Ligne rouge 7000

After a Nascar driver (Anthony Rogers) is killed in a race at Daytona, fellow team racers gather round his mysterious new girlfriend (Gail Hire) and together they have trials and tribulations on and off the track.

Late Howard Hawks film is exciting on the track, but makes for dull drama off the track, but with little in the way of characterisation. This is unfortunate in that the action is well done and could have been an interesting time peace, but is instead dated. There were exploitation films made in the period that handle this subject matter better such as PIT STOP (1969).

This film is a collection of racing scenes interweaved with small love dramas involving drivers and their mates. Although the racing scenes are well done, the dramatic portions are extremely silly. Outside James Caan, acting is poor. The choice of a final scene is unconventional and intelligent.

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.

Just like any "gear head" film, the humans are always supporting cast. The real stars are the cars. Within the first 21 minutes, you will see plenty of classic race tracks, cars, motorcycles, trucks, socket wrenches, loud pipes, race posters, cool sunglasses, beautiful girls, and everything else that excites the average auto buff. Yes, the acting isn't great, but do you really care about Caan's love life more than that beautiful split-window '63? Of course not. This movie was made in the heart of the 1960s, the genesis of true sports cars. There are other gear films out there that are better, but 7000 is worthwhile.

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.