Track of Thunder

Covers much the same ground as the Elvis opus Speedway, hardly a high water mark in Presley's filmography, only without the songs or a magnetic presence like the King of Rock & Roll. Basically a bunch of stock footage of cars going in circles intercepted with some badly acted scenes of backstage shenanigans.

The ill-fated Brenda Benet is lovely even saddled with an enormous helmet of ratted hair and there's 50's sci-fi queen and failed Howard Hughes discovery Faith Domergue as one character's mother to spur some interest in the film but it's a minor enterprise.

I would have given this movie a lower score if it weren't for the fact that Brenda Benet is in this movie. She's cute as always, except, who did her hair! Her acting was actually about par with the rest of the bad acting. It really looks like this was shot by a bunch of high school kids and their budget was their weekly allowance. The majority of the racing is stock footage. I'm race footage. I can't think of any racing I've seen where they would have stock cars and sprint cars racing together. One of the good things about this movie is it's a fairly short movie so you don't feel like you're wasting much of your life watching it. Like I said there's only one reason to watch this movie.

Tommy Kirk (billed as "Tom" to make him sound more mature) and Ray Stricklyn play stock car drivers. They both are in love with Brenda Benet, whose hairdo would make Vidal Sassoon spin in his grave. For most of the film, Benet can't choose between the two of them. Enter H. M. Wynant, as the new owner of the track. Twilight Zone viewers will remember him from "The Howling Man" episode. Wynant is working for a syndicate which wants suckers to gamble on the races. Wynant is abetted by Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel from Star Trek), who looks pretty good now that she is out of those car-hop outer space clothes. Barrett is a reporter, and she and Wynant decide to cook up a fake rivalry between Kirk and Stricklyn to get publicity for the track. Kirk's mother, played by Faith "This Island Earth" Domergue, wants Kirk out of racing and tending her farm. Stricklyn's father, played by Chet "Character Actor" Stratton, wants to marry Domergue. Just figuring out the future of this family tree would drive anyone nuts.

Kirk's mechanic, Bowser Smith (James Dobson), spies Wynant and Barrett making kissy-face and hatching another plot, so he threatens to expose Wynant. Wynant shuts him up by threatening to blackmail him. It seems that Bowser Smith was a former racer named Bowser Grimes, and may have caused a fatal accident. Now I ask you, if you want to change your identity, would you keep your first name if it's Bowser? I mean, how many Bowsers are there? Besides that guy from Sha-Na-Na?

Eventually, Bowser spills his guts. In the finale, he, Kirk, and Stricklyn all race against each other. Guess which one doesn't make it. Then Barrett turns on Wynant, and he is off to the slammer.

This film works because everyone involved realized they were making a drive-in movie and not Ben-Hur. At less than 90 minutes, the film moves along, with no dull stretches, and the director does not indulge in gratuitous and boring stock car footage. Kirk and Stricklyn are likeable actors, and their friendship-turned to rivalry-back to friendship is interesting to watch. Benet is cute but a bit annoying at times; it's really her hair that bugs me. Domergue has that usual vacant look in her eyes. Wynant is slick at villainy, especially with his dark hair and moustache. Dobson does well in support, with a bigger role than he usually gets. Barrett is especially good, now that she gets to do something more than hand medical tools to Dr. McCoy or lust after Mr. Spock. Finally, even the music score (except for the title music) is a cut above the garbage I usually hear in these films. Sure, the film is predictable, but for a change, it is not predictable crap.