DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY (1974) Movie Review

My wife is a tomboy. She loves hot rods and car chase movies. As a movie buff, I have introduced her to a number of films she never knew existed. As a car buff, she introduced me to a number of films I have never seen. But neither of us had seen Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) until recently, after spending a few days with actress Susan George, who co-stars with Peter Fonda. More interesting is the fact that the movie is clearly among the car chase genre but the film was adapted from novel classified as a crime caper. Richard Unekis wrote the novel in 1962, originally published in 1963 as The Chase, later reprinted under the title Pursuit. The New York Times reviewed the book as "a brilliantly detailed and breathless tale of pursuit."

Ten years later, a motion-picture with a more clever title and a ton of car chase sequences and verbal foreplay exchanged between the two leads. Two NASCAR hopefuls, driver Larry Rayder and his mechanic, DekE Sommers, successfully executes a supermarket heist to finance their entry into big-time auto racing. They extort $150,000 in cash from the supermarket manager by holding his wife and daughter hostage. In making their escape, however, they are confronted by Larry's one-night stand, Mary Coombs. She coerces them to take her along in their souped-up Chevrolet Impala. An unorthodox sheriff, Captain Franklin (played by Vic Morrow), obsessively pursues the trio in a dragnet, hoping to relive his youth. 

Almost immediately Larry demonstrates he is a true race car daredevil -- willing to risk his life for everything in stunts that are truly death-defying. Peter Fonda later recalled how there were only a few cars available for production, causing the mechanics to fix up the vehicles every night. "The film was shot pretty much in sequence," he remarked. "We had about 20 exciting stunts and about five minutes worth of acting."

The film was a surprise hit, incidentally, when released in the spring of 1974, becoming the most profitable film of the year. 

The movie is worth seeking out to view. Like Electra Glide in Blue (1973), which I saw for the first time last year, this is highly recommended for sheer entertainment.

Susan George and Peter Fonda

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry has a gruesome bit of trivia worth pointing out, incidentally. Vic Morrow, playing the sheriff, insisted on a $1 million life insurance policy before he would film any scenes involving the helicopter. The producer hesitated for a spell but eventually relented. Afterwards, Morrow said he would ride in the helicopter, not fly one. When asked why he strongly insisted on the policy, Morrow replied, :I have always had a premonition that I'll be killed in a helicopter crash!" Years later, Morrow was indeed killed when a helicopter was brought down by special effects explosions, during production of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).