Not So Easy Driver
Racing car driver Larry (Peter Fonda) and his mechanic Deke (Adam Roarke) need money in order to build the car to be able to race and they have a plan to get it. The plan involves robbing a supermarket and it all goes remarkably well until when it comes to the get away as not only do they end up with Mary (Susan George), Larry's one night stand tagging along but they end up in a long chase with the police on their tail.
"Way better when I was younger" is a comment I stumbled upon whilst looking for information on "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" and it is a sentiment I can appreciate as there are many movies from my childhood which now are not as good as I remember them. But in fairness I have only just stumbled across "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" and watched for the first time 40 years after it was released I can't say that I was impressed. Even when you stop watching in hope of a story and just sit back and enjoy all the stunt work it didn't really grip me.
Now part of the trouble is that "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" is devoid of atmosphere with an opening which feels pieced together in an after thought sort of way. It makes it surprisingly dull considering we are talking about some scenes involving a robbery and if they remade it they could really bring some style to this opening.
It's not just the opening scenes that are dull but so are the characters who have no depth what so ever and so makes "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" all about the appeal of the actors. But in some cases the characters are just too annoying such is the case of Mary whose stupidity and whiney voice is like nails down a blackboard.
In the end the only thing that "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" has going for it is the stunt driving which in fairness is good. But at the same time it is obvious that we go from shot of actors to then a distant shot of the stuntmen doing their stuff and it makes it bitty.
What this all boils down to is that "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" just didn't do it for me as whilst it had decent car work it didn't have a story, characters, atmosphere or depth. Maybe for those who have fond memories of it from the mid 1970s will still enjoy it but to me it feels like a weak movie from the 1970s.
