Customer Reviews

Speed Lovers/Thunder in Dixie

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I grew up in North Carolina & spent a good part of my childhood in the mid 60s at racetracks. I once saw Richard Petty eating a bar-b-q sandwich before a race, something these movies brought back memories of.

These two films are great examples of Speedsploitation (part of the Hicksploitation family.) The first, Speed Lovers, is a hilarious ham-bone excursion into big hair, go-go music, and overgrown racetrack "kids" well into their 30s. The star (who also wrote, produced & directed the picture) is someone I wish I knew. The scene where he pushes the "bad guys" into a pool and grabs a last-minute kiss from one of the poolside molls before his escape sums up the spirit of this movie in living color. What a guy.

The second picture, Thunder in Dixie, is the polar opposite of the first, the Yang to its Yin. In black & white with a top-notch story of hurt, anger, revenge, betrayal, and finally resolution, this story really packs a punch. Although betrayed by a floozy who dies & seems a saint to racetrack driver Ticker, it's really his former partner & racer Mickey that you feel the most for. He's really sexy, yet his best friend turns on him, & his wife is the illegitimate lovechild of Clark Gable & Loretta Young. I like to think that after the conclusion of the movie, Ticker & Mickey realize that they love each other & run over Mickey's wife at the next race.

High octane recommendations for both movies, each for different reasons.