Joyride

Hey, it's Joyride, starring the son of Desi Arnaz, a son of John Carradine, and the wife of Antonio Banderas!

Well, these wacky kids could sure pull crimes and escape local bar patrons, business owners and the police with ease, alright

But there was always ONE horrible thing they could NEVER escape from:

All that lousy ELO music!!!

Yes, regardless of what state they drove to, what restaurant, bar or car radio that played music, mainly only ONE thing kept blaring out of those poor little speakers:

ELO! ELO! ELO!

Now THAT was some scary stuff!

Nothing to see here in this poor attempt at a car chase/on-the-lamb drama, which plays more like a wannabe produced by Columbia Picture's heir Bruce Curtis, and starring 4 children of Hollywood stars. Dezi Arnaz Jr., Robert Carradine, Melanie Griffith, and Anne Lockhart. Film has a run-of-the-mill opening with catchy Electric Light Orchestra tunes introducing us to the uneventful lives of some 3 uninteresting late teen/early 20 somethings longing for something more (Arnaz Jr. Carradine, Griffith). They hatch a rather vague plan to head north to Alaska, something about owning a fishing boat. After landing less-than-desirable blue collar jobs in the cold North, these three upset the wrong people and end up on the lamb with an employee of the top corporation around (Lockhart...the only interesting cast member/character). The film flies south from it's already low standing by this point and there is never an absolution to what these brats want, nor is there any tact in how they go about trying to achieve it. The writing is terribly unmemorable, and the story is never completely clear. Director Ruben has no style in how he captures this uneventful series of even more so pedestrian events. Producer Curtis pulls out all the stops to deliver a product with car chases, sex, drugs, and rock n roll. SNORE. It is simply an afterthought cocktail of left-over iconographic elements which fit so awkwardly into it's own bowl of dry, tasteless crumbs. PASS.

Two guys and a girl, all apparently in their early twenties, leave their dreary jobs in the lower forty-eight and head north to Alaska in their hearse, in search of adventure and freedom from "the system". It's a weak script. The main characters are shallow and rather generic. We never learn enough about their back-stories to empathize with them.

The plot trends repetitive and aimless. Some of the sex scenes seem gratuitous, and included to extend the runtime. I couldn't find much of a theme, apart from the obvious idea that youthful dreams, sans pragmatism, lead nowhere but to disappointment. Much of the script's dialogue is too on-the-nose.

Color cinematography is conventional. There's a tendency toward dull, grayish, dreary visuals, which is fine, given the geographic setting. Casting is acceptable, except for Melanie Griffith, whose childish face and extremely weak voice seem out of place. Overall acting is below average. Probably the best element is the music of Electric Light Orchestra.

"Joyride" looks and feels very much like a 1970s film, with its emphasis on free-spirited youth and cheap visuals. It's not an awful film. It's just that the story lacks substance.

"Joyride" captures the malaise of the 70's so much better than many films of the era. Think of it as a perfect antidote to "Saturday Night Fever" on many levels. Watch for the Pacific Northwest cinematic quirkiness that comes through later in everything from "Twin Peaks" to "Napoleon Dynamite" and many more. There are many northwest talents that went on to other endeavors in this movie as well - surprising it has not been celebrated a bit more for that. I recommend it highly to college sociology students and Melanie Griffith groupies (get a life!). Truth be told, I've always held a candle for Anne Lockhart. We could have been very happy together, the restraining order was so uncool. Psyche! She's great.

Joyride (1977) is a movie I recently watched off Amazon Prime. This classic focuses on three best friends who pool their money together and decide to move to Alaska, get jobs, continue to add to their pool of money, and become successful salmon fishermen. They failed to understand how expensive everything was in Alaska and their plan quickly begins unraveling. This movie is directed by Joseph Ruben (Dreamscape) and stars Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Anne Lockhart (Aliens vs Predator) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (House of Long Shadows). The storyline for this is awesome and in line with similar films from this genre like Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. The car scenes are fun but the characters are so well cast, written and executed. I really enjoyed every character. Some of the storyline and circumstances are tough, some of the decision making is bad, and most of this is sad, but I still loved the characters and grit of this film. This is really an underrated movie that is a must see and grindhouse gem. I'd score this a solid 8-8.5/10.