Sowing Wild Oates: Jack Starrett's Race With the Devil

Warren Oates and Peter Fonda are great in one of those great 1970's movies they just do not make anymore.

Oates and Fonda are the male halves of two couples taking an RV from San Antonio to Aspen. Along the way, they witness a satanic ritual that quickly ends in a murder. The rest of the film consists of the two couples trying to make it to Amarillo as the coven pursues them and tries to kill them.

This is such an action packed film, and without CGI effects! The 1970's were wonderful for big car crash flicks, and this is a good one. The cast is good, but Jack Starrett's direction keeps both the suspense and the action on equal plains, and he accomplishes it. The last half hour of the film is an incredible set piece involving the RV, a tow truck, a pickup, and a delivery truck, making many of today's action films pale by comparison.

If you happen upon this somewhere, definitely take it out and have a look. You will be pleasantly surprised.

This is rated (PG) for physical violence, gun violence, some gore, profanity, brief female nudity, adult situations, and drug references.

Get Your Kicks On Route 666

The whole premise of this suspenseful action flick is flawed - if masked murderers were seen from a distance in a remote location, especially if they were exceedingly well organized and included the local constabulary among their number, they would have no need whatsoever to assault the witnesses and would instead more than likely just hightail it outta there - but it's great fun, anyway. Just because Hitchcock would've done a better job with the thing doesn't mean it isn't good.

Friends Warren Oates and Peter Fonda, and their wives, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker, take a mobile home road trip to Colorado for a little skiing. While camping one night, they chance to witness through binoculars a sacrificial murder across the lake by a bunch of masked Satanists. (See, why wouldn't the Satanists just flip them off, laugh and run away? But then we wouldn't have a movie, would we?) The next thing they know, they're being pursued by the killers. The local constabulary is no help - indeed, they prove to be part of the problem - and damn near everyone our hapless misadventurers come across for the rest of their trip happens to be hooked-up, one way or another, with the nasty folk.

Aside from the fundamentally flawed premise, and an ending that really makes no sense at all, this is a great flick. The road stunts are terrific. The suspense is masterful, the script pretty good. The cast are completely believable, throughout. The movie is handsomely produced, and makes clever underuse of an eerie Leonard Rosenmann score to crank-up the anxiety factor. It's basically Duel meets Deliverance does Rosemary's Baby a la The Road Warrior, and is pretty much as fun as that mix sounds.

Don't think about it. Just go along for the ride.

RACE WITH THE DEVIL

WHERE IS THE DVD???? THIS MOVIE IS SUCH A CLASSIC.CREEPY AND SCARY ALIKE.SO WORTH SEEING!!