deesmith91
I searched long and hard for this movie, as I do for all of Joe Don's early work. This movie is magnificent! I watch it over and over. It's got Joe Don, Susan Sarandon, Larry Hagman and Parnelli Jones, and it casts Joe Don much better than a lot of his other movies.A GREAT thing about this movie is how creatively the actors talk--they NEVER use profanity, but come up with other ways to express what they are feeling. Any other "action" movie is full of foul language.Another great thing about it is all the Bugs and rail-jobs. Even Walkaway's car started out as a Bug. I've been a Bug person most of my life.And I LOVE the way Bo says "motor-cicle" instead of motorcycle. I say it that way myself very often.I guess the best thing about this movie for me is that it is set in the 1970's. That was a kinder, gentler time when Joe Don was young and SO gorgeous.
mhjdowd
The below commentary on the movie was written by a friend, who caught a Spanish dub of "Checkered Flag or Crash" on Telemundo well into the evening. ------------------ "Checkered Flag or Crash" is about as bad as it gets. From what I can tell, Joe Don stars as Joe Don Baker, the lovable lunk he always plays. He's competing in some off road challenge race. (By the way, the lyrics to the theme song for Checkered Flag or Crash, "Checkered Flag or Crash", has four words - can you guess what they are?) The supporting cast of Larry "J.R. Ewing" Hagman and Susan Sarandon (?!) made it way too fun not to share with you guys. I really don't think MST3K could have done this movie. They would have choked to death on a combination of vomit and laughter. The movie seemed to be a series of spectacular and more often unspectacular car crashes - mostly stock footage. Essentially it was an hour of the chase scene from Mitchell. There were hilarious moments when the camera was trying to get the natural vantage point of an off road race, but because of the wind all you could see were tires and dust because tree branches covered the screen. It was as if they had budgeted exactly an hour of tape, so everything was done first take and then all this nonsensical stock was added. I think they may have had footage from NASCAR - Joe Don in a jeep, Joe Don in a Jeep, Richard Petty crashes in turn 2 at Talladega, Joe Don in a Jeep... Did I mention that I'm watching all this in Telemundo? The worst were the uncomfortable moments when Joe Don whooped it up after knocking innocent, unassuming competitors into walls, off of cliffs, or out of focus (each ending in explosion and emphatic death). I wonder if in the closing credits they were listed as "Unnecessarily Killed Driver 1-12" The movie ends with a final, triumphant vehicular manslaughter followed by our pudgy hero recklessly and needlessly going at the finish line at full speed with nary a competitor in sight (perhaps there was a time limit he had to beat - I didn't know and I didn't care). As the car crosses the line, he loses control, jumps a bridge like KITT (you know, there's no ramp, but the car somehow becomes airborne), and flips over repeatedly. Four crashes are shown to represent the incident. Note that I didn't say "four angles". There were four independent crashes filmed - they physically could not have been the same accident. The best part was that it almost looked like the car was hitting spectators at one point - the over-under on extras injured during filming must have been 60.So as a smoke machine billows and the shocked crowd approaches to ask a) if Joe Don's character has been killed, b) if the movie is over, and c) with whom should they file their injury claim, our man's hand eases out the passenger side window and gives the thumbs up. Sarandon shakes her head dumbfoundedly and Hagman is seen racing toward the nearest bank to cash his check before the studio goes under. Then the theme music comes in. "Checkered Flag or Crash". Absorbing stuff.Since this viewing, I have been reflecting on the three stars: 1) Hagman - Really, between 'I Dream of Jeanie' and 'Dallas', there was ten years of him doing nothing. I wonder if he did any porn in that time. And I wonder if that would have been a step up or a step down from 'Checkered Flag or Crash' 2) Sarandon - you're kidding me, right? And here's the weird thing, in this movie she's probably 20-25 years old, and not remotely hot. I've never found her to be good looking, but I always figured she must have gotten in by being hot when she was younger. Not the case. How does she always get guys in movies? Did Joe Don tell her the secret to being a hatchet face that still gets cast as a romantic lead? Which brings us to... 3) Baker - How the hell did he get lead roles? And how the hell did he always get a romantic partner? Was he a sex symbol in the 70s? He wasn't attractive, he had no charm, and his characters were horrible people. His movies seem to be ninety minutes of him getting the crap beat out of him until he finally kills everyone else. Do you realize this was like casting Drew Carey as the lead in 'The Fast and The Furious'? And finally, what did it take to stop a movie from being produced in the 1970s. This budget couldn't have exceeded thirty thousand dollars. The major special effect (used with great frequency I might add) was dust. I figure the only significant costs must've been the wrongful death suits by families of extras.
mar9
Feeble off-road racing action pic that raises a flicker of interest due to the presence of a young Susan Sarandon (who is given very little to do) and Joe Don Baker in his brief early career as a leading man. Joe Don stars as "Walkaway" Madden, a hard-core racer whose "crash or win" attitude brings him into conflict with his fellow racers. Sarandon is a journalist in the George Plimpton mode, out to get the inside view of a 1000-mile race held in the Philippines. Larry Hagman also features, in a bold casting against type, as a fast talking wheeler-dealing Southern entrepreneur who runs the race.The film bogs at the start and never recovers, due to woeful dialogue and absent character development. After journalist Wainwright (Sarandon)persuades a reluctant Madden to allow her to ride in his race car during the event, the next half hour or so consists of the two leads engaging in a stilted and repetitive dialogue about what to do if Wainwright develops motion sickness, interspersed with reasonably well-edited race footage.The 3-day race format imposes a rigid structure to the film, with race days interspersed with character "interaction" in the pits. There is a tiny romantic sub-plot with an anonymous black clad biker ("acted" by Playboy playmate Daina House) getting off with a stereotyped suave Latino Grand Prix driver. No sex scene, though - this is an action picture!The action footage is not bad and the stunt guys really earned their money on this one, but there are too many camera in the car shots on rough roads where the camera is jolting around so much that the picture is hopelessly blurred and the effect is quite nauseating. Perhaps this film inspired the camera work on "Blair Witch Project", I don't know. There are a few picture-postcard shots of delightful Filipino scenery, and I just wonder if some Marcos money was behind this film.In summary, a waste of the talents of Sarandon and Baker, who have both done vastly better when given better material. Despite being a documentary, "On Any Sunday" is a superior off-road racing film in every respect. Susan Sarandon fans would be better off sticking to her later roles if this is anything to go by. I imagine that casting agents saw this talented young but unconventionally beautiful actress and had no idea what to do with her. As for Joe Don Baker, yet another blot on this underrated actor's record. It's a shame he wasn't born in London instead of Texas. Watch "Edge of Darkness" if you don't understand what I mean.
