Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

Leigh Chapman (writer)
Antonio Santean (writer)

Release Date:

17 May 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

They don't call them that for nothing.

Plot:

Mary and Larry are two lovers who, with Larry's ace mechanic, rob a grocery store and flee the police...

Plot Keywords:

Mechanic | Train | Driver | Carsploitation | Chase

Cast

Peter Fonda	...	Larry
Susan George	...	Mary Coombs
Adam Roarke	...	Deke Sommers
Kenneth Tobey	...	Carl Donahue
Eugene Daniels	...	Hanks
Lynn Borden	...	Evelyn Stanton
Janear Hines	...	Millie
Elizabeth James	...	Dispatcher
Adrianne Herman	...	Cindy Stanton
T.J. Castronova	...	Steve (as Tom Castranova)
James W. Gavin	...	Helicopter Pilot (as James Gavin)
Al Rossi	...	Surl
Ben Niems	...	Police Chief Markey
George Westcott	...	Bridge Operator
Tom O'Neill	...	Farmer

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:PG | UK:15 (video rating) (1987)

Filming Locations:

Archerdale Rd. & Ketcham Ln., Linden, California, USA

Company:

Academy Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Kris Kristofferson turned down the male lead.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When they are waiting out the roadblock, and going into the tavern, you can quite visibly see the boom mic off to the left side of the picture. It's visible for the entire scene, probably a good 15 seconds, and it just keeps following the actors.

Quotes:

Larry Rayder: [being chased by a police car] What does he have under that hood?
Deke Sommers: The driver's no slouch either.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ride the Wild Side (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

TIME (Is Such A Funny Thing)

It's worth the pain. Really.

I too watched DMCL again last month after a period of many years, and I have to say that I love it, even though it's truly crap. The dialogue's hackneyed, the plot's over-simplistic and filled with randomly-inserted chunks of juvenile self-indulgence and Susan George's performance tends to make me claw at my ears like a mangy dog but if, like me, you hate what the computer age has done to the car chase, you can't help but enjoy it.

The fact is, you've got a bright yellow '69 Charger at full pelt, outrunning a bunch of genuine Mopar pursuit cars and being rammed by a helicopter - filmed on a road, with a camera. What more do you want? In terms of real action, with no digital effects, speeded-up film or dodgy miniatures, it's up there with The Gumball Rally. And yes, the scene with Vic Morrow standing at that crossroads as the helicopter swoops down to meet him does have a certain resonance.

This film is pretty poor, make no mistake, but as an example of how cars were crashed in the good old days I reckon it should be in a museum...