Very well executed

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Imagine all the clichés of early 70s road movies rolled into one. A sub-par Bonnie and Clyde gang; a maverick sheriff who clashes with his by-the-book superior; a series of incompetent Dukes-of-Hazzard-style police chases. You've got yourself the plot of DMCL.Add to that the early 70s obsession with being gritty. The actual robbery sequence (stealing money from Roddy McDowall's safe while holding his family at gunpoint) is far nastier than it could have been and makes us lose all sympathy for the robbers. Strangely the film then carries on as if this hasn't happened and mostly (up until the "shock" ending) treats the characters in a light-hearted way. We're supposed to be on their side, despite one of them (with the complete approval of the other) having broken into someone's home, pulled a woman violently from the shower and held her and her daughter in a state of fear at gunpoint, then tied them up and left them, while McDowall is frantic about what has happened to them. There is even a threat that the child would be hurt if necessary. And he is shown as being the "good guy" of the gang! Susan George is oddly miscast as Mary. She unfortunately speaks an unpleasant accent (when she has such a good speaking voice normally). I have no idea why she is dirty, however.Peter Fonda is Larry, and to be fair, it is easy to see why he is 'crazy'. Mary is initially attracted to Larry but curiously seems to favour the third gang member (ie the house breaker) later after he gallantly defends her.The dialogue is either very banal or expositional and the action is the semi-comic no-one-really-gets-hurt car carnage common of the era.The "shock" ending is heavily telegraphed long before it happens and only seems to be there, like the robbery, be make the film look weightier than it actually is.

The roar of the engines, the glorious heroine... My high score for this overlooks the fact that this movie is badly constructed in many different ways, yet excellent in others. Counting first and foremost is the great casting, I am of course especially thankful for Susan George. Without her in it, I wouldn't have been here reviewing it today. She was the most exciting actress of her time, unfortunately ending up in movies where she shouldn't have been wasting her time, but in this one's case, wow! And again, wow! And again, wow! There is that scene with the police car coming up behind them like a vengeful shark, and the camera shows Mary's face, and wow! That expression! That giggle! That movie magic! That glorious partner-in-crime! Of course this movie begs to be remade, but I will be staunchly critical of whomever they choose as Mary. And actually it was remade, Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson during the Nineties in THE CHASE, not bad at all, but not with the same kind of vibe, not the feel of these late Sixties cars, and of course, no Peter OUTLAW BLUES Fonda or Susan George. By the way, Susan might be best known for STRAW DOGS, but this is the ultimate Susan George movie!The character of Larry was of course a total sh*t, and yet, the two protagonists made a powerful on-screen couple. What this one REALLY NEEDED when the bucks started rolling in was less of a lament about 'We Killed the Golden Goose, There Cannot Be a Sequel' as nothing about the film's ending was final, nothing is witnessed except that the car is clearly a flaming wreck. The sequel should just have shown them, in the grand old tradition of old-time movie serials, jumping from the car the moment before actual collision, and however corny my solution of course is, NEVER MIND WE'D HAVE HAD A SEQUEL.Vic Morrow gave particular depth to the movie, representing the other side, and was a full-fledged alternative lead instead of a cardboard character. The irony of the actor's death in a helicopter-related incident some years later does much to undermine watching this movie now. That is beyond control, just a twist of fate. Just as tragic is that Susan fizzled out soon afterward due to health problems, and of course, there were deaths among the rest of the cast as well. The curse of DMCL?

More than 25 years passed since the last time I saw this movie. Maybe Bullit and his black car jumping in San Francisco, or Nicholas Cage's turbulent relationship with "Eleanor" in Gone in 60 seconds, or the whole Fast and Furious saga has more dynamic car action scenes. However, I still remember a quarter-of-century later frame-by-frame the last scene, when the County's Sheriff, after the destruction of every vehicle of his Police Department, decided to guide the fugitives to crash with a train. The image of the yellow car crashing and burning is one of the true classical scenes in the history of racing action movies.

but it more than makes up for that in sweet road action. One car chase leads to another, bridges are jumped, and there's even a low-flying helicopter chase. And as much as I like Adam Roarke's pensive angst in this movie, the real one to watch out for is Vic Morrow. For the crime that Fonda and Roarke committed (unarmed theft), you've gotta wonder why Morrow would come down on them as hard as he did. His big move in the end (although brilliant) was overly vindictive. What makes this hard- line lawman tick? And that ending's a true shocker that hits me right where I live.But in the end, this movie's a classic. The chases are fun, the stunts are cool, and it's just an awesome ride.And that is one righteous Charger. 7.5/10