Demônios da Pista

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.

The main reason I love this movie is because it shows off the Chrysler Turbine Car to great effect. The scene where the camera zooms in on the exposed turbine engine during the road race still gives me goosebumps when I see it. Back in the sixties that was like saying, "Here's the Future, folks; get a close-up look at it in action!"

The rest of the movie is admittedly a bit stilted and obvious, but Darren and McClure are earnest and believable, and the race scenes are well staged and filmed. Seeing the actual race drivers in their younger days is kind of fun, too.

I was shocked upon a recent viewing because when I saw this film as a kid I remember believing that the evening desert scenes were actually filmed outdoors! Now the studio lighting and backdrops are painfully obvious to adult eyes.

I always wondered why such a Chrysler-oriented movie would have so many Mercurys hanging around (Pam's convertible Comet, most notably.) Were there some hard feelings between the studio and Chrysler, for some reason, which may have caused the director to populate the sets with competitor's cars? I would much rather have seen Furys and 300 Letter cars in this instance. However, those two great Engel Imperials are worth the price of admission for me.

This is one of the best car movies ever made. I saw it when I was very young and have looked for it on some type of video or copy ever since I reached an adult. It's the only place I have ever seen the Chrysler Turbine car and the cross country race had several real drivers including the late Mickey Thompson. I have checked the paper for several years hoping it would air so I might make a copy but it never has and that is sad with all the great car movies out there that this one has never been released on video of some kind that I know of. I primarily signed on to this website hoping that someone might could help me locate a copy. If it ever airs on tv don't miss this one!

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

Terrific remake of JOHNNY DARK (Universal, 1954), like the title says, this is a lively, fun picture. A young auto enthusiast and race-car driver, Casey Owens (James Darren reprising the Tony Curtis role from the earlier picture) enters a cross-country endurance road race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada. The car(s) he enters in the race were the unique Chrysler Turbine Cars, of which 50 examples were built; a few of them were used on loan from Chrysler Corporation to make this movie, a few were sent to Auto Museums around the country after their testing was completed, and the rest were unfortunately destroyed to please the IRS. A cool, very enjoyable teenage-market movie, although with the usual teen romance, this was made by Universal to compete with Elvis Presley's MGM picture VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964) then in production, and this movie turned out to be more satisfying with an audience than the contrived romance of ELVIS and Ann-Margret, despite their obvious on-screen chemistry. And, to be even more cool, there were some surf music-hot rod songs by The Surfaris, like "Boss Barracuda", a song by hit pop singer Joanie Sommers (in her only movie role), "Casey Wake Up!", and the first film score written by pop singer Bobby Darin, who wisely did not sing in this movie. But what put this picture over the top was the elaborate, realistic, grueling road race from L.A. to Las Vegas, covered by real KMPC Radio announcers Dick Whittinghill and Captain Max Schumaker. Great stuff! Great cast! Highly recommended. From the same team that made the classic Universal sci-fi movies of the 1950s like IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. So what's not to like? So Universal, why isn't this out on video?