Ligne rouge 7000

In Todd McCarthy's Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, the impetus behind RL7000 was a) Hawk's 10-year old son Gregg was into cars, or b) Hawks wanted to prove he could make a commercial film quickly for a million dollars. Too, Hawks loved cars, studied Mechanical Engineering at Cornell, raced cars after college, and made the racing film The Crowd Roars (1932) giving him the opportunity to work with Cagney (and wrangle a Deusenberg for himself from the Deusenberg company in exchange for product placement). In a sense, both films are indulgences which never translate into a coherent picture.

RL7000 comes off a bit more like a Roger Corman film than a Hawks film, probably due to budgetary constraints. We see lots of young unknowns, dancing, loud music, interludes of unevenly-acted drama interspersed with bouts of frenetic action. Caan is a good, brooding Bradoesque study, though he squints and smirks to distraction, Marianna Hill looks great, and seeing cars like Cobra Daytonas is pretty enjoyable for mid-60's sports car fans. Ultimately, the film has problems because Hawks doesn't get what he wants out of the actors. All of his other films have very strong acting; Hawks could always get great performances from Wayne, Grant, Bogart as well as the veteran character actors he used. He didn't have such luck with most of the primary cast of three men and three women. Their bonding as lovers and as male and female groups is integral to the credibility of the film, and it just doesn't happen.

Another possibility explaining the film's weakness is that this is the only one of Hawk's final six pictures (Rio Bravo to Rio Lobo) without writer Leigh Brackett on the team.

One also senses that Hawks tried too hard to be "hip," perhaps in reaction to the fact that some critics had complained that his previous picture "Man's Favorite Sport?" seemed old-fashioned. Thus the plot is periodically suspended for some truly bizarre song and dance numbers, even by mid-60's standards. It seems inconceivable that "Wildcat Jones" was given us by the same Hawks who gave us the immortal "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" number.

I want to like this movie, since I do subscribe to the school that a great director can never make a truly bad film. I also happen to love "Man's Favorite Sport?" which often critically lumped in with RL7000 as the two off-the-track films between a pair of Wayne/Hawks collaborations before and after. Furthermore, there are some vocal critics who love the film, such as Robin Wood. So I guess I need to watch it a few more times and hopefully can write a better review next go around.

Although well intended, this is a real melodrama, a tale of the daring, reckless, untamed men of stock car racing and the women who love them... oh, please. The racing sequences are good, but these guys are pulling stunts that would have made even early NASCAR officials nail them to the wall.

Caan's acting is good, but he's not yet the fantastic actor we know today. He does well with the often stilted dialogue, some of which has gaps you could drive a truck through. MST3k material. Gail Hire (Holly) has a voice that makes Lauren Bacall sound like Minnie Mouse...You haven't lived until you've heard her baritone song/rap "Wildcat Jones" and seen George "Mr. Sulu" Takei dancing the Pony. This film is funnier than it was ever meant to be... and in ways I doubt Howard Hawks ever intended.

...two more westerns and he would call it a day.Considering the classics he made during a long and fruitful career which encompasses such classics as "Scarface(shame of the nation)" or "only angels have wings "or "land of the pharaos","red line 7000" is a mediocre offering.Although praised by the French cahiers du cinema ,it's little more than a soap opera in the motor races.Characters ,be they male or female ,are uninteresting and the scenes with the cars pale next to John Frankenheimer's "grand prix" .A sequence featuring James Caan and Gabrielle the FRench girl would make a nice ad for Pepsi Cola.Only the unexpected ending brings some originality.But it's too little too late.

The story of three racing drivers and three women, who constantly have to worry for the lives of their boyfriends.

You know, Howard Hawks makes a lot of great films. And this one has a darn fine cast: James Caan, Teri Garr, George Takei (in a small role). But it just is not one of his better films by a long shot. In fact, it is mostly forgettable.

We have a raspy voiced singer, which is typical of Hawks, but a terrible song and dance number to go with it. This makes the songs in Rio Bravo" look even better than they already are.

Also, if screwdrivers (the beverage) were a trademarked name, this would be an incredible advertisement for screwdrivers. Why is that the drink that gets repeatedly ordered? Why name a drink at all? Seemed very strange, and the French woman came off sounding more Russian than French at times (with all due respect to Marianna Hill).

I have to agree with the comment about Ms Hire being a junior grade Paula Prentiss. I logged on to my account to write that Gail Hire (Holly) came across like Paula Prentiss, but it had already been noted. But, I also noticed that Marianna Hill (Gabby) seem like she was a substitute for Brigitte Bardot and Laura Devon (Julie) as Nancy Sinatra.

I like the movie, even though it was full of clichés and all too typical of most racing movies. I like looking at the race footage. I remember many of the races and knew the full background of the races and accidents shown in the movie. I like the movie because it showed real production based race cars racing. The same makes and models my neighbors owned. If you like NASCAR this is a movie worth seeing. If you are looking for AFI top 100 films, this is not the movie for you.