Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, a review by Jon
DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY (1974)
2 out of 5
Larry and an accomplice -also his mechanic- flee a robbery with Mary in tow. They are chased across country by the police, while dreaming of breaking into the racing life. This title stuck in my head after Death Proof and I when I saw that it was quite a popular cult movie, I was really looking forward to it. Therefore, it is without question the biggest disappointment in this marathon. It's simply put, crap. A rip-off of several elements from earlier classics, held together by a bloody awful cast, lazy direction and a poor script.
The basic story is Vanishing Point: small time robbery escalates into huge chase
and they die in a sudden fireball in the end. More relief than shock in this case.
The basic characters are from Two-Lane Blacktop: gifted driver and his mechanic, with a female hitchhiker.
The dialogue is Easy Rider hip. Except Peter Fonda obviously forgot how to write such stuff. He definitely forgot how to act! Much as I don't really like Easy Rider, it demands respect and I don't know what went wrong here.
Susan George is a revelation. Was she trying to be this shit on purpose? I like her usually, but this was an embarrassment. Only Adam Roarke as the mechanic character was any good, and probably only because he plays it very laid back. He's undermined by a stupid shoe-horned in recovering alcholic "twist". Vic Morrow was the only genuinely good character AND actor. He pushes the rating up a full star all by himself as the sheriff.
Usually a film this bad can be redeemed by it's car chases, but they all seemed half-arsed. They are good, but there just needed to be more of them for longer. For instance, hot-shot driver cop is listening to the chase on the radio and wants the glory. He's the best driver with the best car and catches up with Fonda... and gets spun off at the first corner. Maybe it was supposed to be ironic, like The Sugarland Express, but Spielberg's film had other tricks and this needed all the help it could get.
Another example is the sheriff chasing them down in a helicopter. Great scene! They're getting closer and closer! It's so exciting... wait... he's flying away. What happened? Ran out of fuel apparently. That passes for plot development. A film like this, the 'copter should be bouncing off the roof of the car not running out of bloody fuel! Who wrote this thing?
To be fair, the half-arsed-ness of the action would be less noticeable if they didn't keep stopping. Obviously trying to catch the Two-Lane/Easy Rider vibe of little off-shoots for character building, they keep pulling off the road for repairs, a heart-to-heart, a game of pool... a game of f***ing pool!!??!! They're being chased by, erm, everyone, but they find time to deal with the mechanics alcoholism while shooting a couple of frames. Bollocks. Utter bollocks.
The Car's the star: Dodge Charger 
Trailer(From Car Movie Marathon on October 1st, 2008)
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May 17, 2024, 01:37:37 PM
