User reviews

Okay, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is basically a car chase movie. However, this movie is nicely paced and well crafted for the this genre. Peter Fonda is the focal point as Larry, and he alternates between manic and gloomy, punctuating the action with humorous comments and a devil may care attitude. Adam Roarke as his mechanic/sidekick is the anti-Larry, a guy who is dealing with his own demons and is ready to step in when Fonda's character goes too far. Susan George is the wildcard in this movie. She latches on to Fonda and proves that she is not to be underestimated. The scene-stealer of the movie is Vic Morrow as the sheriff, who produces some of the best lines in this movie. When he gets in the chopper, the pilot says, "I just take orders" and Vic replies "Good, cause I give lots of 'em...let's go!". If this sounds like nothing special, check out this movie and you will see the other element which stands out, the atmosphere. Drawbridges, apple orchards, a small town flea market, dusty roads, big trucks etc. This is no "Dukes of Hazzard" mindless kind of car chase movie. There is a lot of intelligence and humor in the script, and it is well-paced and directed. An enjoyable movie to kill a couple of hours. I never said it was Citizen Kane!

Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) wants nothing more than to race pro for a living. He drives like a maniac but never can seem to get the doe needed for a car to get him into the majors. He and his mechanic Deke (Adam Roarke) hatch a harebrain scheme to kidnap a grocer's daughter (a cool cameo by Roddy McDowell) and hold her for ransom. Larry's rubber band girlfriend Mary (Susan George) tags along on the getaway and then things go south for them there. Vic Marrow is the down-home cop that won't rest until they are behind bars.

"DMCL" is not a horrible film by any means but for a film that passes itself off as a high octane road flick it sure slows up a lot. The actors keep the one liners flowing like wine and most of them are funny but horrendously bad and terribly dated. More stunts could have been helpful to offset things but in the end I was a bit disappointed. Some of it may very well be the fact that someone ruined the "twist" ending which would have been better if I had no prior knowledge. An OK but a bit below average for me.

I don't know, they both seem pretty crazy to me. Why is it that Mary gets labelled dirty? And why wasn't Deke in the title? On the positive side, there's some nice camera work during the chase scenes and it's a testosterone-fueled bit of 70's muscle car filmmaking, with a star (Peter Fonda) who oozes natural cool and the rebelliousness of the era. The stunts include a jump off a moveable bridge, the cars racing along with one elevated on a parallel road (which Tarantino would reference in 'Death Proof'), and a pretty cool close encounter with a helicopter. The cops show a bit of cleverness late in the film (though pretty dumb otherwise), and I liked the ending, which seemed to fit well.

Unfortunately the story overall is simple, the dialogue is insipid, and it carries an undercurrent of misogyny. Some samples: "So help me, if you try another stunt like that again, I'm gonna braid your tits." (What? What does that even mean?) "If you do that again; I'm going to break every bone in your crotch!" (Again, what?) "I think I'm gonna screw Miss Mary. Do you mind, Deke?" (Ugh) He also regularly demeans her, calls her dingleberry, and a dumb broad. It doesn't help that the actress playing Mary (Susan George) is pretty awful, with her go-to look being one of wide-eyed astonishment. I took it for what it was and despite all that never really began actively disliking it, but would be embarrassed to recommend anyone watch it, except for some of the stunts.

Larry is a thief with NASCAR aspirations; Mary is the annoying one-night-stand who won't leave him alone. This was a good role for Peter Fonda, even though the character is kind of a jerk, and even more so for the late Adam Roarke, who typically played bad-guy bikers. None of the characters are really fleshed out, but the terrific car chases (and crashes) make up for those liabilities. (One problem is that Larry isn't just amoral, he's mean, which makes it very tough to sympathize or identify with him.) And although it's certainly true that one doesn't have to *like* characters in order to enjoy the movie, I think there should be something about those characters that makes them interesting other than the broadest strokes of 'development' - and these people don't have that quality. I began to sympathize with the captain (Vic Morrow) charged with bringing them all in. But, like I said, well choreographed car crashes can work some wonders.

Oh yes, here's another cheerful B-road movie with wit & plastic characters and fast cars. Small time crooks Larry (a wannabe racecar driver) and Deke (his mechanic) rob a supermarket and flee with their loot. They're accompanied by Larry's intrusive one-night-stand and chased by tons of incompetent macho coppers. Although this looks like a fresh 70's speed movie, it actually has nothing to offer. The same old dull three-cornered relationship, showdowns between cops and carefree thugs...that's all. The directing in 'Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry' is weak and the acting is downright atrocious. Peter Fonda never was a great performer but I always thought of him as a cool dude, so he's forgiven. Susan George, however, has already proved she can do better in delicious films like 'Fright' and 'Die Screaming Marianne'. Director John Hough made a few slick and eerie horror films before this (like 'Legend of Hell House' and Hammer's 'Twins of Evil')that are more worth checking out. Dirty Mary, crazy Larry is a mediocre attempt to reflect the cliché 70's spirit but, as some sort of consolation, the car stunts are shot with certain flair and the locations are beautiful. And how about that swell ending?!? Crime doesn't pay, you hippie scumbags...

I thought this is mindless fun. It's not that mindless and unfortunately, it was not that fun either. There is an entertainment value here, it was not boring, Susan George's character is very likeable and car chases/crashes were enjoyable but it took too long for this movie to find its pace, first 30-ish minutes were not interesting and acting performances were mediocre overall. Characters had no depth, fun moments were not that funny and the ending was so unexpected that i didn't like, even though i can't say it was bad, some people will like it, just not me. I can't recommend it, however i can see the reasons why some people liked it more than me.

Not a great deal when compared to 'Vanishing Point' from a couple of years earlier and certainly not Peter Fonda's career best. But worth a watch if nothing much else is available. You might be left with a big question, though, as to the reason for casting Susan George as 'Mary' because even I - as a fellow Brit - winced at her hit & miss american accent and consider her performance to be well below what the part called for (and it called any one of scores of highly talented 'home grown' actresses).