The Wild Racers

1968 "From Stock Car To Grand Prix... show him a curve and he'll take it... on two wheels or with a kiss!"
The Wild Racers
4.1| 1h23m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 27 March 1968 Released
Producted By: American International Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Promising young racing car driver Joe Joe Quillico leaves the stock car racing scene in the United States in order to pursue Grand Prix racing in Europe. After limited success he manages to win the Spanish Grand Prix. His love life however, is much less successful and his winning on the track only serves to alienate the woman he loves - with unhappy consequences.

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hrkepler 'The Wild Racers' as movie is as shallow as its main character Jo Jo Quillico (played by pop singer Fabian) a race car driver living on the edge. Winning a race is his only intention and everything else comes second. Traveling from circuit to circuit, from country to country he conquers the women like racetracks. Until he finds a girlfriend (Mimsy Farmer) who sticks besides him, until she sees she can't get enough love from him.The story is well written, but the most interesting part of the film is it's style - tilted camera angels and quick cuts - there are barely any shots that last more than 20 seconds, and scenes drive into scenes (we can barely set down at the dinner table when we are already back on racing track). The dialogue is minimal, but use of voice over is rather interesting - two characters are having conversation, then there is the change of the shot and conversation has turned into narration. I guess it has to do something the guerrilla style filmmaking as the crew didn't have permission to shoot on location (everything had to be canned on rush) and mixing it all real racing footage that some was colored from black and white.Despite pseudo art house style the film carries the mood and atmosphere of '60s Grand Prix racing very well. Not stylistically as pure as lets say 'Le Mans' with Steve McQueen 'The Wild Racers' is still interesting film that any fans of the genre and racing should check out when the chance.Voice of Fabian was dubbed by Dick Miller who also has brief cameo as pit mechanic, blink an eye and you miss him.P.S. Although the film is about Formula 1, the cars shown in the movie are actually Formula 2 machinery.
Stephen Bierce (FPilot) I first saw this movie when I was eleven years old. I was watching TV hoping to find some escape from the grief of losing a relative, and on that level it delivered adequately. But beyond that it meant nothing, because ultimately it's not about anything.There are two characters in this movie: Fabian's JoeJoe and the scenery of Western Europe. Yes, there are more cast members but they are only scenery to JoeJoe. Dancers to dance with, women to bed with, other drivers to run against, team coaches to argue with and so on...but none of these are really characters anywhere near JoeJoe's level. Still, he's pretty shallow and superficial, and he even admits it. In the Madrid Bullfight arena/Jarama racetrack sequence, he calls the bull "dumb" but ultimately invites the audience to compare JoeJoe's pursuit of the Checkered Flag to the bull's pursuit of the Matador's cape. Is JoeJoe's girlfriend dumb for not making the comparison herself, or wise for making the comparison internally but not telling JoeJoe what she thinks?I wonder if Robert Redford drew from this or likable movies when he made DOWNHILL RACER years later.Visually, this is fabulous stuff. The race scenes are genuinely well cut and the travelogue scenes of European cities and landscapes are well worth the effort. But unlike Steve McQueen's LE MANS four years later, or Paul Newman's WINNING two years after this movie, none of this visual art is thrown in service of a plot line. This movie is a traffic circle; it ends how it begins. Neither JoeJoe nor anything else really changes that we don't expect.The music is interesting stuff, a mix of California surf rock and Continental go-go pop for the incidentals, with some French-language pop love songs thrown in for make-out ambiance. Modern audiences would probably find the latter stuff tiresome, but don't worry about it; the two paradigms shift snappily from one to the other and back.It's not said which racing circuit the filmmakers used for this feature, but a little research let me determine that this was Formula 2, which later became Formula 3000 and is to F1 what IndyLights is to IRL and the Nationwide Grand Nationals is to NASCAR. It looks like Fabian did his own driving in some of the scenes and I didn't notice any process shots like were common at that time. The car he has on the track is a Brabham with a Cosworth engine; it belonged to a real F2 team that won five Championship season races that year.
TedMichaelMor For a low budget imitation of a great classic film, this movie has a certain visual beauty that hints as the physical loveliness of the Formal 1 racing circuit. The women wear exquisite outfits, the montages work as travel log. Fabian looks like a classic Grand Prix driver from the time. Missy Farmer is lovely looking as is Talia Shire.What I saw was dubbed it seems. The dialogue sounds unreal. The music seems to be an imitation of French romantic films.The film does not work. The story does not engage me. I do not care about the narrative and somehow the montage lacks crispness and cohesion. Still, it almost works in a way. It almost seem an undertone or overtone to "Grand Prix" This is like a memory of a dream and that is a compliment.
Topher chester This movie will BLOW YOUR MIND! I cant believe this movie is seen by very few people it is easily one of the best i have seen in my lifetime. The plot is full of heartwarming love and fast action. The only thing that triumphs the directing is the WRITING! Max House is a great writer and it is very sad that this is his only credit, might as well quit when your at the top i guess. I really wish to see more of Max House I hope he is still doing well and writing lot's! I will keep this review short and brief but i can't say it enough SEE THIS MASTERPIECE PLEASE AND SPREAD THE WORD.Thanks.