Customer Reviews

Old-Fashioned Fun on Route 66

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this documentary of the Larry family who traveled the "Mother Road" in the 1940's and 1950's. The screenwriter based the story on her own family's experiences and their original footage, along with film of a recent cross-country trip that she made with her siblings and camerapersons. They drove from LA to the family farm in Illinois, and back to California with side trips to the Grand Canyon and Chicago, retracing the family's journeys and having some fun times at Route 66 festivals along the way. I found it a charming, heart-warming story, unlike anything I've seen about Route 66.

I was lucky enough to participate in the Missouri portion of this film. It was nostalgic, entertaining, informative and FUN. I was part of the Corvette road run across Missouri. We started in Pacific at the historic Red Cedar Inn restaurant in Pacific and ended at the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, where the rooms were decorated in the Route 66 motif. Along the way we drove on the original Route 66 highway as much as possible, and we were able to see many old landmarks. The dedicated film crew filmed us along the way - not even stopping when one of the guys' glasses blew off when he was hanging out of his vehicle! This film is a great combination of the old and new: original film from when the girls were little, to the present.

This is $25 and 25 minutes of my life I won't get back. Why only 25 minutes do you ask since the video is 56 minutes long? Because the narration was so awful I ended up watching it on fast forward and/or mute after I couldn't take it any longer. I purchased this with hopes of seeing actual 8mm footage of Route 66. Please don't make the same mistake I did unless you actually want to watch the father changing a tire in a suit and the road whizzing by while they drive. You do not see old roadside attractions as I had also hoped and as the description of this video implies. You do not see old motels. You do not even see a single Hwy 66 sign. Very, very little vintage footage was shown. If I thought I could stand to watch the whole thing again (not on fast forward) I would time it, but I would rather watch paint dry. My estimate would be five minutes of 8mm video. The rest of the 56 minutes is poorly narrated and filmed by an amateur. At one point, one of the sisters is interviewing Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire, and she even has the nerve to cut him off! This video is just plain ridiculous. If nothing else, it has some comedic value because it is that bad. By sticking the Route 66 tag on it, they suckered me in and I'm more than a little dissapointed.