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11/24/2014

The Car (1977) - Mildly entertaining car-run-amok action-thriller



One of the many cool posters for Elliot Silverstein's The Car

QUICK REVIEW:

A mysterious black car without a driver drives people to death in Utah, and it is very hard to stop.

That is the simple plot in this slightly dull b-movie, which it took 3 screenwriters to write. It seems somewhat derivative of Steven Spielberg's better Duel (1971), in which a mysterious truck chases our hero (Dennis Weaver) throughout the film.
James Brolin (Westworld (1973)) does alright in the lead of The Car, as do the other main actors, and The Car doesn't lack tempo or action. The problem is that the main idea is so slight.
It is directed by Elliot Silverstein, who started directing TV in 1954 with Omnibus. He directed four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1961-64), four of The Defenders (1962-64) and three of Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963-64) and then turned to films, where he made acclaimed hits as Cat Ballou (1965) and A Man Called Horse (1970), before The Car led him back to TV, where he did some TV movies. He finished his career with four episodes of Tales From the Crypt (1991-94).


Finnish (?) poster for The Car

Dutch (?) poster for The Car

Cool poster for The Car!


Watch the cheesy trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 5.7 mil. $ (US only, first 2 weeks only)
= A hit, though some uncertainty
[The Car seems pretty low-budget: 4 Lincoln Continental Mark III were customized for the production, and only one survived. There are also no major stars in the cast. Nevertheless, the film was no. 1 in US theaters for two weeks in May 1977. Critic Gene Siskel called it 'The Cinematic Turkey of 1977.']

What do you think of The Car?
What is your favorite car movie?

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