Pit Stop (1969)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jack Hill

Writer:

Jack Hill (writer)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Flesh Against Steel!

Plot:

Grant Willard (Brian Donlevy) sponsors drivers in a "new" form of race car driving called The Figure Eight...

Plot Keywords:

Car | Automobile Racing | Car Racing | Product Placement | Independent Film

Cast

Brian Donlevy	...	Grant Willard
Richard Davalos	...	Rick Bowman
Ellen Burstyn	...	Ellen McLeod (as Ellen McRae)
Sid Haig	...	Hawk Sidney
Beverly Washburn	...	Jolene
George Washburn	...	Ed McLeod

Also Known As:

The Winner (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ascot Park Speedway - 18601 S. Vermont Avenue, Gardena, California, USA

Trivia:

Final film of Brian Donlevy.

Cool, honest and pure race-track drama that also is one of the last memories of a neglected American past

How do one even start to describe this breathtaking masterpiece? 'Pit Stop' might not only be one of Jack Hill's very best movies. It also appears as a grand example of the purest form of cinema. 'Pit Stop' manage to be incredible cool and energetic and just the same be fascinating raw and unpolished! Upon the original release it was badly distributed only because of being in b/w and could only be seen as a double bill. Today it still appears under-appreciated. It really deserves to be seen though. 'Pit Stop' has barely dated at all and as a race-track drama you could hardly find anything more honest and realistic. A very outstanding rags-to-riches story starring Brian Donlevy (his last film ever) and Richard Davalos. Grant Willard (Donlevy) is one of the managers of The Figure Eight Race. A totally insane variation of racing games where the cars drive on a over crossing track shaped as an 8! This means the cars randomly will crash into each other leading to great damages for the entertainment of the audience! It is extremely dangerous all right and there is always need for new "daredevils" to risk their lives on the track. The worst thing is that this part of the movie NOT is fiction! The Figure Eight Race existed for real! The plentiful race sequences are mostly real authentic footage with real damages and destruction! But it could just as well had been staged with special effects, mostly because all the madness looks so outrageous surrealistic! As said, there is always need for new driver and Grant usually pick new "stars" from the bottom. In this case outlaw street racer Rick Bowman (Davalos) who he get out of jail after witnessing his skills. Rick finally agrees to become a legitimate racer and also decides to reach the top. He want to be the best even though he has some ugly accidents in the destructive races. But he also hardened and manage to become a serious threat against the loud and foul-mouthed star racer Hawk Sidney (Hill regular Sid Haig in one of his most memorable performances) whose girl Jolene (Beverly Washburn) he also snatch. They have some nasty confrontations but surprisingly manage to get along rather well. But as Rick gets more ambitious he also gets more cynic and start losing his humanity to the races. While he get an agreement to team together with veteran racer Ed McLeod (George Washburn, Beverly's brother) he just as much wants to mock him and steal his girl Ellen McLeod (Ellen Burstyn) too! And whose to blame him? It must be hard to keep in touch with the soul while being a part of insanity such as The Figure Eight Race which Grant obviously was aware of. The cast is very small. Many of the people we see in 'Pit Stop' is real people doing their ordinary stuff (whether they was aware of being filmed or not) and all scenes are shot on real locations, real race tracks, real clubs, real garages and real motels. All due to the limited resources they had to work with, but that is not possible to see! It is almost unbelievable how much style they managed to create only with skilled cinematography and visionary ideas. Sometomes 'Pit Stop' has a very cool film-noir look. The real actors however, all does very good and delivers memorable emotional performances. Titus Moede ('Rat Phink & Boo Boo', 'The Thrill Killers') can actually be spotted in a small cameo. The garage tunes that makes the soundtrack is also awesome. But the real stars of 'Pit Stop' still has to be the brave racers. Both in the Figure Eight scenes and another with dune buggies in the desert. Scenes that almost looks like being from another planet and is one of the last memories from a neglected American past.