THE CAR (1977)

 

(Director: Elliott Silverstein. Screenwriters: Dennis Shryack, Michael Butler and Lane Slate.)

 

Review

Released stateside on Friday, May 13, 1977, and inspired by Steven Spielberg’s 1971 television film DUEL, CAR opens with narrator Anton LeVey quoting the Satanic Bible’s “Invocation of Destruction” (“Oh great brothers of the night who rideth upon the hot winds of hell, who dwelleth in the Devil’s lair; move and appear”). While LaVey does this, the titular vehicle appears in a wide-angle, aerial shot, driving through the desert toward the small town it will shortly menace.

The possibly driverless, tank-solid satanic car cruises around the town’s periphery, immediately killing two bridge-crossing bicyclists. The police, led by Sheriff Everett (John Marley), investigate the suspicious deaths, not convinced they’re accidental. Not long after that, a hitchhiker’s hit-and-run death is witnessed by a violent drunk (Amos, played by R.G. Armstrong) and his battered wife (Bertha, played by Doris Dowling). The hunt for the murderous vehicle is on.

Shortly after this, lead deputy Wade Parent (James Brolin) takes charge of the investigation. Car chases, crashes, explosions (cop cars damn near explode when looked at), building destruction, and a few deaths follow. The car─a canny opponent, with its distinctive, disconcerting horn─is often simultaneously terrifying and hilarious when it circles, lunges toward, and revs its engine at its potential victims.

Can the Car be stopped? Watch and find out!

CAR’s cast is great. Brolin (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, 1979) is his usual stalwart, masculine self as Wade Parent. Kathleen Lloyd (IT LIVES AGAIN, 1978) played Lauren Parent, Wade’s schoolteacher wife and mother of their two children. Kim Richards played Lynn Marie Parent, Wade and Lauren’s oldest daughter; Kim’s sister, Kyle (HALLOWEEN, 1978) played Debbie, the Parents’ youngest daughter. Ronny Cox played Luke, an emotional, alcoholic deputy.

The actors’ performances are enhanced by their well-sketched characters, whose deep links to each other are palpable, sometimes emotionally involving.

CAR is a PG-rated terror flick─there’s no blood, no actual harm shown to its victims. It’s a fun, if plot-lite and silly work that deftly balances demonic overtones, humor, and small-town pathos. Given its basic storyline and writing, it’s best viewed as a modern-day fable with cheesy 1970s FX with a better-than-its-B-material players and behind-the-camera talent. While not a good film, it’s often entertaining.

(For the Car-curious: the titular, striking-in-appearance vehicle was─in real life─a 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III black coupe, its roof three inches lower than usual and its side fenders longer and lower than usual. It had no visible exterior door handles. Its chrome-plated, deep-recessed Cragar wheels and its interior-shade/exterior-amber laminated windows lent the car a menacing, indestructible look. The car’s distinctive, alarming horn tone was the Hadley Ambassador Rectangular Bell horn. The car was modified at the request of the movie’s director by George Barris, famous for customizing Hollywood vehicles, including the Batmobile [Batman, 1966-8]. There were four of these cars made for the film, the main one costing eighty-four thousand dollars at the time.)