The Wild Ride

I picked this movie up cheap out of a bargain bin. It is a double feature disc with "The Little Shop of Horrors." When I started watching it I was shocked to find that "Velocity," which I knew was circa 1960, started off with a relatively new-looking scene of kids driving dangerously. It seems that Vina Distributor (who put out this double feature edition) or somebody decided to "update" the old teen flick with some footage of more relevant "street punks."

The bad "modern" teen meets a dude in a bar who looks a little like Jack Nicholson but doesn't sound anything like him (I guess Jack has better things to do these days, unlike these cutters) who tells him the story of his young life. THEN we get into "Velocity," which is all that the other reviews here promised.

Jack is so young that one might not recognize him at first. This was only his second role and he was 23 years old in 1960. It is pretty funny and I gave it two stars for the yuks, but it is atrociously dated. The version I have is colorized.

I see on IMDb that "Velocity" is the video title and "The Wild Ride" was the original name of the film. Maybe it was renamed "Velocity" after the bizarre framing segments were added.

What a bore following the antics of the teenage guys and gals as they wander aimlessly around. Whoops! I mean what a trip digging the scene with the super studs and their hot chicks. Hey man, it's real cool eyeballing head stud Nicholson laying rubber down the road or on the track. Too bad about his buddy Dave 's wanting to go suburb with his nowhere chick, uptight Nancy. But our head man will straighten him out. That is, if the fuzz don't nail him first.

Kidding aside, it's an ultra-cheap teen flick with Nicholson and a no-name cast, filmed entirely on anonymous location. I'd be surprised if it took more than five days total. Moreover, the scenes never depart from the kids and their antics; at the same time, there's no real plot except for a conflicted Dave feeling a need to go conventional. Nonetheless, it's rather competently directed and performed for a bunch of no-names. Heck, there's not even much campy about the 60-minutes, just a lot of aimless wandering around. Looks like the producers understood Nicholson as an up-and-comer and fashioned a drive-in quickie around him. Anyway, the dialog amounts to little more than what's supposed to be cool hipster lingo of the day, so be prepared, man.

Before the term "Speed Kills" referred to drugs it was for souped-up fast cars: There weren't any protests under the influence of psychedelia just yet; the 1950's and early 1960's were about hot rods and youth and the latter's misuse was the subject of many films, mostly cautionary tales but this one's a bit more ambiguous and peripheral...

THE WILD RIDE stars a young Jack Nicholson as Johnny Varron. He's mostly alone and, with a jovially jazzy soundtrack, every now and then grooving smoothly into a vibe-laden skeletal strut, he's cool to watch driving along a rural road, somewhere in California. Having caused the death of a cop by driving too fast, and winning at "chicken," if more money went into the already anemic budget there'd at least be some urgency involved...

Especially as a cop appears at random youthful hangouts, from burger joint patios to backyard parties (to the longest scene at a lakeside rocky-terrain locale), where Johnny wastes time with his friends: who don't like him very much... but nothing really scares or matters to this kid...

The other characters matter very little, to him or the audience, but there are a few: Johnny with his put-upon, uptight crony Dave's even more uptight girlfriend, Nancy, played by conservatively cute Georgianna Carter, take up most of the dialogue, which doesn't include very much exposition since very little happens overall...

Other than Johnny preparing for a big race, or breaking up with (as we never see him spending lustful time or hooking up with) a married thirty-something suburbanite, THE WILD RIDE is best known for and works best as a visual vehicle of a young Jack Nicholson at the crest of a decade under Roger Corman (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE TERROR, THE RAVEN, THE ST. VALENTINE'S MASSACRE), Richard Rush (HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS, PSYCH-OUT) or Monte Hellman's direction (BACK DOOR TO HELL, THE SHOOTING and RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND), until accidentally "being discovered" in Dennis Hopper's EASY RIDER...

It's too bad Rush or this film's co-editor, Hellman, didn't helm this picture, that does look pretty neat as these screen captures, resembling portraits of a sparse, antique, faded-grain tinted yesteryear, proves. Just beware of a 1990's patchwork titled VELOCITY with edited-in scenes of an old Jack Nicholson imitator thinking back upon this movie's present time as a flashback.

While in 1960 Jack Nicholson was still relatively unknown here he gives his first leading man performance tho the movie was a quickly forgotten misfire. And that was reason enough for me for watching it last October.

Johnny Varron (Nicholson) is a larger than life punk that spends his nights organizing wild parties and his days racing on a dirt track and ending in trouble to the point of killing a policeman, kidnap the girlfriend of one of his friends and seeing another of his friends ending in tragedy.

The reason why this is a dud it's because in the first half was decent with Nicholson giving a decent leading man performance but in the last 20 minutes it became dull because of all the trouble his character caused. Besides, the race scenes weren't that exciting to watch as those seen in better race movies such as DAYS OF THUNDER.

Overall, a very limp film of interest probably only for three types of viewers: 1) Nicholson completists (2) fans of old movies (3) fans of bad movies because they can get a kick out of it.

This early Jack Nicholson film sees him playing Johnny Varron; a would-be motor racer who, when he isn't on the track, likes nothing better than playing chicken on the public highways. If others get hurt he isn't concerned. In the opening scene he causes a police motorcyclist to crash; he is fairly casual about it as the police can't prove he was involved. He hangs out with friends who share his attitudes however tensions in their group is rising because they think Johnny's friend Dave is dating the wrong girl. Inevitably their actions will have consequences.

This isn't a great film; it was never meant to be. It is an exploitation film centred on some fairly unsympathetic characters and the plot is far from deep. That isn't to say it is bad though; there are some exciting scenes, most notably the race sequence. The interaction between Johnny and his friends feels a little forced; perhaps because the sixties language feels dated or perhaps because it is what the writers thought young people spoke like. Jack Nicholson does a solid job as Johnny; it isn't his best work by a long way but he has the right attitude for the character; there is a sense of danger about him which fitted the role. The rest of the cast are more mixed; some good some rather less so. Overall this is a decent film that I'd recommend to those who are interesting in older films that aren't classics.

These comments are based on watching the original black and white, sixty minute version of the film not the longer, colourised 'Velocity'.