Fireball 500, is a movie I watched today because I never saw Annette Funicello ( Jane), in a movie before. Why? I do not like musicals and I am not watching a beach movie, so this was an opportunity to see her. To be honest, Annette did nothing for me, but the other lady Julie Parrish who played Martha Bryan was much hotter and did a better acting job. The highlight was the racing scenes especially at the Daytona 500. The one excellent scene involved Leander ( Fabian) whose car overheats and becomes a fireball crashing over the retaining wall ( this is where the title Fireball 500 comes from). Interesting enough although this is listed as a Frankie Avalon ( Dave) and Annette Movie it really is not. Why? Frankie ( who is the star) ends up with Martha and Annette with Leander ( who does survive but can never race again). More important though, this is a racing film first and foremost. How do I know? Spoilers ahead: Dave who won the race drove #43 which was the car number of Richard Petty, who won the Daytona 500 7 times included 1964 and 1966 when this film came.out. So I suspect the racing scenes involving car #43 were in fact, footage of Richard Petty. The film had a couple of songs by Avelon which were a minus, but the racing scenes more then make up for it. Again surprising good and 8/10 stars from me.
Review of Fireball 500
