Fireball 500

Fireball 500 (1966)

** (out of 4)

Dave Owens (Frankie Avalon) is a stock car racer who soon finds himself working for the law who are wanting to know about some country folks running bootleg alcohol. Soon he is also butting heads with another driver (Fabian) over his girlfriend (Annette Funicello).

With the previous year's HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI ending the Beach Party series, AIP needed to put their two leads in a new film so they decided to mix things up. This here is basically a watered down version of something you'd expect to see from Elvis and THUNDER ROAD, the Robert Mitchum film. FIREBALL 500 isn't a complete success but it's certainly more interesting than the last couple Beach Party movies.

The big change here is the fact that this isn't just bubble gum kids stuff. No, FIREBALL 500 has tried to make things a tad bit darker and this includes more drama with the Avalon character who certainly has a great number of flaws. There's also a few darker elements that pop up throughout the film but at the same time there's no doubt that AIP didn't want to get too far away from the "characters" or type of characters that fans had come to expect of the teen idols.

Avalon and Funicello aren't wonderful here but I thought both of them did enough to help keep the film entertaining. Avalon has several songs throughout the film, which really takes away from the "drama" but the songs aren't too bad. Funicello also has one song, although it's not all that memorable. Fabian probably gives the best performance in the cast but Chill Wills easily steals the picture.

FIREBALL 500 isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but fans of Avalon and Funicello should find it to be light entertainment.

Bill Asher and Samuel Z. Arkoff & James Nicholson at American International give "Fireball 500" the old college try. They gave their stock beach party ensemble (minus a few of the usual screw crew such as John Ashley, Donna Loren and Jody McCrea) something heavier and darker to try.

This is more like an early '60s Elvis film than one of the zany Beach flicks. It's a serious film. There's no comic relief to be found anywhere. Only a couple songs sung on stage instead of on the sand and in the surf or dorm.

Also, guys like Harvey Lembeck get the opportunity to stretch and play a something far different from his legendary Rats motorcycle gang leader, Erich Von Zipper. In this one, he is not his ideal - ha-ha!

Frankie Avalon is a stock car driver with a past coerced into going undercover and runnig moonshine for Harvey Lembeck. Annette Funicello is to be fought over, but Frankie doesn't get her as usual! How about that! In fact, they don't even really like each other in this one.

If you see it, don't expect a sequel to "Beach Blanket Bingo" because it's not. Take it on its own terms.

Fireball 500 was AIP's attempt to attract an older audience (or keep the one that was growing up). Much of the beach gang is still around (Avalon, Funicello and Lembeck) but, except maybe Annette, nothing like their old characters. Add Fabian into the mix as Avalon's nemesis and you've got a strangely serious movie with little music and even less humor. Really, most of the humor (and probably the best acting) comes from Chill Wills as Annette's Uncle/Carnival barker. Rounding out the main cast is Julie Parrish as a rich, slightly oversexed love interest for Avalon. Despite Frankie's attempts, he and Annette are, for the first and last time, not a couple.

The film is typical mid-'60s drive-in fare...cars, girls and music tied together with a mediocre script and passable acting. Due to the difficult nature of shooting and editing a racing film on a low budget, editing and continuity mistakes run rampant. It's almost funnier than the jokes.

When all is said and done, if you gauge it against it's genre it's a likable enough picture. Classic NASCAR fans will enjoy the genuine racing footage with legends like Richard Petty. Beach movie fans may be a little less enamored but it's still an enjoyable look at the end of beach movie innocence.

I guess I have seen worse movies...but not lately. If you're a race fan you might be able to get thru this as a curiosity, but as is often the case, this movie was written and directed by people who wouldn't know a race car from a loaf of bread. At least it has Annette! I think it's similar to an Elvis movie without Elvis, or an old beach-blanket movie style.

"Beach Party" leads Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and Harvey Lembeck do what they can with C-minus material involving an ace stockcar racer who gets involved with moonshiners; the Internal Revenue wants him to work both sides, but he's more interested in finding out who's thwarting the midnight runs by playing chicken with the drivers. Barely involving 'grown up' effort from American International, not as good as their later stockcar comedy-drama "Thunder Alley", however Avalon and Annette both get to sing (his number, "My Way" is one of the best tunes Avalon ever got in an AIP film). There's a pretty good brawl between Frankie and Harvey Lembeck, but Fabian, as Frankie's nemesis, is under-used, as is Annette. Good photography by Floyd Crosby, cute opening Claymation segment by Clokey Films, but the story is so muddled we never know where we stand with these one-dimensional characters. *1/2 from ****