The Wild Racers

This portrait of an F1 racer is seems like hours to sit through. Way too many Jump Cuts, voice-overs, bad lighting, poor sound quality and thin plotline is enough to turn off even the most avid Racing fans. Fabian stars in another Grade C film in his meagre film career showing off how he goes hitching up with girl after girl only to prove every Race car groupie is as futile as the career itself. The only reason I labored through this dreck was to see Talia Coppola (Shire) in her debut screen appearance which was way too brief given she only has about one minute of screen time. Some good sequences of the European cities and landscapes are showcased, but you would be better off flipping through an old Travel catalogue. Save your time.

This movie will BLOW YOUR MIND! I cant believe this movie is seen by very few people it is easily one of the best i have seen in my lifetime. The plot is full of heartwarming love and fast action. The only thing that triumphs the directing is the WRITING! Max House is a great writer and it is very sad that this is his only credit, might as well quit when your at the top i guess. I really wish to see more of Max House I hope he is still doing well and writing lot's! I will keep this review short and brief but i can't say it enough SEE THIS MASTERPIECE PLEASE AND SPREAD THE WORD.

Thanks.

This story about former NASCAR driver Joe Joe Quilico and his quest of making it big in European Grand Prix and Le Mans racing, and pursue a love life at the same time ought to evoke comparisons to two epic racing movies, Grand Prix and Le Mans. One good thing is the footage of exciting racing, which ought to please many fans of that era's Formula One and sports car prototype racing. It's interesting that we have a NASCAR driver making the switch to F1 (nowadays, it's the other way around-- Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Speed come to mind), and Fabian does a great job in his role as an American racer adjusting to life on the European racing circuit.

Now for the dislike. The editing! The Wild Racers makes use of too many quick cuts and the film's flow is generally "jerky" and the scenes cut too quickly into the next; it is not smooth at all, making it hard to follow the story at times. Compared to its contemporaries, Le Mans and Grand Prix-- the editing in those movies was much more tastefully done and served better in conveying a sense of emotion, or action, where it was needed. I never felt that I lost the storyline in those movies.

I agree with the other review that this story written by Max House is excellent. The storyline is great, no doubt-- but the execution simply didn't convey that, in my opinion. I still enjoyed the racing sequences, though. The Wild Racers could, and should, have been up there as one of the great racing movies of all time.

Roger Corman has one of the most unbelievable records when it comes to filmmaking. While he's directed over 500 movies, he only reportedly lost money on one of them! Now I am not saying all his movies worked well at the box office because they were great films or artistic triumphs. No, instead Corman knows how to make very, very cheap films that the public accepts and goes to see. Such is the case with "The Wild Racers"...a film which, technically, is very bad...but the overall movie is still worth seeing despite its many shortcomings.

The movie is about a racecar driver named Jojo (Fabian). Jojo has apparently worn out his welcome driving in the States and has now moved on to Europe to Formula One racing. While he is doing well, he insists he must always win...and is ruthless in pursuing victories. Along the way, he treats people like dirt...particularly his girlfriends.

The first portion of the movie is a mess. Instead of SHOWING any of Jojo's races or even showing Jojo, the film shows various clips of NASCAR style racing...with voiceovers from various drivers who hate his guts. It's sloppy. Later, the film switches to the story and you see and hear Jojo. However, this is also a problem because of the many, many rapid edits...really, really sloppy looking ones at that. It's supposed to be stylish, perhaps, but looks amateurish...as well as the extensive use of stock footage.

So why did I still give the film a 5 even if the film is technically bad? Well, the portrait of a high functioning sociopath IS interesting. You can't help but watch...much like you would if you saw a trainwreck...you can't help yourself from getting pulled up into it. Still, the film is clearly one which could have been better and I am sure may will dislike the vague sort of ending to the story.

As a vintage racing buff, I am drawn to the movie with the vintage cars (more on that) and the views of the classic tracks in their original configurations. This film using the cars and footage from 1968.

The story of an American breaking in to the European scene is not too far-fetched. In real life there were Americans in F1 in the 1960's:Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Ritchie Ginther, Ronnie Bucknum, Bob Bondurant and Masten Gregory. Like the Fabian character,most of these guys came out of California; but were sports car drivers,not NASCAR.

The story is interesting as the main character is very shallow, not likable and destructive. But I am drawn to the people around him.

About the cars. While they refer to the races a Grands Prix, these are not F1 cars but Formula 2 cars. At that time F2 were very similar to F1, the displacement was 1.6 liters (F1 was 3 liters), narrower tires, and no wings. In 1968, F1 cars had high mounted wings in front and back. Good footage of the cars' internal bits, notably the Cosworth FVA 4 cylinder engine. In the 60's, F1 drivers would often race with the up and comers in F2. Stewart drove Ken Tyrrell's Matras, Rindt drove the Winklemann Racing Brabham, Jack Brabham would field a team of Brabham Hondas to name a few. The cars of the protagonist are the Winklemann Racing Brabham BT-18's with the Cosworth motor.

The race footage was from the actual F2 series at the appropriate tracks.

Today's racing is too corporate and sterile to make a decent film...