The Car

Rating:
Summary: Great horror flick!
Review: I haven't seen this film in twenty years or so, but it was worth the wait. I saw part of it when I was seven (now twenty-eight) on network TV, and I was scared out of my wits at the part where the car runs two bicyclists off the road. I also remember the scene where it runs over the town sheriff.

I decided to just go ahead and get this movie without seeing the whole thing first. It was great. I think the scariest scenes are these: First, the part where the police officer is guarding the parade and you see a brilliant flash in the distance, indicating the car's windshield (funny, being that the windshield didn't appear to be glass). Second, the part where James Brolin's girlfriend talks on the phone is chilling. She just keeps talking while the minute headlights just keep getting bigger and bigger until it plows through her living room, killing her.

I'm surprised a sequel was never made so we could find out where this car came from. It makes its appearance in the desert, but where was it beforehand? Interesting, unexplained stuff!

Rating:
Summary: BEST EVIL CAR MOVIE
Review: So there may not be many evil vehicle movies but this one wins. It's essentialy a slasher flick with the killer taking the shape of a car. Seen it a couple times on late night TV but never remembered the name. Fortunately a co-worker told me and I sought it out. As in all slashers we root for the killer and this car is easy to root for. The studio created a pretty menacing vehicle and the scenes add a nice malevolent personality. The production is above average for the genre. Nice late 70's feel complete with wooden acting and intentionally bad dialogue. The story adheres to the slasher mold. Evil car appears from the desert and begins stalking citizens of a small town. It soon becomes clear to the sheriff that all is not right.
So sheriff organizes the troops and roadblocks ensue but of course the local cops are not fully aware of what they're up against and become targets themselves of evil car. Thankfully the sheriff fails to have the good sense to call in the state police or national guard. That could have made a good scene, the sheriff on the phone to the Governor explaining his perplexion and need for military assistance to handle an evil car. But fortunately they tackle the problem themselves. This provides the studio a chance to show car wrecks where the slightest damage to a vehicle causes it to explode. Yeah, I love gratuitous car explosions and this has a few. As in all these movies brute force and bravery fails against the evil so they are forced to outwit it. Overall it's pretty straight forward and there are some satisfying though mild kills courtesy of evil car. What keeps it from a 5 star rating is the modest amount of kills. I would have preferred a higher body count but of course I feel that way about most slashers. Definitely worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: Review of The Car
Review: An okay movie for 1977, and virtually forgotten about, even back then, when its box office appearance was overtaken by another 1977 film called "Star Wars". The Car is a nightmare story about a mysterious black car that appears out of nowhere, and begins to terrorize a small desert town, killing the citizens at random for no reason otherthen the thrill of murderous bloodshed. The town's sheriff (James Brolin) must do his duty and capture the psycopathic driver, but when its revealed the car has doesn't have a driver, the sheriff realizes he's facing a car spawned by pure evil, and it may be unstoppable.

The car itself looks really cool, and I like the idea it doesn't look like any dicernable make or model. Just looking at it, you can tell its menacing and evil.

The movie overall, is typical of 70's horror films; many characters are killed off, and your left guessing who will survive in the end. The concept of the demon car is original, since "Christine" came out later, and the idea was of course spawned off an urban legend; that of a ghostly black car that cause accidents on Route 666 in Nevada.

Fans of Spielberg's "The Duel" may like this movie as well, down to the car's chilling horn which trumpeted like a Mack truck. However, this overused horn gets kind of annoying later on in the film. Some of the characters are also kind of dry in my opinion. I was glad when a few got ran over since you don't have to deal with them later on.

In conclusion, "The Car" isn't terrible, and it's a fun movie to watch on Halloween if your sick of slasher films. The violence is actually pretty vague in this movie. Most victims are hit off screen and your left with just the thump of the impact and a puddle of blood or two on the road.

Rating:
Summary: Heaven Help Us! The Devil drives a LINCOLN!!
Review: I love the 1977 film "The Car" for a number of reasons. One of which, I suppose, was that I first saw this "B" horror flick at the neighborhood theater as a child. Yes, it scared me then and makes me smile now.

"The Car" is so extravangantly cheesy as to be almost surreal. To really understand the greatness of "The Car," one must compare it to John Carpenter's "Christine," another haunted car film based on one of Stephen King's weakest novels. I've seen "Christine" once and really don't care to view it again. I've seen "The Car" many times and will watch it every chance I get.

Accurately noted by several reviewers, "The Car" is really "Jaws" on land. This souped up automobile is a sleek black Lincoln possessing a fog horn and a bumper the size of Wilford Brimley's mustache. It runs over bikers, hitchhikers and tuba players with hungry ease, tormenting the local yokel police force with demonic glee. The cast is the key here, with small town policemen James Brolin, John Marley and Ronnie Cox joining forces with dynamite expert R.G. Armstrong to corner The Car and blow it kingdom come. These actors have been around the block a few times in films far better than "The Car," but their experienced presence adds a note (albeit a small one) of respectability to the precedings.

But before this salty crew goes after the metallic Beezlebub beast, The Car must terrorize a high school band, Brolin's hometown squeeze Kathleen Lloyd (whatever happened to her?) and several unlucky travelers in the wrong place at the wrong time. Needless-to-say, car insurance companies were left mightily frustrated after The Car paid a visit to Santa Ynaz.

I don't know why The Car likes to drive in the desert, just as I don't know why it seems to have a crush on James Brolin, teasing him unmercifully while slowly picking off his crew one by one. I do know that the car chases in this film are tremendously exciting. The direction and editing is crisp. Leonard Rosenman's musical score is above average. And the final confrontation, while laughable in its epic excess, is memorable.

"The Car" is a fun movie, glorious in a "B" movie comic book kind of way. It's "Creature From the Black Lagoon," "The Omen," "Jaws" and "Smokey and the Bandit" all rolled into one hilariously transcendent package. It is celluloid pulp fiction, with the nutritional value of a whopper and fries. Please grill the onions.

Rating:
Summary: THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL- ON WHEELS
Review: I MUST SAY, THIS MOVIE IS ONE OF COOLEST MOVIES I'VE SEEN WHEN I WAS A KID AND I NOW OWN IT ON VIDEO. I WATCHED IT WHEN I WAS 9 AND IT SCARED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME. THE SCARIEST MOMENT IS WHEN THE CAR WENT THROUGH THE HOUSE AND KILLED KATHLEEN LLOYD. I WASN'T EVEN THINKING THAT IT WOULD ( OR COULD ) DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I KNOW, PEOPLE HAVE REVIEWED IT SAYING THAT THE ACTING IS BAD, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IS BAD AND OTHER THINGS. WELL, ARE WE ALL CRITICS HERE, OR DO WE JUST WANT TO WATCH A GOOD MOVIE THAT PROVIDES CHILLS AND SUSPENSE??? MY ADVICE IS: DO NOT PAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO THE ACTING, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY ( EVEN THOUGH, I LIVE IN NEW MEXICO, WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL ) JUST FOCUS ON THE CAR. NOTICE IT'S DETAILS, LIKE THE HEADLIGHTS AND GRILLE RESEMBLING AN EVIL FACE. THE ENGINE, WHICH COULD BURST YOUR EARDRUMS IT'S SO LOUD AND THE HORN, WHICH SOUNDS MENACING AND GLEEFULLY EVIL. I MUST SAY, WHOEVER DESIGNED THIS CAR HAS A WICKED STREAK THE SIZE OF NORTH AMERICA AND AN AWESOME IMAGINATION!!! NOTICE THE WAY IT ACTS, I KNOW IT SOUNDS SILLY AND NUTS, BUT PAY ATTENTION TO IT AND YOU'LL SEE THAT THIS CAR HAS MAJOR ATTITUDE AND SHOWS ABSOLUTELY NO PITY. I'VE SEEN "CHRISTINE" AND IT'S AWESOME, TOO, BUT "CHRISTINE" HAS A HISTORY. "THE CAR" DOES NOT. IT JUST SHOWS UP OUT OF THE BLUE, NO HISTORY, NO REASON AND DEFINITELY NO MERCY, BEGINNING TO KILL AND STALK PEOPLE. EVEN MOTHER NATURE PLAYS A PART. THE WIND IS A WARNING THAT SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED. THIS MOVIE ALSO PROVES THAT GOOD PREVAILED OVER EVIL ONCE AGAIN. ENJOY IT AND BE VERY SCARED!!!

Rating:
Summary: Relentless Machines
Review: Anyone who has seen Stephen King's CHRISTINE or read the book will have noticed some similarities between it and THE CAR. I missed this film when it was first released, but it was apparently overshadowed by STAR WARS. THE CAR is nevertheless one of the great movies of the 1970's, up there with JAWS, DUEL, THE BIG WEDNESDAY, and APOCALYPSE NOW.

This film has a tense quality throughout, with many scenes shot in complete silence, keeping the viewer in anticipation as to where the car will strike next and who will be its next unfortunate victim. There is no back story; no-one knows where the mechanical fiend originated from. It just appears one day, bent on the destruction of a small desert town, casually picking off its inhabitants and any hitchhikers passing through.

James Brolin plays the New Mexico town's sheriff, Wade Parent, who relentlessly pursues the car, trying to obtain a licence plate or a description of the driver. Roadblocks are set up, but the car dissappears without a trace following each bloody incident. The question on Wade's mind is: are they dealing with a homicidal maniac - or some dark phantom, a demonic otherworldly apparition?

Of all the horror films based on 'killing machines', THE CAR (1977) is one of the best. Perhaps not as good as DUEL (1971), it ranks alongside CHRISTINE (1983) and MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986)). Closely following are THE BLACK CADILLAC (2002), THE AMBULANCE (1990), TRUCKS (1997), THE WRAITH (1986), and ROADKILL (2001, aka JOYRIDE).

Disc features: Widescreen Presentation; Full-Frame Presentation; Theatrical Trailer; Talent Biographies.

Cast: James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley, Elizabeth Thompson, and Ronny Cox (DELIVERANCE).

Director: Elliot Silverstein (A MAN CALLED HORSE).

Rating:
Summary: mixed up lincoln?
Review: Living not far from Amsterdam in the netherlands, I saw this movie when I was 15 years old.
And I saw it again, and again. The Car runned in the Rembrandsplein Theater for 4 months I believe, and after a year, it was back, to scare people for a next couple of weeks.
Between those periods there came star wars...
I realy felt in love with THE CAR. It was so scary!
But more so....Exciting!
It played with tabu-like supressed wishes, it played with the killer in each of us. Who doesnt want to do sometimes what the car did without any remorse? What stops us is the notion that some things can not be reversed, can not made undone.
And we don't like to feel sorry.....
But this car does not care.

This is in my opinion the best road suspense movie ever made, althaugh acting was not "state of the art", but James Brolins acting makes the threat of the car very serious and believeble.
And I always liked the cinematography of this movie, simple and effective.
The real actor in this movie is the demonic car.
Basicly built on a lincoln, many people say a mark 3, but it realy has the grille of the mark 4 (it is bigger than the mark 3's grille), the outer chrome frame is painted black in the case of this monster. There is a kind of Rolls Royce like armor around this car, and the car seems even to have a kind of face.
And I dont mean a face like in Thomas the railway-engine :-)
Already crazy by the car of tv-detective Cannon, this "thing" made me a lifetime lincoln-fan.
Has anyone noticed that some of the later concepts by Lincoln have some influence by the customcar in this movie? (Lincoln Sentinel, Lincoln Mark 9)

The strongest parts of the movie are in my view:
1 The simple straight forward editing. (back to basics)
2 The uneasy way the movie also uses silence. (also used in Duel)
3 The wanna-have soundtrack of Leonard Rosenman.
4 The use of sound effects (the horn of the car, the mix of several engine sounds (at the bikerchase it sometimes sounds like a truck)
6 The big policechase in the middle of the movie, the graveyard-scene and of course the garage-scene and the (last)phone-scene with Kathleen Loyd

And the roll-over stunt is so good!

Have fun with this movie and cover your ears.

Richard Schüssler

Rating:
Summary: Eerie and entertaining, but incomplete print.
Review: Once again Anchor Bay does a commendable job of delivering a long forgotten classic on DVD. This film has been called 'JAWS on wheels' and I must say this is not an unfair comparison, despite this The Car stands up on its own merit as a great suspense film. This film does indeed borrow more from JAWS than other automotive terror films like DUEL.
The Car, a possessed luxury sedan, is presented as a predatory entity systematically decimating the population of a small New Mexico town as the local Sheriff and his men struggle to stop the remorseless killing machine.
The cast is wonderful, particulary James Brolin (The Amityville Horror) and Ronny Cox (The Beast Within). Brolin plays Sheriff Wade Parent, the macho protagonist determined to stop the car. Kathleen Lloyd is excellent as Brolin's strong willed love interest. Ronny Cox is great too as the eternally tormented alcoholic deputy Luke.
The film benefits from some truly effective scenes-the wide shots of the New Mexico desert with the car emerging in the distance and thundering its way towards the viewer are creepy and uneasy. The use of sound-alternating long periods of silence with deafening blasts of automotive noise is also very unnerving, this film is sure to make even the most jaded viewer jump in places.
It should be mentioned that this film is rather anemic, so gorehounds should abstain, instead this film relies on character development and suspense.
Now for the negative aspects of this DVD-the film for some reason is most certainly cut as I recently watched this film on cable tv and the tv cut featured at least 20-30 seconds more footage in the cemetary scene. This may seem like nitpicking, but why Anchor Bay chose to release an edited version of this film when most of its catalog is comprised of sex and gore epics is nothing short of a mystery. Also, the climatic scenes of this film are marred by a considerable amount of grain in the picture.
All in all though, it is great to have this above average b-movie available, since I was a kid this is one film I enjoy watching over and over again. The film is presented full frame and widescreen. It also includes a theatrical trailer. This DVD is getting harder and harder to find so buy this now and add another lost gem to your DVD collection!!

Rating:
Summary: James Brolin's Absolute Summit As A Thespian
Review: "The Car" manifests James Brolin's absolute summit of the acting craft, reflecting the finest performance he ever gave in one of the best films ever made -- about a driverless car that kills people and cannot be stopped. (Before you denounce this concept as implausible, take a look at "Yentl.") Brolin's delivery in "The Car," his use of his features, expressions, voice and body to totally immerse himself in the character of a small-town law officer facing the challenge of a lifetime, is unparalleled by any other work in his career. This film should be required viewing in every school of drama in the nation, to demonstrate to young actors what they could become if given the right opportunity.

And it was terrific seeing young Ronny Cox in this movie too, fresh off his broke-arm, drowned-in-the-river portrayal in "Deliverance." (At one point in "The Car," we see Cox weeping -- and you just have to think he was actually upset from watching Brolin's performance on the set, which so easily enabled him to produce tears.)

"The Car" (a film FAR superior to Kill Dozer, though the concept is the same) was James Brolin's peak, the apex of his entire acting portfolio. There really was nothing left for him to do after this, but marry Barbra and witness her incomparable participation in the aging process.

Rating:
Summary: Review of The Car
Review: An okay movie for 1977, and virtually forgotten about, even back then, when its box office appearance was overtaken by another 1977 film called "Star Wars". The Car is a nightmare story about a mysterious black car that appears out of nowhere, and begins to terrorize a small desert town, killing the citizens at random for no reason otherthen the thrill of murderous bloodshed. The town's sheriff (James Brolin) must do his duty and capture the psycopathic driver, but when its revealed the car has doesn't have a driver, the sheriff realizes he's facing a car spawned by pure evil, and it may be unstoppable.

The car itself looks really cool, and I like the idea it doesn't look like any dicernable make or model. Just looking at it, you can tell its menacing and evil.

The movie overall, is typical of 70's horror films; many characters are killed off, and your left guessing who will survive in the end. The concept of the demon car is original, since "Christine" came out later, and the idea was of course spawned off an urban legend; that of a ghostly black car that cause accidents on Route 666 in Nevada.

Fans of Spielberg's "The Duel" may like this movie as well, down to the car's chilling horn which trumpeted like a Mack truck. However, this overused horn gets kind of annoying later on in the film. Some of the characters are also kind of dry in my opinion. I was glad when a few got ran over since you don't have to deal with them later on.

In conclusion, "The Car" isn't terrible, and it's a fun movie to watch on Halloween if your sick of slasher films. The violence is actually pretty vague in this movie. Most victims are hit off screen and your left with just the thump of the impact and a puddle of blood or two on the road.