Reviews

In 2021 the 1971 motorcycle racing film 'On Any Sunday' turned 50 and to celebrate a remastered version of the film was released to the world. Directed by Dana Brown, 'On Any Sunday' became a franchise with two more films released in 1981 and 2014. The 2014 film 'On Any Sunday - The Next Chapter' was directed by Dana Brown's son Bruce Brown.

As it happens 1971 was a good year for classic films, Clockwork Orange, Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, Diamonds are Forever just to name a few. Of course, the stand out film of 1971 was 'Octaman', where a team of explorers become the target of a humanoid octopus with murderous intentions. Terrifying.

For motor racing films it was also the year that the classic Steve McQueen racing film 'Le Mans' was released. Steve McQueen must have been pretty busy in 1971 as he was also cruising around racing motorcycles and appears regularly in 'On Any Sunday'. In 1971 McQueen was a bit of an outlier as the film points out that over 4 Million Americans now ride motorcycles at a time when the population of the USA was 207 million.

'On Any Sunday' sets about trying to promote the positive aspects of motorcycle culture. During the late 1960s motorcycle culture had been taking a bit of a reputational battering due to the rise of outlaw motorcycle clubs and their violent behaviour. One of the most prominent incidents was the murder of a man during a Rolling Stones set at a festival held at Altamont Speedway outside of San Francisco in 1969. This incident came after a string of other prominent incidents which had been gaining national attention since the 1947 Hollister riot.

In 1947 motorcycle culture was taking hold in the USA following the return of veterans from WWII who sought out adventure and comradery through bike culture. They started groups with terrifying names such as; the Boozefighters, the Pi**ed Off Ba**ards of Bloomington and the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club . The 1947 Hollister riot occurred at an American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) event called the Gypsy Tour motorcycle rally. The event gained national media attention and fuelled public fear of people who rode motorcycles. The sentiment of both the bikers and the wider public was beautifully captured in a photo which was published in the San Francisco Chronicle depicting a biker, astride his bike, beer in hand and surrounded by a large pile of empty bottles.

Following the event, it was reported that the AMA tried to distance themselves from the riot and stated that "the trouble was caused by the one per cent deviant that tarnishes the public image of both motorcycles and motorcyclists". This statement is attributed as being the origin of the "one percent" or "one percenter" label that outlaw bikers associate with to this day.

Given this context, 'On Any Sunday' would have had a lot of work to do to convince the wider public that motorcycling is enjoyed in a fun and family friendly way by millions of Americans. Essentially this film is about the 99 per cent, outlaw motorcycle culture is not referenced anywhere in the film. The film focuses on the true heroes of motorcycle racing at the time, portraying them as hard working and talented athletes who completely immersed in building and racing motorcycles. Steve McQueen is thrown in there to add a true household name to beef up the credibility of the family friendly motorcycle community image.

The film follows the 1970 AMA championship focusing on 1969 Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill. In 1969 the AMA championship was gruelling with riders competing in 23 events right across the USA in four different disciplines TT, Road Race, Flat Track and Short Track. The series ran from February to September which is where I assume the film draws it's title highlighting that for most of the year on any Sunday these people will be racing somewhere. Lawwill's routine is largely prep-the bike to race, race, drive a vast distance to the next race and prep the bike again. He does this with minimal support only really travelling with a single crew member to help with the driving and some of the bike prep.

While the film is intent on focusing on the positive aspects of motorcycle culture and the heroes that race them it does not ignore the risk. At the time bike development was advancing at a much greater rate than safety improvements. The tracks, particularly the flat tracks, were unforgiving with solid barriers and fans extremely close to the racetrack edge. As the film advances through the 1970 season a few the main drivers are injured in crashes. As it turned out the 1970 season was particularly dramatic which provided an opportunity to highlight the different personalities of the riders from those like Lawwill who were precise and disciplined to others who were more carefree. Both approaches tasted victory during the season and if anything, Lawwill's drive for perfection and pushing the machine to it's technical limits cost him the championship due to various reliability issues.

Ultimately, 'On Any Sunday' is seen as possibly the most important filmabout motorcycles ever made. It achieved it's goal of casting a different light on motorcycle culture and shifting public opinion on the people that ride them. The film is beautifully shot for its time, director Dana Brown had already mastered the art of close up slow motion through his surfing films and applies this with spectacular effect with motorcycles. Dana Brown also does the narration for the film which is mostly delivered in completely dead pan fashion so as not to distract the viewer from the visual spectacle. I am not entirely sure what sort of technical enhancements were made for the 50th anniversary edition but it feels like the film is transporting you back in time. I can see that any kid watching this would immediately want to become a motorcycle hero.

50 years on the film still creates an inspirational feel good vibe. It portrays motorcycling as an antidote to a lot of woes replacing sorrow with a sense of fun and freedom. Ultimately this is what that the war veterans who started the early motorcycle clubs were looking for. This is summed up in the film narration by Dana Brown "Every time I start thinking the world is all bad, then I see people out there having a good time on motorcycles and I take another look".

I did not know anything about the Baja 1000 before watching this film, after watching it I wondered why I had not given it more attention before. Baja is an insane 1000 mile loop from the Mexican city of Ensenada, out to the coast then back to Ensendada for dirt bikes, dune buggies, trophy trucks and Class 11 unmodified VW beetles. The class 11 drivers seem the most insane of the lot to me, a stock VW Beetle isn't exactly flush with comforts let alone when you try to drive one for 1000 miles through a rough meandering desert. Some of the purpose built vehicles struggle with the roads so how the class 11 group get through is probably a whole story on it's own.

The film is set during the 2003 Baja 1000 and features several well-known racing legends who have been captured by the allure of this magnificent event. The Grand Marshal for the 2003 race was none other than Mario Andretti. Other racing names that feature are Bobby Gordon, Jimmy Vasser and the Baja legend Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart. I knew of Ivan Stewart not from his feats at Baja but the excellent 1989 'Ivan Ironman Stewart's Super Off Road' video game, that was a great game...but that is for another review website that someone else can write. In his career Stewart won an astonishing 17 Baja 500's and three 1000's.

The Baja course is cruel, changed every year by Sal Fish who is the orchestrator of this madness. Up until the beginning of the race the actual checkpoint locations are a closely guarded secret so that participants can't practice and work out all the potential shortcuts. Competitors must get to all 12 course check points and complete the 1000-mile course within 32 hours. 300 vehicles compete in total with drivers and riders aged 16 to 62. Drivers and riders take a total pummelling while trying to A) win the race or B) just finish within the 32-hour time limit.

The documentary does a fine job of capturing the mysticism of Baja, families who have competed for generations, stunning scenery, crazy local fans, cruel luck, perseverance, pain and death. Every person who finishes Baja has truly achieved something great by conquering and surviving this free for all scramble through the Mexican dessert. I can't believe I had never truly understood what Baja was all about. In Dust to Glory we get a full immersive introduction to the race and the history behind it while following the 2003 event. I've read other reviews of this film that criticise it mainly for editing and not being focused enough on the main stories. I'm not sure that is what this film really tried to do, I felt this film tried to capture the chaotic nature of Baja and made the point that everyone who competes will have an incredible story to tell, it would be impossible to tell them all. The film is clearly made on a pretty small budget, but this captures the clandestine 'do it yourself' spirit of the Baja competitors and the event itself.

One of the stories the documentary features is an attempt by Mike 'Mouse' McCoy to complete the race solo. He has been a champion before and is looking for a new challenge. We seem him regress from a skilled champion to a delusional madman determined to finish on the podium regardless of the cost to his personal wellbeing. Seeing an athlete like McCoy descend into a disorientated state of madness for me highlighted the challenge that is Baja.

I don't know why as a motor racing fan I had never given this event much attention. I guess it shows all my inner biases toward 'European racing' and sentiment that American racing is only about ovals and speedways. Dust to Glory has now got me fascinated with Baja and the characters that organise and compete in the event. The Baja 1000 embodies a more adventurer spirit that I would typically associate more with sailing events such as Sydney to Hobart. I now can't watch the trailer for this film without getting goose bumps.

There is a great quote in the film that sums it all up perfectly "The Baja Peninsula: a place between the old west and the twilight zone".

© Copyright Racing Films

Released in 2017 and now available on Netflix 'Logan Lucky' probably boasts the most jaw dropping star studded cast of any racing film ever made. Let's start at the top, we have Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis. Hillary Swank who has two best actress Oscars. Katie Holmes, Katie if you are reading this, I have always loved you more than Tom ever did. The wonderful Katherine Waterson who has less prominent role but shows once again that she is destined for bigger things. We get former U.S. Marine Adam Driver who was awesome in films like Star Wars, BlacKkKlansmen and let's face it, every racing film needs a good Driver. The list goes on, there is also Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig and Seth MacFarlane. Country music singer / songwriter and double Grammy winner Dwight Yoakam also has a major role. Then there is a host of cameos from NASCAR drivers; Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney.

Needless to say, all this star talent cost a lot of money resulting in a budget of $39 million, which is actually still less than Days of Thunder at $55 million 27 years earlier. Where the film may have saved some money was in the writing which was adapted from a screenplay by the relatively unknown Rebecca Blunt. The screenplay was so enticing the prospect of making the film coaxed director Steven Soderbergh out of retirement at the age of 54. The reason why Soderbergh was able to retire so young initially was he did quite well out of some films he made such as Erin Brokovich, Traffic, Oceans 11, 12 and 13. He has a filmography catalogue that as at 2018 had pulled in over $2 billion dollars.

A common measure of film success is how it has done at the US box office. I found a useful website recently called The Numbers - 'Where Data and the Movie Business Meet', which gives the ability to create charts of box office comparisons between films. In the chart I have added below you can see a comparison between 'Logan Lucky' and two other popular comedy films involving NASCAR; Taleladega Nights and Days of Thunder. As you can see Logan Lucky did not break any box office records for the genre, in fact it probably only managed to break even despite it being full of star power. This appears to be largely down to marketing, Steven Soderbergh chose to release this film under banner of the 'independent' FilmNation Entertainment rather than one of the big film behemoth companies. This was a noble endeavor but probably has kept the film hidden from the eyes of a lot of people who would enjoy it. Adding in the international box office the film still did fairly well bringing in a total of $49 million which puts it in the top 500 for the worldwide box office for comedy movies.

Perhaps another explanation for the film's low profile at the box office was the plot, let's keep it simple, this is a heist film. Like many of Soderbergh's other films an elaborate plot is hatched to steal a large amount of money by some people that have a good moral reason to steal it and some interesting character quirks... Insert plot of Oceans 11 here... Yep that's it, this film is pretty much Oceans 11, instead of the vault at the Bellagio you have the vault at Charlotte Motor Speedway and instead of the heist occurring during a large boxing event it occurs during the CocaCola 600, which presents many great opportunities for some Ford advertising.

This is where the real genius of the film emerges which is the 'screenwriter' Rebecca Blunt. Somehow, she has pulled off the most audacious heist of all, as a total newcomer she managed to take the plot of Oceans 11, disguise it with a motor race, a racetrack and some rednecks and then go on to sell it back to Soderbergh himself. For her audacity she is awarded with the second credit to roll at the end of the film. Quite an achievement for a newcomer, or was it?

As it turns out Rebecca Blunt is a pseudonym for Jules Asner. Asner is, according to her Wikipedia profile, "an elite model" who "...shared a bunk-room with Cindy Crawford during her modelling career". She is also "...known as a long-time E! personality. During her peak with the network she hosted six hours of programming daily." Soderbergh clearly enjoyed his daily 6-hour daily doses of Asner as he decided to up this to 24-hour doses by deciding to marry her. Yep, the unknown writer Rebecca Blunt is actually Steven Soderbergh's wife. They chose to use a pseudonym because they did not want the focus on the film to be about a husband directing his wife's story.

If you can get over the fact that the Soderburgh's have tried to hoodwink us all there are some things to enjoy about this film. The race driver cameos are hard to spot and fun to keep an eye out for, the quirky characters are funny and there is some decent Ford v Chevy banter. There are some great one liners, my favourite being "I hope you have beginner's luck getting that thing into first", which has got to be one on the best driving competence burns ever, I hope someone has that up their sleeve for Nikita Mazepin's start to the F1 season. Probably my favourite character in the film was Warden Burns who is brilliantly played by musician Dwight Yoakham. In one scene Warden Burns has a hilarious debate with a room full of rioting prisoners about which order the game of thrones books and TV series came out as part of the hostage negotiations. On the downside Seth MacFarlane is terrible, although I do think his character is loosely based on former NASCAR driver Boris Said.

Despite enjoying the film, the fact that it is a disguised Oceans remake under the guise of introducing a new and exciting screenwriter puts a cloud over it. I was left feeling that the real reasons for the pseudonym were more along the lines of they did not want the story to be 'Soderberg recycles plot from Oceans 11', no matter how good this may be for the environment. Another reason could be that when you already have billions of dollars from making films it is useful to have your wife make some as well to help square things away with the IRS. I am only speculating of course, and this speculation is coming from a place of disappointment. The big heist here is the $49 million that was taken from honest punters at the box office who thought they were going to see a new film by an exciting new screenwriter. Whatever the reasons were I also don't understand how a husband and wife making a film together is a bad news story? Who knows it might even inspire other couples to do something constructive and creative together? So, I'm left disappointed by Steven Soderbergh's antics, he's taken some of my favourite actors and wasted their talents with a very predictable plot and I now feel violated because I enjoyed the experience. To quote Boris Said, "The only way he could make amends is if he came here right now and I beat his ass."

© Copyright Racing Films

Racing Films

Snake and Mongoose

Genre: Drama Released: 2013 Director: Wayne Holloway Run time: 102 min Platform viewed: Google Movies Clichés: We're gonna need a montage My rating: Four Hartley's



We all know about Prost and Senna, Brock and Johnson, but what about Snake and Mongoose? One of the reasons I started exploring all the racing films out there was because I thought I might come across some stories or aspects of racing I'd never heard of before. 'Snake and Mongoose' is one of those stories. The film is based on the rivalry in drag racing between Don Prudhomme (Snake) and Tom McEwen (Mongoose). Their rivalry spanned decades as both drivers started racing in the 1960's with McEwen retiring in 1992 and Prudhomme in 2009. But this was not your normal rivalry, while there was competitiveness between the two they orchestrated their own nicknames and played on the rivalry to bring in more fans, more sponsorship and more prize money.

Before we get further into the film, I need to deal with something else that this film brought up, The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF). I had never really looked into the IMHOF before but from the outset I assumed that the drivers in there would be of international heritage. How wrong I was, the IMHOF is a little bit like the "WORLD" series of baseball, which is based on the premise that America is already the best at baseball so therefore the finals of the American Series constitute the best series in the world. The IMHOF has inducted 148 drivers of which 121 are from the United States of America. Of the others 11 are from the UK, four from Italy, three from Brazil, then one each from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium and Germany. Ferdinand Porsche is there but listed as being Austro Hungarian, Czechoslovakian and German. Astonishingly there are two New Zealanders making up a whopping 7.4% of the international contingent. They are Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren who did a lot of sports car racing in the U.S.A. This should not really be news to anyone as the world is now well used to kiwis excelling in motor racing. Do I need to remind everyone that in 2020 kiwis have won the Supercars Championship, Bathurst, Le Mans 24hr, the Indy Car Championship and a team founded by kiwis came 3rd in the F1 constructors championship? Not good enough? Then what about Earl Bamber managing to finish first and second in the GTLM class at the 12 hours of Sebring? Needless to say, it has been a good year for kiwis...hopefully this has not gone unnoticed by IMHOF.

O.K digression over, let's get to the film. Knowing nothing of this story from the outset I thought this film did a great job of bringing it to life. Essentially this is a rivalry story with a twist, Prudhomme and McEwen were true competitors but also collaborators. The film takes us back to the early years of their careers in drag racing where Prudhomme is a conscientious grease monkey type character who likes to get his hands dirty and in contrast McEwen is a bit more of a party boy but also a bit of an entrepreneur. McEwen, however, is also smart enough to realise that the 'show' of motor racing is all about close competition and rivalry. Not only that, he can see the potential in marketing this rivalry. From here McEwen begins to create a marketable rivalry narrative including coming up with their respective nicknames.

As McEwen is not satisfied with the prize haul from his typical season running he starts marketing the 'Snake and Mongoose' show to drag strips around the country to support local track meets and boost the track gate takings. In return he bargains with track owners on a fixed payment to have them race which he splits with Prudhomme. The races not only attract more fans but also start to get the names 'Snake' and 'Mongoose' put out there more widely building national interest in the rivalry.

Building on the success of this McEwen approaches the head of Mattel toys who in 1968 had started producing Hot Wheels. The toys were already a kid favourite through producing some replicas of popular American street cars. McEwen's proposal to Mattel was that they could put Hot Wheels sponsorship on their drag cars and produce replicas of their cars to add to the Hot Wheels range. Mattel took some convincing but went along with the idea and as aresult Snake and Mongoose became the first drag racing team with corporate sponsorship. The partnership was a win for Mattel too with the Snake and Mongoose cars quickly becoming the biggest sellers in the Hot Wheels range in 1970. The two models initially produced were a Plymouth Barracuda and a Plymouth Duster funny car. Both models had hinged lift up bodies just like the real thing so you could see the huge engines and extra exhaust set ups underneath. Even by todays standards these models look awesome and Hot Wheels have gone on to produce various versions of these vehicles to this day. Earlier in 2020 Mattel put out some new reproductions of the cars to mark the 50th anniversary under their 'Legends of the Quarter Mile' branding.

Touring the country in this way mostly works out well but McEwen's party boy approach to life starts landing him in trouble on the home front. His wife finds it difficult to raise their son and confronts McEwen as he is about set off for another road trip. They separate which seems only to free up McEwen to pursue more of his off track activities. This then also leads to a falling out and split with his racing partner Prudhomme. McEwen is showing poor form and reliability on the strip which Prudhomme puts down to his off track activities impacting his ability to meticulously prepare his cars for racing. Another point of tension in the relationship had also been that Prudhomme was always more interested in racing top fuel dragsters as opposed to funny cars. So now he had a reason to split and pursue more of his own interests and goals.

Just as it seems like McEwen is in a destructive downward spiral, he learns that his only son has leukaemia. In the film this is shown as something of a turning point for McEwen. He starts spending more time with his son and contemplates withdrawing from racing altogether to support his family. His son has other ideas though and conveys to his father that watching him race was something he lived for and helped to keep him going through various treatments and long stints in hospital. This refocuses McEwen on his racing career, with renewed motivation McEwen beats Prudhomme to win the 1978 funny car nationals just a few days after his sons' death. It is a truly touching tale.

Overall this is an enjoyable film, the two main actors Jessie Williams (Prudhomme) and Richard Blake (McEwan) do an excellent job to authentically recreate the characters. Williams in particular bears an uncanny resemblance to a real life young Prudhomme. I was also totally captivated by Ashley Hinshaw as Lynn Prudhomme. She perfectly captured the 70s girl next door character but also the role of being a supportive partner helping Prudhomme with a lot of his work off the track. The acting is complimented by excellent recreations of the cars and clothing of the era creating a feeling of a time warp back to the 1970s. You should also keep an eye out for cameos from Prudhomme and McEwen themselves. This film captures a great personal story I never knew about and a racing story that produced one of sports longest running rivalries and changed the landscape of sponsorship in professional racing. We also get an epic montage thrown in put to Blue Oyster Cult.

In terms of its reception the film has a pretty average 5.7 rating on IMDB but I definitely felt that does not do the story or production quality justice. Don't be afraid to take a look at this film, while the subject of drag racing might not be your cup of tea, the story of these two racers is worth delving into. Prudhomme was also a significant campaigner for driver safety in drag racing, particularly fire protection, so as well as being the most successful driver ever he probably also saved some lives along the way. He is once quoted as saying "if we can send a guy to the moon, we can certainly go a quarter of a mile and not get hurt", wise words. This is where the Prudhomme and McEwen story ends up, a fitting showdown between IMDB and IMHOF. In this case IMDB have got it wrong, the film is worth more than it's 5.7 rating and IMHOF got it right, Don Prudhomme is well worthy of his inclusion, he just needs a few more international buddies.

© Copyright Racing Films