Truly Dreadful Film

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I remember seeing this film at the theater with Robin Williams' Popeye" as afternoon double feature movie matinée when I was kid. This was low budget Canadian film marketed as American film (Lee Majors made a couple of Canadian movies like this in early 80's such as Agency with late Robert Mitchum) The shortage of oils leading into ban of automobiles, epidemic wiped out the populations, and people are forced by government to live in suppressed society with ridiculous rules and restrictions. The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors, plays former race car driver who rebuilds his Porsche that was hidden underneath of his garage and breaks free to California where people are start living in free society like used to be. Former World War jet fighter played by late Burgess Meredith is after him to kill. This movie has so much potentials and a good plot , but it gets lost or misguided to make a solid movie. It just failed to develop those interesting issues/setups/surprisingly great characters into some what successful movie. However that didn't stop this movie to become fun/enjoyable vintage guilty pleasure low budget sci-fi action flick. Movie stardom hungry Lee Majors with mullet, wearing silver racing jacket (I think stunt man, Mike, from recent Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof might be got the idea from Lee's character, Frank Hart. Well, looks wise....) did his own car stunts with red Porsche racing car. The cross country chase between Porsche and jet was all old school stunts, and it also captured beautiful Denver/Rocky Mt. No CGI on this!!! This movie also features Chris Makepeace from My Bodyguard and Vamp. I really like to see this movie available on DVD sometime soon!!!

This juvenile, bland flick is strictly for teenagers in old mens' bodies, desperate to relive their hormonally challenged teenage years. How ? By burning up gas and equating a fast, reckless car (or plane) with freedom.The plot borrows heavily from Mister Rogers' neighborhood (if it were run my an oil conglomerate) and Logan's Run (if it were heavily sedated and lacked a clear sense of style).Starring Lee Majors and Burgess Meredith this film is set in a post-gas-crisis world in which an all-powerful government doesn't want you to (*ahem*) drive your car and burn gas. Sort of the opposite of today's Enron-and-Bush, oil-grabbing, SUV-pushing government.This juxtaposition alone makes the film laughable. But wait...there's more. Although the film is set in the future, we're not shown any signs of future technology, beyond a return to bicycles, golf carts and horses. You will believe that the future looks... exactly like today. Same clothing, same suburban houses, same green lawns as today and when the film was made. There are no solar panels, no windmills, no concessions to alternate energy.The acting is flat and flavorless. Even scenes which could have been gritty or moving, buddy-flick, honor, romance, horror... all fall flatter than a paper doll under a briefcase.Continuity is lacking-- the jet flown by Burgess Meredith's character changes colors and configuration from moment to moment as the filmmakers insult our intelligence with unmatched stock footage again and again.The plot is as moronic and only half as exciting as a Dukes of Hazzard episode.Even die-hard car-film and SF fans should avoid this film like month-old roadkill, unless you enjoy heckling Exxon executives trying to make a movie as empty as the hero's gas tank.

This was a staple of 1980s Canadian television, not because it's particularly good (though I like it), but because it was made with Canadian dollars. Thus allowing it to fit in with the country's strange (to non-Canadians anyway) Canadian Content broadcast regulations.Lee Majors takes time out inbetween his Six Million Dollar Man/Fall Guy gigs and races around the countryside near my neck of the woods, while Chris Makepeace blows the head off a statue real good and Burgess Meredith talks to his kite. All this, plus a decent supporting role from Harvey Atkin as the orgy-frequenting conformist co-worker who frowns upon Lee's free-thinking spirit. What's not to like?Adding to the enjoyment is playing the game of "spot the location" and comparing places I've been to to how they're shown in the movie. The sight of dozens of extras bicycling around the Yorkdale shopping centre on their way towards a big clean Utopian bubble city (or a matte painting of it, anyway) always raises a smile.Avoid the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of this, it's really not funny, although the last line "aw, no wonder it sucks, it's Canadian!" is a good one.

First of all, it has a great score by Gil Melle. He did cool synthesizer stuff with stuff like The Questor Tapes and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and he doesn't disapppoint here. Even at the dullest moments, you can count on the score to give you a jolt or two.The main problem is that everything in this movie is just...slightly off-key. Give it a better actor than Lee Majors as the "hero," and a better old fogey/jetfighter than hammy Burgess Meredith, and do a little more than just rehash Farenheit 451 with gas instead of books, and this might have worked. Chris Makepeace is okay (although the juvie bad boy/computer hacker stereotype was already overdone by '81), and the plane vs. car action sequences aren't too badly done.*shrug* I liked it. It wasn't better than Cats, but otherwise it works for me.