Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me...if You Can's story doesn't make a lot of sense, the class president of a high school gets the local race king to race to save the school that's going to close down. But they loose all the money and get into a timed race across town like a local legend "Fast Freddie" did back in the day. Yeah. But the movie has a fun, goofy tone and is sort of a send up of 50's Hot Rod pictures, like "The Wild Ride," none of the young actors are particularly good, and everything about them screams the 80's but Geoffrey Lewis is always fun to watch, not to mention M. Emmet Walsh. It's directed by Stephen Summers of "The Mummy" and "Van Helsing" fame, which is interesting since pretty much all of his films hark back to a different old genre, "The Mummy" was classic movie serials and horror, "Van Helsing" was Hammer films, and Catch Me if You Can did Hot Rod flicks. But The Cars are the stars, the main guy drives a sweet '68 Chevelle takes the main role for much of the racing scenes, as it faces a beautiful orange and white '69 Camaro, a '68 Shelby Mustang, '71 Dart Sport, a Grand Prix SJ, and a pretty goofy '79 Camaro with a big spider graphic on the hood, and after the dastardly M. Emmet Walsh destroys the motor in his Chevelle, Geoffrey Lewis turns out to be "Fast Freddie" and he lets him borrow his amazing '57 Chevy that was buried under the football field to run the race. Can you guess what happens? Not going to win any awards, but it's a good example of some automotive thrills.

A funky little film that was the first effort by "Mummy" director Stephen Sommers. Cliched, unbelievable plot is played in a light-hearted manner by leads Matt Lattanzi (My Tutor) and Loryn Locklin. Co-star Grant Heslov later had a major role in "Congo", while veteran character actors M. Emmett Walsh and Geoffrey Lewis are recognizable from various roles in other films. Somewhat of an ode to director Sommers' hometown of St. Cloud, MN, the film's plot involves high-school kids trying to raise money for their school through illegal road races. Yeah, right. The film is helped by a great soundtrack of 50's & 60's teenybopper staples, and by the fact that none of the major players take themselves too seriously. Trivia alert: Matt Lattanzi is the ex-husband of Australian songstress Olivia Newton-John. Oh, and by the way, being that this was filmed in St. Cloud, yours truly has a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo in one of the football scenes' crowd shots. (As if anybody CARES, I'm wearing a red winter jacket and ski mask.)

The plot of this film is not strong at all, lots of holes. If you approach it as a car movie its not bad, lots of great cars in this one. The reason I like it is because I am from the area where this was filmed. I get the most enjoyment looking at the recognizable places in St. Cloud MN and seeing how the town has changed since 89. Its an interesting historical piece for us locals. Seems like whenever a film is made here everyone wants some relationship to it. It is impossible to find a copy in any of the local video stores as they were all stolen once it came out on VHS. Had to get a copy from Japan on Ebay I find it interesting how the path of the drag race is all over town. I didn't know the director was from St.Cloud.

Not Bad Really, a lot of great Hot Rods and some fast Drag Racing as well. The Sound Track was good and the drag racing was excellent. I liked the way they brought back Fast Eddie from hiding from under the High School Football Field from years ago and dispelled the myth.

But you certainly dont have to be a 1980's era high schooler to enjoy this flick. Filmed on a small budget in Minnesota for only $800k, it has a fairly polished, quality feel. Sure, it's a clumsy plot, but that's not why we're here, right? Good acting from the leads, REAL car chases (no digital fakery) and some clever comic bits all help to make this movie a hidden gem. And you get authentic, Midwest 80's... so be sure to pause on the "mall hair" at the high school gym rally, when hairspray ruled the world!

Its obvious that Hollywood took notice of Stephen Sommers directing chops for this little known picture (thank goodness, because it had catastrophic distribution issues in the US) Apparently these issues were not an issue overseas, where it took in $7 million. After this, he was cherry picked by the big studios and has had quite the career. So grab some popcorn, fire up your big screen, and enjoy a classic time travelin' romp back to 1989.