O Importante é Vencer

I watched this movie today on AMC and loved it. I don't know how well the film was received upon release, but in light of the current Hollywood narrative for action movies, Last American Hero deserves appreciation. It should definitely be considered an American classic.

The movie is a docu-drama based on the few years in the life of Junior Johnson, a famous stock car racer. A young Jeff Bridges brings the main character to life with a great performance, inspired and entertaining. The supporting cast is also excellent with Gary Busey as the brother and Valerie Perrine as the love interest.

All the elements of a great movie that time forgot: thrilling racing scenes, three-dimensional characters, humor, a complicated plot, and so on.. It's a shame that action movies today don't sacrifice some of the explosions, blood, and high-tech props for the type of entertainment and engrossment that Last American Hero delivers.

Jeff Bridges' combination of redneck roughness and choirboy sweetness is just right for this 1973 tale of a poor Southern boy, Junior Jackson, making good on the car racing track. The movie is based on Tom Wolfe's articles about the famous stock car racer, Junior Johnson, whom Wolfe dubbed "The Last American Hero". Cinematic Junior, like the real one, learns how to drive hard and fast while running the moonshine whiskey made by his father. The movie covers the first year or so of his career, from when he takes up racing to raise money while his father is in jail, until his first big win.

The movie celebrates individuality and competitiveness, but despite all his skill, guts and cheek, even Junior can't make it by himself. Real success comes only after he gives up his independent status, and agrees to drive for a car-maker (Ed Lauter). Also in support are his family, with Art Lund and Gary Busey excellent as his father and brother; and a stock car groupie (Valerie Perrine) who retains a soft spot for him, whoever else she's currently sleeping with. However, for many viewers, the main interest of the film will lie less in its plot, characterisations, or "right stuff" message, than in the atmosphere and thrills of the races which the movie graphically captures.

Jeff Bridges stars in this fact-based movie as Junior Jackson, a former moonshine runner who goes straight from the back roads of the Carolinas to the muddy dirt tracks of NASCAR in an era when the sport was hardly known north of the Mason-Dixon line and the drivers liked their cars fast and their women even faster.

There was an old saying that NASCAR never did condone fighting amongst the drivers, but I can see where they got the saying that, "If you have to do it, though, make sure it's at the start-finish line." I did a little research on Jackson's career and the story here holds to the fact that he wasn't one of the "cleanest" drivers in NASCAR, but it does help to have that little bit of controversy among your driver(s) when it comes to putting butts in the grandstands. I was fortunate enough to visit the Legends of Racing Museum in Daytona a few weeks ago and met Jack Anderson, a former driver from that era, and I listened to some of the stories surrounding the times and it seems that everything holds true, which makes this a film portrayed very well in every sense of the word. If you're a fan of stock car driving at any level, this movie is for you! 8 out of 10 stars!

Jeff Bridges did a great job as Jr. Jackson(Johnson). It was after reading an old interview with Jr. Johnson and him referencing the movie that I sought it out to see. And I was not disappointed. Gary Busey also did a great job. From the moonshine runs, to the demolition derbies there was a lot of truth. To those who've never experienced the deep south and some of it's uniqueness, especially for the era, this was dead on. Here it is more than 30 years later and Nascar hasn't changed all that much. The grooming of drivers has, so movies like "The Last American Hero", help with the preservation of a simpler time and people. Yet the altruism in the seeking to gain another dollar still reigns today, some thirty years later. There aren't many movies you can say that about.

Very good acting performance by Jeff Bridges. He hit just the right note as the naive, in-over-his-head, but determined and aggressive stock car driver, Junior Jackson.

His performance as a young country kid, trying to break into the big time, with small-time resources, is memorable.

Valerie Perrine is equally good as Marge, the man-starved woman who takes a liking to Junior. She senses he's someone who may be on the way up, while her current beau, successful driver Kyle Kingman, is probably on the way down. To hedge her bets, she makes sure to warm both their beds, to ensure she will be with the guy in the winners circle.

The movie looks, feels and sounds woefully dated, and the production and direction leave something to be desired. There are decent stars in this movie, but it looks like it was made on a shoe-string budget.

Bridges, Perrine, William Smith (as Kingman) and Ed Lauter (as Burton Colt, Junior's car owner) make this work with excellent performances.

A simply made movie, with outstanding characters.