Last Clear Chance

An Idaho trooper gives a driving safety lecture to a farmboy who just got his license.

Some of the things pointed out: * Speeding, drunk driving, not stopping at stop signs and restricted speed zones *Crossing double white lines, first accidents can also be last accidents * Road signs are there to inform you,nights can be more dangerous if you ignore signs *Fatigue can be deadly, lack of attention to the road ahead, make sure your car is clear of highway traffic *Respect the potential lethality of trains

People can talk about the acting and the obviousness of the information, yet car accidents and deaths are still plaguing the U. S. 63 years later.

Watching the MST3K version helps keep this from being too self-serious, though the short tries.

This silly safety short film really doesn't help any with safety, except it teaches not to be incredibly stupid. The movie is about half narration and half is about a family on a farm talking to a cop. We start the film off seeing the cop at the funeral for Frank Jr., which could have been avoided. Frank and his girlfriend Betty could've avoided death by simply not being so stupid. They look backwards and wave at Frank's brother for about 30 seconds before they finally get hit by a train. Is this really a safety video, or is it simply a short produced by the railroads to say that it's never their fault? The whole thing is very corny, and unhelpful, and the only positive is some surprisingly fresh camera work for such a dumb project.

My rating: BOMB/****. 25 mins.

This Driver's Ed instructional safety film was made in 1955, and although the acting is wooden and the dialogue is stilted, I can say that its message of caution and courtesy while driving definitely is one worth repeating. Plus I love all of those Classic Cars.

"Officer Hal" is the Voice of Authority in this film, and his narration both opens and closes it. In between, he gives a lecture about highway safety to a young kid who has just gotten his driver's license. Naturally, since U-Pac financed the making of this film, the emphasis is on accidents at Railroad Crossings.

Just as naturally, the film has its own teen-tragedy plot, when Frank Jr. gets killed. Considering when this was made, one can almost hear the song "Teen Angel" after the accident (only in this film, of course, the girl is injured but it's the boy who licks the lollipop, so to speak.)

Again, the message is good, even if -you should pardon the term- the vehicle that delivers it is flawed.

Some people look like cops. I don't think I could say what it is that makes someone look like a cop, but it is undeniable that some people have that cop look. One such person is William Boyett, who played cops on "Highway Patrol" and "Adam-12". He also plays a cop in this instructional short about highway safety. Specifically, Mr. Boyett plays an earnest Idaho state trooper who is absolutely dedicated to keeping people from killing themselves on the highway by playing chicken with trains.

Trooper Hal, as he is known in this short, drops by the home of a farm family to give some friendly advice to the younger son, who has just got his driver's license. After some preliminaries about road signs, obeying speed limits, and general highway safety, Hal gets to the real point of his talk: don't play chicken with trains.

Will the boy (and his dull-witted older brother) heed Hal's friendly advice? Or will one of them wind up as the subject of the kind of instructional short designed to scare the wits out of driver ed students? Oh, wait - ....

Anyhow, Hal deals with the tragedy of drivers who insist on playing chicken with trains (and come a cropper as a result) by redoubling his efforts. In a steely authoritative voice-over, he publicly declares his dedication to keeping the roads safe. This declaration is followed by footage of state troopers from various Western states saluting smartly.

Pretty odd, form what I saw...Alexander Laszlo is credited with music editing for the stock music. He was a 1940s film and radio editor and had his own plucked string/horror movie music library called "Structural Music". Among his gifts to culture.."My Little Margie"'s (1952)'s theme. Wish I had a way to see this without the 'Bots! Inetresting as WileE_2005 said, no guard gates back then! -But they were there on drawbridges..:)- and agreed, great old car styles! Mike and those MST3K bots needa chill out!! Glad to see this was pointed out. Usually, when I think of this kind of films, Jerry Fairbanks Productions is the VERY FIRST THING that springs to mind, but someone else did this.

PS If you like this kind of film, the classics One Got Fat and such like that would be great..companions to anti drug 1960s and WWII cautionary films.