I mentioned these road films earlier. Vanishing Point, featuring Barry "Petrocelli" Newman in the role of his career. This is a "must see." Just look at that dude! He's been chewing white crosses like they're Tums and driving non-stop for days -- he looks like he smells. Real bad. I dug the biker dude with the headband made of linked beer can pop-tops who helped him make a fake police siren our of a mini-bike.I have vaguer memories of "Gone in 60 Seconds" other than it was a thrill-ride. Of course we're talking 34 years ago, so I may be a little mistaken. I guess the interesting thing about it was that it starred H.B. Halicki, who also wrote, directed, produced, and stunt coordinated, not just this, but three other gear-head flicks before dying at age 49.
And I can't let the subject go without a nod to the made-for-TV classic, The California Kid, starring Martin Fucking Sheen, Vic Fucking Morrow, Nick Fucking Nolte, and Michelle Fucking Phillips.
This was the first film I remember seeing Martin Sheen in after The Execution of Private Slovic. Of course, he'd really made his mark a year earlier when, after years of bit parts, he played a Charles Starkweather-like character (opposite Sissy Spacek) in Terrance Malick's classic Badlands.Probably as interesting to Moonpie scholars is the fact that my underground comix character "The Kawatiti Kid" (Jim Jones alter ego) was inspired by The California Kid.
Remember that you can order most of the movies we talk about by clicking on our Amazon link to your right, or down yonder at the bottom. Your purchases through Amazon and Cafe Press give us false hope. Bless you.
I have no idea where this stray code that follows is coming from.... weird.
The biker dude in Vanishing Point with the cool nude girlfriend, was also the character 'P.I.' in Lonsome Dove years later.
ReplyDeleteI actually watched California Kid on TV when it aired.