Leofwine_draca RIDE IN A PINK CAR is one in a sub-genre of films exploring the plight of Vietnam veterans returning home and trying to re-integrate into a cold society that doesn't really want them. This film goes for a low budget crime thriller angle but the story is too devoid of originality to really work, but the main problem is that other, similar films like ROLLING THUNDER and FIRST BLOOD are real classics and this just doesn't come close.It actually begins much like FIRST BLOOD, with ex-soldier Glenn Corbett returning home to find that he isn't really wanted. Criminal gangs have taken over his town and his wife has married his brother, leading to much awkwardness. What follows is highly dated and seems to deliberately reference BILLY JACK at times although it isn't as good as that film either. There's some occasional good music, some not bad low-rent action in the form of car chases and the like, but generally a try-hard-but-fails feel.

Comeuppance Reviews Gid Barker (Corbett) returns home to the small town of Benton, Florida after some years away in 'Nam. As it turns out, the townsfolk don't receive him warmly and are all antagonistic towards him. During one of his conflicts with the locals, Gid ends up accidentally killing one of the good ol' boys. That's more than enough for the town to want to lynch him, so he steals the titular "pink car" and goes on the run with his buddy Rainy (Benet), who is also a pariah because he's a Native American Indian. So then there are a bunch of chases and weak confrontations until the final outcome. What will it be? Find out today? Ride In A Pink car is not the best example of the "guy comes home from Vietnam and faces hostility" movie that seemed to bubble up in the 1970's. The No Mercy Man (1973) is a far better film, and, even trumping that fine work is the modern-day masterpiece Rolling Thunder (1977). First Blood (1982) perfected the formula by the early 80's. Unfortunately 'pink car is a casualty along the road getting there. We desperately wanted to like the movie, but it's very slow, dramatic in the wrong places, and there's a severe dearth of action. Perhaps that's unfair if this wasn't meant to be an out-and-out action movie, but we're just thrown into the middle of the plot right from the get-go and it's hard to shake off the feelings of confusion and uncaring. Though, to be fair, the audio and video quality of the VHS release are absolutely horrid. Given a cleaned-up DVD treatment, the movie might deserve a reassessment.The movie is also clearly influenced by the then-current hit Billy Jack (1971) - imagine a regional version. There are some car chases (of the "fruit-cart" style, naturally) and maybe a few mild blow-ups, but the movie needed at least one sort-of-known name. Jimmy Dean, Bo Hopkins, Bo Svenson, Bo....Jackson, somebody! But the music, by Vic Caesar, is enjoyable, and lines of dialogue such as "smells like rancid perfume gone flat", in reference to the local booze, keep the movie from being a total waste, but just barely. The above line was said by Pinky, a man who dresses all in pink, and from whom Gid gets the classic Pink Car. It does seem somewhat effeminate in these post-General Lee times we're living in, however.But strange-looking people, characters continually drenched in their own sweat, and a Sheriff who wears a bolo tie with his Sheriff's outfit don't save the movie. It's too staid. The character of Gid needed more rage. Ironically, the plot has no drive. As stated earlier, our willingness to like this movie was disappointed at every turn. Shot in Rubonia, Florida, Ride In A Pink Car (the cover models on the VHS box were created and have nothing whatsoever to do with the movie), sadly, stalls out when it should be putting pedal to the metal.

rsoonsa When Gid Barker (Glenn Corbett) returns from Army service in Vietnam to his home town of Benton, Florida, he is met by a less than civil welcome from many of his former friends. Gid is generally believed to have been killed in military action, but in reality is A.W.O.L. His former girlfriend Sheryl (Ivy Jones) is married to Gid's brother, his last employer will not rehire him because he was too greatly admired by female co-workers, all while numerous others in Benton would seemingly have much preferred that he actually had died in combat. Nevertheless, Gid perseveres in carrying out a plan to regain his former standing in the town. Unfortunately, he by accident kills the son of one of Benton's leading citizens, and the majority of the film is taken up with Gid's attempts to flee from a contingent of the townsfolk who are intent upon lynching him. The film lacks focus despite this bleakly propitious foundation, largely as a result of numerous subsidiary characters, too many of whom vanish following an initial strongly scripted appearance. Jones as Sheryl, although she refuses to believe that Gib is actually guilty of anything at all, displays few of those merits, physical or otherwise, that would attract a womanizing non-conformist such as is Gib. The title's pink vehicle is a brand new Plymouth Satellite Sebring, stolen by Gib from a moronic tourist and then virtually, and to no point, demolished by a stunt driver during several inane scenes. The work was shot entirely in Rubonia, Florida, close to Tampa, seemingly during a particularly hot spell, as the cast is drenched with perspiration, as is their clothing. Most of the cast and crew are residents of Florida, a clear benefit to what plainly is a small-budgeted production. Corbett, who co-starred with Martin Milner on the popular 1960s television series "Route 66", tries manfully to make sense of his role here, but this is a poor vehicle for him, since very little occurs to capture a viewer's sympathy, and the ending of the film is baffling, at best. The acting laurels go to Morgan Woodward, veteran Western film character actor, for maintaining his scenario established character throughout, despite tepid direction, and also erratic editing that prevents formation of a much needed sense of reality. Director of photography Jack Richards earns a viewer's approval, in this poorly staged affair, by some creative camera-work. The film is not available in DVD format, while a hard-to-find Genesis VHS release displays upon its box completely absurd photographic cover art: a snarling evildoer has a stranglehold upon a woman's neck with one hand while pointing a revolver to her skull with the other. Neither of these models appears in the movie; nor does the convertible auto that the woman is ostensibly driving; but, after all, a good deal of the entire production makes little sense at all.

Woodyanders A surprisingly taut and involving 70's B picture sleeper which has undeservedly slipped through the cracks and into obscurity. Gid Barker (coolly played with firm inner resolve by Glenn Corbett), a fiercely self-reliant nonconformist loner Vietnam veteran, returns after a two year tour of duty to his jerkwater hometown of Benton, Florida to meet a decidedly chilly and unwelcoming committee that's more like a lynch mob. Back in the day Gid was a hell-raising womanizing troublemaker, so the guys in town are eager to put the thumbscrews to him. Gid winds up killing a man in self-defense when one dude picks a fight with him in a bar. Gid steals a souped-up pink Plymouth Fury and with his loyal, laid-back Native American pal Ray (affable Doug Van) and old flame Shirley (sweet Ivy Jones) in tow goes on the lam. The dead man's vengeful father (a stern, steely Morgan Woodard) forms a posse (the always welcome Bill Thurman as an odious racist deputy among 'em) to track Gid down. Gid in turn opens up a king-sized barrel of pure destruction on the seething, hateful little backwards hamlet. Skillfully directed by Robert J. Emery, this exciting and resolutely tough-minded winner packs an unexpectedly powerful punch, thanks to David Hall's compact, incisive script, a strikingly unflattering portrait of hicksville heartland America as a resentful hotbed of repressive toe-the-line conformity (Gid's refusal to go along in order to get along makes him a much despised and ridiculed pariah), Vic Caeser's jaunty country and western score, complexly drawn characters, thrilling outbursts of deftly staged action, Jack Richards' solid cinematography, across-the-board aces acting, and a painfully on-target "you can't go home" central message. A fine, gritty and shamefully neglected drive-in gem.