorities there are also eager to stop them because they are signaled as cop killers. "Moving Violation" feels very familiar, what with its superficially stereotypical characters and predictable plot, but the scenario holds several surprises in store and manages to remain suspenseful. The chase sequences, which pretty much cover 75% of the running time, are extremely spectacular and adrenalin-rushing. You'll witness the total demolition of approximately 25 vehicles and plenty of other scenery like billboards, gas stations and even entire farmhouses! I have tremendous respect for the very bleak finale that is very atypical for such a movie and that I personally never would have predicted. "Moving Violation" features good roles of Stephen McHattie (still at the beginning of his career), Eddie Albert and the astonishingly beautiful Kay Lenz, but the most memorable roles are for the bad coppers Lonny Chapman and Jack Murdock. B-movie favorite and Roger Corman regular Dick Miller has a brief but remarkable supportive role as the over-enthusiast bounty hunter Mack. Highly recommended for fans of the seventies in general, but particularly drive-in fanatics and Roger Corman admirers.

In the 1970s, just about nobody understood the drive-in audience like movie producer Roger Corman. So it should come as no surprise that several times in the 1970s, major Hollywood movie studios hired Corman to make drive-in movies for them. "Moving Violation" was one of those movies, but despite the resources of a major studio at hand, it isn't very successful for the most part. The movie does look slicker and more expensive than Corman's independent movies of the time, but not by much. There's almost no effort in writing a story or characters with depth - we don't even learn the name of one of the lovers before the two of them go on the run! As a result, the actors for the most part aren't able to do much with their characters, though Eddie Albert does shine in his somewhat brief role. As for action sequences, it's mostly car chases done in standard mode, so they lack excitement. If you're desperate, this may help 91 or so minutes to pass by, but even then you might wonder if this is a good way to use your time.

This is a typical 1970s car chase movie (Eat My Dust, A Small Town in Texas, Vanishing Point, etc.). You might think movies like that aren't worth watching, but they're better than 80% of the stuff they call movies today. This movie shows an airbag being deployed back before airbags became standard in cars. It's a public service movie! And you get to see the top ripped off a car back before Buford T. Justice got the top ripped off his car. And you get to see what happens when you don't put all your lug nuts on tight. People in the 1970s rural America liked these movies because they could relate to the setting and the plot and the cars.

Eddie Moore (Stephen McHattie) is an amiable drifter passing through the town of Rockfield. Predictably, he gets harassed by the snake-mean local sheriff, a man named Rankin (Lonny Chapman). His day is brightened, however, when he meets lovely young Dairy Queen employee Cam Johnson (Ms. Lenz). They hit it off and go sneaking onto the estate of the local bigwig (Will Geer) after whom the town is named. From their vantage point they are able to see the sheriff - who, naturally, is also flat out corrupt - shoot and badly wound a greedy deputy (Dennis Redfield) who wanted in on the action. So Eddie and Cam have to spend the balance of the movie on the lam, dodging bullets fired by the sheriff and his cronies, while trying to find a sympathetic pair of ears.

As one can see, this is very much formula-driven drive-in car chase and car crash fare. The characters are for the most part clichés, especially the one-dimensional villainous sheriff. Fortunately, the good thing that can often be said for exploitation entertainment of this variety is its unpretentious nature. It *does*, ultimately, show its viewers a reasonably good time, with plenty of pedal to the metal action and enough explosions to keep a persons' attention from wandering too much. McHattie and especially Lenz are watchable as the hero and heroine, and Chapman is just right as their persistent, nasty nemesis. Geer is too briefly seen, and under-utilized, but does a fine job nonetheless. The supporting cast includes such familiar faces as Jack Murdock, the ubiquitous and always welcome Dick Miller, and Paul Linke, but the movie really belongs to the excellent Eddie Albert, playing attorney Alex Warren, who decides to take the kids' case.

Executive produced by Roger Corman, and produced by his wife Julie, this features a flavourful bluegrass score by Don Peake and a catchy ditty titled "Detroit Man" sung by Phil Everly. It's pretty much average for its genre, but still proves to be engaging enough to watch.

Six out of 10.

While watching "Moving Violation" I wanted to know where this movie was filmed. There wasn't any reference to filming locations on the IMDb web site. In the process of watching the movie Moving Violation, I saw street signs for HIGHWAY 23, POINDEXTER AVE and also some railroad tracks. Going to Google, Highway 23, Poindexter Ave and the railroad tracks for Southern Pacific are all in Moorpark Caifornia. At the end of the movie at the court house scene when they were going to give themselves up, there was a miniature oil well derrick next to the steps to the court house. Moorpark has some oil wells, as were visible in some of the movie scenes. Does anyone know where the fruit grove scenes were filmed ?