Red Line

Classic action man Steve McQueen was well known for his love of cars and racing and this inspiration shines through as his son, Chad McQueen, follows in his footsteps, putting together an ambitious film full of car chases, sleazy dialog and some naughty content.

The other notable names involved are a curious list: Jan Michael Vincent from Airwolf, Dom DeLuise from Cannonball Run, Eighties child star Corey Feldman and Reservoir Dogs heavy Michael Madsen. The other stars are of course the numerous makes and models of cars used in the car chases: Porsche 911 and 928, Jaguar XK, Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, two Ford Mustangs and more.

The story follows a reckless thief who robs shops and steals cars for a living but works by day as a mechanic. When he becomes mixed up with a heavy who blackmails him to steal cars for him, he discovers a way to turn it around and make a fortune in the process. Of all the scenes, the most memorable is when Chad's character spots a green Mustang and goes on to pay homage to his father's chase scene in his classic film Bullit.

In some of the scenes it is easy to think they didn't have any planning or arrangement with traffic management or the public during the filming of their chase scenes. The dialog is written and delivered with poor timing by all actors and excessive use of the same engine sound effects during car chase scenes can be distracting, otherwise it's a must-see for car enthusiasts and fans of bad films.

I give it 1 extra point for ambition.

Red Line is a cult classic in my house. Me and a buddy of mine have watched it about a hundred times. More recently I've uploaded it to iMovie and edited it down to a 45 minute version with a Rolling Stones soundtrack that works perfectly with it. Thing is, this is not a masterpiece but 50% of it is really good fun. It has a wonderful cast who look like they're having a great time. The dialogue is hilarious in some places, not necessarily intentional every time, but a lot of it comes across as very natural or possibly ad-libbed. Either way, much like Star Wars (which is renowned for bad dialogue) it's endlessly quotable. A few of my favourites include -

"Kill us and the deal's off"

"I got a name for ya Larry, Squidlips"

"No, no not the fag!"

"DD, VD, DD what the feck is a DD?"

"You ask a lotta questions, are you a fekkin cop?"

On top of all that you have Jan Michael Vincent who had been in a serious road accident just before filming. His face is a mess and looks horribly painful, but that doesn't stop Michael Madsen from making jokes about it in a scene with Chad McQueen. The soundtrack is terrible and makes some of the car chase scenes seem boring, when in fact they are actually well done. Add in a bit of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack (as I did) to accompany the chases and suddenly they're great fun. Anyway if you get a chance to see this, it has a lot to recommend. Like I said half of it is great, the other half just shows up how low budget it is. But I love this film all the same.

A B-grade action movie with some well-known actors in it.

Look out for Jan-Michael Vincent as one of the bad guys. Notice anything peculiar about him ? Well, the truth is, Jan-Michael, as we all know, struggled with some drinking problems in real life, got smashed up in an vehicle accident a day or two prior to shooting this movie, but still showed up at the set - to everyone's surprise ! His face was still badly swollen and if you look carefully you will notice the hospital band on his wrist ! This actor quite literally got up from the hospital bed and went straight to the set - Amazing ! Anyway, Jan has been through some pretty rough times and we salute his courage to still honor his commitments in this entertaining, but forgettable "Friday-night video" type movie.

This movie is hideously bad. You can't blame the cast, especially Michael Madsen, but what are they doing in this junk? Even Corey Feldman and Robert D'Zar are completely wasted. Jan-Michael Vincent looks as though he has been in a serious accident--his face is full of scars and his speech is somewhat warbled. I won't even comment on Dom Deluise.

The real problems are the direction and writing, both done by the same no-name. The dialogue is so inept it is laughable. Another problem is the stuntwork, or lack thereof. Most of the stunts consist of cars spinning around on grass or dirt or pavement, cars quickly accelerating/decelerating, or even cars driving off ledges (wow!!) There aren't even any explosions or gunplay.

Do yourself a favor--avoid this movie.

RED LINE is a bore. A sloppy, unfunny mess of an action film with an inviting box and a well-cut trailer. The acting is bad, the camera work is bad, the stunts are bad. Everything about this film, really, is bad. Decent exploitation cast is wasted. Jan Michael Vincent is interesting to watch because his face is a mangled mess thanks to his unfortunate car accident. This is another of those productions that could've been a lot of fun with a competent director concentrating on making the car chase scenes exciting, rather than a hack job to flood a market overflowing with lackluster action pictures.Yawn.