The Car (1977)

"The Car" is a cool little movie that seems to have taken its inspiration from "Jaws", but replaced it with a car instead of a shark, and dusty desert roads instead of water. It's well filmed and the title vehicle looks great, with a believable aura of evil around it whenever it's on screen. The comparison with Jaws continues with the way scenes of innocent people are intercut with shots of the black shape in the distance gradually getting closer while they remain unaware of the danger they are in. All the acting is good and the characters are realisticAlthough the car itself works as a menace, what doesn't work is how easily it is able to bump people off. Two cyclists stupidly try to out-pedal it in a straight forward line rather than slow down or veer off. When the car charges into a marching band rehearsal, all of the people run in a straight line directly down the road in front of it, with not one of them leaping off to the side where there are many obstacles, such as steps and concrete blocks that would protect them. There are many deaths but nothing stronger than you would see in a made-for-TV movie - which this could easily be if it wasn't for the wise, Panavision aspect ratio (which works well).The car's stunts get more outrageous as the movie goes on, culminating in a pretty cool showdown. Although it's a little too long, it's enjoyable for most of the time.

"The Car" wouldn't be the first suspense movie with a haunted, or predatory car, or whatever. No doubt influenced by Dennis Weaver's "Duel" (1971), and most likely a direct influence on movies "Christine" (1983) and Charlie Sheen's "The Wraith" (1986), and "Maximum Overdrive" (1986). It even manages to lift its ending from both "Duel", and "Five Million Years to Earth" (1967), and scenes were copied in both "Christine" and "The Wraith".An indestructible car, for some reason, shows up in a small desert city and starts killing people, its first victims being a young, and future, soap star Melody Thomas Scott, and an equally young hitchhiker John Rubenstein, who would later be known for his heavies. The deaths and the mayhem continues throughout the movie as people continue to be knocked off and the assistant sheriff continues to unravel, especially after his mentor, the sheriff, is killed. There is the requisite melodrama, the abusive drunk and his abused wife, the young single sheriff's two rambunctious children and his love interest, the hot school marm. There are no surprises to be found anywhere in this flick, it's just a fun "B" movie with an experienced cast doing the best they can with their material and for a paycheck.The cast includes such TV stalwarts as James Brolin, as the young sheriff; Kathleen Lloyd (Magnum PI) as the school teacher and love interest; Kim Richards (Escape to Witch Mountain, Tuff Turf) and her sister Kyle Richards (Halloween), both of whom would end up being reality stars; R. G. Armstrong as the mean drunk who would redeem himself somewhat; John Marley (The Godfather) who spent his long and illustrious career as both a heavy and a Mafioso here plays an-out-of-character good guy; Ronny Cox as a young assistant sheriff who's a drunk on the side; and soon-to-be professional stunt woman Leslie Hoffman. And let's not forget the writer/director Michael Butler who was also one of the co-writers of the unofficial Dirty Harry move "The Gauntlet" and the unofficial "Shane" remake "The Pale Rider'. Not a great movie by any means, but certainly fun if you're not expecting much and you just want some fun entertainment.

It's pretty bad when the best acting was from "The Car". The actual car. I was rooting for "The Car" to run everyone over, especially the annoying teacher. I actually cheered when the car ran the teacher over & wished it had happened sooner! Christine is much better! This is kind of like one of those movies that's so bad it's good, like "Frogs" but "Frogs" actually pulled it off, this movie I pretty much laughed through the whole thing & hoped The Car would kill them all off. The acting was pretty bad, I couldn't stand any of the characters but the movie was good for a laugh but that's pretty much it. Don't waste any money buying it that's for sure.

This is one devilish car: There is no driver, no door handles and it kills people - how do you stop it? Who possesses it? Who will be it's next victim and why? Watch The Car to find out more.The film is a very creepy horror-thriller with a lot of mystery surrounding The Car.I very much liked this movie - it really is full of suspense and thrills. It's actually another fun movie to watch yet it would be horrifying if this was reality.This movie would make a great double feature with another awesome horror movie surrounding a car Christine 1983. The only thing that is similar about these two films is the "creepy car" theme - the stories of both films are entirely different.9/10