The Car (1977)

A small desert town is terrorized by a powerful, seemingly possessed car, and the local sheriff may be the only one who can stop it.

Director:

Elliot Silverstein

Writers:

Dennis Shryack (screenplay), Michael Butler (screenplay)

Stars:

James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Brolin	...	Wade Parent
Kathleen Lloyd	...	Lauren
John Marley	...	Everett
R.G. Armstrong	...	Amos
John Rubinstein	...	John Morris
Elizabeth Thompson	...	Margie
Roy Jenson	...	Ray Mott
Kim Richards	...	Lynn Marie
Kyle Richards	...	Debbie
Kate Murtagh	...	Miss McDonald
Robert Phillips	...	Metcalf
Doris Dowling	...	Bertha
Henry O'Brien	...	Chas
Eddie Little Sky	...	Denson
Lee McLaughlin	...	Marvin Fats

Storyline

Near the small desert town of Santa Ynez, a mysterious black car runs down two teenage bicyclers en route to camp, then it hit-and-runs a hitchhiker with local Amos Clements as witness. Sheriff Everett puts his men on alert and plants road blocks in the area to arrest the murderer, but soon he himself falls victim to the car. Sheriff Wade Parent leads the hunt for the vehicle that threatens their town and seems impossible to locate. When his beloved girlfriend, teacher Lauren Humphries, challenges the driver in a cemetery, the car hunts her in her home. Wade realizes he might be dealing with supernatural powers.

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Plot Keywords:

killer car | car | sheriff | cemetery | desert | 

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Taglines:

There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to stop... The Car

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

-The official trailer

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wheels

Filming Locations:

Snow Canyon, Utah, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono 4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

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Goofs

When The Car chases the bicycle boy, there is a close up of the front bumper pushing the bike's rear wheel. You can see that the chain is on the largest sprocket, so the bike is in the lowest gear. No wonder neither bicyclist escaped.

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Quotes

Wade Parent: Yeah... yeah, ten years of giving out traffic tickets, and all this in one day!

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Alternate Versions

The NBC edited for TV version of this film includes some additional scenes to pad out the movie due to needed commercial breaks. The aforementioned additional scenes were during the cemetery standoff between the school band and the Car. The part where Lauren is insulting and taunting the Car is longer and there is a short dialog between her and her friend Margie planning on how one of them will run out and escape to call for help. These are not on the official 1999 DVD/VHS release.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXIV (2013)

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Soundtracks

Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46: I. 'Morning'
(uncredited)
Music by Edvard Grieg

User Reviews

Not a great classic, but still fun to watch

I really like the car. Having seen it years ago, when I was just young, I recently purchased the remastered, widescreen version, which brings out the desert in a much greater degree of clarity. The Car is, by no means of the word, a true classic, but a good film none the less, if only for great cinematography, and a few unbelievable stunts. The dialogue in between the car's attacks is made up mostly of filler; I can't seem to watch that early bedroom scene without hitting fast-forward (what was all that tripe anyways?). Nevertheless, That wicked Black Sedan stays in your memory, long after you've seen the movie. Where can I get an evil sounding air-horn like that?!