Unpretentious Beginnings

 

 

Some names are synonymous with the word "director" (as in film director). Look at a list of today's winners and nominees for the coveted Oscar, and almost all of them got their start in directing low budget films that may not even be known today except to the fans of those directors.  And, there were several of them who owe their start because a guy named Roger Corman saw something in their talent and gave them their big break.

The list of these directors, therefore, owes a debt to the "drive-in" genre of films, because Corman was the undisputed king of the B-movie drive-in film. Now, to be fair, some of those directors who got their start under Corman are still not familiar to the general public because they spent most of their lives churning out the kind of schlock that was the bread and butter of the drive-in. But at least a few of them went on to greater fame as box-office draws and even those coveted Oscars.

Some names with which most of you will be familiar: Peter Bogdanovich, whose first movie, Targets, had a Roger Corman hand in it. Francis Ford Coppola, who early on got a hand up by being given the helm for Dementia 13. Joe Dante and James Cameron both had a connection with Corman, Dante directing a movie called Piranha and Cameron getting the gig to direct the sequel to that movie, Piranha II: The Spawning.

Two more names that almost anyone is familiar with, Ron Howard and Martin Scorcese, also got a start directing low budget films under Corman and the American International Pictures banner.  Ron Howard's first chance at directing was for Grand Theft Auto (not to be confused with the video game by the same name), and Martin Scorcese's second film, Boxcar Bertha, were both a part of the heyday of drive-in movies.

Both of these movies would have fit in well with the Hit the Road Blogathon, a blogathon I am hosting later this month. Grand Theft Auto, obviously, makes extensive use of cars, and Boxcar Bertha and her crew get around mostly by trains. (And as of this writing, neither has been chosen by other entrants in the blogathon.) 

Both involve characters who are on the wrong side of the law, from a legal standpoint, but who are basically on the verge of being cultural heroes in the way they are presented.  Bertha (Barbara Hershey) and Sam (Ron Howard) are people you can cheer for, mainly because they are not really all that bad.

 

 

 

Grand Theft Auto (1977):

If you are looking for a mindless movie to while away about an hour and a half, I would say you can't go wrong with Grand Theft Auto. This movie is basically The Blues Brothers, without all those songs to get in the way. Not that I don't like The Blues Brothers soundtrack... It has some damn good music.  But basically the plot of The Blues Brothers  is just an excuse to smash up cars and have some general good old fashioned mayhem in a comedic form.

Grand Theft Auto does have a plot... of sorts. Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) is the daughter of a well-to-do family (Barry Cahill and Elizabeth Rogers). Dad and Mom want their daughter to marry into more money, in the form of Collins Hedgeworth (Paul Linke). But Paula has other ideas.

See Paula is madly in love with Sam Freeman (Ron Howard). and she is adamantly opposed to marrying that dweeb Collins. (I mean really, who would want to marry a guy whose first name is "Collins" anyway?) Paula says she and Sam are going to elope and go marry in Las Vegas, but Daddy has other ideas.  He takes away her car keys. 

It;s Paula's car, bought with her own money (although, probably Daddy gave her the money anyway, so technically it is HIS not hers...) But Paula is determined if nothing else.  She hot wires Daddy's Rolls Royce and makes a run for it with Sam. Daddy tries to give chase in her sports car, but she sabotaged it before she left (and thus begins the unending demolition of cars that is at the heart of the movie.)

 

 

But Daddy is nothing if not resourceful.  He has intentions of running for governor and wants nothing to smear his campaign, so he hires a private eye named Ned Slinker (Rance Howard, the director's father) to track them down and bring them back without any publicity (and there's a private eye name if there ever was one... Ned Slinker...)

In the meantime Collins has found out about Paula's plans and decides to give chase himself. He wrecks his car in the process, but manages to steal another car. And, probably not with Daddy Powers' approval, Collins calls the local radio station where he tells the DJ, Curly Q ( Don Steele), that he is offering a $25,000 reward to whomever can stop and detain the two elopers.

 

 

(One of the best parts of this movie is when Steele is on screen. Don Steele was a real life DJ, who spun records under the moniker of "The Real Don Steele". He had a very brief run as an actor, most often playing a variation of himself, a radio DJ. Check him out as Junior Bruce in Death Race 2000, or as Screamin' Steve Stevens in Rock 'n' Roll High School.)

With the announcement that there is big money to be had, there are many who try to get in on the deal. Including a street preacher (Hoke Howell) who deserts his revival congregation to join the hunt, as well as couple of mechanics, Sparky (Peter Isacksen) and Ace (Clint Howard, the director's brother, and, boy! talk about nepotism...).  Also in the mix is Collins' mother, Vivian (Marion Ross), who has thrown in another $25,000 for the safe return of her son.

 

 

 

Throughout the film there are at least a hundred destroyed cars (I am including a rather unnecessary, but still hilarious scene where Paula and Sam and the Rolls end up in a demolition derby.) And nearly every time one of the characters gets their car smashed up, they steal another one, because everyone seems to get out of their cars and leave the keys in the ignition.  Thus the "Grand Theft Auto" part of the film is the other characters and their greed inspired attempts to catch Paula and Sam. Those two manage to make it almost to the end of the movie in the same Rolls Royce.

 

 

(BTW, as a side note, I am not entirely convinced that actually is a Rolls. They way those two put that thing through the wringer, including trying to drive it cross country (and mean literally cross country), I don't think a Rolls would have held up to the battering. It does have a Rolls body, however...) 

If you do like car smashups and pointless mayhem in your movies, this one is a hoot. As I said, before not much of a plot, but then nobody is coming to a movie called Grand Theft Auto  for a fascinating story line and well-crafted dramatic roles, are they?

I don't have the ambition to look at each movie individually to find out, but I'd pretty much bet that this is the most expensive movie Roger Corman ever produced, at $602,000. Fortunately for Corman that high price tag didn't break his record of making another box office winner By that I mean it made money, not that it was a resounding success. It cleared about $15 mil. 

Howard's involvement in this movie was the result of a deal he made with Corman. Corman wanted Howard to star in a film he was making, Eat My Dust!, and Howard and Corman came to an agreement; if Howard would agree to be the star of Eat My Dust!, Corman would back Howard in his transition from acting to directing.  (Note: I had originally planned to do the two as a double feature because I bought a DVD of the two, but I decided to do this instead. Hopefully Eat My Dust! will appear at The Midnite Drive-In soon, however...)

 

As far as it's reception, Grand Theft Auto got mostly negative reviews. But I like Roger Ebert's comment (who gave the movie 2 stars) that Howard and Morgan, the stars of the film, were "...the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello of this generation, perfect for what the trade calls drive-in pictures..."

 

 

 

Boxcar Bertha (1972): 

Boxcar Bertha was based on a book by Ben Reitman, Sister of the Road: The Autobiography of Boxcar Bertha. The reality of the story behind the book is that "Boxcar Bertha" never truly existed. She was a fiction made up by Reitman as a composite of several real female outlaws from the 30's. Given that Reitman himself was an anarchist as well as a lover of Emma Goldman, one of the premier radicals of the late 1800's and early 1900's, it should be no surprise that Boxcar Bertha has at it's core a radical, and somewhat anarchist, political viewpoint.

At the center of this drama is Bertha Thompson (Barbara Hershey), a young girl who is apparently orphaned after her father, a crop duster, is killed in an airplane accident.  It is the Depression era, so her prospects are somewhat limited. She begins her journey by riding the hobo trail aboard boxcars. Eventually she ends up in a town where she meets a former friend, Big Bill Shelly (David Carradine).

 

Bill is a rabble rouse, anarchist and a pro union speaker, trying to raise a revolution amongst the railway workers in a rail yard.  After inciting a riot between them and the anti-union strike breakers and police present at the event, Bill and Bertha escape by boarding another train. Bill is marked because he is a prominent organizer and eventually gets arrested leaving Bertha to fend for herself.

She winds up rescuing a petty gambler named Rake Brown (Barry Primus) from a would-be shooting.  Seems he was trying to cheat his opponents and one of them didn't take to kindly to it. She and Rake become small time grifters until Bertha finally meets up with Bill who has escaped prison. Along with a black man who used to work for Bertha's father, Von (Bernie Casey), the four begin a systematic series of train robberies.

 

Although Bertha and Rake and Von are only in it to get money to survive, it quickly becomes apparent that Bill has a different objective; he wants to bring the railroads to their knees.  Often Bill is maligned as being a Bolshevik, a common derogatory term for anyone who tried to buck the system of the rich being the elite and the rest of the population just being expected to go along with it. Sure there is some similarities between bill's political agenda and that of the hated Communists of the era, but Bill is not a Marxist or a "Bolshevik".

One of the minor characters, and the person to whom Bill directs most of his animosity, is H. Buckram Sartoris (played by David's father, John Carradine). Sartoris has no love for Bill, and in fact has as much told his hired hands that given the "dead or alive" capture of Bill. (He has a bigger preference for "dead".)

 

Over the course of the film, Bill often gets arrested, and Bertha, sometimes with help from Rake and Von, and sometimes on her own, has to get him out. At one point, however, Rake is killed and the rest of  her cohorts end up in jail. Bertha is forced to take the only job available for women all alone in the Depression... prostitution. But one day she encounters Von in a bar and he tells her that Bill escaped and is living in hiding. Bertha loves Bill (maybe not on the same level as Bill loves her, but it is love) and goes to him.

 

The ending of this movie is pretty stark (and what else would you expect from Scorcese...?) I won't give away the ending any more than that, but as far as Scorcese pictures go, I would say it is well worth watching. This despite the fact that Rotten Tomatoes ranks it #34 out of 34. I wouldn't put it in the top 10, maybe not even in the top 20, but I would say it's better than several of those that rank higher on the list. 

 

Well folks, time to get the old Plymouth to make that trip home. Drive safely.

Quiggy