Joyride

This is a difficult video to find which is just as well. I had searched for 15 years wanting to view the film I saw in 1977 with a soundtrack from ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). When I recently found a video store that specializes in obscure videos, I rented it and Vestron Video (now out of business) had released this road-pic as "Joyride-special video edition"...now that sounded to me like it was going to better than the original. What it meant was that they had removed all of the ELO music from the soundtrack, then cheaply dubbed a new soundtrack. The story in a word is boring. It would only be worth renting if (like me) you wanted to hear the ELO soundtrack again. It was interesting to see Melanie Griffith and Robert Carradine in their younger days. The clerk at the video store said this title hadn't been rented in five years!

HOWEVER, a few years later....I have found a copy of the video (thanks to ebay)that was intact with the ORIGINAL soundtrack as released on video in the U.K. Seeing the movie again with its original soundtrack made it a pleasure.

(1977) Joyride DRAMA/ ADVENTURE

Co-written and directed by Joseph Ruben that has three friends of Scott (Desi Arnaz Jr.), Susie (Melanie Griffith) and John Lerner (Robert Carradine) quitting their current jobs to drive up to Alaska to purchase themselves their own fish boat. And of course, things does not go accordingly, as there car got broken into, leaving them with much money, forcing them to seek other means of employment at the pipeline. And when that did not work, forced them to do things they would not necessarily do such as rob the pipeline office, before abducting an employer, Cindy Young (Anne Lockhart) to which Scott coincidentally had met before. At this point, viewers have no idea how they are going to end up, or whether they are going to remain with each other at all. In other words, this is an exploitation movie as it has nudity and action to robbery in the most unusual of circumstances as each event or choice they turn to is unexpected.

As I watch this movie, it's one of those movies where the characters have a lot of good intentions but appear to experience a lot of bad luck, such as by the time they arrive to Alaska, their car gets broken into with their hard earned money left in the car, before their own boss, Frank Sanders (Tom Ligon) was caught stealing from the pipeline company, and he retaliates by forcing them to quit the jobs he landed for them after Scott wanted to do the right thing. And if that wasn't enough, Scott gets physically assaulted by the pipeline workers from orders by Frank Sanders. Placing them with one unfortunate circumstance after the next, motivating them into a situation to steal their groceries from a super market as they do not get paid enough, rigging cars, while Susie continues to get harassed by her employer while waitressing at a diner. Yep, that was what it was like during the 1970's and more no matter what city they reside to. In other words, they are the anti-hero's of society itself, and put into circumstances they are incapable to foresee themselves which is why I was rooting for them until the very end. As I liked the way the movie had ended unlike other films that consist of a similar theme, such as "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" for instance. This movie gets 70%.

Joyride (1977) is a movie I recently watched off Amazon Prime. This classic focuses on three best friends who pool their money together and decide to move to Alaska, get jobs, continue to add to their pool of money, and become successful salmon fishermen. They failed to understand how expensive everything was in Alaska and their plan quickly begins unraveling. This movie is directed by Joseph Ruben (Dreamscape) and stars Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Anne Lockhart (Aliens vs Predator) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (House of Long Shadows). The storyline for this is awesome and in line with similar films from this genre like Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. The car scenes are fun but the characters are so well cast, written and executed. I really enjoyed every character. Some of the storyline and circumstances are tough, some of the decision making is bad, and most of this is sad, but I still loved the characters and grit of this film. This is really an underrated movie that is a must see and grindhouse gem. I'd score this a solid 8-8.5/10.

I found this watchable in the sense that it passed the time. As for if it had an entertaining story and engaging character, uh-uh. It's hard to sympathize with these youths because they seem too arrogant, and also unbelievably naive at times. As for the story, it doesn't seem to know where it's going. First we see the youths struggle, then we see them get involved with a big plan, then their subsequent escape, then... well, the movie after that point has even less of a clue what to do. To top it off, there's no real ending. The "joy" comes from the producers who took ticket-buyers on a "ride" - though I doubt this sold many tickets.

Hey, it's Joyride, starring the son of Desi Arnaz, a son of John Carradine, and the wife of Antonio Banderas!

Well, these wacky kids could sure pull crimes and escape local bar patrons, business owners and the police with ease, alright

But there was always ONE horrible thing they could NEVER escape from:

All that lousy ELO music!!!

Yes, regardless of what state they drove to, what restaurant, bar or car radio that played music, mainly only ONE thing kept blaring out of those poor little speakers:

ELO! ELO! ELO!

Now THAT was some scary stuff!