Shaker Run (1985)

Seemingly the only reason for the movie "Shaker Run" to exist, is to prove now, beyond any doubt, the old adage: "real men wear pink." Judd Pierson (Robertson) is a down-on-his-luck stunt driver for the "Helldrivers Auto Circus". He's getting older, and he can't quite jump that long row of cars like he used to. The audiences are dwindling but luckily Pierson has a young and enthusiastic sidekick named Casey (Garrett). Being a passenger in speeding cars makes Casey ill, which really complicates the events about to transpire...When scientist Dr. Christine Rubin (Harrow) approaches them to take "the box" (which is a lethal virus) from one side of New Zealand to the other, The Helldriver boys reluctantly accept. The only problem is, an endless supply of Australian baddies are hot on their trail and constantly trying to kill them. The leader of the cabal of goons is Paul Thoreau (Briant of "Moving Targets" fame) who is in a helicopter for most of the movie.Can the Helldrivers and Dr. Rubin get "the box" to its destination before it is snatched away by Thoreau? "Shaker Run" is an undiscovered gem of a road movie. There are some impressive car chases and stunts. Just imagine a cross between "Vanishing Point", "Smokey & The Bandit", and "The Andromeda Strain". While the title: "Shaker Run" might not be fully explained, I suppose "Vanishing Smokey Strain" doesn't have a good ring to it. Robertson portrays the grizzled old driver who's "the best" with aplomb. He also has cool hat. It is not quite 10 gallon, more like 3-4 gallons. But it suits him perfectly.Another good thing about "Run" is was made before political correctness and the "Budweiser" logo appears on cars and a simple chase that lasts for most of the movie is all you needed to get by.One of the highlights is when our heroes are trapped on a boat. If you ever wanted to see Leif Garrett bash through a wall, here is your chance. Lastly, in a show of consideration, one of the credits at the end of the movie asks that you "please drive home safely." "Run" to go see "Shaker Run" tonight! For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Shaker Run is strictly a film for those who like car chases with little plot to get in the way.Cliff Robertson is down on his luck race driver and Leif Garrett is his mechanic stuck in New Zealand some 8000 miles from America. A deadly virus has been developed in a lab and Dr. Lisa Harrow doesn't trust her own government not to give it to the military. So what does she do? She contacts the American Central Intelligence Agency and of course they're real interested.Lisa steals the virus and hires Robertson and Garrett to transport it to a designated hand off spot. Of course they have all of New Zealand law enforcement chasing them soon enough without at first Robertson and Garrett knowing why.On the plus side there is both nice scenic photography of the New Zealand country side and of Auckland and Wellington. There are enough car chases and stunt driving to satisfy the most insatiable junkie for this stuff. Cliff Robertson and the rest of the cast basically walk through their parts, I'm sure Robertson did it for the money and for a nice trip to New Zealand.I have to agree with another viewer, if you didn't see the police with New Zealand uniforms and didn't hear the Kiwi accents, you'd swear you were watching the American cops dealing with a fugitive with all that weaponry. Foreigners occasionally do more than chide Americans for their obsessive love of guns, yet these cops seem to find they come in handy if ineffective in dealing with a professional race car driver.

This is one of my favourite films, just because it's fun. Cliff Robertson and Leif Garrett might have been down-and-out as actors at the time, but they play a down-and-out race team and as Americans in a country noted for a very tough films industry they are a treat. The interplay between what they expect and what Lisa Harrow's character knows better is a big part of the fun. In the end there really is no bad or good guy-- both NZ and the US are guilty of underestimating the heroes and each other; and the heroes have underestimated everyone but themselves.As a car-oriented film it will please the car-chase fans, but there is more to it than that. First of all you may never see more of the South Island's intense countryside than here, with scenes of wide-open landscape being covered at greater than highway speeds. As a scientific thriller the plot centring round an AIDS-type virus provides food for thought-- just what DO you do with a strain that deadly anyway? Thus the boy-racer speed-thrills and the taut intelligence-vs-science conflict aptly convey the clueless desperation of these three characters as they search for the truth about each other and the next hint of truth about what's going to happen next. Some observations:1. Too much gunfire! I can't imagine NZ cops using automatic weapons in the middle of a neighbourhood.2. I find it hard to believe Robertson shifts the TH-400 automatic gearbox into top at over 100 MPH! Yet the Chevy-powered Trans Am's speedo appears to be in MPH, not KPH.3. With driving like this the heroes never seem to stop for petrol. And although it's cold season in Queenstown they also never seem to slip on ice.4. Shona Laing and her band are wonderful in the pub scene. (Whatever happened to her?) Order in pizza, watch it again and look closer.

This film is a fairly original piece of budget wonder. Not to be watched by casual film goers as it won't exactly amaze them. This film has a great mixture of tastes, for starters it has a scientific edge;2 the boy racers out there will love it's realistic(well maybe not) stunts. The acting is awful but this adds to the 80's nostalgia. If you don't see it you will live and if you do nothing will change it's that sort of film