In the 1970s, there was a sort of mini-trend of car movies, usually involving various stunts and wrecks. This decade saw the likes of films including Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, The Gumball Rally, and Smokey and the Bandit. One prominent director who made these car movies was Steven Spielberg, whose early works included Duel and The Sugarland Express. In 1977, Universal planned to release The Car, which would’ve added a supernatural element to the car movie. After producing Mansion of the Doomed, the distributors asked Charles Band to make a similarly themed car movie. Charlie wound up directing this as his second feature, his first being the lost 1973 spoof Last Foxtrot in Burbank. The plan was to shoot this film over the weekends and get it released to theaters before Universal’s movie. In the end, the finished movie hit theaters in late 1976/early 1977 as Crash!
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Synopsis
Young Kim Denne (Sue Lyons) purchases a strange-looking idol from a vendor at a flea market before returning home. She’s married to the older Marc Denne (Jose Ferrer), who was in a horrific car accident that left him paralyzed. Marc resents that Kim can walk around fine despite the accident as he constantly treats her like dirt. After she goes for a drive, he sends his trained Doberman to follow and attack her, causing her to crash. Thankfully, Kim survives the crash and wakes up in the hospital, where she’s cared for by Dr. Martin (John Ericson). Unfortunately, Kim has lost her memory, yet she still holds onto the idol as if she’s always had it. At the same time, a mysterious black car is going around killing people and causing car crashes. It turns out the idol is using Kim to control this demon car to exact her revenge!
Review
Crash! is a film that could only have come out in the drive-in era of the 1970s. You’ve got a completely nonsensical plot whose sole purpose is to try connecting tons of car crashes together. Also, there are tons and tons of real cars crashing into each other for real with real explosions. Keep in mind that this was pre-CGI and made on a low budget, so the stuntwork is pretty impressive. Interestingly enough, one of the film’s cinematographers was Andrew Davis, who went on to direct The Fugitive and Under Siege. The music from composer Andrew Belling also helps this stand out, with a very 70s funk sound. He’d later compose the music for End of the World and Fairy Tales before Richard Band became the go-to guy. Speaking of the Bands, both Richard and Charlie have minor cameo appearances in the film.
The film has quite an interesting cast, including Sue Lyon (Lolita), Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac), and even John Carradine. Admittedly, Carradine only has a few minutes of screentime since he filmed his scenes over a weekend. Lyon makes the best of the albeit light material she’s given and comes off creepy in some moments. Ferrer is fine as the conniving husband, even though it feels like he’s just waiting for his paycheck to clear. Also, John Ericson comes off a little bland as the compassionate doctor trying to help Kim regain her memories. Like many of Charles Band’s early work, this one does suffer from having too much padding, even at 90 minutes. Still, this provides plenty of B-movie thrills, and the car stunts do steal the show, so there is that. Overall, Crash! is that particular kind of schlock that could only come from the 1970s.
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