Racing Fever

This movie found its way to New Zealand and I saw it as a child at a Saturday matinee in the small country town where I lived. We had movies twice a week - Friday night and Saturday afternoon and watched anything they showed us. I caught it again as part of a double feature a few years later and thought it was really dreadful, but I can still remember it - funny how things so awful actually make such an impression they stay with you!

Racing Fever is yet another low-budget 60s stinker which was filmed in Miami-Dade County. The 60s decade marked some of the worst produced and acted films in South Florida history.

The star of this movie was south Florida "cult" acting legend Joe Morrison. Poor Joe couldn't find a winner to work in. And the fact of the matter, he was far from a Brando. However, he had rugged good looks and a boyish charm which made him a minor celebrity on the local jet-set scene.

Filmed around Miami with the racing scenes taking place at the boat-race stadium in Key Biscayne, Race Fever was nothing more than a second-rate rip-off of some of the drag race films which achieved some minor popularity among the drive-in crowd. The cast consisted of a host of unknowns, never-weres, never-to-bes, and local "Z" Miami actors.

There are only three reasons to see this film; you or a family member acted in it, you're a native of South Florida, or a fan of Joe Morrision. Aside from that, I'd forget about this one.

What can I say. This is the worst racing film ever made. I'm talking a bore/snore fest of some of the screen's worst acting talent in the history of motion pictures.

The cast of never-weres, never-to-bes,and unknowns, all rate with zero acting talent. The script and the direction are just as bad. Made on a shoe-string budget of about one dollar and fifty cents (I can't believe they even paid these actors for their "performances"), it's the same old racing flick with a romance, a few conflicts, a minor chuckle or two, some racing stock footage, and some local South Florida locations. It sounds like it should be at least a little fun, but it's not. It's just one long boring, snoring, dull, mess.

Joe Morrison at his worst. And for the "King of South Florida Drive-Ins" that's not saying much. This film is a Wipe-Out!

Where do I begin....I first saw this film on an independent station in New York on a Saturday afternoon, obviously as filler, and I was hooked.

It looks as if somebody's Dad put up the money for this mess, but its such a

mess that I found it fascinating. You know, so bad that its good. The leading lady has a heavier mustache than the leading mans. Endless cutaways to a

person standing against a corrugated steel wall, day for night, night for day, non existent eye lines, it's got it all. And the Racing!!

I told others to watch out for this masterpiece and they enjoyed it as much as I did...except as a comedy not the drama it was intended as. I went so far as

recording it once but have since misplaced the tape. Give it a try if you ever see it playing again..its a hoot.

RACING FEVER is a truly amateurish film dealing with the activities of boat racers in the Miami, Florida area. It might be of interest to those who lived there at the time (for "time capsule" value only), but others will find it incompetent on all levels, to the point of being unwatchable. I viewed the film at a Miami area drive in theater on its original theatrical release, and have not seen or heard of it since. I doubt seriously that it received distribution outside the South Florida area. My only interest in the film was that I knew several of the real racers whose boats appeared in this otherwise forgettable mass of seaweed. A prime candidate for the IMDb Bottom 100 list. Only a few more votes are needed to put it there. It certainly deserves recognition as being at least as bad as MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE.