DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY / RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1974/1975) Shout! Factory's Double-Bill video release.
D: John Hough / Jack Starrett. Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow / Peter Fonda, Loretta Swit, Warren Oates, Lara Parker. 93 mins. / 88 mins.
In Dirty Mary Crazy Larry Peter Fonda displays his asphalt charm as Larry, a racer with oval track greatness aspirations and a devoted mechanic friend Deke (Roarke) supporting his dream. With about as much finesse as Laurel and Hardy, the duo rob a grocery store in order to fund Larry’s grand racing delusion. His one night stand, Mary (George), insinuates herself into the situation much to Deke’s dismay and the threesome hit the road in Larry’s enhanced Dodge Charger with lawman Everett Franklin (Morrow) in bulldog pursuit. While noted for its car chases and smack-ups, they’re not quite as plentiful as the hype suggests leaving much time for obnoxious front and back seat haranguing and Deke and Mary’s unexpected affection for one another. This is Brit director John Hough’s first American feature and he handles the hokey dialog scenes as capably as the crash-boom-bang of rubber and steel. A special nod goes to film editor Christopher Holmes who obviously has an intuitive touch for exposition as well as wild auto action. The final reel payoff is a jarring showstopper that's more memorable than all that transpires before it. In Race with the Devil, Fonda portrays Roger Marsh who is partnered with Frank Stewart (Oates) in a dirt bike cycle shop. With wives Alice and Kelly (Swit and Parker) they leave their San Antonio digs in a spanking new motor home bound for some Colorado vacationing and skiing. During a secluded overnight stopover in Texas nowhere country, Roger and Frank witness a witches’ ritual killing. Alice’s ill-timed loud beckoning from the motor home alerts the coven that they’re not alone, and so begins a terrifying and ever-worsening chase. Race is a beautifully crafted horror thriller with solid Jack Starrett direction. Co-writers Wes Bishop (who portrays Deputy Dave) and Lee Frost (Race’s original director) mete the action scenes betwixt lulls that are punched with Kelly’s bullsh*t meter pinning at every human encounter. The massive motor home and its claustrophobic environment are as aggravatingly unnerving as the relentless appearance of coven members who are hell-bent determined to eliminate anyone who threatens their secrecy. By combining Leonard Rosenman’s harrowing score with exhausting road chases, disturbing characters and blanketed eerie and life-threatening nuance, Race with the Devil lingers with you long after its throat hold lets go. Presented by Shout! Factory as a two DVD set (single disc Blu-ray also available), they’re identical in content to Anchor Bay’s individual releases from 2005. They retain the “making of” Extras, John Hough’s revealing Dirty Mary commentary track and Race’s thoroughly fascinating commentary by executive producer Paul Maslansky and co-star Parker.
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