Sweet, clumsy grease monkey Bobby (an endearing turn by the likable Paul LeMat) is miserably dissatisfied with his dead-end garage mechanic job. Brassy, but tender-hearted counter-girl Rose (the lovely, lissome, wholly bewitching Diane Hull) is patiently waiting for the right man to walk into her life. Bobby and Rose meet cute, go on a swell date, get embroiled in a dire supermarket shoot-out, and become wanted, frightened, totally reluctant and hopelessly out of their element fugitives who hot foot it to Mexico in order to avoid being arrested by the police for a murder they didn't commit. Directed with a sure, easy hand and a sharp, observant eye by Floyd Mutrux (who also wrote the tight, colorful and eventful script), further buoyed by William Fraker's bright, crisp, sunny cinematography, a nifty golden oldies soundtrack, fine location shooting (shadowy, neon-lit pool halls, gaudy roller rinks, ratty Tijuana side streets), several amusingly quirky touches (Bobby's hot rod failing to start after he pulls over and amiably chats with two motorcycle cops is an especially choice wryly funny moment), a relaxed, but steady pace, a few bracing'n'bravura action set pieces (the harrowing automobile car crash set to the pounding, incessant beat of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" is particularly striking), and a gripping, realistic, grimly fatalistic and uncompromisingly downbeat tone which fiercely deromanticizes any sense of wrong-headed "glamour" intrinsic to the couple on the premise, this pleasant surprise rates as a pleasingly idiosyncratic and decidedly insouciant treat. LeMat and Hull make for a nice, appealing pair; they receive bang-up support from Robert Carradine as Bobby's ambitious, upwardly mobile social climbing pal Moxey, Tim McIntire as coarse, irascible, but still engaging redneck Buford, Noble Willingham as Bobby's big-hearted, gregarious Uncle Charlie, Edward James Olmos as a shady, menacing pool hustler, and Cliff Emmich as a quarrelsome loudmouth restaurant patron. Solid and commendably tough-minded, "Aloha, Bobby and Rose" measures up as a worthwhile and unjustly under-appreciated little sleeper.
Review of Aloha Bobby and Rose
