Stroker Ace (1983)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Hal Needham

Writers:

William Neely (novel) and
Robert K. Ottum (novel) ...

Release Date:

1 July 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

BURT'S BACK . . . With car crashin' & party crashin' as the hassled hunk who drives his car upside down & his women round the bend! [Australia theatrical]

Plot:

The title character, a popular NASCAR driver, clashes with the fried-chicken mogul that sponsors his racing team.

Plot Keywords:

Nascar | Sponsor | Chicken Suit | Racing | Cult Comedy

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Burt Reynolds	...	Stroker Ace
Ned Beatty	...	Clyde Torkle
Jim Nabors	...	Lugs Harvey
Parker Stevenson	...	Aubrey James
Loni Anderson	...	Pembrook Feeney
John Byner	...	Doc Seegle
Frank O. Hill	...	Dad Seegle
Cassandra Peterson	...	Girl with Lugs
Bubba Smith	...	Arnold
Warren Stevens	...	Jim Catty
Alfie Wise	...	Charlie
James C. Lewis	...	Crew Chief
Neil Bonnett	...	NASCAR Driver
Dale Earnhardt	...	NASCAR Driver
Harry P. Gant	...	NASCAR Driver (as Harry Gant)

Also Known As:

Stand on It (Australia) (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:12 | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Director Hal Needham has two separate cameos in the film. The first is when Stroker (Burt Reynolds) is doing the TV ad dressed as a chicken. He's the voice of the commercial director asking him to do one more take (as seen in the outtakes when Burt's "Smokey" co-star Jerry Reed shows up on set). The second is during the bar fight at the hotel. When Stroker gives a thumbs-up to Lugs (Jim Nabors) and then does a comical spin out of the scene when he's hit by a man in a cowboy hat. The "cowboy" is Needham.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: There are two #77 cars in the Charlotte race: a red/black car that flips over several times, then a white car that Stroker passes after the restart.

Quotes:

Stroker Ace: Lugs, who's driving number 10?
Lugs Harvey: What are you talkin' about? You ought to know who that is, it's Aubrey James. He's only been tryin' to kill you for two years!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Proof (2007)

Soundtrack:

Heartache Comin' On

Horrendous to say the least.

This is one of the most insipid, lackluster, unoriginal, and pointless movies ever made! It almost feels like everyone involved in this project didn't even try to make an appealing movie. This is nothing more than a continuation of a tiresome series of films that attempt to cash in on the success of Smokey and the Bandit, which I think is the best film of them all. As for this waste of film stock, Burt Reynolds sleepwalks his way through the entire movie, Jim Nabors is wasted, the other actors aren't given very much to do, the car races are obviously stock footage, the humor is uninspired, and many of the scenes are more dull and lifeless than staring at a wall for two hours. "Stroker Ace" is simply a superfluous film with nothing unique or distinctive about it.